Blair Drummond Safari Park is a family visitor attraction located near

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It opened to the public on 15 May 1970 and is home to over 350 animals, many of which roam freely or are kept in large enclosures in the estate. The Safari Park is open from mid March until the end of October each year.

History

The original

Blair Drummond Blair Drummond is a small rural community northwest of Stirling in the Stirling district of Scotland, predominantly located along the A84 road. Lying to the north of the River Forth, the community is within the registration county of Perthshire ...

House was built in 1715. Sir John Kay, a tea merchant from Glasgow, purchased the house and its surrounding land in 1916. Because he had no sons, Kay passed the property to his nephew Sir John Muir, the grandfather of the park's present owner Jamie Muir. The house was a family home until it was sold to the Camphill Movement, a charity that cares for people with special needs, in 1977. The current Blair Drummond House was built in a new location in 1872 by James Campbell Walker, and again in 1923 by James Bow Dunn after a fire destroyed the previous house. Blair Drummond Safari Park was opened in 1970, with the help of Jimmy Chipperfield, one of Britain's first safari parks (

Longleat Safari Park Longleat Safari and Adventure Park in Wiltshire, England, was opened in 1966 as the world's first drive-through safari park outside Africa. History The park is situated in the grounds of Longleat House, an English stately home which is open t ...

being the first, in 1966).

Controversy

In June 2021,

Born Free ''Born Free'' is a 1966 British drama film starring the real-life couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, another real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her in ...

called for an investigation of the park over animal deaths.

The reserves

African reserve

The first reserve features non-carnivorous native African species, such as

Grant's zebra Grant's zebra (''Equus quagga boehmi'') is the smallest of the seven subspecies of the plains zebra. This subspecies represents the zebra form of the Serengeti- Mara ecosystem and others across central Africa. Distribution This subspecies is di ...

Ankole-Watusi The Ankole-Watusi is a modern American breed of domestic cattle. It derives from the Ankole group of Sanga cattle breeds of east and central Africa. It is characterized by very large horns. History The Ankole-Watusi derives from cattle ...

cattle,

Guineafowl Guineafowl (; sometimes called "pet speckled hens" or "original fowl") are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. Phylogenetically, they branched o ...

Lechwe The lechwe, red lechwe, or southern lechwe (''Kobus leche'') is an antelope found in wetlands of south-central Africa. Range The lechwe is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and easte ...

Kudu The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus ''Tragelaphus'': * Lesser kudu, ''Tragelaphus imberbis'', of eastern Africa * Greater kudu, ''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'', of eastern and southern Africa The two species look similar, thou ...

and the

Southern white rhinoceros The southern white rhinoceros or southern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum simum'') is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the much rarer northern white rhinoceros). It is the most common and widespread subspecies ...

. The rhinos are part of a Europe-wide breeding programme which began in 2004 with the arrival of three young rhinos from

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

: Dorothy (Dot), Graham and Jane. Dorothy and Graham have gone on to have five calves: in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2014.

Lion reserve

The second reserve is home solely to African lions. They are also part of a Europe-wide breeding programme, with two of the females having been born in the park. There is currently one male, Zulu, introduced in February 2016 through an exchange with

Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen Wildlands, also known as Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen, is a zoo in Emmen, Netherlands, Emmen, the Netherlands. It opened in March 2016, replacing the Emmen Zoo. It was built at a cost of 200 million euros. Upon its reorganisation the zoo increas ...

to ensure genetic diversity is maintained.

Barbary macaque reserve

The optional third reserve, "Monkey Jungle", was opened to the public in 2015 and houses solely

Barbary macaque The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar. It is the type species of the ...

s. The monkeys were transferred to the park from Gibraltar in 2014 to reduce the problem they were beginning to cause to the peninsula's residents, and to prevent having to cull them as had been carried out previously. The Barbary macaque is listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

and in 2016 the park began to raise money for Barbary macaques being exploited for use as photo props in Morocco.

Asian reserve

The fourth and final reserve houses herbivorous species native to Asia, such as

Père David's deer The Père David's deer (''Elaphurus davidianus''), also known as the ''milu'' () or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of ...

Bactrian camel The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped drom ...

Nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter Sim ...

Axis deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Po ...

and

Eld's deer Eld's deer (''Rucervus eldii'' or ''Panolia eldii''Pitraa, Fickela, Meijaard, Groves (2004). ''Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 880–895.), also known as the thamin or brow-antlered deer, is ...

. In April 2016 the park welcomed the birth of two

, a species now

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...

The park

The following areas and attractions can be found in the park:

Chimp Island

The Boat Safari next to Lemur Land took visitors to view Chimp Island - an island home to a family of chimpanzees. The boat trips aren't running anymore and visitors have to take a path instead.

Elephants

The current elephant enclosure was opened by the Princess Royal in 2013, and was commended in the

British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) (formerly the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland) is a registered charity and the professional body representing over 100 zoos and aquariums in Britain and ...

' annual awards in the category "best new habitat".

Dinosaurs

In 2020, a dinosaur exhibit was opened. The dinosaurs were constructed with steel frame and silicone skin. They make movements and noises.

Other activities

Rides and amusements

The park has a large slide and playground, where visitors will find a pirate ship and adventure fort. They are all housed within a sand pit part of which is under cover to offer shelter in wet weather. Near the sea lion building is the large slide, and near the boat safari there are pedal boats and a flying fox. Other rides and attractions including

dodgems Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. Bumpe ...

, a kids' dragon

rollercoaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

, a

bouncy castle Bounce or The Bounce may refer to: * Deflection (physics), the event where an object collides with and bounces against a plane surface Books * Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books Broadcasting, film and TV * ''B ...

face painting Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "h ...

and a

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

Eating at the park

There is a restaurant and several snack outlets, and picnic tables are available for visitors who bring their own food and drinks. Visitors can also bring their own BBQ food and safari park will supply and light a

Barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

at no charge.

Notes

External links

* {{authority control Safari parks Zoos in Scotland Tourist attractions in Stirling (council area) 1970 establishments in Scotland Zoos established in 1970