Zealandia
3.7 28 reviews
Directions
Map
Edit
ReviewShare the love
Save 10% with code RANKERS
Zealandia is a proper treasure sitting about 20 minutes from central Wellington. A fully-fenced 225-hectare sanctuary in Karori where kiwi, tuatara, tui, kaka and a whole lot of other native wildlife are going about their lives largely undisturbed. The conservation work happening here is genuinely impressive and worth supporting with your entry fee.
Going with a guide makes a real difference. Consistently across the reviews, people who went solo found the birds harder to spot, while those on a guided tour came away buzzing. The night tours in particular get rave feedback. Seeing kiwi in their natural habitat rather than a zoo enclosure is something else entirely. If a daytime walk is more your speed, the feeding stations are a reliable spot to watch tui and kaka up close.
A couple of practical notes. The main tracks can get busier, so if you want a quieter experience, head for the longer bush walks out the back. Quieter days also tend to mean more birdlife. And plan for more time than you think. People consistently say they could have spent the whole day here.
Entry isn't cheap but the two-consecutive-days policy means you can go back the next day at no extra cost, which softens the price nicely. On top of that, promo code RANKERS gets you a further 10% off which helps keep us going too.
Photos
Information
Zealandia
Explore the outdoors at your own pace or be led by a guide! During the day, walk amongst rare birds like hihi, kākāriki and takahē. Spot prehistoric reptiles like the tuatara bathing in the sun. See how the sanctuary transforms after dark on a guided tour and search for thousands of glow worms and over 150 kiwi roaming free.
Experience the source of the increasing native bird biodiversity in Wellington, while supporting our ground-breaking conservation research.
Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne is the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary, with a 500-year vision to connect people with nature and help native wildlife flourish in Wellington and beyond. The 225-hectare ecosanctuary is a ground-breaking conservation project that protects over 40 rare native wildlife species. As a not for profit, you are directly contributing to our vital conservation work.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
|---|---|---|
|
Organisation |
Zealandia Eco-SanctuaryCommercial organisation |
|
|
Location |
North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Karori |
|
|
Categories |
|
|
|
Operating Season And Hours |
Open every day except Christmas day. The sanctuary is open from 9:00am–5:00pm, with last entry at 4:00pm. Rātā café operates from 9:00am–4:00pm on weekdays and 9:00am–5:00pm on weekends, with the kitchen closing at 2:00pm. For after-hours tours, visitors must arrive at the Visitor Centre 15 minutes before the tour starts. |
|
|
Promo Code 10% Off |
Use discount code RANKERS with Zealandia and 10% off. |
|
|
Directions To Coordinates |
||
|
Directions Wellington Office Office |
||
|
Coordinates |
||
|
Websites |
|
|
|
Social Links |
Bird Watching
Google Maps
Reviews
-
-
Great guided tour (this cost extra).
Karyn -
One of the top places we visited.
Kirsty -
A beautiful walk through a bird sanctuary.
Sarah Kovacs -
Worth all the money!!
Ann-Katrine & Sille -
We had a short time for the whole park.
Michael
-
Sanctuary was nice but not much to see, wouldn’t suggest going to the cafe- staff are rude when confronted about food still not coming out after 40 minutes they just gave money back no apology.
Definitely would not recommend..
-
A bit crowded on the main tracks but pleasant on the bush walks.
Saw lots of bird life. An interesting initiative.
-
Beautiful conservation effort.
Worth every penny because you get to go two days in a row and help finance a worth while operation. You can watch heaps of native birds and get to know them very well. Lots of stunning walks, free tours and feeding shows.
-
A beautiful walk through a bird sanctuary.
It was pretty difficult to spot the birds as they are flying around, but would probably be better with a guide. But it was a great way to learn about New Zealand bird life.
-
We appreciated the free shuttle bus and lovely inside exhibition.
Walk outside was nice, but were were not really very lucky to see many birds. Maybe another time.
-
Beautiful native bush and birds in the best possible setting.
Guides make bird identification much easier. You can see how many people love the park by the sheer number of volunteers we encountered.
-
Beautiful nature reserve just 20 minutes from central Wellington, protected precious birds and reptiles, beautiful fauna and trees!
Must do.
-
Cost a little money but you can see lots of New Zealand birds.
When you want to see Kiwis it is best to go at night!
-
Night trip: What a cool place!
I learned loads while having a really exciting time wondering around the forest following our guide as he tracked and found kiwis, weta, rare ducks, and prehistoric lizards. I've seen kiwis in wellington and auckland zoos, but to see them in their natural habitat was the best by far. Loved it!
-
A beautiful insight into how New Zealand once was and exemplifies the hardwork put into recreating the natural space.
A must see.
-
This was one of the highlights of our 2 week trip in New Zealand - south and north islands.
