Australian Hotel Allows Guests to Stay Next to Zoo Animals

Jamala Wildlife Lodge(CANBERRA, Australia) — An Australian zoo is offering the “ultimate overnight safari” experience for visitors who want to meet, “many of the most dangerous and endangered species on Earth.”

The Jamala Wildlife Lodge at the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra, Australia, has rooms that come with a shark tank in the lounge and monkeys on the terrace, according to the lodge’s website.

Other rooms at the 18-room lodge include the opportunity to feed the zoo’s resident giraffe from the balcony or stay “within an inch” of lions, bears and endangered species.

“You can bathe while a bear grazes on the other side of the window, relax on your lounge while looking into the face of a lion, feed the giraffes or get ready for dinner while sharks swim by,” the zoo’s owner, Richard Tindale, said in a statement at the lodge’s opening last December.

Tindale and his wife, Maureen, own the zoo and spent 10 years planning the Jamala Wildlife Lodge, where rooms are described as “five-star African inspired accommodation hubs.”

A stay at the lodge, which includes drinks and food and admission to the zoo, will cost visitors anywhere from $300 to $1,500, according to the website.

A zoo spokeswoman told ABC News the hotel had over 1,000 guests stay in January and is sold out this weekend for Valentine’s Day.

“We will endeavour to introduce you to as many of the following animals as possible: lion, tiger, cheetah, brown bear, sun bear, otter, meerkat, monkey, lemur, rhino, hyaena, painted dog, giraffe, zebra, antelope and others,” the zoo states on its website.

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