Zealandia Small Group Eco Wildlife Night Tour

Name: Zealandia Small Group Eco Wildlife Night Tour
Brand: Zealandia
SKU: 5306NIGHT
Price: 57.70 USD
Rating: 4.5 (89 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceWellington, New Zealand

From $57.70

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

2 hours 30 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Gain entry to Zealandia at night and take a guided tour of Zealandia: The Exhibition, which showcases New Zealand’s natural history. Interact with a life-size model moa and Haast’s eagle — both extinct — and learn about the country’s conservation efforts to preserve other native species. Located just minutes from central Wellington, Zealandia includes a night tour of Sanctuary Valley, a fenced eco-sanctuary and safe haven for endemic animal and bird species such as the nocturnal little spotted kiwi.

Nighttime visit to Zealandia in Wellington
Guided tour of Zealandia: The Exhibition
State-of-the-art interactive facility
Lifelike models of extinct animals
See rare native New Zealand animals in their natural habitat
Search for elusive kiwi and the many other nocturnal animals as your guide leads you through the Sanctuary Valley in the dark

What's Included

Torches/flashlights supplied
Guided walking tour of Zealandia: The Exhibition and Sanctuary Valley

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

53 Waiapu Road, Karori, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
The ZEALANDIA Visitors Centre is located at the end of Waiapu Road.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Discover New Zealand’s natural history on a nighttime visit to Zealandia, an eco-restoration facility just 10 minutes from downtown Wellington. Find your way there for a guided tour that includes Zealandia: The Exhibition and Sanctuary Valley.

Get a firsthand look at prehistoric beasts and other endemic native animals that once roamed the islands. At the state-of-the-art exhibit, you can interact with lifelike models of the now-extinct moa — giant flightless birds — and a fearsome predator: the Haast’s eagle.

After learning about these long-lost giants of the bird world, be riveted by a light and sound show that takes you through at least 1,000 years of change. Then walk through a predator-proof fence into the Sanctuary Valley, listening for birdsong in the 550-acre (225-hectare) eco-sanctuary. Follow your guide in search of nocturnal creatures such as the kaka, weta, tuatara and the elusive kiwi as you make your way by flashlight.

ZEALANDIA Ecosanctuary

2 hours 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Wear sturdy footwear, bring extra layers of clothing and a waterproof jacket. Torches (flashlights) are supplied
Minimum age is 12 years

Near public transportation
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Not recommended for travelers with limited mobility, or difficulty walking for 2 hours in low-light conditions
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Gordon M

What a wonderful experience for all of us. This was a unique experience exploring the wildlife with a guide to point out and name the various wildlife that can be seen nowhere else.

Reviews

4.5

89 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 89 reviews

Rare chance to see wildlife at night!

Benjamin_K, Apr 2024

Very nice night walk through the reserve. It's not a zoo so sightings are never guaranteed but we saw a kiwi, a kaka, a takahe plus glow worms and wetas. Very interesting. Hope their 500-year vision is realized!

This experience was...

Charlotte_G, Feb 2024

This experience was great! The guides were helpful and so knowledgable. They also set great expectations that we may not see things since it’s a reserve - but we ultimately saw several of the large crickets, a kiwi, and other birds!

Fabulous evening!

Kay_K, Nov 2023

We went for the evening tour. This experience is not close to town but well worth the taxi ride. The team were very welcoming and our guide was from the local area and extremely knowledgeable. It was incredible to see all the protected wildlife. It would have been useful to know that the tour included free entry the next day when we booked then we would have built that into our itinerary. They even ordered the return taxi for us.

Great experience

Sherri_R, Sep 2023

Claire, our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly, as were the 2 volunteers. We saw many interesting creatures, including a kiwi bird, and learned about the history of New Zealand’s wildlife. Would definitely recommend doing a night tour.

Four kiwis in one tour!

Jane_W, Apr 2023

We saw four individual kiwis, including a baby. It was informative and enjoyable. The walk was not far, but it could be a little muddy. Red light torches were provided. Definitely go for this.

