I keep saying I will write a little review of Auckland Zoo from my visit there on the 20th September, and I have finally got round to it.
First of all though, I’ll just make it clear that when I’m travelling around zoos don’t usually have first priority. My trip to Auckland was primarily for birding purposes, and the zoos (Auckland Zoo, Butterfly Creek and Kelly Tarltons) were fitted in around that. This meant that Auckland Zoo was visited on the final day of the trip before heading to the airport. I got there at 9.30am for opening time but had to leave at about 1-ish, so I didn’t have as much time there as I needed. For a first time visit it is definitely an “all day zoo”; I rushed quite a bit of it unfortunately. I have been there once before but that was back in the early 1990s and it has changed immensely since then. I’m also not one of those people who examine zoo maps before a visit and plan routes: I just turn up and look at the map when I get there! (Also I didn’t take any notes while I was there so I’m writing this while looking at the map to jog my memory).
Quick opening remarks: the zoo was fantastic, certainly world-class, easily the best in New Zealand, almost all the enclosures/exhibits were top-notch. I have some very minor quibbles which I’ll pop in here and there as I’m writing, but really the good folk up at Auckland Zoo should be very very proud of themselves. If I was to give it a rating out of ten I’d give it a nine. Perhaps it is just because it is so improved from my first visit here, and quite likely I’m not going to be as critical of it as I am of Wellington Zoo because I have been to Wellington more and seen it change so much from what I used to know and love, but honestly there just isn’t a lot for me to severely criticise at Auckland Zoo!
So, first up: the gift-shop. I got to the zoo five minutes or so before the gates opened, but the gift-shop was already open handily enough, so that’s where I went first. I was very impressed with this shop. Most zoo shops have all sorts of tacky and irrelevant crap in them but Auckland Zoo’s shop is like a little gold-mine. Something I particularly liked were the hand/paw prints of various animals from the zoo (tamarin hand-prints, tiger paw-prints, that sort of thing), presumably done while the animals were under anaesthetic during examinations. And there were paintings done by the elephant (I guess: or one of the apes? I forget which). I’d rate the shop somewhere up around ten out of ten.
The route I took was to the left because I wanted to see the aviaries first and also that seemed to lead in the most interesting way to Te Wao Nui. It was early morning so the first few animals were still asleep (the red pandas and otters) but their enclosures were very well themed I thought. The two tiger enclosures were obviously modified pits from the old days but revamped so brilliantly that I’d rate them far above, say, Orana’s much newer ones (which are basically bare grass with a few logs, surrounded by chain-link). The “Aussie Walkabout” was excellent (albeit all the macropods were asleep up the back) and the walk-through Australian aviary was brilliant, somehow appearing much larger than it actually was. I didn’t like the inclusion of mutations in this aviary (the zebra finches) but otherwise very nice indeed. I was trying to keep just ahead of a primary school that had inconsiderately chosen the same day as me to visit the zoo, so I didn’t linger quite as long as I might have otherwise done at the aviaries. It was nice to see some columbids here and not just parrots, especially the bleeding heart doves and Cape doves (two of my favourites in NZ aviculture). The lovebird aviary was excellent; I’m not sure what it was originally for, and it was more stylistic than natural in its interior design, but it suited them well, and rarely (in NZ zoos) do you see lovebirds housed in a good colony. And frankly that’s the only way they should be displayed! The brolga pair with their chick was also a delight.
Around this area was where I decided I didn’t like what I considered the confusion of paths leading all over the place. I felt like I might be potentially missing exhibits. But it wasn’t long before I discovered they all merge at the band rotunda and it’s actually not confusing at all!
The Tropics was not entirely excellent but pretty close to it. The spider monkey island was good (all the monkeys were laid out in the sun as if they were dead!); I didn’t like the siamang enclosure so much, it seemed kind of dark and enclosed; the agouti in the former lion tamarin enclosure remained hidden and really needs a better enclosure for viewing; I liked all the bromeliads along the walls by the path here. The squirrel monkey enclosure (formerly for bonnet macaques) is absolutely better than those at Brooklands and Wellington (I haven’t seen the ones at Wellington yet, but I know the cage they are in). It was fun watching them trying to catch insects out of the air. I reckon this would be an ideal place for displaying agoutis too (throw out the small-clawed otters). The tarantula house was very well presented (the original giraffe house I have since learned!!) and the tanks themselves were nicely furnished; I’m not a big fan of the bare tank look for tarantulas. The tamarin/marmoset area was well done, but I thought the pigmy marmoset cage was far too small (my own personal opinion of course). The golden lion tamarin island works very well indeed and comes across much better in person than in photos. I liked too how one can look down from here to the reptile terrariums (sadly the scheltopusik was hidden and I could not see it).
