IT suddenly dawned on me as I shovelled giraffe poo at London Zoo that I had handed over my (boyfriend's) hard-earned cash in order for me to slog my guts out.

I know you must think I am completely insane, and you are not alone, but to me the experience of being a zookeeper for a day was worth every penny.

Accompanied by my mum, who arrived dressed in white and looking more like she was off to hospital, I signed in at the staff gate where I was introduced to our leader for the day and three other wannabe keepers.

Switching my cute gold sandals for a pair of already dirty wellies, I definitely looked the part as we were led towards the giraffe houses.

A skinny little man named Brian greeted us and informed us of our first task for the day - to muck out the entire giraffe den before making the long-necked mammals a comfy bed.

Mum and I had been assigned the ‘bedroom,’ which I’m convinced doubled up as a toilet as the ammonia stench was like nothing I had ever smelt before.

Still I didn’t moan and just got on with the task in hand as I knew what was coming next - feeding time.

Armed with their favourite food - white bread (very unimaginative, they obviously don’t get out much) - Brian let the giraffes in and they headed straight for us.

Considering their size I was understandably a little apprehensive but nevertheless stuck my arm out as the female giraffe bent her head down towards me.

I was not prepared for what happened next, as this huge and seemingly never-ending tongue wrapped itself around the bread and gobbled it up.

The bearded pigs were next on the agenda, although there was to be no feeding them as they don’t take kindly to people, or even fellow pigs for that matter.

This time we were given the relatively simple task of chopping up vegetables and fruit for their afternoon meal.

In the animal kitchen I was shocked by the mammoth-sized blackboards hanging on the walls, detailing the very specific dietary requirements of each creature in the zoo.

A short trip to the aquarium, where my mum managed to drop her sunglasses in the fish tank, was next before heading to the Lemur's cage.

These monkey-like creatures had the weirdest goggly eyes but they were adorable and not stupid either, as one proceeded to climb on my lap and sort through the fruit in my hand until he found a piece that he liked.

Following a brief encounter with a lion, behind some wire mesh thank goodness, and a trip to the lama enclosure to meet Del Boy, Rodney, Boycie and Perry (the only friendly one), we arrived at the penguin pond, where Roxy and Grotty took a liking to my stripy footwear.

Absolutely exhausted we made our way back to the station and not surprisingly secured ourselves seats on the train as people backed away from us, unable to stand the potent smell.