Auckland Zoo

Auckland Zoo occupies just over 16 hectares at Western Springs, a short drive west of the city centre, with its main entrance on Motions Road. It opened in December 1922 and is now a not-for-profit organisation within Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, the council agency that also runs the New Zealand Maritime Museum. The zoo cares for more than 1,400 animals from about 135 species and puts conservation at the centre of what it does.

Te Wao Nui, opened in 2011, is the zoo's largest precinct and the best reason for overseas visitors to come. It recreates six New Zealand habitats, from the coast and offshore islands to wetlands, forest, high country and a night house, and shows more than 60 native species including kākā, kea, tuatara and little penguins. Auckland Zoo opened New Zealand's first nocturnal kiwi house in 1971.

The South East Asia Jungle Track takes in siamangs, Bornean orangutans, Sumatran tigers and Asian small-clawed otters, with a climate-controlled tropical dome. The African areas include giraffes, zebras, rhinos, lions, cheetahs and flamingos. The zoo's last elephant, Burma, moved to a safari park in Australia in 2024, and the former elephant house has become a restaurant.

The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine houses the zoo's veterinary hospital, which treats sick and injured native wildlife from across the country with the aim of returning them to the wild. Visitors can see into the hospital on every day the zoo is open, and free keeper talks run daily. The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund, set up in 2000, supports field projects in New Zealand and overseas, and staff work on conservation programmes in places such as French Polynesia. The zoo is also certified net carbon zero.

The zoo opens every day except Christmas Day from 9.30am to 5.30pm, with last entry at 4.30pm. Tickets can be bought online. Allow at least three hours, and longer with young children.

It is an obvious choice for families, but Te Wao Nui makes it worthwhile for any visitor wanting to see native birds and reptiles that are hard to find in the wild. MOTAT is next door, and a heritage tramline runs between its two sites past the zoo, so the two can be combined into a full day at Western Springs.