Melbourne is home to three of the most exciting zoos in the country.
These three very popular and well visited zoos are:
- Melbourne Zoo
- Healesville Sanctuary
- Werribee Open Range Zoo
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Melbourne Zoo #1: Melbourne Zoo
The Melbourne Zoo is home to over 300 unique species of animals. You can visit the Melbourne Zoo on any day of the year, and it is located only 4km from the city of Melbourne. You can easily get there via train and tram. If by car, there are plenty of parking facilities available.
Exhibits include tropical Asian and African Rainforests, and in October 2006, a new Orangutan Sanctuary was added. The Melbourne Zoo is helping to raise environmental awareness, and is home to many critically endangered animals, such as the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. There are special activities for kids during the school holidays as well. Overall, there is a good and wide range of animals to be found in Melbourne Zoo and our kids love going there.
Melbourne Zoo #2: Healesville Sanctuary
The Healesville Sanctuary, otherwise called the Sir Colin MacKenzie Fauna Park, specializes in animals that are native to Australia. Located in Healesville, which is in the Yarra Valley / Dandenongs area, the Healesville Sanctuary is one of only two places in the world to have successfully bred a platypus. They also assist in the breeding of other highly endangered animals.
The setting for the Healsville sanctuary is a bush land, where you can wander through the animals different environmental settings, unique to each species. The Healesville Sanctuary is also home to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre, where visitors can go to see veterinarians actually treating injured native Australian animals. Other features of the Sanctuary include Parrots in Flight, Backyard Bliss, and Helping Parrot Health, all about the natural environment of the Parrot, and how the vets keep them healthy and thriving. Also explained is how to create your own Parrot Paradise.
Smaller in setting than Melbourne Zoo, it is a great place to have your kids meet the native Australian animals.
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Melbourne Zoo #3: Werribee Open Range Zoo
The Werribee Open Range Zoo was developed around the Werribee River, and is home to animals from Africa, Asia, and North America, in addition to Australian natives. The environment in the Weribee Open Range Zoo was designed to resemble the animals natural environment. Features of the Zoo include a safari, where visitors can get a real-life safari experience, including up close inspection of African native animals, and they offer children a free helmet as a souvenir of their safari experience. The Weribee Open Range Zoo also includes Australias only drive through hippo exhibit. African animals abound at Werribee, and visitors can also enjoy the local Western Basalt Plains on the Volcanic Plains Walk. Here you can witness the evolving re-creation of endangered grasslands, and see the Australian kangaroos, emus, and the native born wallabies.
Werribee Zoo is an open range zoo and that is a completely different experience on its own, well worthwhile to drive through and see the animals from very close by.
Three wonderful Zoos in one city. Melbourne offers the opportunity to learn how to give back to the environment, and protect these beautiful creatures, many of which are doomed to extinction.
With learning exhibits, wildlife sanctuaries, and simply by bringing awareness to the world, Zoos Victoria is teaching the world how important wildlife conservation truly is.
Your kids will not only finish the day happily because of all the different animals they have seen.
From about 5&6 years up, they will definitely have learnt a few valuable lessons about the environment, wildlife care etc. All in all these Melbourne zoos offer a great valuable day out for the family!
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Things To Do
With the Kids: Three Melbourne Zoos | Puffing Billy | Melbourne Aquarium
Shopping: Queen Victoria Market
Museums/Galleries: Melbourne Museum | National Gallery of Victoria | Ian Potter Centre | Victoria Police Museum | Immigration Museum Melbourne | Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) | Cook’s Cottage (Fitzroy Gardens)
Going Out / Nightlife: Bars/Pubs | Restaurants | Wine Bars | Crown Casino | Arts Centre Melbourne
Other Things To Do: Eureka Tower | Rialto Tower
