Britain’s first luxury hotel suite inside a ZOO has opened its doors – where guests can wake up among the lions and hippos.
At up to £1,050 a night, The Lodge at Bristol Zoo is a unique safari-style stay where guests can enjoy the ultimate ‘lion in’.
Clients will be able watch tapirs and hippos from their balcony while being served a four-course dinner by their own private chef.
They will also have the run of the zoo entirely to themselves after everyone has gone home.
A personal keeper will supply private after-hours tours and feeding sessions with red pandas and lions.
The cost of staying in the two-bedroom lodge, which sleeps four adults and two children, will range from £750 to £1,050.
Bristol Zoo is the fifth oldest in the world and the first in Britain to offer such inside accommodation.
They say The Lodge offers “a secluded luxury lodge with a hint of safari”.
Zoo spokesman Owain Cassidy said: “We are inviting people to come and create some amazing memories during their stay at The Lodge.
“The real adventure begins when guests are taken behind-the-scenes to meet some of our best loved animals when everyone else has gone home.
“Guests can watch the sun set and rise over the Zoo in this intimate experience offering exclusive access to the Zoo.”
The luxury overnight experience features a four-course dinner on a private balcony, looking out over the Zona Brazil enclosure.
Guests might be able to spot pygmy hippos, tapirs and the world’s largest living rodent – the capybara.
The evening feeding session will allow guests to meet the penguins and monkeys and feed the seals, red pandas and lions.
In the morning, once guests have seen the sun rise over the zoo, they can feed the meerkats before enjoying a breakfast next to the gorillas.
The Lodge is be open to guests from this weekend and the zoo has said they have already had a number of enquiries from guests eager to get a taste of the adventure.
