Tell someone that you’re going on a safari, and a destination in Africa is most likely to spring to mind. But in the Murraylands of South Australia, you can do exactly that, while saving yourself a long haul and contributing to the protection of some of the world’s most iconic animals.
There we were, sitting in a small bus, staring intently at a few bubbles as a ruby-red sun begins to rise from the horizon, its warm rays spreading like golden syrup across the plains of shimmering wheatgrass.
More bubbles shiver across the dam’s surface and a large, smooth, grey bump appears. Like a rising boulder. A small bump follows suit, and the bubbles turn into sprays as a mother hippo and her baby frolic, their snouts flicking in and out of the water in quick succession, rolling into one another with mouths agape, nostrils flaring.
After the gasps quieten and cameras are lowered in awe, our safari guide explains:
“You don’t normally see hippos during the day as it’s too hot for them. They’re active at night when it’s cooler, and sleep underwater during the day. They use a subconscious reflex that lets them rise to the surface, take a breath, and sink back down every few minutes, all while completely asleep.”
Well, I’ll be. I love a great fact, and that’s one of many yet to come as our safari truck head out into the 1,500 hectares of open plains peppered with mallee trees, dry heathland, native pines and broom bush thickets.
Speaking of facts, Monarto Safari Park is the largest safari experience outside of Africa and the part that we’re cruising through is the 550-hectare Wild Africa precinct. It’s home to a 78-room sprawling hotel called Monarto Safari Resort (which our tour just departed from) and in the distance we can see some of the 20 luxurious glamping tents fanning out from Monarto Safari Lodge.
Together, the park, resort and lodge offer experiences to suit everyone and every budget. Day-trippers can spend the day in the safari park visiting African animals on walking paths or via a bus that does regular loops.
Those after a holiday with kids can stay at the stylish resort where there are two pools, a restaurant, a bar, and a spa and wellness centre. For couples and those after a more exclusive, all-expenses covered experience, there’s the beautifully appointed Safari Lodge, on a vast property, complete with private plunge pools and an upmarket restaurant.
Elands and antelopes graze on the slopes and we watch as a determined male ostrich runs in hot pursuit of
a female, who is clearly not interested. But then the record is set straight by our guide: often the female chases the male first during courtship in order to test his stamina.
We also learn that female ostriches have dull, greyish-brown feathers that provide daytime camouflage against the rocks, sand and dirt. They sit on the nest during the day, while the black-feathered males take over at night. This shift-sharing uses their natural colours to hide the eggs from predators.
A giraffe – equal parts gangly and elegant – sauntered right up to the truck and looked in at us all, it’s long face framed by the windscreen, eyelashes a-fluttering.
“No two giraffes on Earth share the same coat pattern, which is how researchers identify individuals in the field,” our guide says. “More than 33,000 giraffes in Africa are monitored this way – by name and by pattern.”
We enjoy a morning cuppa with some crunchy South African rusks, and listen to our guides’ stories about their work, including some of the programs that Monarto Safari Park runs to protect and save endangered species from extinction.
For instance, the scimitar-horned oryx (a desert-dwelling antelope) is extinct in the wild, but there’s a thriving breeding group at Monarto, with the park welcoming more than 100 calves and contributing many to global reintroduction initiatives. After our morning out in the wilds of Africa, we relax in our stylish suite, which has a balcony from which we can admire more roving animals.
Then it’s a short stroll to Kutjera Restaurant & Bar, which has an African-inspired menu and floor-to-ceiling windows framing Wild Africa. We tuck into an African mezze plate loaded with hummus, baba ghanoush, marinated olives, spiced nuts and roosterkoek (a South African bread baked directly over hot coals) with some delicious biltong and droëwors – aka coriander-seed spiced sausage.
As we sip on chardonnay and dine on Chermoula lamb shank with couscous and harissa carrots, and Moroccan pork tenderloin with a medley of eggplant, lentils and chickpeas, eland and giraffes graze nonchalantly in the fields before us. It’s a wildly wonderful vista.
Relax and rejuvenate at Marula Day Spa
Monarto Safari Resort is home to world-class Marula Day Spa, which has a host of beauty and relaxation options on the menu including massages and facials. Its crowning glory however, is a stunning Soak House complete with a vitality hydrotherapy pool, 10-degrees plunge pool, sauna and steam room.
More animal encounters in Wild Africa
While staying at the hotel in the resort, we enjoyed the dawn safari experience, and for our last two nights staying in a gorgeous glamping tent at the Lodge, we signed up for the Wild Africa Sunset Safari in a custom-fitted Toyota LandCruiser that’s exclusive to lodge guests.
This experience is more like the ones in Africa, with the truck open to the wild. We have warm blankets on our knees, and things seem even busier out there in Wild Africa, with active animals everywhere we look.
Everyone stares in wonderment as we come through some huge security gates and to find two cheetahs relaxing in the green grass of an open field. Most people know that these cats are the fastest animals in the world, and able to reach 120 kilometres an hour, but I didn’t know that they can accelerate to 97 kilometres in under three seconds, and that their long tail acts as a steering wheel – helping them make sharp turns at top speed.
When we reach a dazzle of zebras, we’re treated to an extraordinary experience that has everyone in fits of laughter – a little foal does zoomies, racing around the other older zebras, bucking like a bronco at a rodeo. Our guide says it’s practising what it has seen the older zebras doing – bucking is a powerful defense mechanism to shake off dangerous predators or break free when captured.
As our truck drives through another paddock, we’re so distracted watching a keeper feed a herd of blackbucks
– all jostling for some of the packed grasses – that we miss the appearance of a white rhino on the road before us.
Our guide stops the car so we can all admire his enormous, tough- looking bulk, but when he starts getting too close for comfort, we back up and head into a secure rest area.
“Gotta say, I didn’t want to see how close he got to us!” Our guide says with a laugh. “Perfect timing for a cheese platter and drinks folks.”
As the sun sets, another group arrives to join the party and we’re like excited kids as we recount moments from our time in Wild Africa, sharing photos and marvelling at how many animals we’ve seen in action.
On the morning of our final day, I book one of the private plunge pools at the Lodge, which have their own patio and a grassy lawn overlooking the main waterhole where some oryx, elands and giraffes have gathered.
As I sit in the pool sipping on a coffee and watching them go about their morning, I think how lucky we are to be able to enjoy these animals that were once on the brink of extinction. I wonder if they feel as lucky as I do, to be able to explore and relax in such a peaceful part of the world.
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