Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

A great place to visit, but don't expect it to be a quick visit. It has a large acerage to cover with lots of different livestock. The animals seem to be well looked and maintained. Clean and healthy. It Main draws are the Kea's and Kiwi's, that are hard to spot in their nocturnal habitats. Native and overseas animals of various species that are well worth checking out. Natives include Weka, Kea, Kiwi, Ruru and possum's. Oz cuties are Wallabies, and Emus. Some others are monkeys, Lima's, Capybara, iguana, chickens, farmyard animals like horses, donkeys, goats, pigs, cattle, sheep, alpaca. Water dwellers eels, trout, swans, waterfowl, and ducks galore and some tortoises. The on-site Cafe is a great place to recharge and rehydrate. There are picnic areas that are well situated through the park. Get there early to get a parking spot.

Absolutely fun experience seeing some of the amazing animals that New Zealand has to offer. I was a big fan of the farm area where we could interact with and feed the animals. I especially loved finding out that they get to roam about the paddocks once the park is closed. The kiwi house was a great experience and I felt very accomplished being able to spot all the kiwis (even if it did take a while haha). You have the option to buy 3 different types of food (bird, farm and eel) to add on to your experience. The food is only $4 each and you get a decent amount! Please make sure to visit and support this incredible park!!!

Spent about 2 hours here looking at all the varied animals, and bought some feed to take round with us which added to the fun. Also managed to see some kiwi’s, that was our favourite part. Nice cafe for lunch after

We had such a great day at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve these school holidays! I went with my kids and met up with a friend and her daughter, and it was the perfect place for a fun, easy day out. We started with lunch and a coffee at the cafe and then took our time making our way around and exploring everything. The kids absolutely loved feeding the eels, that was definitely the highlight! Such a beautiful, well-kept reserve with friendly staff and heaps for the kids to see and do. Highly recommend for families and playdates. We’ll definitely be back!

That horse loves me, I'm sure. We had a nice time in the barnyard feeding the animals. The eels, the emu, the kunekune pigs, the kiwi and the kia were all stars with a strong supporting cast. Plenty to see, without getting tired out. The enclosures feel natural for the most part. We had no little kids with us and we still had a fantastic time.

The animals were wonderful and even interactive (we had great conversations with Ernest the duck). We loved feeding the kunekune pigs, chickens, and alpacas! The native wildlife tour led by Emma was educational and engaging. Emma was very knowledgeable and even took anyone interested from the group to see reptiles after the tour ended. Our family had a wonderful time. The cafe food and variety were great, and the coffee was delicious.

I love this wildlife park. I first visited in 2019, and now I've flown around the world again and am back here after six years. The park is very clean and the path takes you right past all the enclosures. The animals are kept in large enclosures. What's special about the park is that you can see keas, kakas and even kiwis. I enjoyed it just as much as I did last time and would love to come back.

Had a wonderful family day out at Willow Bank when visiting New Zealand. So many amazing animals with opportunities to interact with them as well which my 3 kids really enjoyed. An absolute must to visit if you’re looking for a great day out.

My wife and I were at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, coming from Mount Cook, October, 2025 It may have originated as a zoo, but later became an animals Conservation park. It has enough variety of NZ animals for you to view, some fairly close or in good view. In particular, the Kiwi bird area caught our attention. There is an area with a lot of longfin eels that you can reach out and touch! Ah, no thanks. The kea bird is in a special area, no photographs, though there are several glass cases showing its life cycle. There are two takahē species-flightless swamp hens native to New Zealand, almost wiped out late 19th century. It has a red beak, short wings, large feet and long toes.

I was humbly impressed with this establishment. A friend and I arrived at 11am on a Monday afternoon. Parking was seamless and instead of the $29.99 entry fee we were charged $22 for the park. Not sure what saved us the discount but we didn't complain. We walked out and a large welcome to the New Zealand experience sign greeted us. Right after was a fairly large and shallow pond of water with some of the largest eels I've ever seen. They were waiting by the dock for some tourists to come along and feed them. My friend and I considered returning back to purchase some food but we resisted and instead watched the people behind us partake in the unique experience. Next we saw some friendly fallow deer sticking their heads through the gate. Again we wanted to return to the front to buy food but at this point we decided to just continue. This place would do well to sell food for the animals at other various points of the park. The exhibits were very well designed and the layout was wonderful. We transitioned into each section of the park and were met with animals who were engaging and lively. Majority of the park consists of birds and some are quite majestic (golden pheasant was one of my favorites). There are some wallabies and monkeys like the ring tailed lemur and one of my favorite monkeys- the smart capuchins. Although the kiwis were the main event (saved for last as well) they weren't my favorite part of the zoo. There were 5 of them and I enjoyed seeing them in person, but my favorite part was probably interacting with the entertaining creatures along the way. The llamas were hilariously involved with people and made me laugh as I proceeded to take a few videos. The entire park took us about 90 minutes to walk through. To end the journey we ate at the cafe. I ordered the pumpkin soup and bacon bagel. The soup was extremely spicy (I didn't enjoy it) but the bagel was delicious! They were generous with the bacon and the crispy cheesy bagel was scrumptious. We sat by the window where reindeer watched us dine and then toasted ourselves by the large fire. Last, we visited the gift shop and proceeded to buy some things at a 25% discount. This must be the perfect time to visit this place (July). I'm sorry to read the negative remarks concerning this park, however my experience was quite remarkable. The staff was very friendly and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. I highly recommend you visit this establishment, especially if you're into close encounters with beautiful animals.

J and I stopped in for a quick last-minute visit on the way to the airport, which is less than 10 minutes away from here. We wanted to see kiwis!!!! We weren't disappointed at all. It's basically a small zoo, with a very wide variety of New Zealand animals - from all sorts of birds and waterfowl, to farm and domesticated animals, to lizards and more. The front desk said typically they recommend allotting 1.5-2 hours for the entire visit. We jammed in what we could in about 45 minutes, so we missed quite a bit. Kiwis are nocturnal - so the kiwis are in a nighttime-mimicking habitat so that visitors can see them during daylight hours. There were 5 in there and we saw 4 of them, which is really good. They were very active! Made little grunting noises at each other and ran around, digging and moving about. Really cool. It was pretty dim in there so a bit hard to see but you could see enough to enjoy the experience. The cost for adult admission was $29.50 NZD and we thought this was pretty reasonable. Other places where kiwi viewing is possible were more expensive (like $35ish in Franz Josef and $40-something in Queenstown).

Stop!! It's a tourist trap! Willowbank was made for North American tourists with small children. It's super expensive, hokey, and the food is terrible. The saving grace, however, is the chance to see a real life kiwi bird, which is pretty incredible. Otherwise, the rest of the "experience" is disappointing, and the nature preserve is quite small and walk-able in less than an hour. My co-workers had warned me that Willowbank's Maori Ko Tane paled in comparison to those found on the North Island...and they were right. In fact, their Ko Tane featured only 6 performers, four of whom were teenagers, and none of whom were convincing as scary warriors or skilled dancers. The participants from the audience, with a little practice, could have given them a run for their money on stage! When we have more visitors who are itching to see animals, we will skip Willowbank and take them to Orana instead.

It is worth going to see the animals/birds up close. Don't do the hungi. They could have cooked it in a kitchen for all you see. The food is not worth it, well the dessert maybe. The show, although cute, is not really worth it unless it's your only option to see Maori culture.

Willowbank couldn't exactly be classified as a 'zoo' as such as it's more the smaller animals. This would make Willowbank a better place to take small children. There's some gibbons, kiwis, otters, lots of farmyard style animals. There are donkey rides available and there is often face painting on offer. If you're after the bigger animals - elephants, lions, tigers etc etc I suggest you head to Orana Park, but for a chilled day in a beautiful setting, especially with little ones, you can't go past Willowbank

This review is for the animal exhibits, not the cultural events. Willowbank does seem like a good way to keep young children occupied, and they will be able to view all kinds of animals here (feeding the eels was a hit). We appreciate the "reserve" part, as Willowbank is involved in conservation efforts for native species--though little information about these efforts is included on signposts, giving it more of a zoo feel. Many of the animals are in small, crowded, dull, conditions, though--lots of dull-eyed, lethargic creatures in dirt cages. The exotics section is heartbreaking. The otters have a few low cement waterfalls. The highly social siamang gibbon is represented by a single mated pair in a cage too small for roaming or playing--and there's nothing for them to play with, anyway. There is no information about how Willowbank acquires its "exotics" or efforts it makes to care for their wellbeing; it seems, in the case of the gibbons, like a real rescue effort would involve one of the many protected national parks in Indonesia, Malaysia, or Thailand. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting or ignorant about the Willowbanks operations. We didn't see a single staff person on our way through the exhibit, or I would have asked for more information. It took me days to shake the sadness I felt seeing so many intelligent, trapped animals.

I recommend coming to see the Kiwi breeding. That is what this wildlife reserve is best known for. No need for a zoom lens as the animals get up close and personal.I think our guide Blair appeared to know a lot about the Madagascaran Ring-Tailed Lemur. This zoo has the potential to become a five star zoo with stronger marketing and tightened focus on visitor safety. I felt that visitor safety could be further enhanced by requiring visitors to wear thick leather gloves before allowing visitors to feed bananas and lettuce to feed lemurs. I remain thankful that I was innoculated with RabAvert and brought my own antiseptic wipes. In hindsight, I should have brought bigger bandages so I would need wait long for the staff to find an appropriate bandage. Overall, I felt for the well-prepared travel pro, this zoo remains an A-OK destination that I would recommend. No need to bring a zoom lens as the animals are close enough to touch.