NZ Zoo Tour

Z

zankara

Member
Over the last 10 months I have sort of been doing a tour of NZ Zoos. So far I have visited:

Auckland Zoo
Butterfly Creek
Kelly Tarlton's
Franklin Zoo
Bullswool Farm Park
Hamilton Zoo
Paradise Valley Springs
Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park
Brooklands Zoo
Pouakai Zoo Park
Stoney Oaks Wildlife Park
National Aquarium
Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre
Staglands
Wellington Zoo
Zealandia
Kaikoura Marine Centre And Aquarium
Orana Park
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve
Enkle Doo Very Korna (wallaby park)
Dunedin Botanic gardens (aviaries)
Discovery World Tropical Forest, at the Otago Museum (butterfly house)

My question is, are there any must see zoos in NZ that I haven't been to? I looked at the stickied zoo list and nothing really stood out. I do plan on going to Rainbow Springs and Ti Point in the next couple of months. Any other recommendations?

p.s if you have any questions about the places I have visited feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
 
I think you've pretty much covered the main ones already, once you've done Rainbow Springs and Ti Point. Additional ones worth thinking about are the Turangi National Freshwater Aquarium (I haven't been but zooboy28 thinks it's very good; it depends how enthusiastic you would be about native fish); Owlcatraz and Nga Manu are both near Wellington and although both very small are worth visiting; way down south I'd add in the Kiwi Birdlife Park in Queenstown and the Te Anau Wildlife Centre (I haven't been to the latter one yet, but this year I'm planning on heading down there). I suppose there's Zion as well if you can stomach Craig Busch.

Could you give a quick run-down on the new Kaikoura Marine Centre? I'm hoping to see that this year as well. I know its tiny but if you could do a little mini-review that would be great (how many tanks, what sort of marinelife they had when you were there, that sort of thing)
 
Isn't there a Tuatarium in Invercargill?

:p

Hix
 
Thanks Chlidonias. I will definitely look into owlcatraz and Nga Manu next time I am near Wellington. Not interested is Zion for obvious reasons.

As for Kaikoura Marine Centre, unfortunately I didn’t take any notes or photos so forgive my memory as it is a bit sketchy. (If you google it though you will see a couple of pictures of the touch tank and octopus)

I actually didn’t know this existed until I drove past and saw the sign so it was a nice little surprise.
The place is just starting out and currently relies on donations so for this reason it is very small. There are two rooms, the first contains about four? small tanks. I remember there been a NZ Reef Octopus and Seahorses. This room also has lots of information about the local sealife including bones, shells, eggs etc.
The second room was bigger and had three tanks. First was a touch tank which had a good variety of the usual critters such as Sea Anemone, Starfish and Sea Slugs. Second tank had Mussels. Third tank was the largest and this contained a variety of fish including Carpet Sharks, Blue Cod, Shrimp and some others I can’t remember.
I thought the signage was overall very good.

Sorry my review is not very detailed; I will talk to my partner later and see if he remembers anything more.



Hix: I didn't quite make it that far south unfortunately. I did get a chance to see lots of Tuatara at the other places though, highlight was at Zealandia where they are free to roam.
 
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Sounds like a great tour you are on Zankara, you have certainly visited all the big captive animal attractions.

I would say Ti Point and Rainbow Springs would nicely round out your NZ zoo tour, and as Chlidonias said Nga Manu is also worth a visit (although I haven't been yet). If you are ever driving through the central North Island (which you probably are) you would do well to stop in at the National Trout Centre, and check out the new freshwater aquarium set-up, plus the rest of the park. This is just south of Turangi, before the Desert Road on SH1. This can be visited in an hour.

I wouldn't bother with Owlcatraz to be honest, all that is there is moreporks and weka, plus domestics and fake glow-worms. The place looked pretty run down when I was there, and I wouldn't recommend it.
 
zooboy28 said:
I wouldn't bother with Owlcatraz to be honest, all that is there is moreporks and weka, plus domestics and fake glow-worms. The place looked pretty run down when I was there, and I wouldn't recommend it.
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really? That's a shame. My sister and her family went there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Nga Manu's not so flash any more either unfortunately, but still worth a look if passing that way.

If it is open to the public again I'd also suggest the Parrot Ranch by Levin. The aviaries are pretty spartan breeding aviaries but there's a big range of parrots there (for NZ) and its nice to see some of the rarer ones. If heading that way, try dropping them an email to see if they are doing tours again.
 
