Auckland Zoo

I’m going to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by my most recent trip to the Zoo. It had been a long time between drinks and I was taking my godson, who had never been to a Zoo before — he’s four and loooooooves animals — so I was pretty excited.
I think our main problem was our timing. A lot of the animals (including the lions, which he was most excited about seeing) were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it’s also just my age but the closures also seemed smaller than I remember (I think in reality it’s just that I’m bigger) and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the animals. The Zoo itself is on a relatively large piece of land but it seems like it’s poorly organized.
The zoo was pretty packed when we went so it’s obviously popular and I am told that it is one of better zoos when it comes to the management and care of the animals but I don’t think i’ll be back in a hurry!

Not sure if it’s because I’m an ‘Aucklander’ but I find it good just for a special occasion. It has definitely steeped in price over the years and every time we have been there, a lot of the enclosures were being cleaned so we missed out on seeing great animals. Love the aviary (I am a bird person though!) and quite an enjoyable day if you go when it’s great weather. However, don’t go during school holidays if you have to take prams! Very stressful and you end up leaving worse off –_​–
I think you if really want your money’s worth, make the effort to make it an educational outing and take your time.

Has the usual line up of animals. Do check the timetables for shows and feeding time and plan around those. My trip to the zoo was not planned and happened to be after feeding time so a lot of the animals had retired to the shade by then and could not be seen or could only be glimpsed.
Despite the timing, it was a lovely walk through on a gorgeous day and I did manage to catch the orangutan show.

Really nice zoo in the city. It is big and there are plenty of animals, native or not. We had a nice time there. We saw our first kiwi as after 3 months in New Zealand, we did not see any! There were a lot of people but it was nice anyway. There is food, toilets, a store… A place to visit on a nice day!

Always a lovely place to visit by day and now a great place to visit at night. The Finns at the Zoo featuring legends Neil and Tim Finn, their kids Liam, Arthur, Elliot and Neil’s wife Sharon filled the rotunda and it’s surrounds last night with punters and hits galore from their combined music anthology. While the evening birdsong provided choral accompaniment, the crowd swayed and applauded with greater appreciation than a satisfied sun bear. The atmosphere was family friendly and convivial. Catering included a selection of burgers, hot dogs, pizza, wine, beer, soft drinks and even coffee. If you get the chance to see a concert at the zoo, don’t miss your chance. It’s a memorable venue for any musical event.

Hier kann man gerne mal den ganzen Tag verbringen und die Tiere der Welt und Neuseelands bestaunen. Der Zoo macht einen ordentlichen Eindruck, das Personal ist freundlich. Bringt Zeit mit!

This is a great little zoo! I’m a big fan of zoos, and have been to quite a few all over the world, and I think the enclosures here are definitely very good. The animals seem happy, and everything is clean and spacious and well designed.
They have most of the usual animal suspects, with an extensive bird collection (as you’d expect), including the lovable kiwi.
There are plenty of encounters you can attend, to see animals being fed and to learn more about them — check the zoo website for times and days.
The cafes all looked quite nice and were reasonably priced, for a zoo.
One thing I would note is that the children’s zoo area seemed a bit more sparse than what I’ve seen elsewhere — not much to interact with!

I love Auckland Zoo. Sure it doesn’t match up to zoo’s overseas like Bronx Zoo and San Diego Zoo but it’s perfect for NZ! A wide range of animals, it makes for a great day out. My favourite would have to be the otters, servals and red pandas! Love them!

This is an excellent zoo. While it lacks the scope and breadth of the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, it boasts a bevy of fine wild animals in settings that resemble their natural habitats and are devoid of bars. Moats may separate animals from their human admirers, but It is likely that the animals do not feel caged in. The most inventive enclosures include a river that plays host to two bobbing hippopotamuses, and a water-​filled outdoor enclosure with a large glass opening near the bottom through which giant sea lions can be observed quickly swimming by. While there are not an overwhelming number of animals on the premises, the ones who are there are fine representatives of their species. While Diane and I were there, a White Rhinoceros bounded about near giraffes and a zebra; three lions peered down majestically from a hill; and an orangutan playfully dragged a swath of colorful fabric through sudsy water inside a small plastic pool.
It was disappointing that a red panda never appeared out of hiding; we never found the kiwis; and when we reached the elephant section, a sign informed us that the elephant was out on a walk. But we did see two cheetahs being escorted on their walk on leashes held by zoo attendants. And the meerkats and wallabies were fun to watch cavorting about.
A 4−½ star experience!

Great zoo. Our family became ‘Friends of the Zoo’ late last year. It’s great being able to take my preschoolers during the week when the zoo isn’t so busy.
Auckland zoo has most of the animals you’d expect: elephants, tigers, lions, giraffes, zebras and hippos just to name a few. It’s got a great café and playground too. Good for a day out in the fresh air with the family.

I do love the Zoo, its a family outing and lots of fun times to be spent with the kids. I had a Friends of the Zoo (FoTZ) pass while my son was crazy about animals, but now that he’s moved onto Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I don’t have a corresponding place to take him. One thing I’d like to mention is that the Zoo Café does make some pretty good pizza. but watch the heat level, as those heat lamps leave a lot to be desired.
You can spend anywhere from 45 minutes to 4 hours at the Zoo easily and keep kids occupied, we tend to go around 3 times a year.

Enjoyed our visit here. My favorite was Pridelands and watching the lions. Spent a good few hours wandering around.

