Our Encounters
We are proud to offer a wide range of exciting opportunities, with our experienced team, to enjoy up close encounters with a variety of our species. These encounters are crafted to be enriching for both our animals and you.
Cheetah Encounter
From: $100.00 cost per personMeet our amazing cheetah brothers up close, so close you will hear them purring like a V-8 along with their other vocalisations. You will provide the boys with some of their favourite snacks and the keeper will share the training that we do with our boys to make health care easier.
Minimum 13 years of age
Dingo Encounter
From: $35.00 cost per personHelp our keeper make our dingo’s day! Our dingoes love meeting new people, receiving a scratch and a pat and they may even return the gesture with a sniff and a lick.
Minimum 6 years of age
Early Bird Tour
From: $480.00Early morning is a great time to have the zoo to yourself and see our wildlife when they are most active and always glad to greet their keepers. You can join in on this exclusive Early Bird Tour which includes zoo entry and a personal guided tour with an experienced keeper who will share their stories about our wildlife and their personalities and will have a bucket breakfast of treats to give a variety of animals. Our dingoes will howl their early greeting to you and you will have the opportunity to enter their enclosure and feed them their breakfast.
Minimum age : 6 years
Giraffe Encounter
From: $60.00 cost per personJoin our tower of giraffes and enjoy them gently taking feed from your hands as the keeper passes you some of their favourite treats such as carrots. You will be so close that you will feel their breath and see their amazing tongues built for retrieving food from tall trees.
Minimum 13 years of age
Lizard Encounter
From: $25.00 cost per personEnjoy an opportunity to get up close with one of the many Australian lizards in our collection. There are nearly 700 named species of lizard in Australia, learn all about their remarkable lives, where they live, what they eat and the amazing way they control body temperatures.
Minimum 4 years of age
Meerkat Encounter
From: $50.00 cost per personMeet our mischievous mob up close. Accompanied by an experienced keeper, you will be armed with their favourite treats. Relatively fearless, don’t be surprised if they climb onto your lap and the sentry on duty chooses your shoulder or even your head as the best lookout post. We will ensure you have wonderful photographs to remember the experience.
Minimum 9 years of age
Otter Encounter
From: $100.00 cost per personWe are the only zoo in Australia offering the opportunity to provide a hands on, fishy lunch with our cheeky Asian small-clawed otters. You can even hold hands and feel the softness of an otter’s paw as the girls take some food from your hands.
Minimum 13 years of age
Red Panda Encounter
From: $100.00 cost per personAn unforgettable experience, during the encounter you will be seated in the enclosure, where the panda will often walk across your lap and very often brush your face with their tail as they move past. You will help feed our panda their favourite treat of fresh fruit for the day.
Minimum 9 years of age
White Rhino Encounter
From: $80.00 cost per personGive an endangered three-ton rhino a pat and make his day with a mix of attention and his favourite food. Accompanied by two of our keepers who will ensure your safety while you meet this gentle giant, feel his lips as he gently takes hay from your hand and his thick hide as he leans towards you.
Minimum 6 years of age
Wombat encounter
$50.00 cost per personBe prepared for a cuteness overload!
Join us and help provide our wombat joey with his daily exercise and enrichment – take him for a walk, or perhaps he will enjoy walking you …….
Minimum 6 years of age.
Quokka encounter
From: $50.00 cost per personCome meet our Quokka joey, and as you are chatting to her keepers about all things Quokka you can pat her and try to get the best selfie you can.
Age: 4 -7 years old must have a paying adult accompanying them
Serval Encounter
From: $90.00 cost per personJoin our young Serval in her enclosure for her afternoon play session. While you entertain our Serval with one of her favourite toys, her keeper will tell you all about her.
Minimum 9 years of age
Special Packages
Membership
Become a member of Halls Gap Zoo to come and go as you please with unlimited entry for 12 months! Your membership helps us to build a bigger and better zoo to help protect species for future generations.
