Sydney Wildlife World » Sydney Wildlife World

25-03-2008

Does anyone have attendance figures for SWW? How about the Sydney Aquarium? I understand that the Taronga Zoo receives something like 1.2 million per year.

29-03-2008

I went SWW last year, overpriced... It may good for Internaional tourist etc as has already been discussed but if your an avid zoo fan, go to Taronga instead...

03-04-2008

How many zoos , wildlife parks etc are there in Greater Sydney ?
I know of 2 that have closed -- Warragamba , and Australia Wonderland near Prospect Resavoir..... and there are probably more (?)

The ones that I believe are still in existance include ;
Taronga Park
Featherdale (a good one near Rooty Hill )
Koala Park near Pennant Hills
Waratah Park
Darling Harbour aquiriam

is there still an aquiriam/marineland in Manly

a bit further afield is Eric Worrells Reptile park , and Symbio near Helensburgh

03-04-2008

Featherdale Wildlife Park is a beauty!
I went there prepared to be disappointed but came away very impressed!
Lots of Australian animals, mostly in good enclosures ( the goannas have a massive gum tree to climb, for example.)
Even more birds, ranging from cassowaries to wrens, many in large walk-through aviaries.There are species of birds here that I have never seen in any other Australian zoo or animal park. Ever seen (or heard) a Chiming Wedge-bill, for instance? Wonderful! The park is well planted out, a very green and shady place.
It was started by a poultry farmer who was interested in aviary birds. Its come a long way from there.

04-04-2008

Yip, I went there while in Sydney... Its owned by the same group that owns Sydney aquarium...

Featherdale
11-04-2008

despite its corny sounding name , I agree that it is not a bad place to see Aust fauna . Not as good as Currimbin or Healesville , but better value than Koala Park in Pennant Hills .
It is good that they have planted more trees over the years -- it was somewhat barren when I first went there in 1981

11-04-2008

i would be keen to know other opinions - is heallesville really the primo, creme de la creme, when it comes to native animal parks?

11-04-2008

I didnt think taht, David Fleays is supposed to be good.

12-04-2008

I'll throw in my two cents and state that I was hugely impressed with Healesville. I was fortunate enough to see a lyrebird give a high-pitched, 10 minute display, and there were a few baby tasmanian devils as of June 2007. The exhibits were very well planted, the bird show was entertaining, the platypus building was bizarre-looking and yet effective, and my overall impression was of a well run establishment. From a tourist's perspective one couldn't really ask for much more in terms of Aussie wildlife.

14-04-2008

patrick asks for opinions regarding wildlife parks (i.e. those displaying predominantly native Australian animals);

As far as I'm concerned, Healesville in Victoria is the best in Australia, Currumbin is Queensland's best and Featherdale is N.S.W.'s best. (If you haven't been to Featherdale and assume it is just some little flea-pit, you are in for a shock.)

Just to get back on topic (Sydney Wildlife World), my little grand-daughter went there last week. Kids are funny; she was fearless and thrilled to hold a snake but ran squealing in terror when a butterfly landed on her head!

1 Day Ago

i visited today, overall i think it was ok. nothing amazing but not as bad as i had expected!

there were a couple of things that i really didnt like though,
the first was that the signage consists of one tv above each exhibit, so in a mixed exhibit if you wanted to know what an animal was you had to wait till the tv cycled through al of the other animals and often plants in the exhibit before you found out! this lead to a lot of tourist getting the wrong information like a tourist assuming that the bettong was a wombat....

We also saw a black rat running around in the walkthough avariy now i know rats are an issue with averies but this one was in the middle of a building so you would think that you could stop the rats!

the cassowary is currently sharing its exhibit with bandicoots and red legged pademellons which seems a bit risky!

dispite these things it wasnt so bad for what it is, a tourist attraction!

1 Day Ago

Koala Park has closed and, although it is still running and has animals, I believe Waratah Park is not open to the public.

Manly Marineland has been renamed Oceanworld.



Hix

1 Day Ago

I spent five days in Sydney in September 2007 to see Taronga, Manley and the two collections in Darling Harbour.

My advice to anyone visiting Sydney to see animals is to visit the Sydney Aquarium and Taronga but skip Sydney Wildlife World altogether, even if it is next door to the aquarium. Not only for the touristy impression and high admission fee, but also because of how it displays the animals, behind glass. As an avid photographer, glass is something I have hated my entire zoo visiting career.

Zoos around the world display Australian animals, but usually behind glass, with the exception of kangaroos, wallabies, emus and such, while in Australia climate allow them to be kept indoors. Why would you go to Australia to visit a place that has all these wonders behind glass just as in your homeland? Go see them under the blue sky at Taronga or go to the Australian Reptile Park.

To end this on a positive note, I will give SWW credit for its excellent labelling and education, which is among the best I have seen in a zoo anywhere, but that is about it that I can complement them.

1 Day Ago

I was there last week. i was very impressed by the big scrub python. it was huge.