Definitely take a guided tour. Our guide helped us understand the hard work being done to restore the biodiversity plus pointed out wildlife that we would have missed. This is not a zoo, it is an urban reserve.
-
-
-
It's a beautiful place but the evening kiwi tour it's very touristic with people doing a lot of noise, this way it's very difficult see a kiwi
-
Lovely park, but the evening tour was very pricy for the 2 hours.
This tour was recommended to us by friends as THE place to see Kiwi. Unfortunately, the Kiwi spotting was only a sideline of the tour, led by enthusiastic volunteers. Also, the voluneer leaders didn't stress to participants that they needed to walk quietly and be quiet during the tour to optimize the chance of seeing Kiwi.
I would recommend that the Sanctuary offer a bird-only evening tour focusing on Kiwi.
This is not an easy place to get to on your own in Wellington, so I would think twice before venturing up there.
Our sanctuary is home to over 100 little spotted kiwi, however we do not guarantee any sightings as we are not a zoo. Regarding transport, we have a shuttle available from the CBD for $15pp return. This can be pre-booked when booking your tour.
-
Sanctuary was nice but not much to see, wouldn’t suggest going to the cafe- staff are rude when confronted about food still not coming out after 40 minutes they just gave money back no apology.
Definitely would not recommend..
-
A bit crowded on the main tracks but pleasant on the bush walks.
Saw lots of bird life. An interesting initiative.
-
Beautiful native bush and birds in the best possible setting.
Guides make bird identification much easier. You can see how many people love the park by the sheer number of volunteers we encountered.
-
A beautiful walk through a bird sanctuary.
It was pretty difficult to spot the birds as they are flying around, but would probably be better with a guide. But it was a great way to learn about New Zealand bird life.
-
We appreciated the free shuttle bus and lovely inside exhibition.
Walk outside was nice, but were were not really very lucky to see many birds. Maybe another time.
-
Beautiful conservation effort.
Worth every penny because you get to go two days in a row and help finance a worth while operation. You can watch heaps of native birds and get to know them very well. Lots of stunning walks, free tours and feeding shows.
-
Beautiful nature reserve just 20 minutes from central Wellington, protected precious birds and reptiles, beautiful fauna and trees!
Must do.
-
Cost a little money but you can see lots of New Zealand birds.
When you want to see Kiwis it is best to go at night!
-
This was one of the highlights of our 2 week trip in New Zealand - south and north islands.
Definitely take a guided tour. Our guide helped us understand the hard work being done to restore the biodiversity plus pointed out wildlife that we would have missed. This is not a zoo, it is an urban reserve.
-
A beautiful insight into how New Zealand once was and exemplifies the hardwork put into recreating the natural space.
A must see.
-
-
Night trip: What a cool place!
I learned loads while having a really exciting time wondering around the forest following our guide as he tracked and found kiwis, weta, rare ducks, and prehistoric lizards. I've seen kiwis in wellington and auckland zoos, but to see them in their natural habitat was the best by far. Loved it!
-
Daytime: I visited it when it was slightly raining, so I met only one guy in the whole park.
It was one of the best experiences in new zealand, absolutely stunning. But you have to like new zealand birds :), and: "its not a zoo". If you know about new zealands wildlife, its lovely to encounter all the rare animals.
-
Worth all the money!!
Amazing to see New Zealand's nature as it was a 1000 years ago. You learn a lot and get so excited every time you see a special bird or the small New Zealand dinosaur (Tuatara).
-
Guided night walk.
Excellent informative presentation. Guide was knowledgable and passionate. Saw 2 x Kiwi, lots of other native birds. plants, etc.
-
For a park in the middle of Wellington it is very serene - there are lots of birds to hear and see and there are lots of feeding areas so finding and seeing birds is excellent, good information available
.
-
We loved this place - where you can see Tuatara, Tui chasing Bellbirds away from "their" food, and many others, right in a city?
Trees, dams buildings - its all good fun
-
What a place to have right in the middle of a capital city.
The fact that you can't expect to see certain birds on demand makes the sightings you do have even more special. You know you're not in a zoo when you come here. There's plenty to see anyway. You can stay on the flat if you don't have long or feel like an easy walk, or you can set off down some of the longer tracks out the back.
-
It's a beautiful place but the evening kiwi tour it's very touristic with people doing a lot of noise, this way it's very difficult see a kiwi
-
This is an amazing place, even more so when you realise it's in the middle of Wellington.
The work they are doing to support native flora and fauna is excellent and definitely worth supporting with your entrance fee.
We were lucky to be there on a day when most of the city was watching the Christmas parade so it was fairly quiet - hence more birdlife! The feeding stations are a brilliant place to see tuis and kakas, but it's also great to do some of the many walking trails and see what you can find there (we were lucky and spotted a couple of saddlebacks among others). There are information boards, weta 'hotels', the tuatara sanctuary and so many beautiful trees. We spent several hours there but could easily have spent the day - it's a very special place!