Rainbow Jungle A visit to Rainbow Jungle, Kalbarri

[Goura]

Rainbow Jungle was established in 1984 and the following is a quote from the Kalbarri Tourist Office website:

When we first set out to create Rainbow Jungle in 1984, we had only one ambition....To Be The Best.
Rainbow Jungle is now a world leader in the breeding of endangered species and is regarded as Australias most beautiful parrot habitat.

More information can be found at this link:
Rainbow Jungle & Cinema Parrotiso

As mentioned in the Rainbow Jungle gallery, the establishment is now for sale and they are looking to sell for around $4 million.

I last visited on the 8th of February and at 10 am the temperature was already 42 degrees and although there was plenty of clean water, most of the birds (especially those in the walkthrough area) were perched in the shade or on the ground trying to preserve their energy.

The gardens are quite lush with a number of tropical plants and water features although I did notice they weren't quite as well maintained as on a previous visit some years ago.

As a visitor, you enter through the shop which sells the usual 'zoo shop' products and when you walk through you are in a walled in area with arrows directing you through the various sections.
Most aviaries consist of brick walls with netting fronts, quite solid and well constructed.
In the walled garden near the 'whale watching tower' there is a large aviary which advertises birds for sale - there is also a section on their website which provides these details although I don't know when it was last updated.

Species list as follows:

Walkthrough area –
Purple-crowned lorikeet
Australian King parrot
Red-winged parrot
Regent parrot
Superb parrot
Princess parrot
Hooded parrot
Red-capped parrot
Gouldian finch
Star finch
Painted finch


Other species –
Red-tailed Black cockatoo
Yellow-tailed Black cockatoo
Western Longbilled corella
Sulphur crested cockatoo
Eclectus parrot
Golden shouldered parrot
Scarlet chested parrot
Bourke’s parrot
Mulga parrot
Northern rosella
Eastern rosella
28 parrot
Port Lincoln parrot
Musk lorikeet
Little lorikeet
Varied lorikeet
Black headed caique
Sun conure
Blue and Gold macaw
Scarlet macaw
Green-winged macaw
Alexandrine parakeet
Plum-headed parakeet
Malabar parakeet
Fischer’s lovebird

 

[CGSwans]

$4m!

Would I be right in guessing this would be a price aimed at developers, rather than somebody who might continue the business?

 

[Goura]

$4m!

Would I be right in guessing this would be a price aimed at developers, rather than somebody who might continue the business?

That might be true but the tourist industry in the area has suffered something of a blow in the last couple of years which is unfortunate because it has a lot to offer - the disadvantage of basing your economy on tourism i guess. It might just mean that the owner can't afford the upkeep anymore.

 

[Chlidonias]

Rainbow Jungle is now a world leader in the breeding of endangered species ....

from the species list in the first post, they seem like a lot of pretty standard avicultural species with very few endangered species

 

[Goura]

from the species list in the first post, they seem like a lot of pretty standard avicultural species with very few endangered species

Yes I agree - I'm not sure if they used to have more threatened species although considering they are in Australia that list would be fairly limited anyway...night parrots? ground parrots? Of all the species they currently hold, the Golden shouldered parrot is the only one that would fit this category.

The claim is rather misleading.

 

[tetrapod]

Visited the place about 12 years ago for first and only time. Very nice setup, well landscaped considering it is all parrot species. However $4 million? Kalbarri is a tourist destination, but pretty limited market. Most Perth people wouldn't know it exists unless they have previously visited.