Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native...

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park

22 Rankers Reviews

19 Face-to-Face

13 Zoos and Aquariums

8 Otorohanga

Maps

Photos

Atu, the Great Spotted Kiwi. Daily in the nocturnal house.

Information

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park is a not-for profit organisation, all proceeds go towards the amazing range of conservation programs the park is associated with. Yep your 16 dollar entry is a feel good 16 dollars. Doing something for the future of New Zealand’s birds.
This is important for a number of reasons, none of which I can go into now, but if you check out our web-site you might like to book for the Inside Story, a chance to meet me to hear a bit more about the Kiwi House.
At the Kiwi House you will find down to earth real Kiwis (the people) and the birds, getting on with the job. The park is beautiful and having been here since 1971 has a lovely feel with a myriad of mature trees. There are lots of birds, and many opportunities to chat with the staff who are monitored with GPS tracking systems to make sure they move at least every hour or so. Working with Kiwi for as long as some of them have can sometimes rub off. Kiwi birds can rest/sleep for up to 20 hours a day. Actually while on that subject the Tuatara which are my favourite animal are also living life to the slowest, one heartbeat every minute or so and living up to 120 years. Yep the Kiwi House is exciting make no mistake. As you can imagine,one heart beat every minute makes for a very, very, charismatic animal. Of course there are many other birds, such as the New Zealand Falcon which can fly as fast as a racing car, they breed here every year. The offspring are released into wild sites in the North Island of New Zealand. Almost makes you want to dance. Come find out why!
You won`t find bright lights, flashing arrows or convoluted stories about wildlife here. You will find down to earth conservation that happens every day just as it should. It`s fun and relaxing. The team here at the Kiwi House offer the warmest invitation to you and your family and friends to visit us.
If you do visit please consider a review with Rankers and if possible include the word “myriad” I included it once, it has a nice feel, kind of like the Kiwi House.
Go well
Paul
Open daily 9-4.30
Check the web site for further details.

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park

Commercial organisation

Location

North IslandWaikatoOtorohanga

Categories

  • Activity__zoos_and_aquariumsZoos and Aquariums
  • Activity__bird_watchingBird Watching

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-38.1794039933646

175.212621688843

Latitude
-38.1794039933646
Longitude
175.212621688843

Reviews

    • Great place to spot a brown kiwi.
    • Interesting exhibition, nicely maintained.
    • Loverly wee place.
    • Good place to see live kiwi up close.
    • Not that impressive, but still.
    Rating Count Percentage
    10/10 3
    14%
    9/10 4
    18%
    8/10 6
    27%
    7/10 3
    14%
    6/10 5
    23%
    5/10 0
    0%
    4/10 0
    0%
    3/10 1
    5%
    2/10 0
    0%
    1/10 0
    0%
  • 4.5/5

    Very interesting visit, great to hear about the various breeding programmes they have here to help rescue native NZ birds.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in December 2016

  • 4.0/5

    Nice park, small cages, nice feeding tanks, bit expensive.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in December 2016

    GERMANY
    Clarissa Glaser's avatar

    Clarissa Glaser

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Excellent views of Kiwi being fed, very active, also hand feeding of parrots.

    A must if you want to see Kiwi, Very good for children.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016

    UNITED KINGDOM
    David Crisp's avatar

    David Crisp

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Great to see real kiwi birds, there is a nice park to see birds, but not so spectacular.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

    AUSTRIA
    Iris Kerbler's avatar

    Iris Kerbler

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Very friendly staff, changed our booking two times for us, kiwi feeding was quite cool, fair price, areas and cages are quite small.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

    GERMANY
    Flo and Frieda's avatar

    Flo and Frieda

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    We have seen only one Kiwi but it was our first Kiwi!

    The rest of the park was not very interesting.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

    FRANCE
    Ben and Pauline's avatar

    Ben and Pauline

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    The staff really knew their birds and reptiles.

    They also know their animal's personalities very well and were very informative. It was obvious that the staff really care about animals in their care. I love that it is also a non profit organisation.

    Reviewed over 9 years ago

    CANADA
    Carmen's avatar

    Carmen

    Customer

  • 3.5/5

    Interesting exhibition, nicely maintained.

    It was great to see two kiwi. The entrance fee of $20pp seemed too high though.

    Reviewed almost 13 years ago

  • 3.5/5

    Good place to see live kiwi up close.

    Have a Great Spotted and Brown kiwi on display. Also lots of other interesting birds to see.

    Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012

    CANADA
    Norm Cooper's avatar

    Norm Cooper

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    They do not have many kiwis.

    Probably 5-6 bit you see one, two or three at a time. I was a little disappointed because it was the main reason of my visit. Otherwise they have many bird species.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014

    Elise Boinnot's avatar

    Elise Boinnot

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Nice park, small cages, nice feeding tanks, bit expensive.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in December 2016

    GERMANY
    Clarissa Glaser's avatar

    Clarissa Glaser

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Very interesting visit, great to hear about the various breeding programmes they have here to help rescue native NZ birds.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in December 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Excellent views of Kiwi being fed, very active, also hand feeding of parrots.

    A must if you want to see Kiwi, Very good for children.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016

    UNITED KINGDOM
    David Crisp's avatar

    David Crisp

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Very friendly staff, changed our booking two times for us, kiwi feeding was quite cool, fair price, areas and cages are quite small.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

    GERMANY
    Flo and Frieda's avatar

    Flo and Frieda

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Great to see real kiwi birds, there is a nice park to see birds, but not so spectacular.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

    AUSTRIA
    Iris Kerbler's avatar

    Iris Kerbler

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    We have seen only one Kiwi but it was our first Kiwi!

