The Big Cat Sanctuary is set in the heart of the countryside at Smarden, in Kent.
The peace and tranquility of the site provides a sanctuary and excellent conditions for the successful breeding of the beautiful, yet endangered cats both large and small within the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme.
WHF, The Big Cat Sanctuary has in excess of 50 cats including African lions, White lions, Amur leopards, North Chinese leopards, Snow leopards, Amur tigers, Sumatran tigers, Cheetah, Lynx, Fishing cats, Jaguars, Pallas cats, Pumas, Rusty Spotted cats, Jungle cats and Servals.
My husband, daughter and I had been looking forward to this open day for so long.
As we live in Gloucester we drove down Friday night and stayed in a hotel so we could arrive at the sanctuary for opening time.
A few years ago My husband and I had an amazing experience at the paradise wildlife park where we took part in being a big cat keeper for the day for our anniversary.
At the time we would have loved to visit the sanctuary but just couldn't afford to attend any of the experiences.
So when the opportunity for the open days came up, we were so excited and booked tickets immediately!
We all love big cats and we are all photography fans so as you can imagine we were very keen to arrive.
Parking was well organised and we managed to park with no problems.
We arrived early but to our surprise we were allowed in early.
All the staff welcomed us in and gave us all of the information we could need. Maps of the site and a timetable of the days events were available to take a photo of to save paper.
We were all amazed by seeing so many big cats in one place! Each cat had a keeper by the enclosure so any questions were happily answered.
There were many stalls which you could look around and so many friendly faces. Music was playing as you walked around.
As we went on the Saturday we were thankful it wasn't super hot like it had been, but unfortunately it was raining on and off for most if the day.
But we all know UK weather is very unpredictable!
But to our pleasant surprise most of the big cats seem to be enjoying walking around in the rain!
We were a little sad not to see the baby snow leopards but it's just one of those things and I don't blame them for being snuggled up with mum in their enclosure!
Food was available for purchase throughout the Park, not sure on prices as we brought a picnic which we ate in the car during a shower!
Raffles tickets were available for purchase, we didn't win unfortunately but well done to those who did.
The anti poaching display was exciting and something I have never seen before!
The drummers were around which certainly brought a smile to your face, with their colourful outfits and funky drum beats!
Overall it was a great day.
I would highly recommend a visit.
Hopefully next year the rain will hold off :-)
Thank you so much to the big cat Sanctuary for this amazing opportunity.
Thank you for watching :-)
