Chester Zoo has revealed plans for brand new overnight lodges overlooking the giraffes and a large restaurant with stunning views.
Images submitted to the council show how the restaurant, accommodation and lake plan to look when completed at Chester Zoo.
The proposed plans are part of the zoo’s new Grasslands proposal and will open to the public in 2022.
The Grasslands' centrepiece will be a large, open African savannah habitat, home to many rare species including the Rothschild’s giraffe and Grevy’s zebra, as well as ostrich and antelope.
Around the edge of the habitat, the zoo plans to create a restaurant with a balcony area, boasting views across the savannah.
Altogether the zoo proposes to develop 42 safari-style lodges to stay in.
The new area would be bordered by the zoo’s large, existing African Tsavo reserve area for Eastern back rhino and African painted dogs.
The new habitat is the latest stage in the zoo’s strategic development plan: a vision for the future of the zoo, broken into themed geographic regions with ever more natural habitats for threatened species.
The existing Islands zone, which opened in 2015, was the first stage in this process, bringing the zoo’s global conservation work to life for visitors in Chester.
