Up close at feeding time

Bellinda Kontominas spends a wild night with the who's who of the zoo.

As we stand among a group of excited 10-year-olds stroking the tail-end of a diamond python, there's a nagging feeling we're in the right place but at the wrong time. Flash forward several years and we'll be those parents proudly photographing their children's first up-close experience with animals. Now, however, my husband and I, as childless thirtysomethings, feel as though we've been transported back to year 5 school camp.

We're at Zoofari Lodge, an overnight experience at Dubbo's Taronga Western Plains Zoo that gives behind-the-scenes access to

the animals and provides comfortable accommodation in oversize canvas tents. Pitched variously as a wildlife lover's destination, romantic getaway for couples and unique family adventure, Zoofari seems most suited to families.

At the rear of the zoo's African Savannah, where giraffes, zebras, eland and buffalo roam, 12 lodges are nestled among native trees. Each lodge is named after zoo animals. We stay in Eland, a Savannah Lodge that sleeps up to four people (one double bed and two singles).

Serengeti lodges sleep up to six and have a queen bed, two singles and a sofa bed. Each lodge has a bathroom with shower and toilet, and heated floors throughout, a welcome comfort, particularly in winter, but not quite worthy of the "luxury camping" tag. The main lodge has a dining room, bar and lounge area decorated with African tribal masks. There is an outdoor fire pit and a swimming pool. Zoofari opened in 1996 and was refurbished in 2000.

And then we ate To ensure the tight schedule of afternoon and evening zoo tours can be met, guests choose their dinner meals at check-in. My entree of seared scallops with an apple brandy cream, and lemon-scented pudding for dessert, were delightful, but the main dish of chicken filled with sundried tomato and camembert and wrapped in bacon was disappointingly dry. Children are well catered for and choose from menu favourites such as bangers and mash, chicken nuggets or spaghetti bolognese, and ice-cream topped with chocolate sauce or jelly.

The deal maker It can be frustrating to visit a zoo only to see animals asleep in a far-off corner. On the afternoon, evening and early morning tours, we see animals up close, as our visits mostly coincide with feeding times. We see African wild dogs tussle over dinner; meet an orphaned wombat who, until it came to the zoo, ate nothing but cornflakes; learn meerkats always post a lookout; and marvel at how close we are - within metres - to lions, Sumatran tigers and Asian and African elephants. My favourite experience comes when hand-feeding carrots to the giraffes, watching their long tongues curl as they gently pull vegetables from our hands.