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Taronga Zoo

  • Museums
  • Mosman
  • price 1 of 4
  1. Photograph: Supplied
    Photograph: Supplied
  2. Photograph: Supplied
    Photograph: Supplied
  3. Photograph: Supplied
    Photograph: Supplied
  4. Photograph: Supplied
    Photograph: Supplied
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Time Out says

What's not to love about the zoo?

It's beautifully laid out, the paths are wide and meandering, and – most importantly – the place is full of animals. Really interesting ones too: along with the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) there are impossibly cute new young elephants, chimps and giraffes, as well as Taronga classics (pygmy hippos, the komodo dragon, koalas, platypi, Andean condors) and many exotic creatures you may not be immediately familiar with. We don't want to play favourites, but if Malaysia's noble bear-cat is binturong, we don't want to be binturight.

Taronga is also the most fun way possible to have your conscience pricked about the parlous state of the planet for many of our co-inhabitants. For an example of a sobering statistic: right this minute, you almost certainly have more Facebook friends than there are wild Sumatran Tigers. As that little factlet suggests, the zoo is also making a song and dance about its conservation work as well as its education, research and breeding programmes, so you can spend freely on site knowing that your money is going towards funding worthwhile causes. That stuffed penguin you bought for your nephew might be making the difference between the survival or the extinction of the Corroboree frog.

Make a day of it and take in the shows (especially the bird and seal performances) as well as the feeding times, which are available at the website, in order to see the beasts at their most lively. It's worthwhile getting a combined ferry/skyway/zoo ticket if you're coming from south of the bridge: the trip across the Harbour is an always-welcome reminder of just how beautiful our city is, and you get to arrive at the zoo entrance via the Sky Safari cable car – looking down on the elephants and chimps as you go.

Written by Andrew P Street

Details

Address:
1 Bradleys Head Rd
Mosman
Sydney
2088
Opening hours:
Daily (summer) 9am-5pm; daily (winter) 9.30am-4.30pm

What’s on

Tiger Trek at Taronga Zoo

If you’ve ever wanted to get seriously close to a Sumatran tiger (without there being a terrible ethical or safety problem in the way), now is your chance. Tiger Trek is an experience that's free (included in the cost of your Taronga Zoo tickets). Attendees are invited to get into a flight simulator that takes them (very quickly) from Mosman to the Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra. Upon landing, you travel through an Indonesian-inspired village, meandering down a path past village shops and through a rainforest that looks uncannily like you’re in Indonesia. At the end, you'll get the chance to meet the three Sumatran tigers who were born at Taronga Zoo in 2019, as well as their beautiful mother, father, uncle and grandmother.  With only 350 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild, these tigers are incredibly important. Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, but as seen through Tiger Trek, all is not lost. Deforestation in Indonesian rainforests has decreased by 75 per cent since the folks over at the zoo began monitoring it in 1990. There has been a steady increase in the consumption of sustainable palm oil worldwide, with shoppers far more aware of the devastation caused by unsustainable palm oil harvesting than ever before. It's easy to feel helpless when it comes to this stuff, which is why one of the coolest parts of Tiger Trek is Choice Mart – this end room of the trek has been built to look like a supermarket check-out, complete with interactive touch screens that show

Dingo Encounter at Taronga Zoo

Sydney. We have some pretty massive news. Listen up. Two dingo pups – (who are fluffier than all of our wildest dingo dreams), have just arrived at Taronga Zoo and honestly, we cannot deal with this right now.  Warada and Kep Kep are five-month old dingo babies who were born on Dharug country in NSW, and Wathawurrung country in Victoria, respectively.  Australian mammal keeper, Natalie Holdsworth has described them as the  “perfect pair”, with Kep Kep (whose name means sugar in Wathawurrung language) apparently extremely sweet, friendly and engaged with all the people around him. Warada (whose name means beautiful in Dharug language) is meant to be highly inquisitive and switched-on, with her focussed on surveying her territory and the world around her.  You’ll be able to meet the pups IRL from December 9, with the zoo putting on a special (and free) Dingo Keeper's talk, as well as a new ‘Dingo Encounter’ experience that lets you get up close to the canine cuties behind-the-scenes. Held at 11.30am daily and costing $64.95 per person, this interactive experience will allow you to sit ‘paw-to-paw’ with the pups as they get taken through a dingo enrichment program, where they will play right in front of you. As may be expected, this experience will probably sell out fairly quickly, so you’ll need to book in at Taronga’s top retail plaza on the day of your visit.  You can also think about heading to Nura Diya Australia, Taronga’s new upcoming exhibit that’s all about showcasing t

Harbour View Cinema

We all love an outdoor cinema, but combine an outdoor cinema with one of the prettiest zoos in the world and we're really in business. This spring, Taronga Zoo is launching what may be one of Sydney’s coolest outdoor cinemas, and we're pretty excited. The pop-up Harbour View Cinema on Taronga’s concert lawns will be playing some cult-classics with a killer view of Sydney Harbour over the October long weekend, and the only issue will be whether to watch your favourite movie on the big screen – or the magical sunset. Plus, you get cheaper zoo entry and free parking. We're into this.  Only four screenings will be going down, so take your pick from The Lion King on Thursday night, Scream on Friday, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on Saturday and Dirty Dancing to finish off with on Sunday. We weren’t lying when we said cult classics.  One of the best parts about these golden tickets is that they include complimentary entry to the zoo at 2pm (and free parking) so you can explore by day, and kick back by night, with the movies starting up at 5.30pm. We did the maths – adult zoo entry is $45 and these tickets are only $28, which equals an absolute steal. There are limited spots so hop on it before your favourite film books out.  There are heaps of options to update your ticket with lounge chairs, picnic rugs, access to VIP sections, and service to your seat. You can also expect a licensed bar for cocktails and vino, and all your beloved movie snacks like popcorn and ice-crea

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