Bring a friend along with you and they will enjoy a 10% discount on their general admission.
Group Bookings Adults
We provide a discount for groups of people.
- 1 to 9 Adults – $42.00 per person
- 10 to 20 Adults – $37.00 per person
- 21 or more Adults – $30.00 per person
Should you require an invoice, please email us at info@hallsgapzoo.com.au
Group Booking Children
We provide a discount for groups of children.
Children are aged from 3-17yrs (under 3yrs free).
- 1 to 14 Children – $21.00 per child
- 15 or more Children – $19.00 per child
- School booking – Click here
Should you require an invoice, please email us at info@hallsgapzoo.com.au
School Bookings
OPTION 1: Keeper Guided Tour
@ 11am OR 2pm
$18.00 per child Year 12 and under
(min $250)
OPTION 2: Keeper Talk & Self-guided Tour
@10.15am OR 11.15am OR 2pm
$16.00 per child Year 12 and under
(min $200)
Ratios of 1:5 for Kinder – Yr2, 1:10 for Yr3 – Yr6 and 1:15 for Yr7 above (always 2 staff required)
Adults above the ratio will be $25 each.
Gift Voucher
Our printable Gift Vouchers are a wonderful gift for someone special.
Vouchers can be redeemed on our website.
Animal Adoption
Here’s the perfect gift for the animal lover in your family (even if that person is you!).
The animals involved in our encounters are conditioned to be accustomed to the interactions with visitors and participation in the encounters is voluntary for the animals. The encounters are delivered in a way to be enriching to both the animals and visitors.
what our visitors say
best spot for family outings and all the animals were so cute and interactive, ( they have quokkas!!! )
they also have animal interactions that you have to book in advance, so i recommend looking into that before you come here
Follow us @hallsgapzoo
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Today we are looking at the Southern White Rhino:
🦏 Their horns are continually growing and is made from keratin just like our hair and nails.
🦏 They are grazers
🦏They can run up to 40kmh per hour
🦏 They weigh up to 2700kgs and babies are born weighing around 60kgs
Photo of the handsome Kapamba celebrating his 29th birthday with some presents. #grampians #nationalpark #visitmelbourneaustralia
Today is also International Tasmanian Devil Day.
We have 3 devils here at Halls Gap Zoo and you may see our new boys Messi and Knuckles out exploring their enclosure or Arti next door trying to suss out what the new boys are up to.
Messi and knuckles came from Aussie Ark who do an amazing job of breeding Tassie devils to help conserve this endangered species. In the wild devil populations have significantly reduced due to the Devil facial tumour disease, it is unfortunately a contagious cancer which is spread when they interact with each other primarily through biting but through breeding programs like Aussie Arks we are able to breed animals that are tumour free and have a healthy population of devils to conserve the species while scientists work on how to stop the disease spreading.
📸 keeper Darci
🐊🐊NEW ENCOUNTER🐊🐊 We are very excited to announce that we are now offering crocodile encounters where you can enter the croc pool and have a ride on Jugs. Some might say this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Don’t worry we have safety at the forefront of our minds so riders must leave phones, jewellery, shoes and hats outside as to not give jugs a stomach ache.
Everyone gets to watch and at the same time we will also have one of our keepers doing a croc feed talk at the front of the exhibit.
Jugs can’t wait to meat you all!
Summer is over and we can slowly start to relax a little bit after such a stressful few months with the fires in the Grampians impacting the wildlife, the residents, visitors and all the surrounding businesses.
Now that the school holidays are almost here there is no better time to visit to show your support to the whole community the fires are gone the weather is beautiful the gift shop is stocked and all the animals are ready to welcome everyone for a busy school holidays we have lots planned from keeper talks, new encounters, Easter fun and even some animal birthday parties planned so lock in a date for a day trip or better yet come stay for a few nights to really soak in the Grampians and go on a hike, eat some ice cream, let someone else cook and clean the dishes for you and relax with a nice walk around the Zoo and book in to meet our friendly animals for an encounter you will remember-even the kids will go back to school remembering the meerkat they fed or the rhino they got to pat instead of telling their teacher they had McDonald’s for lunch one day.
