Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To be worried about the drive through safari?

109 replies

slipperandleggings · 14/08/2021 13:48

Anyone been?
Do the animals really wreck your car? Kids are begging to go but I'm worried about loosing a mirror!
I know we can walk a different route but they really want to drive... just risk assessing before booking!

OP posts:

mnahmnah · 14/08/2021 13:50

We’ve been a few times and always go in our second car that we don’t care as ouch about, just in case. We’ve never had any damage and not seen other cars getting damaged when we were there either. However, there are enough people who have had damage and videos out there if it, to show that it does happen. So go prepared for a windscreen wiper, trim or wing mirror to be removed

Leftphalange · 14/08/2021 13:52

We have done it loads of times with no issues. The monkeys have a bit of a reputation for car damage, but at our local one you can skip their section. We usually do it and while we have had them sitting on the car, they haven't damaged it in anyway.

ThreeB · 14/08/2021 13:53

We've done the one at Woburn numerous times over the years. Best experience was when a bear cub bit the caravan tow bar on my Dads car. Dad was fuming but we thought it was hilarious!
In all seriousness, the cars I've seen with bad damage (ie windscreen wipers pulled off) are normally the cars that belong to the idiots who try and feed crisps etc out the windows. The monkey enclosure is usually the problematic one and you can skip that at Woburn if you want.

Knitwit101 · 14/08/2021 13:54

We've never had any damage. Most of the time the animals haven't been anywhere near us, it's always been quite underwhelming.
My dad would never drive through a safari park when we were kids in case a monkey stole his custon-built aerial.

HealthKick2021 · 14/08/2021 13:55

My friends went recently and the monkeys stole their number plate. 🤣 that has put us off going.

CushionsandCandles · 14/08/2021 13:56

The Longleat ones are vandals!!
This is one on our wing mirror with the aerial of the car in front. Several of them were at it......

To be worried about the drive through safari?

AdriannaP · 14/08/2021 13:57

If you are thinking of Longleat, the monkeys will definitely try and wreck your car. Remove your aerial beforehand or you can skip the monkey bit.

Sirzy · 14/08/2021 13:57

We go to Knowsley. I won’t drive my car through the monkeys but you can go through on a minibus if you want or on the safe route you can pull up and watch other cars being ruined the monkeys

BabbleBee · 14/08/2021 13:58

We went to Longleat couple of weeks ago and had no issues with the monkeys… however the guy in the mondeo behind us wasn’t so lucky and he did not look best pleased!

Mol1628 · 14/08/2021 14:00

Yes they’ll damage your car. At longleat we saw them ripping all the trims off, brand badges, all sorts.
We went through in our old car but I wouldn’t do it with our new one.

Idontgiveagriffindamn · 14/08/2021 14:01

Depends on which safari I guess. We’ve just been to West Midlands safari park which was fab. No monkeys to wrench your car but lots of animals that come close.

Felyne · 14/08/2021 14:02

We did Longleat. The monkeys fortunately left our car well alone, much to my kids' disappointment (I think watching a monkey poo on the sunroof would have made my son's whole year) but the car in front lost an aerial and rear wiper blade.

Madcats · 14/08/2021 14:03

The monkeys at Longleat are pros! We had teethmarks on rubber bits of our old car (which we knew we'd be replacing).

There is a detour around that part of the safari for people that don't want to replace their plastic trim/number plates/windscreen wipers. If you start driving the monkeys will normally jump off. You could pull up and watch people getting their cars wrecked (a pair of binoculars might help).

You can also pay a little extra to be driven round in a bus.

FiloPasty · 14/08/2021 14:06

Yes Longleaf they are absolute terrors, ripped the rear windscreen wiper off our car, and were tearing shreds off the car in front.

They should have safari buses to go through my husband said we are never doing it again the kids thought it was hilarious though.

SomethingAboutNothing · 14/08/2021 14:10

We went to longleat last week, had a monkey sitting on the roof of our car for a while but no damage done. We saw a campervan get quite a bit of attention though, and any additions to cars seemed to make them interested so bike racks etc are a bad idea. It was brilliant fun watching them though, I highly recommend it!

RavenclawsRoar · 14/08/2021 14:11

We skipped the monkeys at longleat for this reason - we went years ago in a much crapper car that we didn't mind getting ruined but this time our car is a bit nicer so DH got a bit twitchy. There's also another enclosure where you can feed the animals through the window and that one warns they may damage the car so we skipped that one too. The rest of the animals we saw couldn't have been less interested in the cars - they were either asleep or as far away from the road as they could possibly get.

PeterCorbeau · 14/08/2021 14:12

I went some 20 years ago with my grandpa. The monkeys pulled a bunch of stuff off his car in about 30 seconds! The member of staff we spoke to said they knew all the models of cars and their weak spots It cost my grandpa like £300 to replace all the stuff. He was muttering about it all the way home.

idontlikealdi · 14/08/2021 14:13

There is an escape lane if you want to do the rest of the drive through at longleat. They will try and wreck your car - took of our rear wiper and the camper van in front of us had loads of bits taken off.

whataballbag · 14/08/2021 14:13

The little shits at Knowsley once stole my nozzle where the screen wash comes out off the bonnet. Yanked all the tubing out too. One of them then promptly shit on my bonnet then they all left.

Kids found it hilarious though

TeenMinusTests · 14/08/2021 14:13

Use a detour to avoid the monkey section and the rest should probably be fine.

bowchicawowwow · 14/08/2021 14:13

The Longleat ones are vandals. I lost a car aerial, washer jets and they were making a bid for my small side indicators so I opened the window and pushed the monkey off before the damage got worse.

Peridot1 · 14/08/2021 14:18

We did Longleat yesterday. They are vandals!

It can’t be good for them either. We watched one take the parking sensor off the car in front and eat bits off it. I wouldn’t do that but again. We avoided the deer bit too as they can damage cars. And we get deer in our garden who damage trees as it is!

Watto1 · 14/08/2021 14:20

You can definitely skip the monkey section at Longleat.

When I was little, we went through the monkey section in Dad’s company car (he wasn’t too bothered if the car was damaged as he wouldn’t be paying for it!). They pulled out the majority of the rubber from around the windscreen. Dad took it to the garage to be fixed and said to the mechanic,”You’ll never guess how that happened!” The guy replied “Monkey at Longleat?” Apparently it was a very common thing!

TheGoogleMum · 14/08/2021 14:21

As long as they don't have monkeys you'll probably be ok! If there's monkeys it's anyone guess they can be very naughty

Thedayohthedayohtheday · 14/08/2021 14:22

Don't they still have the Safari buses?

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread