There are plenty of animal species to enjoy the company of at the zoo including: hippos, cheetahs, lions, tigers, giraffes, penguins, sea lions, elephants, lemurs, orang-utans, chimpanzees, Galapagos tortoises, exotic birds and creepy crawlies!

We especially wanted to do a ‘Zoom Tour’ which gives visitors the chance to see a chosen selection of stunning animals up close. When I visited with my family the children particularly loved the idea of the tour as it is like a back stage pass, sometimes letting you actually touch the animals (though this is not always guaranteed, as you can imagine!) and you can also help the keeper to wash them and feed them.

We went on the ‘hippo tour’ which was only NZ$75 each. We got to help feed an enormous male hippo – just seeing him open his jaws wide was a thrilling experience, they look so powerful! The zoo has a policy whereby an adult must accompany any child on the tour. Indeed, it is all very professionally conducted with a health and safety talk before you begin, telling you all about emergency procedures and zoo rules. It is also possible to take other tours getting up close to elephants, primates and cheetahs!