Highland Safaris — Attraction in Scotland

One of the best days out we’ve had!

We headed over to Highland Safaris after hearing about them by chance. We were looking for somewhere local to Kenmore to eat and the cafe came highly recommended, but we didn’t realise it was part of the Highland Safari business.

When we arrived, we were met by one of the nicest members of staff who I honestly can’t thank enough as his manner, especially with the kids, absolutely made our experience that much better. Sorry I didn’t catch his name but it was the gentleman who was on cafe duties 04/03 (officially, but helped with running everything!) who is a real credit to the company! He was so friendly, knowledgable sharing lots of little stories with us and just very easy to chat to. We had some lunch which was delicious and then headed off for my son’s highlight - the mini land rovers!

These replicas of the full size defenders are absolutely brilliant for kids to have a shot on, with a perfect track which has both a safe dirt circular route, with a few natural bends in the landscape to offer a child’s view of a bit of an ‘element of danger’ going over the odd mound or tree root. The guide I mentioned above was with us and had a kill switch remote if any driving by my six year old got a bit questionable, which as a parent is great to see fun being high on the priority list, but safety first!

We then went in search of the red deer and owls. There is a short discovery trail around the fields where the deer were relaxing so we had a great view to see them up close, and we were also lucky enough to see one of the owls perched in her enclosure. A swing in the play park, and a few purchases in the gift shop later and our visit was complete.

We went ‘off season’ in March so activities such as gold panning, archery and axe throwing weren’t on that day, which sound great fun so we will definitely be back in the summer, but not having access to these elements didn’t spoil our visit in the slightest there was still lots to do! Of course the biggest attraction to Highland Safaris is the actual vehicle safaris which look amazing, but on this trip we weren’t there to enjoy those experiences, we just wanted somewhere to take the kids for a couple of hours of play (kids can do the safaris too but just not the purpose of our visit on this occasion).

A thoroughly well maintained, lovely location with well thought out and planned activities with the loveliest staff…What more can...

A wonderful outdoor attraction which offers a lot for free as well as their acclaimed 4x4 Land Rover safari tours.

We didn’t take a Safari tour but their website boasts rave reviews so if you’d like to see the local wild life at close quarters and get to do a bit of driving yourself then this is definitely worth doing. They offer picnics too.

The site in Dull has a small heard of red deer including Rua, the magnificent stag, a barn owl and a short discovery trail that takes you a short way up the hill behind the coffee shop. Along the trail are activities and information points including historical artefacts harking back to highland life in the past. There are also some sensory boxes, a maze and a viewpoint as well as a great children’s play park with some trikes and tractors in addition to a good quality climbing frame.

All of this is available without paying a penny. To spend your pennies you can stop for coffee, delicious homemade cakes or lunch, all with plenty of gluten free choice, browse the lovely gift shop or get the kids involved in gold panning.

For the more adventurous, or those with more spare cash, take the 4x4 safari or hire bikes - the best bit is that they will take you to the top of the hill to cycle down should you prefer that!

Dogs are welcome throughout the site, including in the café, the only exception is on...

We visited this center with Lochs and Glens Holidays as part of our holiday, and was expecting a tour around different areas to see wildlife, but instead all we got was a bumpy car ride around a track upto the highest point with a couple of stops for a talk on the areas, which I must say were very interesting. However when we got back to the center we learned the other members of our coach party were told a lot of info and had things of interest pointed out to them along the way. Our driver spent all his time talking to one of our coach drivers that came in our car. He spoke so softly that the 3 of us in the back couldn't hear what he was saying, so don't know if he was talking to us or not, or just having a private conversation with him. A lot of us were also expecting to take part in the axe throwing and archery but the gate to the area was locked, don't really know if that was supposed to be part of our experience or not having now read that there are different "safari's". So overall was very disappointed with our experience. The only highlight for us was the owl display and talk, and talk about and feeding the deer which was very interesting and...