Australian Reptile Park

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Australian Reptile Park

Your little animal lover and wannabe Zoo Keeper could have the most magical day of his or her life at Australian Reptile Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. Established in 1948, it is now regarded as one of Australia’s premier attractions. It’s the only zoo in the country committed to saving lives, with a Venom Milking Program in place for over 50 years that saves more than 300 lives each year.

Australian Reptile Park is the hands-on zoo and offers loads of exciting wildlife shows and animal interaction. Your child will enjoy close encounters of the warm and fuzzy or cold and scaly kind. And they can watch Elvis, New South Wales’ crankiest crocodile being fed. They’ll marvel at the native and exotic reptiles and spiders, all in unique exhibits.

There is so much to learn, from the Tasmanian devils breeding program to the spider milking and of course, children get to touch, handle, feed and pat plenty of different animals.

As school holiday activities go, Australian Reptile Park is the perfect opportunity for your child to get up close and personal with fascinating animals, in an educational and fun-packed day.

Kids 2 Keepers

During school holidays, Australian Reptile Park runs Kids 2 Keepers workshops for children aged 3-18 years. The program aims at providing an intense and very hands-on experience for kids and involves as many aspects of zoo keeping that can possibly be packed into a single day! The day begins with a general overview of the role and responsibilities of a Zoo Keeper, an outline of the day ahead, a behind the scenes tour of the park and loads of information about the animals the children will be interacting and working with throughout the day. They’ll learn correct animal handling techniques and will have the opportunity to handle animals such as lizards, alligators, frogs, snakes, mammals and birds.

The children will also learn some of the many other aspects of zoo keeping including hygiene routines, standard operating procedures involving animal feeding and enclosure servicing, animal enrichment, enclosure design and the renovation/construction of current exhibit projects.

At the end of the day, and with the supervision and guidance of keepers, each participant will present an animal at the Keeper Kids show to the other students in the program and public visitors. Fee includes park entry, morning tea, lunch and a Certificate of Survival. Student numbers are restricted to 16 per group per day.

Groups are segmented by age and activities are catered accordingly:

• Mini Kids 2 Keepers (3-6 years)
• Little Kids 2 Keepers (8-12 years)
• Kids 2 Keepers (13-18 years)

VIP Behind the Scenes Tours

Australian Reptile Park offers unique Behinds the Scenes tours that run for 90 minutes and are fully escorted by experienced Animal Keepers. Children and accompanying adults will be treated like VIPs and will get to meet and feed reptiles, meet koalas, wombat and kangaroos, view the restricted Tasmanian devil breeding facility and take home a glossy colour photograph with a gigantic python, wombat or koala. Witness a funnel web milking and visit the venom room which houses more than 150 snakes including some of the deadliest in the world!

To make your bookings or to enrol your child in a Kids 2 Keepers day, contact Australian Reptile Park today.