Beasts and breakfast

Expressman goes wild for UK safari park sleepover

- By Chris Riches Photos by Rowan Griffiths

IT might sound seemples but munching on locusts and squatting among a mob of meerkats is no walk in the safari park.

When Merseyside’s Knowsley Safari announced that this August Bank Holiday guests can camp overnight on site with bushtucker trials and barbecue, the Daily Express popped along for a peek.

But what I didn’t expect was sitting in the meerkat enclosure while the African mongooses had a creepy-crawly snack — then staff “treating” me to a lunch of locusts, crickets and mealworms.

Unlike my experience, Camp Knowsley: Safari Sleepover won't see guests released into the meerkat enclosure as the five bustling mammals scamper all over you.

Instead, adventurous campers will sleep under the stars and access the park, barbie, campfire fun and bushcraft activities such as bug-eating, lighting fires and building shelters as baboons and bears roar and howl through the night.

So how would it feel to stay after hours in a UK safari park, surrounded by woodland, 500-acres of wildlife, lions, tigers, giraffes, bears, camels, bush dogs, bald eagles and bison?