Pre book for encounters via our website
Check out Parks Victoria website for hikes that are open within the National Park
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Today is all about the beautiful Emperor Tamarins 🥰
🐒 Females will usually give birth to twins and the whole family participate in raising the babies, they will carry them on their backs and pass them back to mum for a feed.
🐒 They live in family groups of around 15 animals
🐒 They have claws rather than nails and this adaptation allows them to cling to the trees
🐒Remember Monkeys are not pets and interacting with ‘cute’ monkey videos on social media contributes to the illegal pet trade.
🌟🌟Come and meet our baby wombat Sprout before he is wheeled away to his new home 🥹
Sprout is our very loveable and cheeky wombat and during an encounter you will get to pat him, watch him get the zoomies, take him for a little walk (unless the grass is especially delicious that day) and learn facts about all wombats and the 4 that call Halls Gap Zoo home. 🌟🌟
🔥 We are currently taking bookings till the end of school holidays.
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This week is all about Quokkas.
🌿 Quokkas are actually a species of Wallaby.
🌿They can go for up to a month without drinking water as they get most of their moisture requirement from the plants they eat.
🌿Quokkas can climb trees, believe it or not these guys can actually climb up to 2m to access some of their favourite leaves from trees.
Our little Quokka Ember is getting so big so quickly and even though she isn’t on display just yet you can book an encounter with her and get that perfect Quokka selfie and then feed her one of her favourite treats.
Visit the link below to book:
https://hallsgapzoo.com.au/encounters/
Week 5 of Fast Facts Friday, and we are looking up to our Giraffes. Literally!
🦒 Male giraffes are larger than females, weighing in at up to 1,900kg and often at a height of more than 5 meters tall.
🦒 They have a prehensile tongue which can extend 45cm.
🦒 Giraffe average 2 hours sleep a day, one of the shortest sleep requirements out of all mammals.
🦒 After 15 months of gestation, the female will give birth standing up. The young will drop to the floor and then stand, walk and feed within a few hours of being born. They are around 1.8m at birth and weigh 60-70kgs.
We have three giraffes at the Zoo who are all very observant. They know when someone is watching them.
Happy International Women’s Day! 🌸 Today, we celebrate the strength, resilience, and achievements of women everywhere, but especially the amazing women we have on our team here at the Zoo who work through rain, hail and shine lifting bales of hay, carrying heavy branches, drilling holes, getting covered in dirt and mud and so much more to make sure our animals are cared for. Keep shining and keep supporting one another 💖💖
#internationalwomensday #lifteachotherup
🍀We are open every day this long weekend 🍀
Come and meet our animals, all our encounters are available this weekend (unless already booked), grab an ice cold drink from our food van 🧋 and enjoy seeing our animals exploring their enclosures in the sunshine ☀️
#longweekend #longweekendadventures #melbourne #hallsgapzoo #nationalpark #hallsgap #grampiansnationalpark #visitmelbourne
Fast Fact Friday’s subject for week 4 is our Meerkats, which is infact a type of mongoose, rather than a type of cat.
😎 Meerkats are highly observant and will use their long tail like a tripod with their legs to maintain a steady stance and higher vantage point.
😎 They live in groups of up to 30 individuals, where they will take turns in each role within the mob. This includes caring for the young, foraging or hunting, and sentry duty (standing guard for predators such snakes or eagles).
😎 Meerkat eyes are surrounded by dark circles to reduce glare from the sun. These ‘natural sunglasses’ allow them to spot predators easier in the open desert.
😎 They dig ‘bolt holes’ which are safe trenches for them to escape to in emergencies when they are foraging.
Our cheeky boys love their peas and corn. Hence, we had to name one of them Peas and his Brother was dubbed Corn.