    The rest of the park was not very interesting.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

    FRANCE
    Ben and Pauline's avatar

    Ben and Pauline

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    The staff really knew their birds and reptiles.

    They also know their animal's personalities very well and were very informative. It was obvious that the staff really care about animals in their care. I love that it is also a non profit organisation.

    Reviewed over 9 years ago

    CANADA
    Carmen's avatar

    Carmen

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    They do not have many kiwis.

    Probably 5-6 bit you see one, two or three at a time. I was a little disappointed because it was the main reason of my visit. Otherwise they have many bird species.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014

    Elise Boinnot's avatar

    Elise Boinnot

    Customer

  • 1.5/5

    Expected to see many kiwi, they have two in the whole place!!

    Not worth the money.

    Reviewed about 12 years ago and experienced in March 2012

    UNITED KINGDOM
    Jonathan Tuthill's avatar

    Jonathan Tuthill

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    Great kiwis!

    Park is getting old, sad birds, getting used to people, wanted to get out of enclosure. They should update.

    Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012

  • 3.0/5

    We had a good look at the kiwi which we come for, but the other birds were less interesting because we had seen most in the wild.

    The kea were funny though.

    Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012

  • 3.5/5

    Good place to see live kiwi up close.

    Have a Great Spotted and Brown kiwi on display. Also lots of other interesting birds to see.

    Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012

    CANADA
    Norm Cooper's avatar

    Norm Cooper

    Customer

  • 3.5/5

    Interesting exhibition, nicely maintained.

    It was great to see two kiwi. The entrance fee of $20pp seemed too high though.

    Reviewed almost 13 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    If you want to see a Kiwi up-close, then this has got to be one of the best experinces in NZ!

    Firstly, I can completly recommend the Kiwi-watch that run's some evenings ($30). It's run by a volunteer and involves after-hours entry into a Northern Brown Kiwi enclosure (more like a park, it's pretty big). You then sit in a specially designed hide (no glass) that's level with a feeding area for the kiwi.

    Obviously it's luck as to wether you see one of the pair that lives in this enclosure, but we were lucky enough to have 4 sightings of a male Northern Brown...... eating just 2 meters from my face....with no glass panneling inbetween us - pretty special! I was also lucky enough to have the very knowledgeable Paul, the park manager, volunteering that evening - who really knew his stuff...and brought us some tea :)

    We also got to see a Great Spotted female - Tasman, who was incredibly friendly!

    Onto the Park - if you go during the day I'd reccomend going at half 1 in the afternoon, as you get to see 2 kiwi's being fed then a further 2 kiwi's (as the nocturnal displays are swapped over in the afternoon).

    The park's fantastic and provides a great oppertunity to see birds native to NZ up close. It's well designed and you get to see many species and a lot of interesting information for your money. There is also a large walk-through avairy, with kiki, parakeets, tui among many other native wildfowl.

    A definate must-see!

    Reviewed over 14 years ago

    UNITED KINGDOM
    Helen_and_Lee's avatar

    Helen_and_Lee

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    Expected more kiwis(Just 2) and couldn't take photos (not even without flash) - Bummer

    Reviewed almost 15 years ago

    BELGIUM
    Wim Van Gastel's avatar

    Wim Van Gastel

    Customer

    Hi there, we have four Kiwi on display daily. At any one time you will be able to see two birds. Due to the birds requiring special conditions it is impractical to put more birds on display. We have a night time Kiwi Watch experience that allows you to view the birds at night from a hide in their own environment, you see more birds.

    I agree the no photo thing is a bummer. But here’s why. The flash damages the birds eyes, which are adapted to low light environments only. The obvious question after that explanation is “Why can`t we take non flash photos?” A really good question, in fact it is one I asked when I first started work here! The answer is that too many people were having accidents meaning there were a lot of flashes going off. Deliberate or not it was distressing to the birds. Maybe some people were unfamiliar with their cameras or decided to take a photo anyway. The end result is no photos.....bummer.

    My e-mail is manager@kiwihouse.org.nz; if you contact me I will send you some high res images of the Kiwi, and also some information on Kiwi Watch.

    Regards

    Paul

  • 4.0/5

    Great place to spot a brown kiwi.

    Larger than expected and it's really worth protecting them (like nearly everything!)

    Reviewed over 15 years ago and experienced in April 2009

    GERMANY
    skorn's avatar

    skorn

    Customer

  • 3.5/5

    Not that impressive, but still.

    You get to see a kiwi.

    Reviewed over 15 years ago and experienced in March 2009

    BELGIUM
    AnnickH's avatar

    AnnickH

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    This is a fantastic bird park and the only place in New Zealand where you can see a Great Spotted Kiwi live!

    They always have two Kiwis on display that you can see, there is a huge number of nicely made bird enclosures with most of NZ's native birds PLUS NZ tuatara and geckos! We had a very nice day in the park and I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to see NZ wildlife without going into the bush!

    Reviewed over 15 years ago and experienced in April 2009

    GERMANY
    Martina's avatar

    Martina

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Loverly wee place.

    Reviewed over 15 years ago

    UNITED KINGDOM
    IanM's avatar

    IanM

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    I came accross this place by chance and was amazed by it.

    The only other place I have seen live kiwis is in London Zoo! This place does such a good job as it describes the trees and habitat as well as the fauna. I was so priveleged to visit Mungatautre (I hope I spelt this right) soon afterwards where some of the kiwis have been released and bred sucessfully because of the huge fence keeping the preditors out. Thank you Kiwi House!

    Reviewed almost 16 years ago

    NEW ZEALAND
    Juliet Woodman's avatar

    Juliet Woodman

    Customer