Attraction in Central Bedfordshire

Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire opened in 1970 as one of the first drive-through safari parks in Britain and remains one of the most popular and extensive wildlife parks in the country, set within the grounds of the Woburn Estate and combining a traditional drive-through safari experience with a substantial walk-through and interactive section. The combination of significant acreage, a high density of charismatic large mammals and a strong conservation programme has maintained its position as one of the premier wildlife experiences available outside of a major zoological garden. The drive-through safari reserve covers several hundred acres divided into different zones, each representing a broadly different wildlife habitat region. Visitors drive their own vehicles slowly through enclosures housing lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, white rhinoceroses, bison, bears and a large variety of African and Asian ungulates that graze the pastures on either side of the road at close range. The African lion section and the White Rhino enclosure are consistent highlights, and the experience of having a giraffe crane its neck to investigate the roof of your car through the open window is one that visitors remember for years. The foot safari section provides close encounters with a further range of species including penguins, meerkats, sea lions, lemurs and smaller primates. Keeper talks and feeding demonstrations take place throughout the day at various enclosures and provide educational context for the animals on display. Woburn Safari Park contributes to international conservation through membership of the European Endangered Species Programme and participates in coordinated breeding programmes for several threatened species. The Père David's deer herd at the adjacent Woburn Abbey estate, a species that owes its survival in significant part to the Woburn collection, is one of the most historically significant conservation achievements associated with the broader estate. The park is best visited on a weekday outside school holidays to avoid the heaviest crowds, and a full visit including both the drive-through and foot safari comfortably occupies a whole day.

ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in the Chiltern Hills of Bedfordshire is the largest zoo in the United Kingdom by area, covering approximately 600 acres of downland above the Vale of Aylesbury that provides space for the large animal enclosures and open paddocks in which the zoo's exceptional collection of large mammals, birds and other species is housed. Whipsnade was opened by the Zoological Society of London in 1931 as a country complement to the urban ZSL London Zoo, the spacious downland site providing conditions in which large animals including Asian elephants, white rhinos, giraffes and the large herd of European bison could be maintained in environments far more appropriate to their needs than the confined spaces of a city zoo. The zoo's position on the Chiltern escarpment gives it exceptional views over the Vale of Aylesbury below and a setting of considerable natural beauty, the combination of the open downland, the ancient beech woods at the scarp edge and the extensive grassland within the zoo creating an environment with its own intrinsic landscape value. The chalkhill blue and other butterfly species that use the unimproved chalk grassland within the zoo's perimeter are a reminder of the ecological value of this site beyond its role as an animal collection. The drive-through section of the zoo, through which visitors in their own cars pass the paddocks containing large herbivores in a format reminiscent of a safari park, provides a different experience from the walking sections and allows closer approach to animals in open enclosures. The combined effect of the drive-through and the walking exhibits makes Whipsnade a full-day destination of considerable variety. The Asian elephant herd at Whipsnade is one of the most significant in Europe and the zoo's elephant management and breeding programme is a major contribution to the conservation of this endangered species.