BEST zoo in Australia???

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kath

New Member
I have a friend coming from the states to visit in a few months. Trying to decide which zoo to take her to (from Adelaide, Melbourne, Taronga or Australia Zoo).
Has anyone been to all/most of those zoos have an unbiased opinion on which is the best?

Also wondering which is better out of Monarto Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo?

Thanks :)
~Kath
 
Depends on what you want to see. Adelaide is/was supposedly the best Australian zoo to see birds, Melbourne has the new baby elephant and tigers, Taronga has the gorillas, Adelaide has the giant pandas, Western Plains has the Indian rhinos, Werribee has the African focus, Perth has the gibbons/lesser apes, Monarto is the biggest and Australia zoo has a bit of everything (by everything, I mean some Asian animals, some African animals and some Australian animals, but, then again, so do the other zoos).
 
I'd avoid Australia zoo unless you are prepared to pay a heap to see all the species they keep from general visitors.

Being from the US she can probably see all non Australian animals in larger numbers at US zoos than here. It would probably be better to get out of the major cities and go to a regenal zoo which specializes in Australian animals. Get out of the cities and see real Australia, I recon all cities are the same.

I think a foreign tourist would be happier away from crowds at a place like small Fauna Park, which had Tassie Devils, Koalas, Kangaroos, Wombats, Quols and Australian birds.
 
Whilst I agree with UMAG on the fact that it depends what your friend wants to see, I don't really agree on the strengths he lists.

First of all, scratch Australia Zoo from your list unless she's more interested in watching a small child dance than seeing animals. It costs around $60 for an adult to get in, and once there you'll find you'll see elephants, tigers, otters, red pandas, some natives and lots of crocs... and if you want to see the primates, giraffes, rhinos or cheetahs, you can expect to pay plenty more besides.

Will this person stay with you in Adelaide? If so, then a combination of Adelaide, Monarto and Cleland would see them get a taste of an excellent native animal collection (at Cleland), a very large but still developing open range zoo, and one of the best urban zoos in Australia, which of course has the giant pandas. Between these three SA zoos, you'll see all the major species Australia has to offer except elephants and gorillas.

Taronga is more 'spectacular', although I feel my home zoo, Melbourne, stacks up with better gorilla, tiger, elephant and orang-utan enclosures, a slightly better reptile house and what I believe to be the best flight aviary in Australia. Plus, the excellent chimpanzee exhibit at Taronga is currently being rebuilt. Against that, Taronga has the harbour views, an excellent seal and penguin complex, a lot more native animals (if you wished to cut Cleland from your Adelaide itinerary) and a decent number of smaller aviaries (although I believe some have been demolished since I last visited). Another advantage of a Sydney trip is you could combine it with the truly excellent Sydney Aquarium, which is the only place in the world apart from (I think) Singapore where you will see dugongs. The Melbourne Aquarium, regular visitor though I am, doesn't compare favourably.

As for Monarto versus Werribee, I can't really say as I've never been to Monarto (for that matter, my only visit to Adelaide was a fleeting one for 1.5 hours seven years ago). My impression is that Werribee has more "finish" to it than Monarto, but from what I can gather I feel sure that I would get more out of visiting Monarto. They have marginally fewer mammal species, but the fact you can get out of the bus and linger at each one - not to mention large breeding herds of many of the species - makes a big difference to me.

I don't know if any of that helps. Is this person a zoo fanatic like those of us on this website? If so, then she'd get huge value out of going to at least Taronga, Sydney Aquarium, Melbourne, Adelaide, Monarto or Werribee and one of Cleland or Healesville Sanctuary. I don't know how willing she is to go off the beaten track, but Taronga Western Plains at Dubbo is infinitely more worthy of her time and money than Australia Zoo in my honest opinion, having been to both zoos once in recent years.
 
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UrMumzAGoat said:
Depends on what you want to see. Adelaide is/was supposedly the best Australian zoo to see birds, Melbourne has the new baby elephant and tigers, Taronga has the gorillas, Adelaide has the giant pandas, Western Plains has the Indian rhinos, Werribee has the African focus, Perth has the gibbons/lesser apes, Monarto is the biggest and Australia zoo has a bit of everything (by everything, I mean some Asian animals, some African animals and some Australian animals, but, then again, so do the other zoos).
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Western Plains has all the rhinos (currently sitting at around 23 or 24 in total). As far as I know Monarto isn't the biggest Zoo, The land the zoo is on is huge but I believe to say it is the biggest zoo is misleading, the zoo doesn't cover the entirety of the site.

I agree with CGSwans, Australia Zoo isn't really appropriate


I would recommend Taronga Western Plains (although it is 500kms from Sydney there are two opportunities to stay at the zoo)
or Melbourne I've never been to Melbourne but hear lots of good things about it. Taronga is ok but I struggle there, unfortunately the only time I've had to look around Taronga was the Australia day Long weekend and being a country fella i found the crowds and inability to see animals quite frustrating.

Our private zoos would also possibly be quite different to what your friend would expect. Mogo is one of my favourites but lacks natives, but there is a nice little wildlife park nearby called birdland in batemans bay.
 
The Zoos Victoria Combo would be great if your friend wanted to see some excellent zoos and a wide veriety of species. Healesville is great if you want to see natives, especially platypus', tassie devils, and birds. Werribee is just a really good zoo but a little on the small side in terms of number of animals and only has african and australian areas. And of course Melbourne Zoo which is my personal favourite and has great diversity as well as some world class exhibits.

The most convenient thing about these three is that they are all within an hour from the centre of Melbourne if you have a car and all three have public transport you can use.
 
You can get "Friend of the Zoo" passes from Zoos Victoria. That will give entry to the following zoos, as many times as you want in a calendar year: Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Zoo, Healesville, Adelaide Zoo, Monarto Zoo, Perth Zoo, Taronga, Western Plains Zoo. It could be a good investment if she's travelling around Oz for a few months. I think it's around $80 a person?
 
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