Woburn Safari Park is a safari park located in Woburn, Bedfordshire, England. Visitors to the park can drive through the large animal exhibits, which contain species such as White Rhino, Elephants, Tigers and Black Bears. It is part of the estates of the Duke of Bedford that also includes Woburn Abbey and its 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) deer park.
Woburn Safari Park History
Woburn Safari Park first opened in 1970, established by the 13th Duke of Bedford on the grounds of his estate, Woburn Abbey, as a means to help improve the financial position of the estate and restore the Abbey, which had fallen into disrepair during the second world war. The 11th Duke of Bedford had been president of the Zoological Society of London and had introduced various species such as American Bison, Deer, Antelope, Lion and Tiger to the park.
Starting with upgrades to the wolf facilities in 2004 which allowed the wolves overnight access to the outside enclosure they share with the parks bears, the park had spent about £4 million by 2010 to upgrade off-show animal facilities in the park. The African Ungulate Conservation Centre (or "Antelope House") was built in 2007 to help conservation efforts with hoofed mammals, and what the park claims is "probably the biggest concentration of critically endangered African ungulates on Earth."
The Asian Elephant Conservation Centre, built to house the parks elephants comfortably even through the winters, opened in 2008. It was followed in 2009 by a new facility for housing rhinos and other savannah animals, as well as an upgrade to the giraffe house that doubled its size.
The Animals
The park lets animals roam freely while visitors drive through their enclosures. The species held in the park include Rhinoceros, Eland, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Addax, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Ankole, Zebra, African Wild Ass, Elephant, Camel, Bison, Bongo, Lions, Tigers, Wolves, Black Bear, Drills and Patas monkeys and Barbary apes.
The Park also has a 40-acre (16 ha) leisure area featuring animal talks, petting zones, a gift shop, family restaurant and the Go Ape! 'high wire forest adventure' course. Animal in the leisure park include lemurs, squirrel monkeys, wallabys and emus, penguins, goats, ponys, reptiles and some free ranging marmosets. It also has a soft play centre called Mammoth Play Ark.
There is also a 20in (508 mm) railway, the "Great Woburn Railway" that (as of 2011) is free to use by Safari Park customers.
No Comments Yet - Why not be the first to leave a comment
Every effort is made to make sure that all the information is correct but we strongly recommend that you call Woburn Safari Park before you set off on your day out to confirm opening times and admission prices.
Please also note that the position on Google maps for Woburn Safari Park is a rough estimate using their postcode in the database and might be slightly out.
It may also be worth clicking the web link for Woburn Safari Park to see if there are any special events coming up or currently on.
Go Ape! Woburn Safari Park