Having seen ZSL London Zoo’s Lodges listed in many ‘best wildlife experiences in the UK’ lists, it seemed like the perfect birthday treat for my animal-loving partner. Neither of us had visited the world’s oldest scientific zoo before, which seemed like even more of a reason to book the best possible introduction to the place! So, in early March, we headed up to the big city, specifically, to a little lodge right in the heart of the zoo.
Whilst this is predominantly a review of the Lodges experience, I would be remiss not to offer some opinions on London Zoo itself after a first visit, and honestly? I really, really liked it! For a city zoo, London Zoo was so much more expansive than I expected, housing an enormous collection of animals in modern, spacious exhibits with most offering guests a dynamic variety of views. Though we visited on a Saturday, the place never felt too packed either, with things only ever really feeling busy in the restaurant around lunchtime – quelle surprise – whilst exhibits were largely manageable. Be it through the design of the exhibits, or from sheer luck, it felt like we got a lot more close-up animal views than usual throughout our visit. It was certainly the closest I’ve ever come to a zebra!
Plus, the park is packed with exhibits that allow you to get up close and personal with the animals with a walk-through experience. These included lemurs, butterflies, squirrel monkeys and even spiders! We may have skipped the last one. On that note, just take a look at the butterfly house, because it is spectacular.
Getting eaten, and pooped out by a caterpillar? Incredible.
But the zoo’s pièce de résistance, its magnificent centrepiece, is without a doubt Land of the Lions. I’m not even really a lion person – I tend to prefer smaller critters in a zoo – but as a theming person? Well, this is some of the greatest theming I have seen across any attraction in the UK. For those who have been lucky enough to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom over in Walt Disney World, this is reminiscent of some of the very best theming at that park – one of my favourite in the world.
Themed to a town in Gurjurat, the state in India that houses the world’s only remaining wild population of Asiatic lions, this fantastic exhibit is designed to evoke how humans have learned to live alongside lions in peace, and does so with a riot of colour and beautiful artistry.
All of which brings us nicely back to the lodges, which – delightfully – are located right in the heart of Land of the Lions, directly opposite their enclosure. Much like this post, a stay at the lodges begins with a day in the zoo. Guests are welcome to arrive at any point in the day to take in the sights as day guests (but guests with 10% off at the restaurant and gift shop), but must check-in at the lodges between 16:00-17:00. So, 16:30 found us rocking up to the lodge gate and immediately being greeted by a very enthusiastic host who showed us to our home for the night: Leopard Lodge.
With no double lodges available anywhere near the time I wanted to visit, I’d settled for booking a twin (lesson: book in advance) and we’d ended up in Leopard, the one accessible lodge. This meant an accessible bathroom, which was – as these things often are – very utilitarian which was a little bit of a shame and a slightly smaller bedroom than the others, but it was still a very charming space. The mural on the rear wall was stunning, and it felt very warm and cosy within – just a very nice place to be! There aren’t masses of facilities in the lodges – a hairdryer, kettle, radiator and fan are about your lot – but there are lots and lots of plugs (hurrah!) The only major issue I had with our lodge was that the bathroom was freezing. The only source of heat in our (very large, accessible) bathroom was a tiny towel rail, and with temperatures fluctuating between -1 and 4 degrees celsius – love you, March – that didn’t quite cut it in our little wooden hut. We got around this by cranking the bedroom heating up to maximum and leaving the bathroom door open when we went out for the evening, but closing the door overnight meant by the time morning came around it was back to being an ice box! But hey, you barely spend any time in your lodge anyway. Because this isn’t an overnight stay, it’s an experience. In fact, arriving just 30 mins after check-in began and leaving at the latest possible time, we were able to access our lodge for a grand total of 10 hours. It’s a busy stay!
After spending a short while getting cosy in the lodge – there’s something very special about lying on a warm bed listening to lions roar – we listened as the zoo closing announcements played out and the day guests filed out the zoo. That meant it was our turn to take over! Guests in all the lodges (there are 9 in total) would be grouped together and led on a twilight tour of selected exhibits around the zoo. After that we were scheduled to enjoy a two-course meal (choices had been emailed over a week prior) before heading out on another late-night tour! A very exciting evening. 17:15 found us being handed a large glass of prosecco each, and gathering round to listen to a talk about the design of the Land of the Lions and of course, all about the lions themselves. All whilst a lion strolled casually up and down, letting out roars as he pleased.
Next up, a visit to the porcupines. Here we were handed one cardboard box per lodge, a handful of nuts to hide inside, and instructed to throw our box as far as we could into the enclosure and watch in delight as the prickly, beautiful creatures snuffled their way in. As a primarily nocturnal creature, it was a bonus of the after-hours experience to get to see the porcupines active and it was very lovely. As we walked around the zoo, we were able to illuminate the way using specific (animal-friendly) red torches. These were at their most special when we entered the nocturnal house. Here we were able to use our red torches to hunt in the enclosures for animals we might not ordinarily have been able to spot as we watched the nocturnal critters bed down for what was their daytime.
