Howletts Wild Animal Park / Парк диких животных Хоулеттс
Howletts Wildlife Park & Conservation Charity In Kent
Littlebourne, United Kingdom / Литтлборн, Великобритания
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I’m going to be visiting Howletts in a couple of weeks and I’m very excited! It’s not easy to get to but a friend has very kindly offered to drive me there. I hope Jochi is doing well, I can’t wait to see him! 
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OMG, we love Jochi! He is so cool-looking dude! We wish you a wonderful and safe trip! We will be happy to see your photos! 
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Oooooooooo how exciting!! Best of luck in your manulquest and fingers crossed Jochi gives you lots of opportunities for pictures to share! 
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Jochi’s Zoo Report
My friend was kind enough to drive me to Howletts Wild Animal Park last Monday. We arrived when it opened at 10am, and I spent about five hours by Jochi’s enclosure. In that time I saw him for maybe 60 seconds, but it was totally worth it!
Jochi’s enclosure is impressive: it has trees and boulders, a small hut set near the back so he can be alone, and there is a separate enclosure right behind it that he can access, away from visitors, which looks only slightly smaller than the main one.
When I arrived, I suspected Jochi was in his hut, even though there were so many hiding places that he could really have been anywhere! But when one of the zookeepers went into the back enclosure, I knew he would emerge…
I had emailed the zoo beforehand to ask when Jochi would be fed, hoping to take some photos like the ones I took of Akiko when he was in Banham Zoo. The zoo replied that all the cats are fed behind the scenes so they’re not disturbed by visitors, and that there are no set feeding times for them. Instead, they vary the times the cats get food, like they would experience in the wild. They say this is better for them, and it makes sense to me!
As expected, Jochi sensed the keeper was delivering his food, and he trundled down the plank from his hut and went into the back enclosure to eat. He was almost entirely hidden from view, but I did manage to briefly glimpse him walking around in silhouette. After eating, he went straight back to his hut!
Later, the zookeeper entered the main enclosure to change his bedding. She carefully opened up the hut – Jochi took the opportunity to go and have a drink of water – and she replaced the straw inside. When the zookeeper left, Jochi quickly walked back to his hut, and I managed to grab a few more photos.
You can see Jochi looking up at the keeper here, just before he runs off to his water bowl!
Unfortunately I didn’t get as many photographs as I wanted, and my camera’s auto-focus was thwarted by the enclosure’s fence, so I had to focus manually (hence the blurriness).
But as an experience, it was fantastic! Some of the older visitors I spoke to by the enclosure had been going to Howletts, and to their other zoo ‘Port Lympne’, for decades and had never managed to see any manuls. So I felt extremely lucky to have met Jochi – and rewarded for standing out in the cold for five hours!
If there was any downside, it was that I went during the UK schools’ half-term holidays, so there were lots of children around, and they were extremely loud. I think the commotion from all the kids put off a lot of animals there, but I really appreciate that Howletts gives all of them their own private spaces so they can escape the crowds. The keepers there seem very conscientious and clearly care deeply for their animals, as evidenced by their policy of allowing the animals to choose whether they want to be seen or not.
This is only the second manul trip I’ve taken, and I’m over the moon that I got to meet Jochi. He is so beautiful and charming, and it was a privilege.
If anyone has the opportunity to go to Howletts, I would highly recommend it. I want to visit Port Lympne one day to meet Namuu and Atlan, but I think I’ll wait a while before asking any more favours of my friends again!
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Oh! You had a very cool meeting! Congratulations! You are very lucky that Jochi proved himself.
Tell me, is there a Jochi in the first photo? Or is there only an aviary?
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Thank you, I feel very lucky!
The first photo is just part of the enclosure – unfortunately no Jochi to be seen! At that point he was still resting in his hut.
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Thank you Maxamillian for such a great report!!!
We were so happy to see Jochi and felt like we were there ourselves!
It looks like Jochi has a great house and carrying keepers and he looks soooo amazing! I hope we’ll see him one day in person! 
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And I was playing Find the Cat 
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Same!! 
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Oh wow thanks for the great report!! I’m glad you got to see Jochi if even for a short while. And I’m also so glad he seems to have such excellent care there. 
Can’t wait for a report from Port Lympne too soon!
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