Work has begun on Taronga Western Plains Zoo’s $1.4 million Savannah Safari featuring tours aboard a safari truck among giraffe, ostrich and eland in the sprawling Savannah exhibit.

The Taronga Western Plains Zoo’s Savannah Safari will take about four months to be upgraded.

“When it opens the exciting ‘Savannah Safari’ experience, will be ready for guests to board a safari truck and tour the savannah exhibit, currently home to giraffe, eland, ostrich and blackbuck,” said Taronga Western Plains Zoo Director Matthew Fuller.

It is the first project to begin at the Zoo from the broader Taronga Centenary Plan to revitalise both Taronga and Taronga Western Plains Zoos.

The Centenary Visitor Experience program, announced by the NSW Government in March 2015, includes Taronga and NSW Government co-funded projects which will transform visitor experiences and create vital animal habitats at both zoos over the next 10 years.

The project includes construction of an elevated viewing podium for visitors see the animals at a large landscaped waterhole. They will board the safari truck from a special embarkation platform for the safari-style tour.

The surrounding public areas will be upgraded with shaded picnic tables to complement the existing viewing tower, and the whole area will have an African village feel. Additional seating will be installed, along with new landscaped planter beds, graded paths and interpretive signage.

Currently home to five giraffe, two species of antelope and ostrich, the savannah exhibit will be fitted with a new external perimeter fence that will enable White Rhino to be featured in the exhibit in the near future.

“This is a very exciting prospect and it will definitely add to the natural authenticity of the current exhibit already enjoyed by our Zoofari Lodge guests,” Matthew Fuller said.

“Our Wild Africa and Zoofari Lodge guests already tour this exhibit, but we’re really looking forward to opening it up for more of our visitors to experience the savannah, and to learn about the species that call it home and their plight in the wild.”

The project is due to be completed in August this year, and is scheduled to open in Spring.

The work is being conducted by successful tenderer Dubbo Terrazzo and Concrete Industries.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo is located in Dubbo in Central Western NSW.

For more information contact 6881 1400 or visit www.zoofari.com.au.