I stayed at Jamala Wildlife Lodge, Canberra's most surprising hotel

This traveller thought she knew what she was signing up for at Jamala Wildlife Lodge - but unscheduled wildlife encounters started even before she entered her room.

The footpath to our treehouse lodgings was completely blocked. A mottled beige llama was taking up every inch, her head tilted towards us at an arrogant angle as if to say “I dare you!” We had arrived at Canberra’s Jamala Wildlife Lodge for a weekend of animal encounters, but I hadn’t banked on this one.

The Mexican standoff was broken only when the llama slowly stood up and sauntered away, almost like she was bored with the interaction. Relieved, we entered Giraffe Treehouse 1.

Llama blocking the path to the Giraffe Treehouse entrance at Jamala Wildlife Lodge. Picture: Mercedes Maguire

There are several different types of accommodation at Jamala, but they have a few things in common – all are impeccably fitted-out to resemble luxury African lodges complete with furniture, artworks and artefacts sourced from trips the owner makes to Africa, and all feature a close encounter with an animal.

There are seven rooms in the main uShaka Lodge, as well as Jungle Bungalows, which allow you to get up close to lions, tigers, cheetahs or sun bears through floor-to-ceiling windows, and six Giraffe Treehouses.

All Giraffe Treehouses have balconies overlooking the giraffe enclosure that is home to Skye and Khamesi. A king-size timber canopy bed dominates the room which also has a sitting area and large ensuite, the shower bedazzled in a stunning floor-to-ceiling tiled mosaic of a giraffe.

Feeding giraffes from the balcony at Jamala Wildlife Lodge.

At 3.30pm on arrival day, guests are invited to afternoon tea with the giraffes on the balcony; actually, they will be the ones having afternoon tea – carrots – while you feed them. I was spending the weekend at Jamala with my 15-year-old daughter, Evie, who was understandably hesitant to get too close to the giraffes. When she was nine, Evie was sneezed on while feeding the giraffes at Melbourne’s Werribee Open Range Zoo. 

Skye is the older of the two giraffes, arriving at Jamala from Australia Zoo in March 2020, while Khamesi was born at Jamala in October 2020, the third giraffe calf to be born here.

Jamala Wildlife Lodge is at the heart of the National Zoo and Aquarium, 10 minutes out of Canberra. The facility is the vision of Richard and Maureen Tindale, fifth-generation Canberrans who in 1998 took over what was then the National Aquarium, expanding it to include exotic animals they rescued from circuses and private collections. They added the lodge in 2014 as a way of melding responsible animal encounters with the luxe safari lodges they’d seen in Africa.

Giraffes right outside the window.

Today, the Tindales’ aim is to use the encounters to raise awareness and funds for breeding programs and conservation efforts like Free the Bears and the anti-wildlife trade organisation Traffic. Even the profits from the lodge’s in-room minibars go to the local RSPCA.

Guests can have a number of encounters at Jamala. Our first was a run-in with four adorable creatures in one of the meerkat enclosures. We met Sergei, who was transferred from New Zealand, and his three sons, born at the zoo, who climbed onto our laps for their favourite treat, fly pupae. Michael Jonas, who like many staff at the zoo started as a volunteer, tells us not to be fooled by their cute faces as they can be vicious, with one in five meerkat deaths caused by another meerkat. For this reason, Sergei’s family is kept apart from his brother Ollie and his three sons.

Feeding the meerkats at Jamala Wildlife Lodge.

Next stop was the sun bear enclosure where we met Arataki, born in captivity in New Zealand, and Otay, who was rescued from poachers in Asia by Mary Hutton, founder of Free the Bears. A successful introduction between the two produced baby Mary, making this the second zoo in Australia to successfully breed sun bears. We spoonfed Arataki a questionable-looking mixture he couldn’t seem to get enough of through a wire fence.

Our last encounter for the day was with the cheetahs. There are seven at the zoo, held in four different enclosures, and I was surprised we were walking into this huge area with them. There are three cheetahs in the enclosure we entered, so three rangers entered with us after a thorough safety briefing. Visitors can pat the cheetahs along their spine only when they’re lying down, can’t approach them while they’re walking and must always remain higher than them. We got a brief pat and watched them run, play and interact with each other. For this cat-lover, it was a beautiful experience.

Mercedes and Evie in the cheetah enclosure at Jamala Wildlife Lodge.

Michael explains all wildlife encounters are guided by the animals – if they don’t want to interact, it’s not forced. And sometimes that results in vouchers or refunds being handed out to guests.

That evening we joined the rest of the guests for a communal dinner at the lodge’s dining cave which adjoins the white lion enclosure. The dinner is not a secondary part of the experience – it’s a three-course meal equivalent to any you’ll find in a top city restaurant. I chose the creamy mushroom risotto followed by a delicious crème brûlèe that gave a satisfying crack as I tucked in and was served with fresh berries.

It wouldn’t be a Jamala experience without an animal encounter. A few metres from my seat, viewed through a floor-to-ceiling window, white lion siblings Jake and Mishka groomed each other and lay down to sleep, Mishka on her back, legs in the air, just like my cat Daisy back home.

The writer was a guest of Jamala Wildlife Lodge.

The pool at Jamala Wildlife Lodge.

How to get to Jamala Wildlife Lodge

Jamala Wildlife Lodge is a three-hour drive southwest of Sydney. Or fly to Canberra Airport, with daily direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar.

Staying at Jamala Wildlife Lodge

Jamala Wildlife Lodge has three levels of accommodation (rooms in the uShaka Lodge, Giraffe Treehouses or Jungle Rooms) all with views over different animal enclosures. A one-night stay includes afternoon tea on arrival day, an afternoon safari, pre-dinner drinks, dinner, breakfast, and a wildlife ranger tour the following day. 

Originally published as I stayed at Jamala Wildlife Lodge, Canberra's most surprising hotel