Chester Zoo visitors will be able to get a close-up view of giraffes and zebras as they wake up thanks to a new hotel that is set to be built.
Bosses of the attraction have revealed their vision for the attraction which could be likened to Disney's Animal Kingdom hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Chester Zoo chief operating officer Jamie Christon announced the plans for the zoos next stage of development which also includes a large restaurant whilst addressing the Black an White Chester? group at Storyhouse, reports Cheshire Live.
He said: “We put a planning application in last Friday to Cheshire West for grassland and overnight accommodation. This is a major reorganisation of the western end of the zoo and will start in the September of this year. Once the holding area is built we will be able to start to decant some of our livestock out into that particular part of the zoo to allow us to start to work on here on the western part of the zoo.”
Mr Christon continued: “The main feature is a large mixed species savannah paddock which will include our Rothschild’s giraffes, our Grevys zebra, ostrich, antelope, all mixed together in the same paddock with a large 270-seat restaurant looking down on to the paddock.
“Down in the left hand corner, which is near the main entrance to the zoo, the Noah’s Ark roundabout, we are looking at the potential of building some overnight accommodation.
"We had planning permission back in 2012 for a large 150-bed hotel. This is very, very different. This is a 42-bed, or 42-room hotel, that we’re looking to build in the corner of the zoo that will overlook a group of bachelor giraffes.
“Wake up in the morning, you get to look out over those giraffes. It’s a major development of the zoo, probably not as large as Islands but relatively similar in size.”
Visitors staying at the hotel be able get into the zoo as part of a package with plans to host early morning and nocturnal tours as an added bonus.
An artist’s impression projected at the event also revealed rigid tents and fishermen’s cottages clustered around a lake. The area undergoing redevelopment would be closed to the public for around two years.
A 150-bed hotel was included in the zoo’s original £225m Natural Vision project 10 years ago which also included expansion of the main entrance and car park plus the bio-dome which did get built and was involved in the serious fire in December.
However, the plans had to be reigned in when the zoo lost £40m potential funding after the government abolished the North West Regional Development Agency.
Developments taking place at the zoo in 2019 include a walk-through lemur attraction, which launches next week in time for half term, and the new Asiatic lion habitat which opens later this year on land north of the current zoo. A seven hectare holding area will allow animals to be housed outside the main zoo while new habitats are being created.
■ Visitor numbers continue to grow at Chester Zoo which last year enjoyed a record year with 1,969,768 people through the gate spurred on by new features like Islands and Channel 4’s The Secret Life of the Zoo which offers the kind of publicity that money can’t buy.
