The Dubbo Zoo is officially named the “Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo.” It is home to hundreds of animals from around the world and consists of a 6 km circuit that meanders through natural bushland and around large open style exhibits.

We liked the extremely large outdoor areas where African animals roamed almost freely. We have never seen a zoo where the animals looks so well kept and not suffering from “cage rage.” Zoo keepers, we learned later, make a lot of effort to enrich the animals’ lives. This includes distributing some zebra poo in the lion cage to make them excited. The zoo designers tried to provide as much as possible characteristics of their natural habitat for each animal.Given the temperatures in Australia, creating pseudo-natural habitats is obviously a bit easier than in, for instance, Berlin or Pittsburgh.

We stayed overnight on zoo grounds enjoying a Zoofari that is advertised as "an intimate retreat comprising stunning Guest House, luxurious accommodation, cuisine and guided Zoo tours, and offers a private and luxurious African safari style experience in the heart of the Zoo.” 

We started out with Hippo dental care:

Hippo Dental Care Hippo Dental Care

Giraffes were shown in an impressively large area and during our private zoo tour we were allowed to feed them:

Giraffes

Feeding Giraffes Feeding Giraffes

The Otter feeding was fun to watch:

Otters Otters Otters Otters

The evening feeding of the African Wild Dogs was an impressive spectacle:

Wild African Dogs Wild African Dogs Wild African Dogs Wild African Dogs

Early in the morning, before the zoo opened to regular visitors, we were permitted to watch the feeding and cleaning of the Elephants:

Elephants Elephants Elephants Elephants

Observing the animals in the early morning fog let us almost forget that this was not Africa:

Early morning fog Early morning fog Early morning fog

More pictures here.