I breezed rather quickly past the alligators, lemurs and orangs, with a detour to cast an eye over the porcupines, more red pandas and meerkats (annoying reflections on the windows of the indoor part, but otherwise fine), and then on to Te Wao Nui. The animal I most wanted to see here were the short-tailed bats. Apparently this is why I think the numerous paths through Te Wao Nui are confusing, because I didn’t follow the proper route, but looking at the map I still think there are far too many paths through the area. Anyway, rather than going through The Coast first (I did that last) I headed straight across that big main bridge and down into The Wetlands, and then into The Night (where due to the presence of many many screaming children I did not see much!), then The Forest, The High Country, looped back across to The Islands, and finally The Coast. I put some comments on the Te Wao Nui thread, which I’ll cut and paste below:
I was running short of time by this point (intended re-visits to see if I could spot the agouti and scheltopusik were not accomplished!), so I did a speed lap of the whole African section. Your typical African savannah stuff doesn’t really interest me overly much in zoos so I was never going to spend long in this part anyway. Briefly, the serval enclosure was one of the best I’ve seen anywhere; the hippo enclosure was fine (the hippos were happy in their wallow); erm, I don’t honestly remember the cheetah or baboon enclosures at all; the leopard tortoises unfortunately were off exhibit for the winter and there were some chickens in their place; the flamingos were lovely (the only ones in NZ of course, and hence the first time I’ve ever seen them in this country) but I didn’t think their enclosure looked particularly conducive to successful breeding (and they only have 15 of them now anyway sadly); I didn’t like the lion enclosure at all but that was purely from a personal stand-point -- I just think it looks weird having lions on an island surrounded by a moat!; and finally Pridelands (the savannah area) was nice but was really looking quite drab. I know perfectly well they can’t have grass in an area that size with a lot of hooved animals walking around on it all day, but the bare sand really doesn’t look appealing. I think maybe also it’s the contrast between all the greenery in the rest of the zoo and the dry sandiness of this area.
The last part of the visit was a swift look round the KidZone which obviously isn’t aimed at someone like me, but I had a quick look anyway because there are some animal exhibits in there (insects, frogs etc).
First of all though, I’ll just make it clear that when I’m travelling around zoos don’t usually have first priority. My trip to Auckland was primarily for birding purposes, and the zoos (Auckland Zoo, Butterfly Creek and Kelly Tarltons) were fitted in around that. This meant that Auckland Zoo was visited on the final day of the trip before heading to the airport. I got there at 9.30am for opening time but had to leave at about 1-ish, so I didn’t have as much time there as I needed. For a first time visit it is definitely an “all day zoo”; I rushed quite a bit of it unfortunately. I have been there once before but that was back in the early 1990s and it has changed immensely since then. I’m also not one of those people who examine zoo maps before a visit and plan routes: I just turn up and look at the map when I get there! (Also I didn’t take any notes while I was there so I’m writing this while looking at the map to jog my memory).
Quick opening remarks: the zoo was fantastic, certainly world-class, easily the best in New Zealand, almost all the enclosures/exhibits were top-notch. I have some very minor quibbles which I’ll pop in here and there as I’m writing, but really the good folk up at Auckland Zoo should be very very proud of themselves. If I was to give it a rating out of ten I’d give it a nine. Perhaps it is just because it is so improved from my first visit here, and quite likely I’m not going to be as critical of it as I am of Wellington Zoo because I have been to Wellington more and seen it change so much from what I used to know and love, but honestly there just isn’t a lot for me to severely criticise at Auckland Zoo!
So, first up: the gift-shop. I got to the zoo five minutes or so before the gates opened, but the gift-shop was already open handily enough, so that’s where I went first. I was very impressed with this shop. Most zoo shops have all sorts of tacky and irrelevant crap in them but Auckland Zoo’s shop is like a little gold-mine. Something I particularly liked were the hand/paw prints of various animals from the zoo (tamarin hand-prints, tiger paw-prints, that sort of thing), presumably done while the animals were under anaesthetic during examinations. And there were paintings done by the elephant (I guess: or one of the apes? I forget which). I’d rate the shop somewhere up around ten out of ten.
