Safari Night

Overview

ATTN: Mall Rats and City Slickers Craving an African Adventure.

The Auckland Zoo hosts public safari nights on an semi-monthly basis. The safari night includes a Kiwi barbecue and a torch-lit safari tour watching nocturnal creatures like the lion and the bat do the nocturnal things they do. Stay overnight at the Old Elephant House, breakfast, and then head back to your urban reality later that morning.

The Auckland Zoo opened in 1911 with a collection of six lions, a tiger, a panther, one hyena, two dogs, vultures, an emu and several monkeys. In 1956, the Zoo decided to bring in more "entertainment". So they introduced chimpanzee tea parties. Yes, chimpanzees having tea together. These parties had been happening for some time at London Zoo, and were very popular. So, Auckland Zoo decided to follow suit, flying in four young chimpanzees arrived in October 1956 to entertain the crowds.

Having spent some time in London learning the art, the chimpanzees - Janie, Bobbie, Josie and Minnie - settled in quite quickly to the daily tea party routine, entertaining thousands of ogling visitors. The famous four continued to have tea parties until the Zoo put an end to the primarily visitor-focused activity in 1964. It was around this stage that attitudes to animals in captivity were gradually beginning to change.

The Zoo now focuses on endangered animal conservation, breeding, recovery and research. Profits from the Safari Night are used in funding the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund, helping the zoo's on-site conservation work, as well as supporting field conservation projects for endangered wildlife in New Zealand and overseas.

Bookings for the Safari Night are essential.