ROOMS WITH A ZOO

FIVE OTHER WILDLIFE SLEEPOVERS

The Lodge at Bristol Zoo In this two-bedroom abode, guests wake up to the whistling of goeldi monkeys and the “padpad” of plump-bellied capybara rodents. Expect out-of-hours zoo tours and breakfast in a glass enclosure beneath the gorillas.

Rooms from £125 per person, for six people (0117 974 7300; bristolzoo.org. uk/latest-zoo-news/The-Lodge).

Durrell Wildlife Camp at Durrell Wildlife Park, Jersey Stay in a canvas pod sleeping four. From their private deck, visitors can watch lemurs and howler monkeys lolling in trees.

Rooms from £170 (01534 860090; telegraph.co.uk/durrell wildlifecamp).

Lookout Lodge at Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire Timber lodges overlook the zoo’s herd of white rhinos and the Chiltern grasslands. Stays here include a barbecue and a torchlit walk.

Rooms from £338; £40 supplement for child’s sofa bed (0344 225 1826; zsl.org/zslwhipsnade-zoo/lookout-lodge).

Treehouse Hotel at Port Lympne Reserve, Kent Glass-fronted, futuristic apartments clamped to a hillside sleep four, and offer vistas of black rhinos browsing the bush below. Includes safari drives.

Rooms from £300 midweek, £400 weekends (01303 802648; aspinallfoundation. org/treehouse-hotel).

Paradise Wildlife Park, Hertfordshire The Snooze at the Zoo VIP package includes a stay in the Zebra Suite, an apartment that sleeps six. Breakfast in the Tiger Treetops café, which overlooks a family of the big striped cats, is included. So too is a guided tour culminating in an interaction with bearded dragons.

Rooms from £249 for up to two adults and one child; £299 for a family of up to four (01992 470490; pwpark. com/snooze-at-the-zoo). its snout in a bag of insects, only to get its entire nose stuck is, it turns out, one of the most hilarious things a person can see.

Settling down to bed at the lion lodge provided yet more adrenalising thrills. As my friend and I sipped hot chocolate on our hut’s private veranda, we could hear the strange, strangled whimper of flamingos. One of the Asiatic lions made a gurgling roar as it lay down to sleep next door. It was a curious sound – like water draining down a plug hole.

In the morning, we woke to the high-pitched “hoe hoe” of the langur monkeys and the caw of the zoo’s Malaysian cock. A rubbish truck provided the whirring bass to the symphony – this is London after all.

Our morning tour before the zoo opened provided more remarkable moments: as well as watching lions enjoy their chicken breakfast, we sunbathed cross-legged with the lemurs in the early morning sun.

On my way to the exit, I noticed keepers whistling as they cleaned the animal pens before the first visitors arrived. It occurred to me that England’s most famous zoo spends 16 out of 24 hours each day away from the public eye. So much of what happens here is simply never seen. Until today, that is.

Huts at the Gir Lion Lodge cost from £378 per couple, plus a £50 supplement for each additional child. The experience includes an overnight stay, a two-course dinner, breakfast and three out-of-hours tours of London Zoo (020 7449 6200; telegraph.co.uk/girlionlodge).