The route I took was to the left because I wanted to see the aviaries first and also that seemed to lead in the most interesting way to Te Wao Nui. It was early morning so the first few animals were still asleep (the red pandas and otters) but their enclosures were very well themed I thought. The two tiger enclosures were obviously modified pits from the old days but revamped so brilliantly that I’d rate them far above, say, Orana’s much newer ones (which are basically bare grass with a few logs, surrounded by chain-link). The “Aussie Walkabout” was excellent (albeit all the macropods were asleep up the back) and the walk-through Australian aviary was brilliant, somehow appearing much larger than it actually was. I didn’t like the inclusion of mutations in this aviary (the zebra finches) but otherwise very nice indeed. I was trying to keep just ahead of a primary school that had inconsiderately chosen the same day as me to visit the zoo, so I didn’t linger quite as long as I might have otherwise done at the aviaries. It was nice to see some columbids here and not just parrots, especially the bleeding heart doves and Cape doves (two of my favourites in NZ aviculture). The lovebird aviary was excellent; I’m not sure what it was originally for, and it was more stylistic than natural in its interior design, but it suited them well, and rarely (in NZ zoos) do you see lovebirds housed in a good colony. And frankly that’s the only way they should be displayed! The brolga pair with their chick was also a delight.
Around this area was where I decided I didn’t like what I considered the confusion of paths leading all over the place. I felt like I might be potentially missing exhibits. But it wasn’t long before I discovered they all merge at the band rotunda and it’s actually not confusing at all!
The Tropics was not entirely excellent but pretty close to it. The spider monkey island was good (all the monkeys were laid out in the sun as if they were dead!); I didn’t like the siamang enclosure so much, it seemed kind of dark and enclosed; the agouti in the former lion tamarin enclosure remained hidden and really needs a better enclosure for viewing; I liked all the bromeliads along the walls by the path here. The squirrel monkey enclosure (formerly for bonnet macaques) is absolutely better than those at Brooklands and Wellington (I haven’t seen the ones at Wellington yet, but I know the cage they are in). It was fun watching them trying to catch insects out of the air. I reckon this would be an ideal place for displaying agoutis too (throw out the small-clawed otters). The tarantula house was very well presented (the original giraffe house I have since learned!!) and the tanks themselves were nicely furnished; I’m not a big fan of the bare tank look for tarantulas. The tamarin/marmoset area was well done, but I thought the pigmy marmoset cage was far too small (my own personal opinion of course). The golden lion tamarin island works very well indeed and comes across much better in person than in photos. I liked too how one can look down from here to the reptile terrariums (sadly the scheltopusik was hidden and I could not see it).
I breezed rather quickly past the alligators, lemurs and orangs, with a detour to cast an eye over the porcupines, more red pandas and meerkats (annoying reflections on the windows of the indoor part, but otherwise fine), and then on to Te Wao Nui. The animal I most wanted to see here were the short-tailed bats. Apparently this is why I think the numerous paths through Te Wao Nui are confusing, because I didn’t follow the proper route, but looking at the map I still think there are far too many paths through the area. Anyway, rather than going through The Coast first (I did that last) I headed straight across that big main bridge and down into The Wetlands, and then into The Night (where due to the presence of many many screaming children I did not see much!), then The Forest, The High Country, looped back across to The Islands, and finally The Coast. I put some comments on the Te Wao Nui thread, which I’ll cut and paste below:
I was running short of time by this point (intended re-visits to see if I could spot the agouti and scheltopusik were not accomplished!), so I did a speed lap of the whole African section. Your typical African savannah stuff doesn’t really interest me overly much in zoos so I was never going to spend long in this part anyway. Briefly, the serval enclosure was one of the best I’ve seen anywhere; the hippo enclosure was fine (the hippos were happy in their wallow); erm, I don’t honestly remember the cheetah or baboon enclosures at all; the leopard tortoises unfortunately were off exhibit for the winter and there were some chickens in their place; the flamingos were lovely (the only ones in NZ of course, and hence the first time I’ve ever seen them in this country) but I didn’t think their enclosure looked particularly conducive to successful breeding (and they only have 15 of them now anyway sadly); I didn’t like the lion enclosure at all but that was purely from a personal stand-point -- I just think it looks weird having lions on an island surrounded by a moat!; and finally Pridelands (the savannah area) was nice but was really looking quite drab. I know perfectly well they can’t have grass in an area that size with a lot of hooved animals walking around on it all day, but the bare sand really doesn’t look appealing. I think maybe also it’s the contrast between all the greenery in the rest of the zoo and the dry sandiness of this area.
The last part of the visit was a swift look round the KidZone which obviously isn’t aimed at someone like me, but I had a quick look anyway because there are some animal exhibits in there (insects, frogs etc).
!
In all honesty there are loads of photos of the fairly new Te Wao Nui complex but not many shots from the rest of the zoo. I didn't see the siamang exhibit anywhere in the gallery, and does the orangutan exhibit consist of a grassy field with a few wooden climbing frames? It seems like a hugely disappointing enclosure. 
