Image: Monarto Safari Park
For the first time ever, visitors to Monarto Safari Park will be able to step off the safari bus and come face-to-face with one of the most extraordinary conservation projects in Australia.
After years of planning, millions of dollars in fundraising, cross-country elephant road trips and countless carefully choreographed introductions, the highly anticipated Elephants of Asia visitor precinct officially opens to the public on Saturday, July 4th.
The new visitor experience will allow guests to watch five endangered Asian elephants from an elevated viewing deck overlooking a new waterhole, all within a purpose-built 14-hectare habitat designed to replicate the landscapes these remarkable animals would naturally call home.
Visitors will now be able to observe Burma, Permai, Putra Mas, Pak Boon and Tang Mo as they continue settling into life together as South Australia’s founding elephant herd.
Elephants of Asia began as an ambitious conservation vision in 2023, which saw almost 4,800 donors raise more than $2.4 million to help create a forever home for Asian elephants at Monarto. Since then, elephant by elephant, the herd has slowly arrived from zoos across Australia and New Zealand.
Burma travelled from Auckland Zoo before quarantining while learning the sights and sounds of South Australia, including her first-ever encounter with kangaroos.
Permai made the mammoth 2,700-kilometre trek across the Nullarbor from Perth Zoo inside a specially designed air-conditioned transport crate stocked with more than 1,000 litres of water and plenty of peanut butter sandwiches for the journey.
Putra Mas later completed his own cross-country adventure from Perth, and Pak Boon and Tang Mo made the trip from Sydney.
Moving the elephants was only half the challenge, as the real work was introducing five highly intelligent, deeply social animals to one another, entirely on elephant terms. Keepers have spent months reading every body movement, trunk touch and rumble before gradually allowing closer interactions.
One of the biggest breakthroughs came when Permai and Tang Mo successfully shared a habitat together without barriers for the first time. The pair fed side by side, enjoyed dust baths together and were repeatedly seen gently touching trunks, one of the strongest signs yet that genuine trust was beginning to form.
Earlier introductions between Burma and Permai produced similar moments, with the elephants exchanging gentle trunk touches through protective barriers before eventually building enough confidence to spend increasing amounts of time together.
The gradual process is all part of Monarto’s commitment to welfare-first conservation, where every milestone happens at the pace chosen by the elephants themselves.
Asian elephants remain endangered, with less than 52,000 believed to remain in the wild. Establishing healthy social herds in accredited zoos plays an important role in the international breeding and conservation program, helping secure the future of the species.
So if meeting South Australia’s newest residents is on your bucket list, Monarto is encouraging guests to pre-book online before making the trip. After all, it’s not every day you get the chance to stand just metres away from a herd of elephants.
For more information, click here.
Words by Danika Zalac and Tiffany LePoidevin
