Looking for awesome things to do forEyrewell Forest or the surrounding area?
Bookme offers amazing discounts on things to do throughout New Zealand, includingwithin 15km of Eyrewell Forest.
Apart from the ape exhibit most of the enclosures are fairly basic, but there's an honesty that's appealing about 'Orana Park'. I get the imoression that everyone at 'Orana' ie workers and volunteers alike are passionate and truly care about the park and its animals. The animal zoo talks were enjoyable particularly the lions. And you can feed the giraffes for free or get closer to the lions or feed the lemurs for an extra fee. It was great having the shuttle transport available too.
Very well thought out space for the animals. Allow plenty of time, the animal feedings were we'll worth the visit. Loved the giraffes. The Lion enclosure was extra, but too see them up close was amazing. Highly recommend visiting Orana Park.
First of all I booked the wrong day! And the helpful people at reception had no problem getting me in when I showed up. Thanks loads! Had heaps of fun it's great being able to interact with the keepers and see them feed the animals.
It was a unique experience, the animals are much closer to us as there are no bars confining the animals. They have space to coexist. And even though we had to walk a lot, it was a lot of fun and the stroller they rent us at the entrance to carry the child is very functional.
I love how awesome this place is with very close encounter with the animals and feeding! I would like to compliment the team there, they are lovely, friendly and so helpful! Shoutout to Cass, Pauline and the Rhino guy from Israel (sorry I don’t think we even asked him his name), and the lady at Farmyard! I have learned so much from them! Thank you very much for a great day!
We spent over 5hours in the park and still didn’t see everything, had an absolutely amazing time, the gorillas were breathtaking, the giraffes so elegant and the meerkats so cheeky Loved it
I've been to animal parks and zoos all over the world, but I keep coming back to Orana because it's just so much more special, the conservation/breeding efforts and the respect that they give the animals allows them to live in the best possible conditions (while allowing the public ample veiwing). This park is the best example of how wild animals should be kept outside of the wild (and before anyone said that wild animals should only be in the wild! Loss if habitat makes that no longer an option!)
I had an enjoyable time with the wildlife, taking in this rare experience of the open park. I sat down with 'Fuzu', the gorilla and watched the antics of the meerkats. Don't go with the idea of completing a race circuit in record time but allow yourself a couple of hours to take it in. Families of all ages can follow the presentations in the pamphlet or design their own! You will go away feeling good, especially if the weather plays its part.
We spent 5 hours at Orana. Had a fantastic time getting close (behind barriers) to animals and a highlight was feeding the giraffes. So much to see and do. NZ is very spoilt to have Orana.
Lovely staff, great care for the animals. Lot of them are volunteers and they can tell you many stories about the animals. We loved it to stroll along all the places.
There is alot of amazing animals. A fun day.
It was awesome to be able to feed the Lemurs and Giraffes
I’m not a fan of zoos in general but when one makes it it’s mission to rescue and preserve endangered species it gets a big tick. The volunteers and employees are the backbone of this place and they really care about the animals. Highly recommend a visit to this open range zoo and spend big in the gift shop so they can continue to do their important work.
Wish we had more time for the lion cage
Absolutely amazing an the staff are equally awesome very helpful and would answer any questions would highly recommend
Nice spacious park. Don't go when it's wet though. Most of the animals were hiding.
My young children ages 6 and 3 loved their outing. We were lucky to board the shuttle early on to see the whole park and help us decide which animals to spend more time at. The giraffes, barnyard and gorillas were our favourite. Great to interact with the gorillas for some time.
Gorilla's and the Cheetah were our highlights. Great Cafe with a good selection Definitely Recommend as a place to visit in Christchurch
Well worth the money. Great food at the cafe
I was told by my daughter if you get a chance to go do it. She was so right. I also paid the extra to do the lion encounter will worth the extra to do it. Also a bonus the weather was chilly and the animals where more out and about. see the gorillas been feed is also a will worth thing to do, Had a great day out there.
Lots of room for the animals and awesome enclosures for them. Some of the enclosures were empty though which was ashame. All the animals looked happy though :)
Wow i havent been to orana park since i was around 13 Im now 31 and the experiance is still as amazing as it was back then Being in nature around animals is a magical experiance. We need buses to go there so we can go more often
A special day, loved seeing Gorillas, feeding a Giraffe and the all th other animals. The bus ride around the park is very informative and I suggest you do that right around first. The food at the cafeteria was very good as well. Great day had by all.
We purchased our tickets online through book me, with our focus being the native birds, especially the Keas. On arrival we were informed the Kea enclose was closed due to the introduction of a young Kea being introduced. Expressing our disappointment, the team at check in, rang the keeper and confirmed the did only two keeper talks a week and one was later that morning. We were lucky with our days as it allowed us to view several exhibits before the talk in the enclosure, where the Kea had an enrichment feeding. Being the only talk was it was crowded, but the Kea where very close. At the end we asked the keeper when she was feeding the native birds and she said straight afterwards. We headed to the walk-through native bird aviary and as strangely we were the only people in it with the keeper, it spent ages as my wife had a great time photographing birds as they came to feed. If you want to see the Kea ring and check if/when talks/enrichment are on.
I went to this park on a rainny day but had a great time with my family. It was actually easy to find some animals as they were sheltering together from the rain ;-) Free shuttle service,friendly staff and most of all all the wildlife was so lovely and amazing! Worth spending a day by following their feeding schedule. I thought we would stay for about 3-4 hours from 10 am but literally left after 4pm. My top 3 there was very quite Otters, Gorillas, and Tasmanian devils♡♡♡
amazing went to change to yearly pass but noticed they run june to june so will look at it in june :)
What a big place. You need lots of time to see it all. Good selection of animals. Friendly staff with plenty of feeding times where you can participate. Amazed that I could feed a giraffe for no extra cost. Fabulous experience. Appreciated saving some money to attend especially as it's a distance out of town.
Orana has a good collection of wild animals and the best part is that each of them get huge enclosures to raom about freely. We had a good time at the park checking out the wild animals. The highlight was obviously spotting the native Kiwi bird in the dark enclosure. Good experience and nice staff and volunteers.
Wonderful day, needed the whole day to see and do everything what great value for money
Amazing animal encounters, got to feed the giraffes and see animals I never knew existed. Amazing staff, awesome cafe and so many close up experiences. Would highly recommend!
Copyright ©2026 Bookme Limited.