Werribee Open Range Zoo - Review

Location – 98 K Road, Werribee Victoria

Entry Price – Adult $26.80AUD Children (4 - 15) $13.20AUD Pensioners $24.10AUD

Opening Hours – 9am to 5pm, Every Day – All year

Werribee Open Range Zoo web page

Front entrance sign to car-park

Layout

Werribee Open Range Zoo is located 35 kilometers west of Melbourne. Basically follow the Princess Freeway for about 30 minutes and then follow the signs. It’s located in the Werribee Park Precinct so be sure to leave ample time to explore all of the other great activities and attractions in this area.  

The zoo is divided into sections, each a unique wildlife experience in itself.

The Safari is where you can take a ride and see zebras, giraffes, rhinos, ostriches, bison and a large selection of hoofed animals including Przewalski’s horses.  The safari takes you around expansive fields dotted with lakes and rivers and lasts for approximately 40 minutes.

Paula Reserve Trail is the enclosure location for gorillas, lions, meerkats, cheetahs and hippopotami. The majority of this walk is on a well-maintained board walk.

Australian Journey is where you will find Kangaroos, Emus and other Australian animals.

Wirribi River Trail is a natural bush walk including a viewing platform with great views of the river and what felt like 27,000 rabbits! 

The park is in excellent condition, well signed with well-themed public art scattered throughout. There are three areas where food can be purchased and a gift store is located near the entry / exit of the park.

Extra Activities

Werribee Open Range Zoo offers an impressive range of “Wild Encounters” at an extra charge. For example you can go behind the scenes to learn more about the gorillas, take your own personal safari on the open vehicle adventure or even stay the night in a luxury tent overlooking the savannah.

Other activities include a village dance party, junior safari and guided tours that are all included in your entry ticket price. Times tend to be during the week for some of these activities so check the web page for more details.

Conservation Programs

The zoo sells beautiful art and jewellery pieces made by the women in the Melako Community Conservancy located in Northern Kenya. The conservancy is community run and was established to help people live in balance with nature. Over the years drought has been responsible for the death of many of the conservancy’s livestock, a major form of food and income for the villagers.  To survive, local wildlife like the rare Grevy’s Zebra and African elephant were hunted for food, putting pressure on already depleted herds.  By making and selling these pieces through the Zoo shop, the community is closer to being self-sustainable and in turn reduces their need to hunt the endangered animals of Northern Kenya.

Beads for wildlife

Stu’s Favourite Bit

For me The Safari was the highlight of my visit to this zoo. Not to take away from the rest of the park but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the animals interacting in their vast open space. The commentary provided by the driver was excellent and the conservation message was outstanding and continued throughout the entire safari. The opportunity to see the impressive range of antelopes the rare Przewalski’s horse and North American bison was breathtaking. Hearing the back stories of how they have all been brought back from the brink of extinction, reminds me why good zoos are such an important part of the world’s conservation effort.

Go HERE to see a selection of animals found at Werribee on Zoo at Stu @ the zoo TV.

Bison on safari

Stu’s review and tips

This is a fantastic zoo! From the safari to the enclosures, the Werribee Open Range Zoo has found the perfect balance of entertainment and conservation.   Yes you will see a lot of the big ticket animals like lions, gorillas and hippos. But it’s the little things that make this zoo so good.

Walking around the zoo and especially the Pula Reserve Trail is a good example of going beyond just providing good enclosures. You totally get immersed in the theming, natural beauty and the clever way in which the zoo gives you information about the animals and regions in which they live. The enclosures themselves are just an extension of your immediate surroundings, putting you right in the middle of your very own 'Discovery Channel' program. 

Even though you feel you are discovering things in this zoo -the way finding is very well done. From clear signage to the clever usage of totem poles guiding you to the safari station, you will find yourself doing less thinking of what to do next and more just taking it all in.

Although there are three areas that you can grab a bite to eat  around the zoo the best place to sit and grab lunch is the Meerkat Kiosk.  One side of the kiosk are glass windows looking out to a large meerkat enclosure. The food's pretty good too. The other two eateries seem to be only open for short amounts of time or on weekends only.

It's not every day you get this close up and personal to a cheetah.

There are heaps of well-maintained bathroom facilities throughout the zoo, including at the Safari station. Be warned that no strollers are allowed on the vehicle, so park your strollers at the section provided and try and get to the station at least 10 minutes prior to departure. It can get very crowded and I saw one couple turned away because they had a stroller. They missed that safari and had to wait for the next departure.

Construction work was underway for a new entrance to the park when I visited. It looks like more of an entrance plaza type of set up like conventional zoos. When I entered via the current / old entrance the first thing I glimpsed was a large silverback sitting on his large raised island surveying all beneath him. It was quite the entrance statement. 

