MANY seniors have time to travel and have found that there’s no need to travel beyond our shores to find fascinating places to visit.
I was chatting with Rosewood resident, Kaye Martin, recently about the travel adventures she and partner Tony have had since retirement and one that intrigued me was their two day luxury ‘safari’ at the Canberra Zoo.
On their first day, they literally awoke to find tigers watching them through the window … and the next night they slept in a tree house and their early morning greeters were giraffes … oh, and I mustn’t forget their encounter with the sun bears.
Tony and Kaye were staying for two nights at the zoo’s Jamala Wildlife Lodge.
“We’d ‘done’ all the top of the list Canberra attractions and this trip marked a special occasion so we decided to go all out and try what was promoted as a ‘luxury experience at the zoo’,” Kaye said.
The experience included a chance to ‘sleep with their choice of animals’ and a stay of one, two or three nights.
“We chose two nights and our ‘sleep with the animals’ choices were tigers one night, giraffes the next,” she explained.
“As part of our booking, we could also choose private tours of the zoo which would take us into areas normally restricted to the public and we could choose the animals we wanted to feed – we chose tigers and sun bears.”
All meals and drinks were part of the booking package as well and included a fine dining experience for the evening meal.
“We anticipated an amazing holiday ahead,” says Kaye and reports that the whole package delivered that and so much more.
“The staff were wonderful and appeared happy in their roles no matter what and were keen to share their work day with us. They answered our endless questions as if it was the first time they had been asked.”
And, according to Kaye, the food was as good as it looked on the website.
“It was outstanding, from the high tea we sat down to on arrival through to the breakfasts, the dinners – we couldn’t fault it.
“The rooms too, were beautifully appointed. Styled like the reception area on an African theme and decorated with interesting artefacts.”
The added bonus was that they could wander through the large zoo complex when not eating or on tour.
I queried her about any added extras?
Her reply: “I’m going to keep to myself all the extra things the Lodge staff made happen to make our stay memorable, just in case you decide to take the opportunity to visit … all the extras are really delightful surprises.”
— Wendy Creighton
