The zoo where the HUMANS are kept behind bars

Tourists locked in cage for close encounter with hungry lions 

• Twenty tourists are taken through lion enclosure on cage on flatbed truck 
• Animals are fed through bars and climb over the mesh 
• Keepers at Orana Wildlife Park said it allows tourists to get close to lions

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This is the unique zoo where humans are kept in cages instead of the animals. 

Visitors are given a taste of their own medicine as hungry lions eye up adults and children in a cage attached to a flatbed truck. 

Zoo keepers at the Lion Encounter at Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, say the experience enables visitors to come eye-to-eye with the kings of the beasts. 

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Role reversal: Visitors to the wildlife park in New Zealand are kept in cages instead of the animals

Too close for comfort? Tourists are able to see lions at feeding time as keepers pass food through the cage

Lions jumps up the sides and onto the top of the moving mesh enclosure allowing people to get as close as is safe to the fearsome carnivores. 

 

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Up to 20 tourists can squeeze into the specially designed cage before it rolls into the lion enclosure for feeding time.

Keepers feed the lions from within the cage, giving visitors the chance to watch them feed in their habitat.

Park spokesman, Nathan Hawke, said: 'The Lion Encounter is a genuinely unique visitor experience.

'While people can see lions in numerous places, we think we can get you as close as you would safely want to get to view these magnificent animals. 

Hand feeding lions at Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch

Surrounded: Lions climb on top of the mesh cage and paw at the bars as they wait for food

Close encounter with lion kind: A lioness paws at the bars as a keeper holds a bucket of meat

'We've had visitors who have come to Christchurch just to take part in this encounter. 

'It is an interesting way to display lions and also enables us to discuss ways in which visitors can help the King of the Beasts.'

The daily feeding trips into the lion enclosure costs $30 (£15) each, with a minimum height restriction of 1.4m for safety reasons.

Orana Wildlife Park is New Zealand's only open range zoo, set on 80 hectares of park-like grounds. 

Over 400 animals from 70 different species are displayed.