Orana Wildlife Park

For months and months before leaving England, Alex and I watched the series The Zoo on the TV. The one thing he wanted to do when we arrived was to visit it so, on Friday we decided we'd give it a go. Obviously, the series was based at Auckland Zoo, slightly far away for a day visit, but Alex was none the wiser when we headed off in the direction of Christchurch Zoo!

First of all we checked out Shannon's favourite, the spider monkeys.

They had loads of lions and Tigers which Alex and his friend Max really liked. They are in the process of building a massive new lion enclosure and a matching one for the tigers.

Orana Wildlife Park is New Zealand's largest wildlife and conservation centre and only open range zoo. The Park has been developed as an open range sanctuary for endangered animals, providing them with enclosures as close to their natural habitat as possible. Streams, moats and banks are used as barriers to allow visitors the opportunity to see the animals in a natural manner. Over 400 animals from 70 different species are displayed. The name Orana is the Maori word for welcome or place of refuge. The zoo is mostly staffed by volunteers who, it is plain to see, really love the animals there.

This bird is a Tui - a native New Zealand bird. The zoo are trying to increase the numbers as is endangers, as are many NZ native birds.

We saw our first live Kiwi bird - they are HUGE! We expected them to be quail size but they are more like the size of a turkey. They are creatures od the night so you have to go into the specially built, very dark Kiwi House and wait until your eyesight adjusts to the dark - no photography was allowed unfortunately.