Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park
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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
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Organisation |
Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird ParkCommercial organisation |
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Location |
North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Otorohanga |
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Zoos and Aquariums
Bird Watching
Reviews
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4.5/5
Very interesting visit, great to hear about the various breeding programmes they have here to help rescue native NZ birds.
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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.
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4.0/5
Great to see real kiwi birds, there is a nice park to see birds, but not so spectacular.
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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.
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3.0/5
We have seen only one Kiwi but it was our first Kiwi!
The rest of the park was not very interesting.
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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.
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3.5/5
Interesting exhibition, nicely maintained.
It was great to see two kiwi. The entrance fee of $20pp seemed too high though.
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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.
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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.
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4.5/5
Very interesting visit, great to hear about the various breeding programmes they have here to help rescue native NZ birds.
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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.
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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.
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4.0/5
Great to see real kiwi birds, there is a nice park to see birds, but not so spectacular.
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3.0/5
We have seen only one Kiwi but it was our first Kiwi!
The rest of the park was not very interesting.
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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.
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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.
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1.5/5
Expected to see many kiwi, they have two in the whole place!!
Not worth the money.
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3.0/5
Great kiwis!
Park is getting old, sad birds, getting used to people, wanted to get out of enclosure. They should update.
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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.
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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.
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3.5/5
Interesting exhibition, nicely maintained.
It was great to see two kiwi. The entrance fee of $20pp seemed too high though.
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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!
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3.0/5
Expected more kiwis(Just 2) and couldn't take photos (not even without flash) - Bummer
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
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4.0/5
Great place to spot a brown kiwi.
Larger than expected and it's really worth protecting them (like nearly everything!)
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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!
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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!
