Find local news in Kent

Home   What's On   News   Article

Celebrate World Elephant Day at Howletts Wild Animal Park, near Canterbury, with family tickets and an elephant encounter

10:00, 09 August 2024

Meet the UK’s largest herd of African elephants with this brilliant prize.

We’re giving one lucky winner a family ticket to Howletts Wild Animal Park in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury, as part of the park’s Wild Summer.

Each week of the summer holidays, the animal park will be showcasing a different species and, from Monday, August 12 to Sunday, August 18, it’s Elephant Week.

It ties in with World Elephant Day, which falls on Monday, August 12, and will see special keeper talks, craft activities, an outdoor trail and free animal feeds take place all week.

Not only are we giving away a family ticket but, as part of Elephant Week, we’re also giving our lucky winner an Elephant Encounter where you can learn all about these majestic creatures and help the keeper feed them.

To be in with a chance of winning, click here.

Howletts is celebrating its herd of African elephants with extra keeper talks and craft activities. Picture: Howletts
Howletts is celebrating its herd of African elephants with extra keeper talks and craft activities. Picture: Howletts

Howletts is home to 13 elephants, including three calves, inside an eight-acre enclosure.

During your visit, look out for Tammi, the 34-year-old matriarch of the herd, and Nguvu, the playful calf and the youngest elephant in the park.

Elephant Week is also a great time to find out more about the Aspinall Foundation, Howletts’ charity partner, who is currently working on a project to help return the herd to the wild.

The first-of-its-kind rewilding will see the elephants flown 7,000km across the globe to Kenya. The elephants are currently in training for the big day by practising walking into custom-built crates that will be used during the flight.

There have been smaller attempts to return single or pairs of elephants to the wild in the past, but this will be the first time an entire herd has been rewilded.

If you want to visit Howletts and meet the elephants before they are released into the wild, you can take advantage of the park’s new summer ticket value bundle offer that gives visitors great savings on group tickets.

You can book tickets to visit Howletts online here.

The park is open daily from 9.30am to 6pm during the school holidays.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More