Taronga Zoo Wants To Build An Eco Resort Beside Their Animal Enclosures
What is it about us humans that instinctively draws us to animals? Is it because they’re often so warm and fluffy and they at least look friendly? Either way, we’re keen to be close to them, so it was only time before someone decided there should be a way for us animal-obsessed humans to get closer to these literal creature comforts by letting us spend the night at the zoo. Canberra Zoo introduced the awesome Jamala Wildlife Lodge which lets you (safely) chill out (or even have a bath) beside lion, cheetah and bear enclosures and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo jumped at the opportunity earlier in the year with the launch of their Roar & Snore initiative – guests could glamp in safari tents nestled between the lion, leopard and meerkat enclosures.
Now, Taronga Zoo has just announced plans to build a brand new 58-room resort right in the heart of the zoo.
The $44 million initiative, which has just been lodged to with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, plans to boost revenues and attract international visitors who are keen on getting up close and personal with some of our native fauna. Visitors will be fully immersed within the Australian Habitat section of the zoo, staying in specially designed luxury “pods” that blend in with the wildlife sanctuary, which is home to a collection of wallabies, echidnas, bandicoots, platypus, koalas and freshwater eels.
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As well as the new eco resort, the projected plan is set to bring a new kangaroo habitat, new aviaries, landscaping and a new walk-through native exhibition in the zoo. The plan is still in the early stages and still requires an environmental impact statement, so we’re waiting in eager anticipation as to when we’ll be able to snooze with some ‘roos.
(h/t SMH, lead image: Taronga Zoo)