The NZ zoo tour sounds as if it was a lot of fun, but how many of the establishments were ones that an individual would actually spend 4 hours or longer at? ZooChatter Childonias mentioned on another thread that he spent only 2 hours at Wellington Zoo and so in all honesty could one make the case that the nation of New Zealand has only one major zoo? Auckland is the one that attracts the most global attention, and I'm not knocking the other establishments as I'd love to visit the country but I'm just asking a serious question.
 
snowleopard said:
The NZ zoo tour sounds as if it was a lot of fun, but how many of the establishments were ones that an individual would actually spend 4 hours or longer at? ZooChatter Childonias mentioned on another thread that he spent only 2 hours at Wellington Zoo and so in all honesty could one make the case that the nation of New Zealand has only one major zoo? Auckland is the one that attracts the most global attention, and I'm not knocking the other establishments as I'd love to visit the country but I'm just asking a serious question.
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For an international visitor with a general interest in wildlife came to NZ, the only zoo they would really need to see is Auckland, and possibly a few smaller establishments which focus on native species. If you were really into seeing animals, then you would have a look at a few of these places, assuming you were most interested in NZ species. You may visit specific institutions if you have specific interests, e.g reptiles or fish.

For someone with an interest in zoos per se, then the four big zoos (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington & Orana) are probably all worth visiting, despite the great degree of species overlap, all do have unique species (in NZ). They should also visit a few native wildlife parks, I would most recommend Otorohanga Kiwi House and Bird Park, and Zealandia.

Auckland is certianly the country's 'main zoo', although the Big Four all have quite large species numbers (for NZ) and have their own focus. I would spend at least four hours at each of these zoos, although Wellington could be done more quickly. You could probably also spend four hours at Otorohanga and Zealandia, depending on your interest in birds. I doubt any others would take more than three hours.

I'm sure Chlidonias will have his own views though :D
 
snowleopard said:
The NZ zoo tour sounds as if it was a lot of fun, but how many of the establishments were ones that an individual would actually spend 4 hours or longer at? ZooChatter Childonias mentioned on another thread that he spent only 2 hours at Wellington Zoo and so in all honesty could one make the case that the nation of New Zealand has only one major zoo? Auckland is the one that attracts the most global attention, and I'm not knocking the other establishments as I'd love to visit the country but I'm just asking a serious question.
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to be fair I was living in Wellington at the time and had an annual pass so I visited quite often. We did go round the zoo in about two hours on that visit, but I've also spent longer (and shorter) when by myself. It depends on what you're doing whilst there (eg taking photos means a lot longer visit, as would watching animal feeds). You could spend four hours at Wellington Zoo I reckon but it would be a stretch in my opinion.

zooboy28 said:
For someone with an interest in zoos per se, then the four big zoos (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington & Orana) are probably all worth visiting, despite the great degree of species overlap, all do have unique species (in NZ). They should also visit a few native wildlife parks, I would most recommend Otorohanga Kiwi House and Bird Park, and Zealandia.

Auckland is certianly the country's 'main zoo', although the Big Four all have quite large species numbers (for NZ) and have their own focus. I would spend at least four hours at each of these zoos, although Wellington could be done more quickly. You could probably also spend four hours at Otorohanga and Zealandia, depending on your interest in birds. I doubt any others would take more than three hours.
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agreed, all four "main" zoos are well worth seeing and, apart for Wellington (in my opinion ;)), they would all be longer than four hour visits. I think if one is going to be using a term like "major zoo" as snowleopard does above, then the term should be judged on the country in question rather than viewed in comparison to international zoos (eg USA or Europe) because its like comparing apples and oranges; and in that case then I would say that NZ does indeed have four major zoos and not just one. Even if only judging them by "general visitor" standards they would still count as "major zoos" because they all have ABC species such as big cats, giraffes, etc. Auckland would definitely be the "most" major zoo amongst the four though.