With our first tour complete, we were escorted to the zoo’s main restaurant for dinner. The space had been jazzed up with tablecloths, colourful lighting and a little speaker system playing slow instrumental versions of pop songs.
The restaurant is sadly is where the experience fell down slightly for me. Both dinner courses were served in the order the lodges sit at the site, and with Leopard last in the little horseshoe of houses our food arrived last, and barely warm. The meal itself was very tasty – I had a vegetarian tagine which was rich with flavour and had a surprisingly good variety of textures – but was sadly let down by this. It was also very, very cold in the vast restaurant, with just the small number of people present. Eating dinner in your Big Coat takes away from the vibe a bit!
Whilst dinner is included in the package, drinks are an additional cost with a can of Rekorderlig coming in at £5 and a pint of Camden Hells at £6.75. Honestly, not atrocious for Central London imo.
Dinner down, we headed back into the freezing cold (seriously, I was struggling) night for our final evening activity: another hour-long tour. This time we were taken around the bug house (hooray for warmth), with the option of a free roam or joining one of our guides for a tour, the flamingo pond and – potentially my favourite part of the evening – a behind-the-scenes look at the kitchen used to prepare everyone’s food – including the gorilla’s preferred flavours of Twinings tea! We also learned a lot about the zoo as we were shown around by the excellent guides, including the dangers of being such a historic site. For instance, thirteen of the zoo’s buildings are Grade I listed, and with many of these being animal enclosures that are simply unfit for habitation by modern welfare standards, they find themselves increasingly collecting somewhat useless buildings, whilst running out of space to ethically house animals. Interesting stuff!
Our evening’s entertainment wrapped up at about 21:40, at which point we were shown back to our lodges and, quite simply, locked inside Land of the Lions. One of the lodges is reserved for a staff member to ensure there is someone readily available in case of emergencies, so everything is nice and safe, but don’t think you’ll be nipping down the pub afterwards – you’re staying put! There’s not much by the way of entertainment either, as even though the lodges are listed as having WiFi, neither of us was able to find any!
Waking up the next morning was quite a special experience. Sure, I wasn’t woken up throughout the night by animals like I’d been assured by the keepers, in fact I slept like a log, and I’m someone who usually struggles on the first night in a hotel! But, as my alarm rang at 06:30 (pain) it blended with the roar of the lions, just a few metres away. Is there a better sound to wake to? But, why was my alarm set so early you ask? Well, guests are required to be out of their lodge and assembled for the mornings activities at the ungodly hour of 07:45. Safe to say, I didn’t know this when I booked the stay, and perhaps would have reconsidered had I known how early we’d be up and about. Particularly as guests are granted access to Land of the Lions from 07:00-07:45, which meant being up even earlier – I can’t say no to early park access! Walt Disney World flashbacks anyone? But having the best-themed area in the zoo to ourselves (well, along with the other lodge guests) was worth getting up for. Not least because on this 1 degree morning, the mongoose had taken to lying in a massive stack!
After dropping our bags in storage and handing back the keys, it was time for breakfast. Thankfully, this was in the form of a buffet – no more bring served last! But frustratingly, the food was still pretty darn cold. They do get a big thumbs up for having very nice veggie sausages – which were actually warm – and massive, delicious pain au chocolat though! However, as well as the food, the restaurant was also cold, and we were kept in there for a full hour! I couldn’t help thinking that it maaaaaybe wasn’t necessary for me to have gotten up at half six!
After breakfast, there was time for one last tour. This time we were taken around gorillas, gibbons, camels, tortoises and penguins and at many enclosures, caught their keeper giving out breakfast. The staff were once again great and informative, and it was delightful to hear from the keepers who’ve been with their animals for years. It was a lovely way to get the day started! The tour took us right up until 10am, when the zoo opened to day guests. From there we were waved goodbye by our hosts, but were welcome to stay for the rest of the day, or visit Whipsnade Zoo as part of the package (we chose the latter, and had a lovely – if freezing cold – day!)
As first time visitors to London Zoo, there probably wasn’t a better way to get acquainted than with a stay at the lodges. It really did feel like you were a VIP at the zoo, and my favourite parts of the experience were those that took you behind the scenes, amplifying that ‘special’ feeling. There are areas of the experience that could be improved – mostly surrounding the food service – but as we were bid farewell, we were told that they’re actively looking for feedback, good and bad to improve on, so hopefully this will be fixed in the future. Personally, I also struggled with the cold throughout. You are outdoors a lot, and the bathroom really was freezing. If you’re looking to book this experience, I’d definitely look at either Spring or Autumn – there definitely wasn’t any air conditioning in there for the heat of summer! But overall, this was a delightful experience for us as animal lovers, and ZSL London Zoo is definitely an attraction I look forward to returning to in the future!
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 