‘Guests will be able to look out at koalas from their window’: new Taronga Wildlife Retreat to be an immersive experience

SYDNEY’S Taronga Zoo guests will soon have the chance to spend a night surrounded by Australian wildlife. 

Inspired by the success of Roar And Snore, the zoo has unveiled plans to create a new overnight accommodation experience, the Taronga Wildlife Retreat.

The Mosman Daily can reveal five “pods” will be built within a redeveloped Australia habitat precinct.

There will also be a guest lodge, built behind a new platypus pool, and dining room.

Zookeepers, Taronga guest experience officers and indigenous guides will be on hand for morning and evening tours.

Guests can watch koalas from their pod windows and, after hours, get up close with other native species, such as the potoroo and the bettong.

“A lot of these species are nocturnal. We’ll be doing evening encounters, so that’s one of the benefits of being here at night,” operations manager of life sciences, Rodd Stapley, said.

“One of the other experiences we’re looking at is a freshwater eel encounter.

“Guests will be able to come of an evening, put gum boots on and feed long-fin eels, which have a lot of significance to this site in terms of their indigenous connections. There’ll be encounters where you’ll sit down in an area and potoroos and bettongs will come out.”

Mr Stapley said the retreat would build on the zoo’s conservation efforts.

“The Zoo is about achieving conservation outcomes and behavioural change,” he said.

Of the Roar And Snore guests, 48 per cent arrived intending “to make a conscious effort to do things to help conserve the environment”. That number rose to 71 per cent on departure.

Director of marketing and fundraising Libby Hodgson said the site would be a mix of the zoo’s conservation work and a great experience.

“Because of the nature of the site, we’re able to blend (the pods) very well into the landscape,” she said.

“There’s some really exciting designs being done with green screening and foliage over them to really make sure they’re immersed into the landscape.”

Those not staying overnight will still benefit from the new habitat precinct, the first stage of which is due for completion in 2018.

“It will be a space where you can see a real variety of Australian species,” Ms Hodgson said.

TIGERS TO ROAR INTO NEW HOME

A NEW Sumatran tiger exhibit will allow Taronga Zoo to substantially increase its tiger population.

From mid-2017, tigers will be housed at the Sumatran Tiger Experience, which will be about four times larger than the current exhibit, which dates back to 1916.

“We’re going to be moving from a smaller, 1916-style exhibit to a modern-day, over 2000sq m (exhibit) for our Sumatran tigers,” unit supervisor of carnivores Louise Ginman said.

“It means our Sumatran tiger holding will go up from about a maximum of five to potentially 12 tigers. Having that extra space means we can breed more regularly if the need arises.

“At the moment we can only breed once every five to 10 years but having those extra spaces for the entire Australian region means we can now increase the Sumatran tiger population within Australia.”

Ms Ginman said zoo visitors would be taken on a Sumatran adventure.

“We’re going to be building enclosures that are unique to Australia for holding Sumatran tigers,” she said.

“It’s a special stainless steel netting, which will make the experience of seeing the tigers that much more real. You’ll be able to hear and smell them, whereas at our current exhibit, they’re behind glass.”

DETAILS

■ A $114.8 million, 10-year, masterplan to revitalise the zoo, funded by the State Government and Taronga Conservation Society, was announced in March

■ The new Sumatran Tiger Experience is expected to be completed in mid-2017; the first stage of the Australia Habitat in 2018

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Source: Mosman Dail, Bryant Hevesi, 26^th November 2015
Originally published as: ‘Guests will be able to look out at koalas from their window’: new Taronga Wildlife Retreat to be an immersive experience