Waking up facing a wild animal is a thrill at this Aussie hotel

If you’ve dreamt of a luxury safari experience in Africa but been put off by the travel required – or the idea of being woken by hyenas munching bones outside your tent in the wee hours – this might be your perfect experience.

While you’re not allowed to leave your accommodation at night, and you may be woken by the sound of lions roaring, there’s not much chance you’ll meet them uninvited at Jamala, the luxury hotel attached to Canberra’s National Zoo and Aquarium.

Come face to face with a cheetah from a luxury suite at Jamala.Credit:

Jamala offers three different types of stays across the zoo. In the spacious jungle bungalows, you can stare into the eyes of lions and tigers, cheetahs and sun bears through the safety of a glass wall, while in the central uShaka Lodge, suites are shared with meerkats, monkeys, sharks and hyenas.

We’re staying in the third option – one of six giraffe “treehouses”, built on a slope so that the balconies bring guests face to face with two gentle sisters named Skye and Khamisi. We meet on the afternoon of our arrival, their 50-centimetre-long tongues twirling around the tiny carrots we’re permitted to feed them.

Feed giraffes from a luxury treehouse at Jamala.Credit: Jamala

Let’s rewind to the start of our overnight stay, which begins with a casual high tea in the glorious, homely uShaka Lodge, former residence of owners Richard and Maureen Tindale and their family.

You could spend hours gazing at the painstakingly collected furniture and art from Africa, or watching colobus monkeys play in the adjacent enclosure while shark and fish species circle the inner aquarium. You can sink into tan leather couches decorated with animal print throws and order a cappuccino in a zebra-print teacup dusted with giraffe-print chocolate.

uShaka Lodge is an African-style lounge area at Jamala.Credit:

After tea, we set into the park in an open-topped jeep, driving through automatic gates to gaze at exotic animals behind electric fences, Jurassic Park-style. There’s even a sign that directs you to “dinosaurs” and “Tasmanian tigers”, but the choruses of “oohs” and “aahs” are coming from delighted schoolkids awed by the acrobatic siamangs (a type of black-furred ape) and sun bears.

Away from the madding crowd, we’re privy to several one-on-one experiences which delights myself and my animal-adoring mum.

First, we visit Sergei the meerkat and his two sons, who frolic and dart around our laps like cats to hoover insects in their new enclosure, located next to two guest suites based in uShaka Lodge.

Guests are entertained from the meerkat room.Credit:

Next we’re patting one of three cheetahs, which purrs like a buzzsaw while three keepers are close by, one taking on a paparazzi-like role for my next Tinder profile pic, and the other two standing guard in the extremely unlikely event a cheetah might play rough.

Another of their hand-reared cheetahs is so chill he gets to go on walks around the park on harness after the park is closed. The dingoes, too, get walked daily as it deters them from trying to make a great escape.

We meet another pair of giraffes and their two calves – the youngest, a newborn named Mikali (which means pale in Swahili) is mother Mzungu’s fifth baby here at the park. The pair approach us for a feed that consists of leaves on a large branch, which I have to hold with death-like grip as father Shaba’s knobbly, 100-kilogram head almost lifts me off the ground as he tears them from the branch.

Jamala’s treasured white lions are next on our list. As rare as hen’s teeth, they’re being stared down chillingly by the park’s other male tawny lion from a separate enclosure (quite amusing from my side of the fence). The beautiful white female lion approaches us for a snack – it’s lucky our guide has prepped strips of red meat. She presses her beautiful face against a hole in the glass, mouth comically resting wide open, as we hand her the meat with a pair of tongs, which she accepts in a surprisingly gentle manner. Then she saunters back down to her mate, a vision in a white mane, who doesn’t bother with us as we’re not one of the two humans in the world he likes.

These magnificent creatures are not without a sense of humour, we’re informed, occasionally taking great delight in stealing the tongs from unsuspecting visitors along with the meat.

Jamala’s prized white lions join guests for dinner inside the Rainforest Cave. Credit:

These two stars of Jamala are present again at dinner in the Rainforest Cave restaurant, as part of their enclosure is next to the dining room, separated by a glass wall. They promptly take a nap on the heated floor.

Eventually, the “oohs” and “aahs” become more about the three-course meal and wine list, both of which could hold their own in a standalone restaurant. We start with canapes and Moet on the balcony overlooking the park, then move inside to the dimly lit dining “cave” that has three shared tables – set beautifully with ornaments from Africa – all the while chatting with equally animated guests who have made the trip from Sydney.

The next morning, our new tall lady friends are so quiet and elegant that we nearly miss a visit as they approach our balcony to feed.

After an impressive breakfast at the Rainforest Cave, we set out for a two-hour tour of the park with a ranger before it opens to the public.

It’s at this time that the animals are at their most active, such as Ubuntu, the “extroverted” rhino that approaches fellow guests for a rub-down, while we learn how his great hearing gets him spooked on windy Canberra days. We watch capuchin monkeys emerge from their snuggly hollows, communicating with each other using their eyebrows, and we spy a brown baby zebra.

A “Reef Room” at Jamala gives 24-hour views of the aquarium.Credit: Jamala

We take one more self-guided tour of the zoo to say goodbye to our favourites, slightly giddy from our whirlwind list of close encounters, impressed by the enclosures and the number of friendly and helpful staff that make the zoo such a success. Guests can also feel good knowing that their money goes back into Jamala’s many different wildlife conservation, education and breeding programs.

We also meet the owner, Richard Tindale, who remarks: “Whenever I need a lift, I come and talk to the guests incognito, and I always hear what a wonderful experience they’ve had”. Judging by the happy faces we see, he’ll be returning home satisfied tonight.

The details

Stay
From $1650 a night for the uShaka Lemur Room (sleeps two) or $2375 for the Giraffe Treehouse (up to four guests, maximum three adults), including breakfast, dinner and afternoon tea. See jamalawildlifelodge.com.au

The writer was a guest of Jamala Wildlife Lodge.