Hi Guys, Newbie here! I stumbled on this website whilst searching for information on a wildlife park. Pleased to meet you all. I love the discussions that I have read so far. Anyway, I was wondering, which zoo encounters in Australia have you done recently, and which would you recommend? In the past couple years, my wife and I have done (in no particular order): 1. Naughty Wombats - Australia Zoo Our first close encounter with a wombat, so that was great. 2. Zooventure - National Zoo This was awesome. Feeding the tiger, lion, bear, cougars etc was an incredible experience. 3. Open Vehicle Adventure - Werribee Open Range Zoo As an African safari is not within our budget at the moment, this was not a bad compromise. We have also interacted with many other animals at various zoos and wildlife parks during 'keeper talks' or after a 'show'. We are eager to have more close encounters though. So, which are your favourites, and which do you recommend? Thanks guys!
Not Australia but: Meet the aardvarks at Colchester - awesome is the only word. Oh and the Owl Handling Evening at the Falconry Centre Hagley was wonderful as well.
I've done 2) and 3) on your list. The OVA really destroys the regular bus ride for Werribee though, it's just not the same. Meerkats at Halls Gap is great value. The early morning walk at Dubbo is good. I've done the reptile tour and seal tour at Melbourne Zoo. The seals is sort of a work-in-progress, but has good bits. The reptile tour is great if, like me, you collect reptiles vicariously through your local zoo.
Cheers guys. If I am in the UK, I will be sure to try some of those experiences. As I am in Oz, I have a feeling that I would be more likely to do the meerkats at Halls Gap in the near future.
There are dolphins at Seaworld,tigers at Dreamworld,koalas at Featherdale,Dreamworld,Taronga and others as well as camels just about everywhere.Giraffe at Taronga and Dubbo.Zoo's are slowly realising that they have a product and if marketed wisely can deliver education and financially.If we look at zoo history,the visiting public have requested 'special appearences' for huindred's of years.Funny how things come in cycles.
As fr as I knew no zoos (maybe one) offer encounters with camels, soaring insurance saw an end to camel rides at a lot of places. The insurance has since settled so they might make a reappearance, but still costly to get started.
Camels are found at zoo's and parks in Australia and the opportunity offered will depend on the management.Some may offer photo opportunities and at agricultural and local festival events there are bound to be camels for riding,petting and admiration. Regards An old Cameleer
About 5 years ago insurance went from around $5,000 to closer to $100,000. This put an end to the camel rides at TWPZ and wiped out a few of the smaller operators. Insurance has since settled. The trade is picking up again, I was recently offered a very reasonable price for my camels. I was aware of the event market, but just didn't know of any zoos.
Taronga has a number of encounters with owls, reptiles and giraffe. TWPZ has lion, tiger, meerkat, giraffe and Wild Africa Encounters
Thanks for the advice guys. TWPZ sounds like a great place to visit. It sounds as though I will have to ride a camel on tour in WA rather than in a zoo. I forgot to mention this one (probably because it is not really a zoo), but we did the dolphin encounter at Kangaroo Island (just off the coast of SA). We aren't swimmers, but the Zodiac inflatable boat was almost at water level, and you could almost touch the dolphins that came next to the boat. It really was an awesome experience, albeit with wild animals.
