National Kiwi Hatchery: Witness World-class Kiwi Conservation Techniques
4.7
45 Ratings
Rotorua
Experience world-class kiwi conservation techniques at the National Kiwi Hatchery. Witness the incubation, hatching, and rearing of kiwi chicks while supporting their conservation efforts.
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Rainbow Springs Nature Park - Your entrance ticket to Rainbow Springs includes all the attractions of New Zealand’s largest kiwi conservation center.\n\nTake a walk through the free-flight aviaries and listen to myriad birdcalls. You can also feed wild trout on your visit to Rainbow Springs, and meet Jenny the hand-reared kea bird.\n\nThe new Taonga: treasure of New Zealand show at 2.30pm daily will bring to life authentic stories around Taonga, Maori natural treasures: Learn the rich history behind our treasured artefacts, including how Maori interacted with and conserved their natural world, and then get up close with these treasures yourself. \n\nThroughout the day, you can cool off with a ride on the Big Splash water ride. The nine-minute ride takes you back to the world of the dinosaurs, and introduces you to New Zealand’s wildlife past and present. The highlight of Rainbow Springs is the Kiwi Encounter, allowing you to get up close to New Zealand’s rare kiwis.
What's Included
  • Admission Ticket
  • 45 minutes National Kiwi Hatchery guided experience
  • Interactive Kiwi Burrow
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Food and drinks
Additional Information

See conservation in action at one of the largest and most successful kiwi hatchery in the world!

The National Kiwi Hatchery is the national leader in kiwi husbandry, egg incubation systems, hatching techniques and kiwi chick rearing. When you join one of our experiences, you’ll get to see kiwi eggs being incubated, the hatching process and newly hatched kiwi chicks.

An educational, thought-provoking and truly unique experience, you’ll get to see how we’re helping kiwi at the largest and most successful kiwi hatchery in the world.

Your ticket entry fee goes straight back to our kiwi hatching programme.

Location
The National Kiwi Hatchery
Western Road
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.7
(45 Ratings)
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Erin_s
Apr 17, 2024
Incredible and cute - Tour guide Harley was super passionate about teaching us about kiwis and why they’re so deeply treasured and protected. Overall, this tour was fun and informative!! A must-have experience
Review provided by Viator
Jet352
Mar 28, 2024
Very Cool! - So glad we got to visit and learn about these interesting birds, their predators, their protectors and see a hatchling.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Teresa_h
Feb 5, 2024
Educational and fun - The tour gal was very good. She knew the kiwis well. I learned sooooooooo much more about kiwis. Very educational. Thank you Katie.
Review provided by Viator
Beckywest1992
Jan 28, 2024
Incredible experience - We had such an amazing visit. You’ll need to book in advance as places are limited. The tour takes you on a 5 minute minibus ride across the site (boosters provided for kids). Caitlin our guide was really fantastic, and great at answering the kids questions too (and very patient!). We saw three kiwi in their huge enclosures, as well as two babies having health checks and one under a heat lamp. The gift shop was great, some really lovely items. Highly recommend this tour, the children (age 2 1/2 and 7) both loved it
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cathr354
Jan 27, 2024
Very informative - worth visiting - We hadn’t realised this experience is based on a farm which also has activities to entertain. Kiwi tour starts on minibus, our guide was very informative. We were shown around the different sections and very lucky to see 4 kiwis that had recently hatched
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Greg_l
Dec 20, 2023
Kiwi’s are AWESOME - A totally immersive experience. The guides were bubbling with enthusiasm, knowledge, and couldn’t have been any more helpful
Review provided by Viator
Happiness38397982772
Nov 16, 2023
Fall in love with the Kiwi - Wonderful experience! It's a brief visit but you gain such an appreciation and knowledge of this quirky, special north island bird. From babies to adults, you just want to cuddle them. Book before you go, guides turned away many walk ups because all the tours were booked that day. And even though they were booked, the very helpful tour guides still took the time to tell you were you might find other kiwis if this was your last day in town. Also, don't miss out on the behind the scenes visit, it books up fast due to being offered once a day. Missed the opportunity but looked like an even more rewarding experience. The gift shop was on point and you will feel motivated into giving back to this charitable organization through donations as well that can feed a chick for a month ($35), all the way to sponsoring a chick fully ($2k plus). Every penny goes back to their meaningful work to kiwis in the north island.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cat_h
Feb 10, 2024
Kiwi birds will surprise you. They are angry birds 😂 - Such an interesting trip. We learned so much about Kiwi’s, and we’re really surprised that they are such angry little birds. Highlight was seeing 2 babies born the morning of our tour. The woman that did our tour was really knowledgeable, fun, and passionate about their cause. Only downside, I wish our tour had been longer, especially in the nocturnal house
Review provided by Viator
Sherpa801821
Dec 13, 2023
Find out about Kiwi - A great informative tour to teach us more about the Kiwi. We did this while we were staying in nearby Rotorua. Luckily we were able to see one Kiwi chick that had been born a few days earlier and later in the nocturnal area, an older chick, moving around in its enclosure. This is not cheap to visit, but the money goes to a good cause. I would recommend visiting here.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Faraway45321270583
Nov 21, 2023
Not sure if I recommend! - Visited due to the great reviews but came away slightly disappointed. The tour was very rushed and kids found it hard to understand the Sri Lankan tour guide. We weren't given time to read all the information posters in the 'burrow' or take photos. This is a great concept and feel like they could do so much more - where you wait for your tour to start is a blank area yet you walk past a heap of information signs on the way to the tour start with no time to read them. We did get to see a baby kiwi getting a health check but the tour guide didn't tell us much about what was happening or why they were doing what they were doing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 9 guests
1 Adult
July 2024
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