MARION SAUVEBOIS reverts to her childhood on a day trip to the enchanting Bristol Zoo Gardens

I EXPECTED to find myself glaringly out of place at Bristol Zoo Gardens with no child in tow, not even a surly teenager to allow me to blend in seamlessly in the crowd of yougsters I suspected flooded the place every Sunday.

But surprisingly enough I didn’t stand out – not simply because I am 5ft and regularly mistaken for a sixth former, but because the zoo is a lot more inclusive than I thought.

Sure, there were plenty of children, as you would anticipate visiting a zoo on a weekend during half term. But there were equally as many couples of pretty much any age ambling around the gardens, eagerly hopping from enclosure to enclosure and staring wide-eyed at the lions eating their dinner, waiting with the determination of a wildlife photographer, iPhone in hand for the red pandas to come out of hiding.

We decided to get the worst (for my arachnophobe self anyway), out of the way in bug world, complete with tarantulas, mantises and creepy-crawlies of every description, including the worrying kind you cannot tell apart from its surroundings until you are an inch from the glass pane.

The traumatising experience over – not so daunting for the five-year-old next to us who drank it all in while I kept my eyes firmly on my feet most of the time – we moved on to the ‘real’ animals.

Everything from the snoozing gorillas to the okapi, from the attentive meerkats to the adorable mother and baby hippos, even the tapir (if I hadn’t seen the pointy-nosed pony-cross-elephant mixed something akin to a large pig, I would have genuinely thought it was made up), made my companion and I feel like we were three again. Forget about grown-up evenings at the theatre, dinner parties or intimate soirées: this is where the real entertainment and excitement is at.

Our loud ‘wows’ and cries of ‘look, look were testament to the organic pleasure of observing animals, many of them threatened with extinction in the wild, at a distance of just a few feet.

But the most exciting part of our tour of the world's strangest and most intriguing wildlife was by far the interactive activities. We were able to feed the lorikeets, or rather be swarmed by these rainbow-coloured birds, hungry for nectar. And during the mid-afternoon show, we became privy to the training of the zoo’s latest arrival, a female armadillo.

The hourly feedings were also addictive and we found ourselves walking from one to the next, diverted from our initial timetable. They were truly the best way to see the animals, especially the penguins, and find out from their keepers about their unusual habits.

After a day of bird-watching and animal ogling, it seemed natural to get a better look at the zoo from above, thanks to the strategically placed zip-line. Although slightly low for most people above 5ft, it is adult-friendly. The only danger lay in the birds hovering over the park and their unpredictable toilet breaks.

Even an an unfortunate encounter with said birds couldn’t ruin our day. Sometimes all you need is a foray into the jungle – well, as close it as it gets in the city – to remind you of the simple pleasures in life. Even if that includes snakes and spiders.

Bristol Zoo Gardens is open 9am to 5.30pm daily through the summer. Tickets are £14.50 for adults, £8.86 for children two to 14, £12.63 for concessions (including children 15-18), and £6.81 for a disabled children. Children under two and carers go free. You can save 10% on tickets prices by booking in advance at www.bristolzoo.ork.uk