Top 10 experiences being a London Zoo keeper for a day

I’ve been many times while living on the outskirts of London for the past 13 years, and I’m very fond of memories made during days out there with the family.

Therefore when the invitation came in to try the ‘keeper for a day’ experience, I jumped at the chance to go behind the scenes of the famous attraction and see some of the work involved in caring for the fascinating wild creatures it’s home to.

In fact, Rhiannon the lovely press officer for the Zoological Society of London is fortunate I didn’t bite her arm off for the opportunity to do it.

Here are my favourite moments from the day, which may whet your appetite for booking the experience yourself or considering it as a gift for a loved one.

Mucking out the zebras

After starting the day at 8.45am getting boiler-suited-up and having a quick briefing from our keeper-guide Mick Tiley, myself and the four other journos there for the day headed for the Into Africa area. First stop was the zebras’ dens to scoop up poop and soggy sawdust.

Zebra: "You're going to love what I've left in there for you, mate. Have fun cleaning it up."

Although not dissimilar to cleaning up after horses and so not especially disgusting, the actual task of mucking out wasn’t a high point of the day. I’ve included it here for two reasons. Firstly, it was our first foray behind the usually restricted lines and through the locked doors that are off-limits to visitors, which made it pretty exciting. Secondly, it was proper hands-on zoo work, the kind of task staff actually do day-to-day. It showed we weren’t going to be excused getting stuck in and that it was going to be ‘keeper for a day’ in more than just name.

Feeding the giraffes

The day quickly moved on from dung to delight as next we got close up with the zoo’s three beautiful female giraffes. We weren’t allowed to pat or stroke these great animals, but we were able to get very near to them on the viewing platform and feed them chopped-up carrots.

They seemed very friendly, and it was fascinating to watch them bring out their extraordinarily long tongues to swallow up the vegetables. There is something very calming about giraffes and I could have spent ages watching them.

Tiger Territory

Duty called though and we had more work to do, but before that there was just time to stop off and check in with the big cats at Tiger Territory. I last visited in August and it was great to see the family of Sumatran tigers - mum Melati, dad Jae Jae and three nine-month-old cubs - are still doing well.

As you can see from the video above, a couple of the cubs were in an obligingly playful mood when we came by.

Pig food prep

The next actual job of the day was to prepare food for the bearded pigs. For this we got to go into the zoo’s surprisingly vast food area, where we were given a bucket and a list of fruit and veg to put into it. We then chopped up all the potatoes, apples, oranges, beetroots and more for the animals – they certainly get their five-a-day, and then some!

The food we prepared was to be fed to them later, so in the meantime we got to lob some coconuts into the enclosure to keep the pigs going. The thunderous crack the shells made as the pigs sunk their powerful teeth into them was both frightening and awesome.

While in the food prep area we got to see some of the detailed lists kept as part of the zoo’s enrichment programme. This is about using different approaches, including puzzle feeders, climbing apparatus and scents, to keep the animals stimulated, entertained and behaving as naturally as possible. We got to see enrichment in action later on.

P-p-p-pick up a broom

Using a broom to wash birds’ mess off the side of their pool at our next stop Penguin Beach wasn’t the most glamorous job but it still provided one of the highlights of the day. It was a surreal few minutes to be stood there on the water’s edge while the delightful penguins swam and waddled around us.

We got to interact with some of the Humboldt colony afterwards as well as the adorable Rockhopper Ricky, who seemed to be showing off a bit for his visitors – or at least for Mick who he is clearly fond of. I had never stroked penguins before, and they were lovely.

My whole keeper day was special but being inside the penguin area, somewhere I’d seen from the outside numerous times, was one of the points when I felt especially privileged.

Meeting the monkeys

We visited black and white creatures of a different kind when we went to feed some boiled potatoes to the colobus monkeys.

I was a little nervous at first about having a finger chomped as I pushed the chopped spuds through their bars, but I needn’t have worried as the playful little monkeys were very sweet. The one thing that spoilt the moment slightly was the distinct aroma of fart in their enclosure!

Llamas and alpacas

Maybe it owed much to the chopped veg we were hand-feeding them, but these animals were very friendly and gentle – much less slobbery than I was expecting too. We were warned Perry the llama might have an attitude but he was well behaved.

Feeding time at the zoo - literally

Hide and seek

Part of the raccoon family, the ring-tailed coatis are lively scurrying, scampering creatures who provided another of the more bizarre memories from the day.

First we got to see enrichment in action after we hid pieces of fruit around the enclosure to encourage the coatis’ natural behaviour.

Then, after they had retrieved all the treats, we sat down with our backs against a wall and our legs stretched out in front of us. Some pellets were scattered across our laps, which prompted the animals to scuttle across us. It was a very odd experience – but not unpleasant, as it gave us the chance to get really up close to these little critters. It also meant we could touch them, albeit only very briefly as they paused only momentarily to gobble up the food.

I look slightly petrified in the pictures that were taken, which is unfortunate as I was actually perfectly fine and holding my hands out of their way to avoid becoming a snack.

Meerkat redemption

Clever marketing it may be, but I absolutely hate those insurance ads – especially the infuriating ‘simples’ catchphrase. I wasn’t looking forward to meeting the zoo’s meerkats for fear they would just remind me of Aleksanr, Sergei and co, but actually they won me over from the first second.

They were much more appealing than their anthropomorphic counterparts, and the charming little things looked very different too – much shorter and chunkier than I was expecting.

Giant tortoises

Final stop of the day was the wonderful Galápagos tortoises. The four 100kg girls we saw in their lovely warm home make my two domestic torts look like single pixels on a computer screen in comparison.

We got to do some ‘finching’, which was to scratch their legs and neck to replicate the enjoyable sensation they get from birds picking parasites off them in their native land.

This was one of the few moments during the day when I noticed zoo guests looking in on what we were doing – hopefully the audience went away thinking I at least looked like I knew what I was doing.

Was it worth it?

My time as a keeper came to an end at 4pm and I went away feeling I’d had an amazing day.

I’d highly recommend the experience for anyone who loves animals, who is fascinated by wild creatures or who has an unfulfilled childhood dream to be a zookeeper.

It costs £280 which is undoubtedly a lot of money for a one-day experience. You could probably get a week’s holiday abroad somewhere for a similar amount.

I think it can be justified as an extravagant one-off treat, however, if you or the person you’re buying it for fits the bill. You’ll get to see and do many things not normally available to the public, plus you’ll get to benefit from the wisdom of host Mick. That’s no small thing – specialist keeper Mick has worked at the zoo for 33 years and what he doesn’t know probably isn’t worth knowing. His insight and information was a big part of why the day was so enjoyable.

Lunch, refreshments and a goodie are among the other things included, as is the feeling of doing something worthwhile since the money raised is an important contributor towards the ZSL’s conservation work here and overseas. Groups are kept to a maximum of five so you're guaranteed a personal and intimate experience.

The day provides an absorbing glimpse into the work of zookeepers, showing there is much more to their jobs than just shovelling poo. Much of what they do is scientific and skilful, aspects which aren’t clearly visible to visitors.

Smaller-scale but less expensive ‘meet the animals’ experiences are also available.

For full details see www.zsl.org/experiences

P.S: Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, the South Bank and Camden Market are my four other favourite places to visit in London, if you’ve been wondering since you started reading this.,