THE LIONS WHO CAME TO TEA!

Luckily they didn't eat SAMANTHA WOSTEAR or her family, as they road-tested a roarsome safari experience that lets visitors get up close and personal with some of the world's most majestic animals... without the need to fly to Africa

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UNCHING in the top secret four-digit security code to pass through multiple gates in different lodge areas has all the trappings of the opening scene in a Jurassic Park movie — and we all know what happened there.

It’s a hot summer day and the pastures are eerily quiet, while the great beasts of the Serengeti and Sumatra take shelter in the shade from the sun. There is a feeling of being detected, if not watched, by the natural hunters in our midst as we trudge along a dusty path just on the right side of the security fence to reach Lion Lodge.

It might sound like I’m in the African wilderness, but I’m not.

I’m at West Midlands Safari Park, near Kidderminster, which in 2021 became one of the first UK safari park to offer an overnight immersive wildlife encounter.

The out-of-Africa experience allows visitors to sleep in a luxurious lodge where outside, separated only by a protective lens of glass, lions prowl, hippos stir and giraffes graze. The wildlife you see is dependent on your choice of lodge, but each one offers its inhabitants something different.

Vikki Green, head of marketing at WMSP, says the lodge project is creature-led.

"It's first and foremost about upgrading the animal habitat and facilities," she explains. "Each habitat has been designed with the animals in mind, with lots of enrichment points, 24-hour, heated, upgraded housing and animal husbandry areas."

But it’s clear it’s equally enriching for humankind. So popular has the overnight experience been that the idea has spread to at least six other UK wildlife parks the latest, The Reserve, is due to open at Chester Zoo next month. In a first, the zoo will use the income to fund species-saving conservation programmes at home and across the globe.

And this new type of trip is due to grow in popularity: in one recent survey, 45% of UK holidaymakers said they'd rather take a safari trip than book a beach stay for their holiday.