Sydney Taronga Zoo's Aussie Backyard Adventure Tour

Once in a lifetime.

Amazing experience! I highly recommend this tour. We had one on one time with an extremely knowledgeable tour guide and trainee.

Fantastic Experience

Melinda the tour guide was very informative. The zoo was amazing. When visiting the zoo, a tour guide is the way to go.

Do The Zoo

Our guides, Geoffrey and Esther were excellent. Very knowledgeable and fun. We had the privilege of seeing several animals who were active during our visit, eating and moving about (considering koalas sleep 20 hour a day and the platypus are usually hard to see in the nocturnal exhibit). They had several suggestions of what ro see and do and it was a great day. Definitely worthwhile.

Great Zoo Experience at Taronga

Our private tour when the Zoo opened was a perfect introduction to the many exhibits and allowed us to see many animals while they were still active in the morning without the crowds. The guides were wonderful. The Zoo itself is a treasure. The views of Sydney, especially from the Wild Bird Show theater (a great program btw), are spectacular. Tip: The zoo is on three levels, but there are helpful lifts and escalators available as you go up and down. Overall, a must see experience at one of the world’s best zoos.

Excellent tour of the Australian animals at the Taronga Zoo

Excellent tour—there were 9 of us and we had 2 tour guides. Very informative-nice pace—and a beautiful zoo. Definitely recommend. And just FYI—there are no live animal interactions on this tour.

Educational tour

The tour guides were knowledgable and I found the tour educational. I appreciated that they adjusted to tour to take into account the heat/humidity into account when leading the tour. I have a feeling that we would have covered more ground if it was a bit cooler but I think that some of the other guests would have had difficulties keeping up. The only downside (not related to the tour) was that there were not enough shuttles taking patrons from the ferry dock up to the main entrance and the wait was over 30 minutes for the next set of buses. They should have had more running that day as it was quite hot.

Must do!

Our tour guide was awesome and we learned and saw so much more than we would’ve just walking around ourselves.

The best electric chair experience.

The Zoo Volunteer Guides were awesome. The best thing was them telling me about the animals, habitat, living spaces and conservation efforts.

Taronga Zoo

Our tour guides were amazing. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing the animals native to Australia. We enjoyed hearing the history of Australia in regards to the animals as well as what the zoo does to protect them.

Australian animal adventure

The zoo volunteer guides were so knowledgeable and took time in each habitat to share info and field questions. Extremely helpful too. We had a wonderful experience learning about the Australian animals.

Great 90 minutes at Taronga

This tour was advertised as a tour with a Keeper when it was actually with a volunteer. But Robert was great. Spent 90 minutes with us in the Australia area, so we saw roos of all types, Tasmanian Devils, birds, etc. Taronga is a huge Zoo so there's a lot to cover. He did a great job of explaining all about the Zoo, the animals, conservation work, volunteers, etc. It was a great way to start our day at the Zoo!

Disappointed

The description is not clear. This tour basically involves volunteers trying to give some background on the Aussie animals. There are not add-ons like getting close to any animal through this tour and of course no adventure in this. My kids were quite disappointed to have couple of elderly volunteers talking about the animals. We had more fun exploring the zoo ourselves. Zoo is very nice this tour is not

Taronga Zoo

A guided tour is not necessary for this experience. The zoo is large and requires a lot of walking which I enjoyed. It is best to enter from the top versus the bottom if you would like to minimize your incline.

Australian animals

Lovey guide, very helpful. Only Australian animals in this tour. Too long, I cut it short to go to animal feeding show.

Beautiful Oz

For the first time in my life, I saw two little-known Oz animals - a beautiful tree kangaroo, and a bilby!

Amazing Tour

The entire experience was amazing. We were two couples and had three volunteer guides. We were able to not only see and feed the animals, but learned about the history of the animals. Our guides were kind and informative...as they helped my husband with mobility issues and seemed to have a world of knowledge. David, Chris and Sandy were amazing guides and we couldn't thank them enough for our wonderful experience. Feeding the Kangaroo's was totally amazing.

Fabulous Tour of an Amazing Zoo!

Miri and Julie were amazing guides. Super knowledgeable about the zoo and its animals. Saw all the iconic Aussie animals -koala, platypus, wombat, kangaroos, wallabies, quokka, and Tasmanian devils. We even hand fed wallabies and an emu. My camera died and Miri stepped in to take photos for me and emailed them that evening!! Above and beyond her responsibilities. Can’t recommend this tour enough! Thank you, ladies!!

Extraordinary Experience!

