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This new luxury conservation-focused retreat allows guests to sleep among wildlife.

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Another day is dawning in Sydney. It’s moments before sunrise and the lights of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are still reflecting in the water. Directly in front of my floor-to-ceiling sliding glass windows in the eucalyptus tree, two furry koalas are comfortably snoozing. I’m just a few kilometres from the heart of Sydney CBD yet here at the new Wildlife Retreat at Taronga, I feel

I’ve gone bush – but with all the ‘creature comforts’.

Opened in October, the 62-room eco-retreat is owned and operated by Taronga Conservation Society Australia and is located within Sydney’s Taronga Zoo complex. The retreat has been sustainably designed to offer guests a luxury wildlife sleepover on Cammeraigal country.

I’m staying in the Bandicoot Lodge quarters in a Harbour View room. I’ve checked in, at the property’s stunning circular N’Gurra Lounge. Beneath the entrance bridge, McKenzie the platypus is swimming and splashing.

Designed by leading Australian firm Cox Architecture, the property features five environmentally sensitive lodges that either overlook the wildlife habitat or Sydney Harbour, designed to blend into the environment and to sustain a minimal carbon footprint.

Within the rooms neutral tones and natural materials achieve a sense of serenity.

The cuisine offering has a strong focus on locally and responsibly sourced produce. Meals are taken at Me-Gal restaurant, tastefully decorated in a contemporary botanical theme.

What sets Wildlife Retreat at Taronga apart from elsewhere in Sydney is access to the incredible array of wildlife and knowledgeable staff on hand to guide guests.

I take full advantage of all the tours offered as inclusions of guest stays. In an afternoon Sanctuary Tour, guides escort our group through the sanctuary where we pat a centralian carpet python.

At 6am the next morning, I join keepers Tess and

Joanne for the Daybreak

Walk – a rare opportunity to walk through the zoo at first light before any of the zoo’s day visitors arrive. In the elephant enclosure, twoyear-old baby Asian elephant Jai Dee is taking a splash in the water. We stop to watch and soon Jai Dee is putting on quite the performance.

The 6am wake-up has definitely been worth it.

start at $790 per night for two.