Next weekend I'll be making an exciting trip to the heart of the Kentish countryside to stay overnight in a wild animal park surrounded by giraffe, rhino, wildebeest, zebra and a landscape not dissimilar to the plains of Africa...

I've visited the Safari Experience at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Ashford before, to stay in fabulous safari tents complete with heating, four-poster bed and a verandah overlooking the Watering Hole at the heart of the Kentish savannah. I can't say I've been on a 'real' safari before but for an African experience without even leaving the country, the Port Lympne short safari breaks are an impressive and unique second-best. 

This time I've been invited to sample the luxury of the Livingstone Cottage experience, complete with far-reaching views across the whole park and a personal chef to serve up five courses of African-inspired cuisine followed the next morning by the delicious Aspinall Full English Breakfast. In between all of the delicious foodie treats the schedule includes two private safaris, when I'll get up close and personal with a huge range of animals and learn more about their origins and natural habitats from the experienced rangers.

Visits to Port Lympne go hand in hand with discovering more about the fantastic work of the Aspinall Foundation, the registered charity responsible for a diverse range of conservation activities and projects at the Kent parks and overseas in the Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Madagascar, to name just a few. To that end, the safari experiences at Port Lympne come with a serious conservation message and visitors have the opportunity to learn more about adopting an animal, conservation projects in the UK and further afield, and supporting the Foundation to get more animals back home in the wild. 

I'm very excited to be involved with such a worthy cause and hope you'll pop back to the Blog to find out how my trip goes. You can also follow the parks on Twitter: @AspinallParksPR and Facebook: Short Breaks at Port Lympne. 

Enjoy! :-)