I had three keepers who personally escorted me around the habitats. I would never have seen a third of the animals without their expert understanding of animal behaviour and ability to spot them all while providing information about each exhibit. I was even able to feed some kangaroos. This tour really made the most of my only day at the Taronga Zoo and in Sydney. I will never forget the wonderful day I had. My only suggestion is to have the zoo issue a ticket in advance. Otherwise, you can’t use the bus at the ferry and you have to find your way by climbing up to the information desk at the main entrance.

Great zoo tour

Seeing the cute koalas. We also fed and petted several kangaroos. We were the only two people on the tour. The tour guide was fantastic and very informative about the Australian animals.

Great add on experience.

The volunteer team was amazing. Thier knowledge and ability to take the zoo experience to a new level was awe inspiring. My wife and I had a great experience. The time spent was well worth it and would recommend this add on to anyone who wants to learn more about the Taronga Zoo. They customized the pace to us and our abilities. Hands down, best part of our trip.

Amazing Tour

Mike and Vicky were absolutely wonderful, knowledgeable guides! This backyard tour of all the adorable Australian Animals was well worth the money! We had a fantastic time! I highly recommend this tour.

Worth every penny!!!!

I HIGHLY recommend this as it was the best experience. Our guide Ann was absolutely wonderful and made our visit so special and person. I will definitely do this again.

Private tour & day pass

Fantastic day, best we have ever had! Private tour was amazing, very interesting! Not once did we feel rushed and we had the amazing experience of being able to stroke and feed kangaroos! Big thank you to gaye ( our guide) for making it so special... well worth the money, would highly reccomend this tour, its great valus for money as it includes a day ticket to the park too!

Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo is like a big animal party with a view! You can see all sorts of animals there – lions, kangaroos, even penguins. The best part? It's on a hill, so you get this mega-awesome view of the city and the harbor. If you're into animals and cool sights, this place is a win-win! 🦁🐨🐧🌆

Incredible experience!! Must do!!

What an incredible experience!! Me and a colleague had two lovely ladies as our guides! They were both full of information and had an answer to each question we had about the animals, zoo, history, etc. They were quite lovely! We even got to feed the kangaroos which is something I will never forget! Definitely recommending this to anyone who comes to visit. Such a fun and enjoyable experience! Thank you so much!

Very worth doing!

We enjoyed the Taronga volunteer guided tour of the Australian animals sections of the zoo with our two granddaughters. It was so much better than walking through the areas ourselves not knowing exactly what we were seeing. Our two guides were very knowledgeable and we all learned a lot. The details of this tour could be improved on the Viator site. It was not clear where to redeem the Viator Voucher once we reached the main upper entrance of the zoo. I went to the ticket counter where I was met with confusion, even when the supervisor was called over. My husband just happened to ask at the information booth and, thankfully, they had our names and checked us in. Additionally, “behind the scenes” is a somewhat misleading description. Most of the tour is along the same paths traveled by other zoo visitors. We did spend about 10 minutes in a back area where we saw one animal and took a short cut through another area to rejoin the main path. The volunteer guide did give our granddaughters some food for the kangaroos and let us in a side area to feed them. That was something regular zoo visitors were not allowed to do. There were no other animal encounters with this tour.

Wonderful experience - highly recommended!

Fantastic tour with David. Slow paced, which gave us time to see the animals and discuss their characteristics and their care. I recommend this experience to everybody!

Taronga Zoo was quite an experience

The volunteer guides were exceptional. They knew their stuff and were excited to share their knowledge. We saw all of the indigenous animals of Australia. Got pictures of koalas up close and personal; fed and petted the kangaroos; screeched with kookaburras; saw a marvelous bird show; and really enjoyed our visit.

All Access Pass

This was a lot of fun. Everyone at the Taronga Zoo was very nice. Got guided by very knowledgeable volunteers who took us behind the scenes to get up close and personal with koalas and many other animals. I even got to feed and pet a kangaroo. This tour was fantastic! Highly recommend!

Memorable Visit With First Class Guide !

Great experience inside koala enclosure…with kind, informative guide who could speak knowledgeably about every animal in the zoo.

Wonderful Private Tour!

Wonderful private tour with just a few other people. Guides were very knowledgeable and the opportunity to be up close with koalas was amazing!

FABULOUS

We had a fabulous experience visiting the Taronga zoo. We booked the meet the animals tours and we were able to get really close to the koalas in their enclosure, it was such fun. Our tour was like a private tour, just one other couple with us. The 2 zoo keepers were very knowledgeable and showed us all the animals we were eager to see. We were never rushed and they allowed us plenty of time to take pictures and they were able to answer all of our questions. Everyone visiting Sydney should visit the Taronga zoo.

