World's first safari park celebrates 60 years

A long-serving worker has shared his memories and favourite animals at a safari park he calls his "first home" as it celebrates 60 years of being open to the public.

Back in 1966, Longleat Safari Park opened the first drive-through safari outside of Africa with lions roaming the Wiltshire countryside.

Today, the estate houses more than 120 species of critically endangered or vulnerable wild animals.

Senior ward Ian Turner, who has been part of the team for 50 years, said the job is his "whole life" and he enjoys it so much that he hates booking a holiday away from his beloved "rhinos and red pandas".

Since it opened, millions of visitors have come face-to-face with lions, tigers and monkeys, with only a car window between them.

Turner said he has taken more than 10,000 pictures of the animals he fondly looks after every day.

"I've got three favourites, the rhinoceros, tigers and red pandas," he said.

"The pandas are an endangered species, and we're lucky to have them - and they named one after me.

"One of the female rhinos really likes me. She's like a dog, rolling over for tummy tickles."

He described how the safari has changed over the years, with upgrades for the places where the giraffes and lions sleep, and the amount of freedom and comfort all the animals now have.

"It's a first home for me - I live on site," he said.

"The worst thing my boss has with me is trying to get me to book holiday."

"I have no plans to stop," he added.

Longleat has its own historical collection and archives that include the very first pound used for entry and documents for when they erected the park's first fences.

Emma Challinor, who looks after them, said it is "sometimes a daunting responsibility", but "fascinating".

"We're always finding out new things," she said.

"The documents are very ordinary looking, but they are really quite important to the history of Longleat."

She went on to explain that the local authority that first gave planning permission for the fencing for the lions' enclosure did not realise it was for big cats.

"There was a very famous quote where the chairman of the Warminster District Council said, 'Lions, well I never, we thought it was for deer?'," she said.

At the time, Lord Bath received many complaints from the public, with people asking "what if the lions escaped and what if teddy boys or mods and rockers came and vandalised the fence?", Challinor said.

But once it opened, it quickly became a popular tourist attraction.

Some of the first to visit were gifted bumper stickers, which have become "quite the collector's item".

To celebrate the anniversary, Longleat will host an anniversary garden party alongside a series of talks from its keepers this weekend.

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