The only point in zooboy28's post I wouldn't agree with (in part) is the one about Zealandia: if you visit it properly it would be at least half a day and a full day would be easy (but of course I am a birder). It is a large area of forest and very few people go anywhere further than the dam (most not even that far), and the longer you stay the more you see. However its a bit of a moot point because Zealandia isn't a zoo, so comparing or including it amongst zoos is very misleading. [I have it on the NZ Zoo List simply on the basis that their takahe pair are inside a compound and they have a few geckoes and fish in tanks]
 
zooboy28 said:
...the four big zoos (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington & Orana) are probably all worth visiting, despite the great degree of species overlap, all do have unique species (in NZ).
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when I read this I thought Wellington would have the smallest number of unique-in-NZ species but in fact its Orana! Just looking at mammals, Wellington has nyala, emperor tamarin, white-cheeked gibbon, sun bear, dingo and grey kangaroo. Orana has sable antelope and scimitar-horned oryx (I discounted the addra because it is off-display, and the northern crested porcupine because to all intents and purposes it looks the same as the southern cresteds). Auckland is waaay out in front, with Asian elephant, hippo, orangutan, sealions and fur seals [discounting the closed Marineland of course], and golden lion tamarins - and Auckland also has all those other shared ABCs like lions, tigers, zebra, giraffes, rhino, etc.

If you factor in birds then Orana falls even further behind because it hardly has any.
 
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zankara said:
Over the last 10 months I have sort of been doing a tour of NZ Zoos. So far I have visited:

Auckland Zoo
Butterfly Creek
Kelly Tarlton's
Franklin Zoo
Bullswool Farm Park
Hamilton Zoo
Paradise Valley Springs
Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park
Brooklands Zoo
Pouakai Zoo Park
Stoney Oaks Wildlife Park
National Aquarium
Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre
Staglands
Wellington Zoo
Zealandia
Kaikoura Marine Centre And Aquarium
Orana Park
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve
Enkle Doo Very Korna (wallaby park)
Dunedin Botanic gardens (aviaries)
Discovery World Tropical Forest, at the Otago Museum (butterfly house)

My question is, are there any must see zoos in NZ that I haven't been to? I looked at the stickied zoo list and nothing really stood out. I do plan on going to Rainbow Springs and Ti Point in the next couple of months. Any other recommendations?

p.s if you have any questions about the places I have visited feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
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How does a country with a population smaller than the city of Los Angeles (and adjacent suburbs) support all of these zoos and animal attractions? Are most of them dependent on traffic from international tourism?
 
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snowleopard said:
The NZ zoo tour sounds as if it was a lot of fun, but how many of the establishments were ones that an individual would actually spend 4 hours or longer at? ZooChatter Childonias mentioned on another thread that he spent only 2 hours at Wellington Zoo and so in all honesty could one make the case that the nation of New Zealand has only one major zoo? Auckland is the one that attracts the most global attention, and I'm not knocking the other establishments as I'd love to visit the country but I'm just asking a serious question.
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When I was at Wellington Zoo last year I spent probably 4 - 5 hours there.

:p

Hix
 
DavidBrown said:
How does a country with a population smaller than the city of Los Angeles (and adjacent suburbs) support all of these zoos and animal attractions? Are most of them dependent on traffic from international tourism?
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Tourism is a big factor for many of them and without that they would definitely struggle. Also, a few of these places are fairly small.
 
Hix said:
When I was at Wellington Zoo last year I spent probably 4 - 5 hours there.
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a big time-saver for me is the lack of birds at Wellington. If the Bird Valley was still there I'd probably easily spend an extra hour at the zoo. I have little interest in the "usual" animals (chimps, lions, etc) so just breeze past them on most visits, which cuts my trips there down much shorter than the standard visitor's trip.

I think its fair to say as well that when Meet The Locals and the new sun bear area opens then the zoo will without doubt be a 4-5 hour visit even for me.
 
zankara said:
Auckland Zoo
Butterfly Creek
Kelly Tarlton's
Franklin Zoo
Bullswool Farm Park
Hamilton Zoo
Paradise Valley Springs
Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park
Brooklands Zoo
Pouakai Zoo Park
Stoney Oaks Wildlife Park
National Aquarium
Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre
Staglands
Wellington Zoo
Zealandia
Kaikoura Marine Centre And Aquarium
Orana Park
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve
Enkle Doo Very Korna (wallaby park)
Dunedin Botanic gardens (aviaries)
Discovery World Tropical Forest, at the Otago Museum (butterfly house)
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how many of these places did you take photos at? At least half of them have few or no photos in the gallery so if you're willing to upload some then it would be good to get some on there. If you need to have a gallery created for any specific collections then you can ask for that to be done at http://www.zoochat.com/4/new-photo-gallery-request-thread-5-a-258010/index4.html
 
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