We Fed Giraffes and Other Stuff at Orana Wildlife Park

This is the giraffe we got to feed. She was hungry, but also wanted to pose for the camera!
Photos by Erin Grigson

Josh and I spent our Labour Day with some unique (and not so unique) animals.

Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch is New Zealand's only open range zoo. Before we went, I didn't know what that meant, but now I can say that it's pretty clearly a zoo that gives animals more room to interact naturally while still keeping visitors safe and breeding endangered species. But since that's too long to put on a sign, "open range zoo" will do.

A springbok, a rhino, a couple zebras, and a meerkat walk into a bar...
Photos by Erin Grigson

The park houses a whopping 400 animals across 70 species. However, the way the park is run, you may not see all those animals.

For instance, I'm a big fan of kangaroos and wallabies, so we went to see them. We didn't. As we were walking away, the tour guide of a passing shuttle was saying how he drives by that area everyday and has yet to see a wallaby. This is a credit to the way the park is run, that the zookeepers let the animals interact as much or as little as the animals desire.

Since I couldn't take pictures in the Kiwi House, I decided we
had to take a selfie with the massive kiwi outside.

One of my favorite things in the park was the Kiwi House. As you might guess, there was a kiwi inside whether you could see him or not.

Kiwis are nocturnal, so the house is dark, keeping the kiwi awake while visitors are in the park. Then they turn on the sun when the park is closed, giving the bird its sleep.

This bird fascinated me. (I didn't get a picture, partly because it was too dark and partly because photography isn't allowed in the kiwi house.) I have seen photos and even videos of it before, but seeing it in real life, I was blown away.

Kiwis are flightless birds and are also why New Zealanders are called kiwis. The birds have 2 legs. That's it. No wings, no arms, just 2 legs. Oh, and a seriously long beak. Because of this, they are kinda funny looking, but super cute.

What I found pretty cool about kiwis is that, first, the females are bigger than the males by about a third of the male. Also, after the female lays the really large egg (about a fifth the size it will end up growing to be), the male is the one that sits on it until it hatches. Way to do your part, kiwi dads!

Mr. Peacock was just wandering
around the park.
Photo by Erin Grigson

Unfortunately, kiwis are endangered, partly because of predators (including but not limited to dogs) and partly because the vast majority of kiwi chicks (about 95%) don't live a week.

But don't count kiwis out. They will rush you if they feel threatened. They will not go down without a fight.

But the kiwi wasn't the only thing we saw.

We walked through a huge bird enclosure where the birds flew free around you. It was pretty cool. There were birdfeeders around the path to bring the birds closer to the visitors, but other than that, it was like a jungle. It even had a waterfall.

Like I said, Orana is an open range zoo. Part of that concept is that some animals literally roam free. Obviously, there were some ducks moving freely. That's not really shocking. What did drop my jaw was the peacock - yes, peacock - casually walking around outside the bird enclosure.

I desperately wanted the peacock to open his tail, but I left him alone... after taking plenty of photos.

The tuatara, a native species of lizard that looks similar to an iguana, was also on display. While I was excited to see the special New Zealand reptile, it honestly looked like any other iguana to me.

What didn't disappoint (okay a little, but I was still excited) were the tasmanian devils. I was expecting Bugs Bunny's devilish friend. What we saw were lazy little balls of fur laying out in the sun. Definitely not a tornado of an animal. However, if the enclosures are any indication of how they act when awake and alert, they could be like that at some point.

The lions were being lazy.
Photo by Erin Grigson

They have lions and tigers, but no bears.

From 1976 to 1995, Orana had New Zealand's only drive-through lion reserve. Yes, that's drive-through, like what you do at McDonald's or Sonic. In fact, Josh's mother told me that she had driven through it with Josh's siblings. Wow.

However, for obvious reasons, they had to stop this practice. Fortunately, since 1999, the park has offered brave souls the opportunity to be in the lion enclosure, in a cage of course, during feeding time.

We opted out of that one.

When we first arrived, we were given a map of the park. In the map, it had the designated feeding times of specific animals, which helped visitors see the animals. And for some animals, visitors got to interact at that time.

We were lucky and got to do just that.

We fed a giraffe!
Left photo by Josh

Josh and I both got to feed a giraffe!

Delicious!

There were quite a few people lined up, but everyone got a branch and we all were able to feed one of the two giraffes eagerly waiting for their afternoon snack.

Our giraffe was a bit greedy and had her mouth full when she tried to take my branch. I held firm and didn't let her take my branch until she finished the other one (she kept dropping them out of her mouth) and she seemed okay with that.

It was definitely a new experience and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Orana. It's free to anyone once you're in the park, so why not??

Giraffes were not the only animals guests could feed. They had a farm animal area that housed sheep, alpacas, pigs, chickens and more and people could go feed them during their designated time, too.

As per usual, I had ice cream. However, just to be clear, it was Josh's idea. And he got a popsicle, too. Both were refreshing on that hot, sunny day. We slurped on our sweets while wandering by the rhinos.

1 of only 3 gorillas in New Zealand.
Photo by Erin Grigson

After the rhinos, we saw the gorillas. Orana is special in that it's the only place in New Zealand that has gorillas. There are only 3 gorillas in all of New Zealand, all at the park.

The thing I love about Orana Wildlife Park ia that it's a not-for-profit, registered charity. All the money they raise goes to making life better for the animals. More than 15 million dollars have been raised to help the animals.

While we were there, we saw new, bigger enclosures with the animals inside them after passing smaller, empty ones. I love that the park is always working on making a more natural environment while keeping endangered species alive.

I know New Zealand is not the only place with zoos and I'm sure Orana Wildlife Park is probably not the only open range zoo in the world. But if you feel any inclination to contribute to a good animal cause, feel free to follow the link here. This place is desperately trying to save endangered species and is giving the animals in it the best life possible.

The cheetahs had so much room to run. That's one of the many things I loved about Orana.
Photos by Erin Grigson

I would highly encourage anyone in New Zealand with a family, for a date, or on your own to go to Orana Wildlife Park.

It was totally worth the $34.50 per person for the interaction with animals and the unique atmosphere.

Where to next?