YOU would not know it to look at them, but rhinos love a cuddle.

At least that is what we were told as my son and I approached the vast enclosure where the white rhinoceros, Sula and Kiri, hang out at Marwell Zoo.

By now 11-year-old Alex, “fresh” from mucking out giraffes and spoon feeding tamarin monkeys, was prepared to believe anything, but I was determined to retain my journalistic scepticism.

Powerful and majestic, I would certainly agree, but friendly and ready for a stroke?

I am delighted to say that, not for the first time, I was totally and utterly wrong.

As Alex and I wandered across the paddock towards the magnificent creatures our guide, Steph, a former rhino keeper herself, called out their names.

Lo and behold both stopped grazing and started lumbering slowly towards us. We did not even have to bribe them with food.

It was an impressive sight and with only a thin wire fence between them and us, a little disconcerting.

However, they knew what we wanted. We stood back a little so they could poke their horns through the fence without impaling us, but then both turned side-on so we could rub and pat their leathery skin.

They even like a tickle behind the ears, where the skin is incredibly soft – another surprise.

It was a complete delight. Alex and I grinned at each other, hardly believing what we were doing, as scores of families watched us from afar, no doubt wondering why we were so privileged to get so “up close and personal” with one of the zoo’s star attractions.

The answer was that Alex was on Marwell’s Junior Zoo Keeper Experience, which is running throughout the summer holidays.

For any animal loving child, it is a treat that could hardly be bettered.

Just after 9am, nearly an hour before Marwell opens to visitors, we were heading for the giraffe house where we spent 30 minutes sweeping, shovelling and sprinkling sawdust before getting the chance to hand feed three of these extraordinary creatures.

Standing on a platform several metres above the ground, Alex was shown how to manoeuvre the pellets into the giraffe’s mouths while keeping his fingers away from their teeth. What was harder to avoid was their enormous tongues, which can be up to 45 centimetres long and deposit the sloppiest saliva you are ever likely to encounter.

Once we had cleaned ourselves up, it was off to the kitchen for a bit of food preparation, although this was more akin to making Christmas decorations.

The recipe was a couple of pine cones, doused in a runny, porage-type substance that acts as a glue for handfuls of seeds that the children cover them in.

They were destined for Marwell’s troupe of Sulawesi crested macaques, which were confined to their quarters while improvements were carried out to their enclosure.

The pine cones had to be left to dry, which gave us time for a quick cup of tea and a few minutes of entertainment courtesy of the meerkats, which are handily located near the zoo’s main cafe.

Then it was off to the macaques which could not get enough of our sweet treats.

Steph had described it as an “enrichment activity” because they would have to work to prise out the seeds but it did not take them long.

By way of a bonus, Alex had the chance to feed some of the incredibly cute tamarins which live behind the scenes having been cast out of their groups for what Steph described as “being naughty”.

I watched with pride as Alex carefully poking a spoon through the wire mesh fence and waiting patiently while one particular tamarin summed him up before dropping down to sup up the milky liquid.

Then it was on to the encounter with the rhinos – the pinnacle of the day’s activities by common consent – to round off our morning.

“Brilliant, awesome and epic.” Alex’s words, not mine.

Factfile

The Junior Zoo Keeper Experience at Marwell is available for children aged eight to 15, who must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

There are a maximum of three places for each session.

It runs from 9am to noon on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until August 28 plus October 23 and November 2.

It costs £150 and participants receive a certificate, refreshments voucher and
souvenir drawstring bag, notebook and pencil.

Book by ringing 01962 777988.