Depending on where you live, you might find that within an hour's drive or two there's a safari park. If you've never been to one of these, they provide a chance to see animals up close that you'd otherwise need to travel all the way to Africa to catch a glimpse of.
But as fun as these parks can be, you might find that they're not all that worth it if they require you to take your own vehicle through the grounds. To put it mildly, the animals don't have a lot of respect for your vehicle and you might find it'll have a few missing pieces by the time you're done.
And while there are a few ways to work around that hassle, none of them seem as cozy as the plot of safari lodges that have recently opened up in the U.K.