In Christchurch, you can see some of the world’s most impressive wildlife, just 15 minutes’ drive from the airport.
Operating for more than 40 years, Orana Wildlife Park is New Zealand’s only open range zoo where you can have the unique experience of coming face to face with an adult lion.
Drive through the lion reserve in a specially modified truck and get within centimetres of a lion; see the only gorillas and orang-utans in the country and hand-feed the giraffes a morning snack.
Other exotic residents include lemurs, cheeky monkeys and meerkats, Tasmanian devils, tigers and white rhinos – one of the largest land mammals on the planet.
The sprawling 80-hectare site is also home to a large native enclosure with kiwi, tuatara, geckos and endemic birdlife. And, for the little ones, a petting zoo full of cute and cuddly critters.