Had I not gone here, I wouldn’t have know the second longest named place in the world was: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
Now try to say THAT; once is enough, much less 3x in a row. Don’t know what it means? Even the meaning is SUPER long.
I can’t help that to say that this zoo is BEAUTIFUL. Lush green surrounding, unique animals we’ve all seen on TV, but not necessarily in person. Many exhibits or shows to see kangaroos, deer, sea lions, or red pandas. I think we skipped over the lion’s exhibit by accident, so definitely check the map. If I lived in New Zealand, I would make a zoo trip at least once if not twice a year since animals differ by the season.
The funniest thing I thought was after going to the zoo, I hopped onto the Skyline Gondola to the restaurant at the top of the peak, and ate delicious venison meat. No, the deer aren’t from the zoo, but the zoo is a must see! I don’t care how old you are, if you go to Auckland as a tourist, you MUST see the zoo!

No matter how old you get the zoo is always a dependably fun day out. There’s a really good range of animals to get up close and personal with and it stands up pretty favourably to other zoos overseas for the price you pay. Sadly a few of the well known animals have died in the last few years (one of the elderly elephants I remember was fondly farewelled a while back, and the old hippo), but the place has also expanded and redeveloped many of the enclosures so there’s plenty of fresh stuff to see if you haven’t been in a while too. For example the aquatic enclosure right in the middle I think is new, and the bird enclosure is much bigger than I remember it. All your old favourites are still there too — the monkeys, orangutans, gibbons and meerkats never fail to make the kids (and big kids) laugh, and the lions and tigers and giraffes are as impressive as ever. Well worth the spend!

You know how when you’re a child there are things that are so amazingly cool and then when you grow up they’re lame? Like umm push pops maybe. Although push-​pops are still cool. Or maybe mufti days… nah mufti days are still cool. Anyway, The Zoo never gets old. Never.
I recently went here on a random Sunday when my friends and I had no plans, and it was awesome. There are the usual suspects, but my personal favourite was the Orangutan. This guy is awesome. We watched him pick up a blanket and climb to the top of his ropes thing, then he wrapped the blanket around himself and looked into the horizon. It was so great. The seal enclosure is also very cool. You can watch the seals from the top of the water, or go underground where they swim right up to the window.
So this isn’t so much a review as it is a show and tell story, but who needs a to be told that the zoo is cool? No one. So just go, animals rule.

I hadn’t gone to the Auckland Zoo since I was a young ‘un until I went a couple of years ago; since then I’ve been back a few times and now always recommend it to visitors. There’s the usual zoo displays: lions, tigers, giraffes, hippos and the like (and thankfully all in reasonably large enclosures).
What makes the zoo a must-​visit though are the new NZ landscape displays; these are mostly walk through aviaries and each one exhibits a different type of landscape, from the rainforest through to the coast through to the alps. It’s pretty special to be able to walk through an alpine environment and have keas come right up to whilst you’re in the middle of the city. I’ve heard a few people complain they can’t see anything in the aviaries, but if you sit still and just wait you should be rewarded.

The Auckland Zoo is a great place to spend the afternoon. It’s surprisingly big; I’ve always been exhausted after spending the day there. It’s a good place to go with a group of friends, with the kids, on a date, or to walk around by yourself looking at all the beautiful animals. The sea lions are awesome, I love the meercats, and the monkeys are always entertaining. But the giraffes are definitely my favourite, I could spend hours and hours just looking at them. If you go at the right time you may be able to feed them, and they have the biggest, most disgusting tongues in the universe. Love them. There are so many animals; a kiwi enclosure, a huge outdoor bird avery, chimps and urangatans, reptiles, a spider museum. Buy gifts from the souvenir shop, grab a bite to eat, have an ice cream, take heaps and heaps of photos. Always a good time, you can’t not have a good time! Going to the Zoo!

The Zoo! A classic attraction in any city! The Auckland Zoo is a fantastic way to spend the day, especially with littlies in tow. I recently took my young cousins who were over from Japan and they absolutely loved it. Actually, so did I!
The sealion enclosure is probably my highlight, I love watching them swim and play underwater, and the little penguins are so cute stealing one has crossed my mind…
The Zoo offers animal encounters at specified times each day, and are definitely worth attending. During the encounters zookeepers get up close and personal with the animals and also tell you more about each one, so it’s both a thrilling and interesting experience.
As well as housing countless endangered and revered animals, the Auckland Zoo also has a great café in its midst, a children’s playground, and a band rotunda where local musicians perform during summer in special zoo concerts.
Tip: Season passes to the Auckland Zoo are available, so grab the kids and make the most of New Zealand’s biggest zoo.

I teased my sister when she bought herself and her son season passes to the zoo. I said «can you really go that often!?» I couldn’t believe that paying up front for infinite zoo trips could work out but for them it certainly did! Man they went to the zoo almost every week. I guess that’s all a three-​year-​old really wants. I decided to join the other day. It had been a while since I had been to Auckland Zoo and was surprised to see that quite a bit had changed. Some enclosures had been expanded and it looked like there had been a bit of an upgrade. Of course the animals were entertaining. You can’t get too old to laugh at the strange things monkeys do or to be amazed by the majestic beauty of tigers. For a fun day out and something a little different the zoo isn’t too big a price to pay. Plus there is a significant discount for students so if you’re studying don’t forget your ID!

I have to admit I’m a bit of a Zoo geek. I love going to the zoo and oohing and ahhing over all of the animals! I think Auckland Zoo is definitely the best zoo in New Zealand, it’s so worth going to! My favourite animals have got to be the Meercats, the Giraffes and the Elephants. But what probably makes this zoo different to may zoos is the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine that they have onsite. At certain times each day, you can go to this centre and watch the vets operate on and treat animals. The vets talk you through what they’re doing and you can learn a lot about our native animals by going to one of these sessions. It’s a very cool experience and I’d definitely recommend it!