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Written by Stephanie Mikkelsen
The Safari Lodge at Monarto Safari Resort sits an hour east of Adelaide in the middle of one of the largest open-range zoos in the world. You don’t need to fly to the Serengeti to wake up surrounded by African wildlife – you just need to drive to the Murraylands. The Safari Lodge is new, genuinely unique, and it’s the kind of place that tends to fill up once word spreads. Fully all-inclusive, with one of the most unusual views in Australian accommodation – this is South Australia well worth getting to.
1. The wildlife is right outside – no jeep required (well, mostly)
The lodge sits within Monarto Safari Park, a sprawling 1,500-hectare property home to giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, lions, rhinos and more. From your private deck, you’re watching animals move through the landscape in real time – not behind glass, not at a distance, just there.
Every stay includes an exclusive 2.5-hour sunset safari in an open-sided Landcruiser through the Wild Africa precinct. Guests of the lodge also receive access to the wider Safari Park and can plan their stay around a range of additional experiences, including walk-throughs of a lemur habitat, meetings with rhinos, and the chance to act as a keeper for the morning.
2. All-inclusive done properly
The lodge’s restaurant and bar run on South Australian produce and native ingredients, and a stay covers it all: breakfast through to dinner, free-flow drinks throughout your time here, and a daily restocked minibar back in your room. There’s nothing to budget, nothing to track. You eat well, you drink well, and you put your card away.
The wine list leans into the state’s strength. SA does this better than almost anywhere in Australia, and the kitchen knows it – dishes are built around the region’s seasonal produce, not generic resort food dressed up with a safari theme.
3. Rooms designed around the view
The lodge accommodation is built to face the landscape. Private decks look out over the savannah, positioned to catch the sunrise and keep you in the sightline of whatever decides to wander past during the night. Interiors balance comfort with the surroundings – not overly designed, not trying to compete with the view outside.
It works for couples, it works for families. The scale is intimate enough that it never feels like your atypical resort.
4. The facilities hold their own
Between safaris and meals, the lodge has a pool, a gym, and firepits that come into their own after sunset. A sundowner around the fire is the natural end to a day – the kind of ritual that feels less like a resort activity and more like the only logical thing to do when you’re sitting under a South Australian sky at dusk with a drink in hand.
5. Your stay funds something that matters
Monarto Safari Lodge is a conservation-led experience operated under the Zoos South Australia umbrella. Staying here directly supports wildlife programmes focused on the long-term survival of threatened species – including several of the animals you’ll be watching from your deck.
