How to get the most of Zealandia: it is a park in the Wellington surroundings, fenced and reasonably "pest free", (free from non-endemic species). Many endemic animals can bee seen here. In some cases, as for the takahe, they are just for "exhibit", totally depending on humans for food; other birds, like kiwies or saddlebacks, live in a partially wild way, reproducing and breeding on themselves.

There are many path inside the park, there are many interesting elements to see even in the easiest path, which was our choice. Keep in mind that the most important Zealandia attraction are the Kiwies and the can be seen only at night time, reserving a guided night tour. There are just a few places available for night tours, so rememeber to reserve many weeks before your visit. Daily visit have no restriction, just pay attengion to the opening times as we think Zealandia deserves at least an half day visit (last info: entrance is not for free, these is a ticket office).

Short description of the path: The entrance to the park tells us we are traveling back in time, at least 500 years from our age. There is a small lake inside the park, many aquatic birds live inside it, including the cormorants Kawau Paka and the Pateke.

One of the most impressive birds we saw is the Takahe, nearly extinct. Its colors are so bright, the beak seems coming from dinosaurs age, it moves slowly and clumsily on the grass. We can easyly undestand the way we almost killed them all, leading those birds to the edge of the extinction. The European rodents can steal their eggs extremely easy, as well as Europen herbivorous can eat all the grass they need.
During our visit, we had been lucky enough to spot this Saddleback catching a worm, it is a quite rare bird. More interesting elements we spotted inside the park:

• This Toutowai, or Robin
• The Koru
• A Tuatara, an almost extinct reptile living only in New Zealand

More info: http://www.visitzealandia.com/