I'm sitting on my verandah, channelling my inner Karen Blixen. I'm sipping a gin and tonic, the last of the day's sun casting shadows across the dry grass that stretches out before me. At dusk the giraffes amble up to feed, graceful and awkward at the same time, I never tire of watching them as they stretch out to eat their supper high in the trees. A lion roars not too far away, and the zebras gather together at the waterhole, nuzzling each other as night falls.
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I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
Well, no I didn't. But I had the next best thing. A Savannah Cabin in Dubbo.
It's been almost 40 years since I first visited Taronga Western Plains Zoo. When it opened in 1977 my parents packed my sister and me into the Holden Kingswood and we headed west from Orange on the Mitchell Highway; not even their chain-smoking nor sticky, hot vinyl seats could detract from our excitement at the prospect of seeing a real live elephant – in Dubbo of all places!
And the joy of Western Plains Zoo, then and now, is that it indeed feels like there is an elephant – and cheetahs and meerkats and spider monkeys – plonked in the middle of Dubbo. It's not like they're sitting up at the bar of the Milestone Hotel, although I wouldn't put that past those naughty spider monkeys, but the lack of cages and concrete and metal bars has always given this zoo the feel that some farmer has just whacked a herd of Eland in his back paddock and invited people over to take a look.
The zoo stretches out over 300 hectares and there are now 500 animals of 65 different species on display around the six-kilometre circuit. You can choose to drive or walk, or you can hire a golf cart or a pushbike from the hire centre. Golf carts aren't cheap ($69 for three hours), yet are still extremely popular. We arrive before the zoo is officially open at 9am and they are all booked out (and there's no pre-booking before the day) until well into the afternoon. We were always going to hire bikes though, only $15 for the whole day, helmet included, feeling virtuous and fit and healthy.
Not that we planned it, but we ride straight into the first keeper presentation of the day, and hear about the rhinos as the keeper feeds them their breakfast. They become our favourite animal of the visit (we learn more about them later, up close and personal, as we do a Wild Africa Encounter and get behind the scenes on a guided bus tour). We learn rhinoceroses are on the verge of extinction, while breeding programs and conservation efforts are helping, illegal poaching has increased dramatically. Driven by a growing market for rhinoceros horn in China and other parts of Asia, more than 1000 beasts were killed in South Africa alone in 2013, an increase from 80 in 2008.
But we also learn the zoo imported six Black Rhinos from Zimbabwe back in 1994 for a zoo-based breeding program, as part of an initiative by the International Rhino Foundation. Since that time the zoo has bred 11 Black Rhinos. In 2010 the first second-generation calf, descended from the zoo-bred rhinos, was born.
It's knowing that zoos such as Western Plains are having such great success with their breeding and conservation programs that dampens any cynicism surrounding zoos. Sure, it might be better if that Sumatran tiger was wandering about the jungle, but chances are it wouldn't be for long. We're a little underwhelmed by the Przewalski horses when we first see them but when we learn they have been extinct in the wild since the 1960s we have a greater regard for both them and the efforts of the zoo.
As we power around the zoo on our bikes I start to question, having to keep up with the kids, about my own chances of survival. It's a hot day – the hippos have the right idea, lolling about in the muddy pools – and the kids are keen to see everything at least once. We tick off the animals – addax to zebra – catch a few more keeper presentations, and, quite inadvertently, enjoy some random off-road biking as we try and find shortcuts through the bush to different areas we haven't seen yet.
But there are plenty of places to stop and rest, shady trees and areas where you can collapse on the grass and hang out with the camels for a bit. In the main plaza, which was rebuilt in 2010, there's a cafe for takeaway or a sit down meal, and a popular kiosk at the halfway mark of the main circuit. But we've planned ahead, and enjoy a rather sumptuous picnic lunch in the surrounds of the Safari Park Playground, where your own little monkeys can swing from ropes and climb over equipment.
Exhausted we head back to our accommodation, gin and tonic and free Wi-Fi await. And it's here, in the comfort of our Savannah Cabin, a two-bedroom self-contained, self-catering unit, with two bathrooms, kitchen and outdoor dining area, that we're able to really talk about our day. We had a lot of fun.
Western Plains Zoo has invested greatly in the accommodation options available at the zoo itself. All those years ago we might have squeezed into a room in a Country Comfort like hotel, or knowing my father, hit the road back to Orange once the zoo closed the gates, I can't remember.
But since September 2014 you are now able to bunk in the zoo. Literally. Our Savannah Cabins are set outside the main area but natural grassland leads down to the African Savannah area where the giraffes, zebra and ostrich roam. You can see the potential this area has, there are presently about a dozen cabins, but there is room for more and perhaps other facilities like a pool or communal playground.
If you want to get a little closer to the action there are two other options. Billabong Camp is situated in the middle of the zoo and you're accommodated in tents that sleep up to three people, with each campsite containing two tents if you want to pop the kids in one on their own. Your overnight package includes two-day zoo entry, evening nibbles with an animal encounter, a barbecue buffet dinner, a dusk walk through the Australian animal area, yabbying in the billabong, and a light supper. Sleep under the stars and enjoy a continental breakfast and morning walk to see the apes and otters before checkout.
However, if you are really keen on channelling your inner Karen Blixen, who was a baroness and lived a right colonial life (well that is until she contracted syphilis from a philandering husband and lost all her money), then Zoofari Lodge is for you. This accommodation has recently undergone a $2.1 million makeover and features 10 luxurious African inspired lodges on the edge of the Savannah exhibit. With king-size beds, double baths and shaded deck, the only thing missing might be Robert Redford. Here the inclusions are plentiful too: two-day zoo entry, tours, meals, access to the Main House where there's a lounge area, bar, and a saltwater swimming pool.
Karen Blixen's life didn't turn out all that well, note the syphilis and financial ruin, she also missed out on the Nobel Prize for literature, and died quite a painful death at the age of 77 in 1962. (She did however write Babette's Feast and make an impression on the literati of the United States when she visited there in the late 1950s, catching up the likes of Truman Capote and Ernest Hemingway.)
As I sit on my verandah, a couple of gins in, I could understand the attraction Africa had to this lonely woman from Copenhagen. There's nothing like wild animals and open spaces to make you contemplate your place in the world. Cue the John Barry soundtrack.
IF YOU GO
Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Obley Road, Dubbo. Off the Newell Highway.
02 68811499
Entry fee includes two consecutive days admission. Open every day of the year, including Christmas Day. Tickets start from $24 for children 4-15 years, adults $47. Family pass $127.80 for two adults and two children. Annual passes are available.
Accommodation
Zoofari Lodge rates start from $269 per adult per night, twin share per lodge with inclusions. Billabong Camp rates start from $169 per adult per night with inclusions. Savannah Cabins are priced from $279 per night. Rates are subject to change without notice and package deals are available.
