Wingham Wildlife Park

Hide from the dinosaurs or enjoy birds, mammals, bugs, reptiles and more, with over 200 species to choose from.
Play outdoors or indoors as you pretend to be your favourite animals from the day.
Eat surrounded by wildlife at one of the picnic spots.
Spend the day as a keeper or go on a special tour.

Wingham Wildlife Park is a family-owned attraction just outside Canterbury, covering an area of 26 acres. It has the largest number of animal species out of all the animal parks in Kent and zoos in Kent, with over 200 in the park. Whatever animal you feel like seeing, you’ll likely find it at this wildlife park. If you feel like seeing some more while you’re in the area, Kent is brilliant for National Trust days out and walks.

The park began as Wingham Bird Park in 1986, and has over 40 different species of bird available to see. Particularly keep a look out for Edwards Pheasants, with as few as fifty left in the wild. Bird rescue through conservation is very important to the park, so is a great place to visit if you love them. There are also bird boxes around to help local birds with breeding. If you’d prefer birds that don’t fly around as much, there is a dedicated Penguin Pool, with a Humboldt penguin group. See them diving at the deepest end of the pool with a viewing window, and listen to the two feeds and talks that happen every day. Also keep an eye out for Jumbs and Kermit, two pair-bonded male penguins who recently raised a chick together.

As well as the importance of birds in the park, there are so many other animals to discover. As well as tigers, Wingham Wildlife Park is home to the only moon bears in the UK (Aroon and Mika in Little Himalaya), and also were able to help rescue Clarence and Brutus, two lions, from a circus in France, the largest rescue the park has been involved in. You can also spot red pandas, chilean flamingos, meerkats, and western chimpanzees, as well as many more species throughout the park, with talks and feedings going on throughout the day. You can easily find a new favourite animal here.

Image © Wingham Wildlife Park

Look out, there’s something with even bigger teeth at Wingham; dinosaurs! Learn all about the lifetime of the dinosaurs from the Cretaceous to the Jurassic and Permian periods. Spot a T-Rex, Diplodocus, Velociraptor and Stegosaurus, as well as plenty more species. If you stand very still they might just move.

Feel like playing but it’s raining? Luckily, the park has an outdoor and indoor play area right next to each other. Swing, jump and slide outdoors before enjoying the fun of squishy soft play. If you are still enjoying your animal visits, many of the exhibits have shelter for seeing how these animals react to the rain. You can also hide inside the tropical house with a variety of birds, the reptile house with lizards and bugs galore, the chimpanzee habitat (can you spot a family member?), or enjoy a museum collection at the back of the education centre.

Plus, if it's an extra-special day when you’re visiting, Wingham Wildlife Park puts on a variety of experiences. VIP tours let you spend two hours at the park after it has closed to ask questions, see the animals without the crowds, and discover how the animals got to the park. The Keeper for a Day experience lets you work with the keepers to get up close to the action, as well as eat lunch with them, so you can ask them plenty of questions. Prefer to focus on a particular animal? You can have some incredible animal experiences with meerkats, otters, penguins, raccoons, red pandas, tigers and more. Feed them a snack and enjoy 30 minutes of uninterrupted time learning about them from up close.

If you're peckish after your day out, picnics can be brought to eat at any of the covered and uncovered spots labelled on the park map. There is also a café on site, and a kiosk with drinks near the play area.

Have an incredible day at Wingham Wildlife Park.

What to know before you go

From October to March the park is open from 10am – 4pm; from April to September the park is open from 10am - 6pm.
Some paths may be a little bumpy but all animals can be seen from a wheelchair, even if going through the enclosure is not possible. The whole park has step free access, so is accessible with buggies and wheelchairs.
There is a buggy park outside the play area.
There are a number of toilets, including disabled around the park. A fully accessible toilet is available near the entrance.
Baby-changing facilities are available.

Getting there

The park is 15 minutes away from Canterbury by car. The car park entrance is at the bottom of the Pedding Hill dip. Stay on the A257.
Canterbury has two train stations, Canterbury East and Canterbury West. The number 43 can be taken from either station. It will get you to the zoo in 20 minutes from Canterbury Bus Station.