Wild is calling from new Monarto Safari Resort

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Monarto Safari Resort is about to open its doors to guests for the first time.

The multi-million-dollar resort, which welcomed its first guests on Tuesday night, features 78 guest rooms across three levels that overlook Monarto Safari Park, as well as a restaurant, a world-class day spa, two swimming pools and plenty of conference spaces.

The Kutjera Restaurant and Bar and Marula Day Spa will both be open to Murraylands locals as well as hotel guests.

The resort also offers a variety of accessible rooms and inclusive hotel amenities, including a mobility pool hoist.

Guests will be able to access exclusive experiences across the 550 hectares of the Wild Africa precinct, including intimate guided game drives on board custom vehicles. 

To no surprise, bookings for the first week filled up quickly.

The hotel is operated by leading tourism group Journey Beyond, in conjunction with Zoos South Australia, who oversee the safari park.

Journey Beyond CEO Chris Tallent said the company had received lots of encouraging early demand from eager South Aussie visitors, too.

“We want it to be a South-Australian-proud product – we want locals to embrace it first,” he said.

“As it gets more established, we’d like to see more international and interstate people.”

In time, he suggested, Journey Beyond might develop a joint offering of some kind between the resort and the Overland, the rail service the company operated between Adelaide and Melbourne.

Making the resort a destination for Victorian holidaymakers could help prop up the train service.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, who officially opened the resort, said it would drive significant economic benefits for South Australia by creating jobs and drawing bookings from outside the state.

“This is going to be great for Murray Bridge and great for some of those smaller communities in the region,” he said.

It would also draw public attention to the importance of biodiversity.

“Every single person who stays in one of these hotel rooms is also making a financial contribution to (Zoos SA), to be able to undertake this really important conservation work for some really critical wildlife from anywhere around the world,” he said.

“The legacy of this project will be profound, not just because of its economic impact, but because of the contribution it makes to wildlife preservation.

“It’s a source of pride for the state.”

The resort will add to Monarto’s largest safari experience outside of Africa, as part of Zoos SA’s 20-year master plan to upgrade the infrastructure at the safari park.

Zoos SA chief executive Phil Ainsley said the resort would aim to merge hospitality with conservation. 

“We exist for two main reasons: that’s to connect people with nature, and save species from extinction,” he said.

He expected an extra 30,000 visitors per year would come to the park now that they could sleep over on site.

A number of local tradespeople were involved in the construction of the building, designed by Adelaide-based Studio Gram.

Its structure merges African and Australian cultural influences, and blends local materials like Kanmantoo bluestone and harlequin granite with eclectic textures and natural tones.

“The interiors take their cues from the Monarto landscape, its dryness, its low horizons, and its ever-changing palette of ochres,” said architectural director Graham Charbonneau.

It has been nearly six years since the hotel’s construction was first announced, and two years since the completion of a new visitor centre as the first stage of the park’s Wild Africa expansion.

The next phase will give visitors the option of staying in one of 20 luxury tents as part of a glamping experience that is due to open at the beginning of 2026.

At an impressive 1500 hectares, Monarto Safari Park is one of the largest open-range zoos in the world, and bigger than every other zoo in Australia put together.

• More information: monartosafariresort.com.