Zealandia, a santurary

Jim_C, Dec 2022

Started with a short film, then kitted up with torch and radio receiver, then into the sanctuary, bag check first then, off we go. 10 intrepid explorer's into the unknown. It was still light when we started, you heard the birds calling. As darkness fell, all you could see was the glow of red from the torches, we trecked through the scrub. We sa numerous New Zealand lizards and numerous other birds. The highlight of the evening was sighting two kiwi, one was less than a metre away scurrying along the drainage ditch. It is well worth the visit. We'll done to the two guides. Thank you

Wonderful experience and very informative. Highly recommemd

Julie_D, Aug 2022

My wishes came true - we saw turatara and a kiwi and many other creatures. Learnt a lot from the guide who was excellent. We heard lots of bird life including Morepork.

Great tour, too long in bad weather though

claire_w, Jul 2022

On a cold windy July evening we set off on our tour. Saw shags and ducks and Takahe which were awesome. Lots of gherkin slugs and a couple of tuatara. Then a kiwi!! Amazing to see. Then the tour just seemed endless. In the cold and the wind it didn’t need to be 2.5 hours long really. Lots of stops to chat about slugs and to look in a cupboard full of spiders. Overall a great experience, just a touch too long really.

Never thought I wd see...

Sally_D, May 2022

Never thought I wd see kiwi in the wild … and we saw three! Perfectly paced evening in a very special environment.

Kiwi spotted!

lizzee, May 2022

We saw a kiwi on the grass at the start of our tour - it seemed unconcerned about having an audience and let us get up quite close!

Perfect evening in the sanctuary

Julianne_L, Apr 2022

Turns out that dusk is a perfect time to be there. Our sharp-eyed guide and spotter found lots of night-time treasures for us, including Maud Island frogs and kiwi. Highly-recommended.

So worth it

Emily_K, Mar 2022

We saw so many native species including like 10 tuatara and a little spotted kiwi it was a fantastic experience and well worth it

A "Must do" when visiting the Wellington area (or anywhere nearby).

Kevin_K, Mar 2020

A wonderful evening. Our guides were VERY knowledgeable and also fun and endearing. A small group (Max. 12) is the perfect size. Well paced and consideration given to those a bit slower walking. It was like 3 tours in one because we also got to see glow-worms and a huge eel. This is also a really feel-good environmentally positive thing that is being done... so you should definitely feel good supporting Zealandia.

Saw Kiwi, excel guide

Allison_K, Feb 2020

Excel guide & saw kiwi eel shags nesting lizard type creature etc great experience and will recommend

Night Exploration

Gordon M, Jul 2019

What a wonderful experience for all of us. This was a unique experience exploring the wildlife with a guide to point out and name the various wildlife that can be seen nowhere else.

Could not have asked for more. Mary did...

Diane N, Jan 2018

Could not have asked for more. Mary did an excellent job of finding us 3 kiwi closeup. Well worth the money as we learnt a lot that night. Thank you.

The guide had a lot of interesting...

Ralph G, Mar 2017

The guide had a lot of interesting information for us, but don't go expecting to definitely see a kiwi - they are shy and rare. I enjoyed the vegetation, wildlife we saw and the information we learned.

Definitely worthwhile. We were lucky...

William_M, Jan 2017

Definitely worthwhile. We were lucky with perfect weather and saw two kiwis! The guides were great. Seeing you have to arrive well before dark, it is a shame that the ticket price does not include the ability to spend an hour or so to see the park before dark. You need to arrange your own travel home after the tour - but the guides are happy to call a taxi for you which we needed when our pre-arranged cab did not show.

We saw three semi wild kiwis on the...

Robert, Dec 2016

We saw three semi wild kiwis on the tour. Provided with red light torches so as not to disturb the animals. Although told not to us flash, a number of ignorant BRITISH tourists did which scared the kiwis off.

Even though it was raining during...

Sandy C, Sep 2016

Even though it was raining during our tour, we still learned a lot about the wildlife here. Our guide was awesome keeping things fun and interesting as we all looked and found things to look at. We saw wetas yuk!, a tuna eel, a takahe. We were about to give up hope of seeing a kiwi...but then our guide spotted one 10 minutes before the end of the tour! We watched the cute little kiwi for a good 2 minutes, and then the kiwi came out on the path and walked/waddled down the trail giving us a show! It was AWESOME!