If your Instagram feed has been looking a little lacklustre lately, we have a surefire cure: take a bubble bath in a five-star hotel next to a pair of Malayan sun bears. Yes, we’re serious. This is a real, actual thing you can do at Jamala Wildlife Lodge, inside Canberra’s National Zoo and Aquarium.
In addition to blowing your tiny mind forever (you can lie on the floor and pretend to spoon the bear through the glass because no one is watching you – just the animal), a stay at the Lodge will help support the Zoo’s conservation efforts. An overnight stay comes with all the behind-the-scenes perks you’d hope for from a sleepover at the zoo, including a guided afternoon tour; pre-dinner drinks featuring Moët, canapés and a pair of surprisingly adorable hyenas; an African-influenced dinner party next to the aquarium; and lots of Insta-worthy animal encounters.
There are three accommodation options at Jamala: the uShaka Lodge, which feels the most like a luxury hotel (except that there are lemurs on the pool deck, and some of the rooms look into giant aquariums); the Giraffe Treehouses (which, as the name suggests, overlook a giraffe enclosure – you can feed your new friends from the balconies); and the Jungle Bungalows, which are private suites located around the zoo, built right into the enclosures of apex predators like lions, tigers and bears. They’re decorated with an African theme – not that you’ll notice, you’ll be way too busy staring at your deadly roommate.
Jamala will take care of dinner – a four-course, loosely African-inspired meal, with complimentary Moët Champagne and fine wines – and a full à la carte breakfast, on your stay. But you didn’t come for the food, you came for the animals. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and priced accordingly. But for that money, you, and the animals you’re hanging with, will be very well looked after.