We had a fantastic time visiting Dubbo Zoo over 2 days! It’s an open plain, immersive, safari style Zoo. While it has very large enclosures they are designed so that you can still get a good look at lots of the animals. On the first day we drove our crazy van around to get a quick look at most of the animals, and work out what we wanted to go back and see in more detail.

On the second day we did a Lion Pride Safari experience where we were able to go into the Lion enclosure in a specially protected van with a Zoo Keeper who gave us a brilliant talk about Lions. We got to see Malinzi the Lion up close while he was feeding and taking a bit of a stroll around. For about an hour we were just metres away and had an incredible view from the safety of the van. He is 6 years old and originally came from Monarto Zoo in South Australia. They also have his Mum and sisters. Sadly, he does not get on with the female lions there and likes his own company. So we just saw him on his own, while the other lionesses were in another enclosure to keep them safe. However we did hear them roaring!

We then hired bikes and did a big bike ride around the 6 kilometres of the Zoo to see lots of other animals. This photo gallery just has a small selection of our favourites (and of the ones who were cooperative at being photographed! The Tiger and Cheetah were not interested in being models for us). We all loved Dubbo Zoo as it is HUGE and the animals have A LOT of space as well as passionate Zookeepers who really do everything they can to keep the animals happy, healthy and in interesting environments to keep their minds active. It is part of Taronga Zoo Sydney, and the standard is very high. Definitely one the best Zoos we have seen and we highly recommend it if you are in the Dubbo area.

Jimi took some of these photographs using Mum’s big Canon camera. 🙂