Adam is standing next to a ten foot tiger, holding out a piece of beef on the end of a stick. This is West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire, and it turns out you can do this.

Shona from the park shows him round first. There is a four mile drive-through safari where you stay in your car and feed the hoofed animals through the window, a walk-through area with red pandas, penguins, reptiles and bats, a wood full of ring-tailed lemurs that wander around your feet, an African village and a theme park.

Then Rachel, one of the VIP guides, introduces Ben, a white Bengal tiger who was hand-raised and chuffs when he is happy to see you, and Hujan, a Sumatran tiger who is not remotely interested in people and would just like the food please. A male tiger eats around seven kilograms of meat a day and weighs about the same as ten ten-year-olds.

There is quieter work going on too. The park runs European breeding programmes, with a studbook keeper matching pairs across zoos so the captive populations stay genetically healthy, and it manages its own grassland, woodland and ponds for British wildlife: mallards, crows, bumblebees, butterflies.

Over winter the park opens Friday to Sunday, and daily for the Santa Safari. Book online in advance and you get a free return ticket, and the tip from the team is to do the walk-through areas first thing while the safari road is quiet.

Find out more by searching for West Midlands Safari Park.

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