I absolutely recommend this zoo. It encapsulates all the reasons that I started this blog in the first place. It’s everything a good zoo should be and more.

Must See Animals 
Gorillas
Bison
Hippo
Lion
Cheetah
Meerkat 

 © October 2013-Stuatthezoo.blogspot.com.au

Melbourne Zoo - Review

Location – Elliot Avenue, Parkville Victoria.

Entry Price – Adult $26.60AUD Children (4-15) $13.20AUD  Pensioners $24.10AUD

Opening Hours - 9am to 5pm, Every Day - All year

Melbourne Zoo web page 

Main promenade - Melbourne Zoo

Layout

Melbourne Zoo, the oldest zoo in Australia, opened in 1862. It is a large city zoo located four kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.   The main entrance is located on Elliott Avenue with ample parking provided off Poplar Road. A tram and rail entrance is also available at the back of the zoo.  

Main Entrance

The front main entrance opens up onto a long central avenue, that if followed will lead you straight through the centre of the zoo to the back tram and rail entrance.  The central promenade on the main avenue is the location of the zoo carousel, gift shop, bathroom facilities and food store. Smaller loop paths run off the main avenue leading you to the themed attractions and enclosures. These are roughly themed into regional animal groups from Asia, Africa, and Australia. A sea-life themed area is located close to the central circular promenade.  Food stores, rest rooms and gift stores can also be found in some of these themed areas.

The zoo is well maintained with ample shady open spaces for picnics and family activities. Lakes and landscaped rivers provide refuge to many Australian native birds and turtles that can be seen sunning themselves on logs and river banks throughout the zoo.

Extra Activities

An extensive program for meet the keeper and animal talks are scheduled daily. Kids’ activities including Keeper Kids and Growing Wild are also provided. Free guided tours can be arranged with zoo volunteers.  Wild encounter experiences can be purchased at reasonable prices – Close up encounters start at $25.00

Breeding Programs

The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect is the largest stick insect in the world and was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2001 on an island called Balls Pyramid. Being flightless and nocturnal made this little fellow vulnerable to attack by the large population of black rats that have ravaged Lord Howe Island – but somehow at least a couple of individuals made it across 25 kilometres  of ocean to this small bit of volcanic rock. There are now approximately 30 insects on Balls Pyramid.

Melbourne Zoo is researching the rare stick insect in the hope to reintroduce it back onto Lord Howe Island once an extensive rat culling program is completed on the Island.  This cull will hopefully also allow the critically endangered wood hen – Australia’s third largest bird, to once again flourish on the island.

The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect

Stu’s Favourite Bit 

I think the only thing cuter than a meerkat- is its pups. Melbourne Zoo has a couple of great meerkat enclosures that allow you to get up close and watch these little guys play, dig, climb and enjoy each other’s company. I was lucky enough to see the latest additions to the zoo’s meerkat family - 5 cute playful pups.

Go HERE to see a selection of animals found at Melbourne Zoo at Stu @ the zoo TV

Two of the Meerkat Pups

Stu review and tips

I have a saying – “Best remembered when long forgotten”.  I say this because for this zoo it wasn’t until I left and pondered my experience that I started to appreciate the day that was.    For example, the entire time I was at the sea life section, I was critical of the theming that included thongs on poles, the dark interior that felt a little claustrophobic and somewhat stark sterile sea lion enclosure. But these entirely pale into insignificance when I remember my close up experience watching a sea lion and its handlers caring interaction. When I was at the elephant’s enclosure I was frustrated that the keepers decided to feed the elephants at the opposite side of the enclosure and away from people hoping to get a glimpse of them feeding only to get an eye full of 5 elephant bottoms instead. Looking back I doubt I would have seen the caring response from a mother elephant to its baby patiently waiting to be fed if they were fed any closer to the crowd.  I didn’t get some of the theming, to be honest I just didn’t like it, but I do appreciate that the zoo was ultimately trying to tell a story. A conservation story, that theme ran strongly right through the whole zoo.

Keeper checking sea lions mouth

Feeding time for the elephants

I did find the signage to be a little confusing and found myself walking around in circles. To be fair the map provided at entry is perfect and a much easier option than randomly walking around looking for your favourite animals.  Friends that we were with on the day, asked a good question – Why don’t more zoos provide a mobile app? I will explore this in a future post.

The zoo does get very crowded on the weekend, so turn up early if you want to park reasonably close to the main entry and avoid the crowds or take a tram or train to enter the less packed back entry. Like I always say, plan, plan, plan.

All in all this is a good city zoo with all the big ticket animals on display. The food is a little expensive but I found the whole day excellent value based on the entry price. 

Must See Animals

Sea Lions 
Gorilla 
Lion 
Tiger 
Penguin 
Meerkat 
Koala 
 
 


 © October 2013-Stuatthezoo.blogspot.com.au