March 2023 zoo visit

It is a nice zoo. The benefit to creating the environment the animals would live in in the wild made it difficult to find them in trees and bushes and rock formations. Yet, we appreciated they had such a nice environment. We added a private tour to our visit. The information, from the tour guides added a lot to the visit. They assisted us in finding animals we had not seen. We were able to get close to the kolas for pictures and feed kangaroos and a wallaby. We recommend adding it to a zoo visit.

Lots of parts shut!

We heard great things about this zoo so decided to visit. We have visited lots of zoos around the world- London zoo, Singapore zoo, Toronto zoo, Australia zoo etc. This was disappointing. Lots of parts of the zoo were shut. We couldn’t see the lions, majority of the shops and food places were shut. It just felt like it wasn’t really operating fully. We watched the birds of flight and the seal show. But I found Australia zoo far more interactive and diverse in comparison. We did the whole zoo in 4 hours. Lots of uphill and stairs. Can easily catch the ferry into and out of the zoo.

Seeing the Koalas up...

Seeing the Koalas up close and almost personal without touching them was the highlight. This tour with a guided zoo keeper was very informative with all the Australian wildlife animals and gave us a perspective of their habitat and factors that affect their survival in the wild. We were also able to interact with the Kangaroos and that was a great experience.

Worth it!

I am glad to have attended the tour even though it is slightly expensive. It is all worth it. I like to express my appreciation to Anne and Miri both of them are awesome your guides. They shared many good information about the animals. I love koala and kangaroo 🦘 !

The BEST way to experience the Zoo

Absolutely amazing experience and tour with Anne and Miri! The information and background on the native animals they provided was great. So informative with lots of humorous stories. Both were very personable and made this feel like a truly immersive and personal experience. They provided lots of tips to enjoy the rest of Sydney. It was obvious they both loved sharing their zoo with visitors! P.S. Don't forget to tip them -- they give 100% back to the zoo for care of the animals!

Up Close and Personal with a Koala and so much more!

We had a memorable tour with two lovely volunteers. These ladies were so interesting and very knowledgeable. I am so happy I decided to do a private tour as I learned so much in a short time. The Australian animals were my focus and I think we saw them all, animals I had never seen before. I loved that the zoo was not for profit. I loved that I could be so close to a koala ( one of the reasons I have always wanted to visit Australia). It was well worth the extra cost.

Great too.

The two ladies that gave me the tour were very informative. Considering it was raining, they over came the elements to provide me an excellent tour. I learned so much.

Great tour- highly recommended

Guides were awesome! The Koala and kangaroos were so active and it was a incredible experience up close

Great way to see the zoo

It was a really nice tour. Tour guide was very knowledgeable and easy to hear. We toured the Australian animal exhibits. Got to go inside the koala exhibit and get a close up photo with one of the animals. At the end of the tour, you are free to spend the rest of the day at the zoo. Fun day.

A great way to see the zoo

The Australian Animals tour was fabulous. The 2 volunteers (Melinda and Vanessa) were so well versed in everything, very friendly, and extremely kind. I had a little trouble with all the steep inclines and stairs everywhere in the incredibly hilly zoo, and they went out of there way to make it easier on me. Plus, the up close (not too close) koala siting was amazing. They knew exactly where to look and pointed out all the critters hiding. This is definitely a great tour.

Bof

I didn t see to much animal from Australia….such crazy. And this is an excursion will should to do during holiday Time. (To much kids)

Excellent Taronga Tour!

Overall experience was excellent! Our Zoo tour guide volunteer Ms.Gurr was very cheerful, professional and knowledgeable.

A Sydney highlight

Absolutely magical experience and loved the enthusiasm of our tour guides Patricia and Lynda. It was wonderful to see beautiful Australian animals up close and get the VIP experience too. Worth every penny and would love to return to feed the kangaroos once again especially.

Gold Tour Experience

We had a great day here in Sept 2022. We visited with gold tour passes and the volunteers Rashijda and Maddie were very knowledgeable and were great tour guides - would highly recommended.

Great Day Out

Tarango was amazing and a great day out. The zoo is very well signposted and the staff were super helpful. There is an amazing amount of animals especially native ones and also a large amount of other interesting animals and birds. Lots of shows to see and amazing views.

Volunteers were a very...

Volunteers were a very nice special touch... as a native, I even learned something. I just wish that we were able to use the sky lift as we had grandparents were wiped out without it, also quite disappointing for our overseas family who would have enjoyed the sky views.

Solo tour was a blast!

Incredible experience. Lucky to have a solo tour with a great tour guide. Fed kangaroos, got a lot of information, and got to get close to a couple of koalas. Loved this!

Close up visit with zoo animals

Great information on the animals that I did not know previously. Close up visit with koala’s. Volunteer guides were very knowledgeable with little known facts.