Breakfast with the gorillas - a wild night at Bristol Zoo Lodge
We were alone and surrounded by western lowland gorillas, including a 30-stone silverback. Yet they barely batted a eye as we breakfasted on egg and bacon rolls and mugs of tea. Instead, the youngest pair played an elaborate version of tag while the commanding silverback sat directly above us seemingly oblivious to our private, early-morning visit to the Gorilla House, the 180-degree, glass-fronted centrepiece of Bristol Zoo Gardens. He was the boss of this domain and he knew it.
The out-of-hours escapade was part of our night at the zoo staying in a former keeper’s lodge and one which not only realigned my view of zoos (it was sobering to learn that these gorillas are critically endangered in their Cameroon homeland) but also proved a great learning adventure for our five-year-old daughter, Saskia.
It had all begun the afternoon before when the three of us arrived just ahead of closing time and were escorted to our spacious lodge in the heart of the zoo. There we were met by Ian Rodgerson, one of Bristol Zoo's knowledgable rangers, for an early evening behind-the-scenes tour.
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Away from the bustling crowds we had seen departing on our way in, there was something particularly intimate about what unfolded. Feeding sprats to the South American fur seals, including the “big daddy”, Otari, we watched transfixed as these creatures so ungainly on land glided gracefully through the water after the fish. Ian proved a mine of information as he explained how training keeps the fur seals mentally and physically fit, the tricks the keepers use to examine them and why their teeth turn black (it’s the oil in their fishy diet).
There are some 430 species in the zoo (which at just 12 acres is quite small; there is larger, sister zoo nearby, the Wild Place Project). Habitat is kept as natural as possible and throughout our tour, Ian stressed how much conservation, education and research were the zoo’s raison d’être and that its activities extend to 15 countries around the world with projects from Madagascar to the Philippines. A jolting reminder of how zoos used to be came when we walked past a bear pole, which were used in bear pits, from the early days of zoo – Bristol Zoo Gardens has been operating for 182 years and is the fifth oldest in the world.
“Stand behind the yellow line,” said Ian. We were upstairs in Monkey Jungle – an area normally off-limits to the public and the ranger was telling us not to stand too close to the lion-tailed macaques, brown spider monkeys and black gibbons. Their grip is incredibly strong, he added. And if you ever wondered why monkeys can look down-in-the-mouth – it’s because their jaws slacken when they relax. Start to worry when they bare their teeth and seem to smile!
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Leaving the primates, we continued our evening safari as Ian pointed out a starfish in one of the water tanks explaining how it has an eye on each of its arms and why its mouth and bottom are one and the same (Saskia was predictably fascinated by this gross fact). Elsewhere we gazed at two majestic Asiatic lions (the only big cats at the zoo and again an endangered species), long-tailed lemurs, a 90-year-old giant tortoise, tiny mouse deer, warty pigs (which look like humbugs when young) and the world’s largest rodent, the capybara, which resembled a genetically modified guinea pig.
Ian then escorted us back to our tastefully decorated two-bedroom lodge. Opened three years ago, it’s an impressive living space with large open-plan sitting and dining room (a sofa bed means it can sleep six), big flatscreen TV with Blu-ray player, bathroom with rainforest shower (Cole and Lewis products) and balcony overlooking the capybaras and the odd-looking tapirs. A chef arrived to prepare a sumptuous three-course dinner served by a waitress from the lodge’s small kitchen (which can only be used by the chef). When they depart the front door is locked – you can get out but if you do an alarm goes off. So no midnight rambling! There’s no denying it is expensive to stay, but it is a rare experience and the Bristol Zoological Society, which runs the zoo, is a charity.
We awoke to the distant whooping of gibbons and the screechy chattering of exotic birds, and shortly after set out on a guided morning tour spying silky smooth pygmy hippos, watching African penguins slide into the water as a keeper dolled out fish and another feeding watchful meerkats en route to our breakfast with the gorillas.
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After a fun-filled breakfast, we walked past elegant flamingos back to the lodge to collect our luggage, it was something of a shock to see other people again. We had become rather used to being alone with the animals of Bristol Zoo.
The Lodge at Bristol Zoo Gardens is open every day apart from Christmas Day. Prices range from £750 a night (Sunday to Thursday, January to March and November and December) to £1,050 on a Friday and Saturday in July and August. This includes two tours, dinner and breakfast (0117 4285 300; thelodgebristolzoo.co.uk).
