Franz Josef: VIP Backstage Pass & Rare Kiwi Wildlife Encounter

Found this by accident today and we’re really glad we did! Great penguin exhibit. The place does some really great work rehabilitating ones that have been injured and cannot go back to the wild. Staff and owner are really friendly and will take the time to answer all your questions. We had a wonderful time and can’t recommend this place enough! Make time for it while in the Franz Josef area.

Great experience for our family of four. The staff are very friendly and informative, providing a highly personalised experience. We all valued the knowledge the staff were able to impart in a short time. The penguin feeding and information in community conservation efforts were an additional highlight.

We thoroughly enjoyed the extended tour info, and learning about the kiwi, and hatching program. Also got to see lizards, and penguin feeding which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Excellent knowledge and a real one to one experience - this work needs to be supported - very friendly team indeed and a great cafe and shop

Fantastic experience! The guides were so knowledgeable and I learned so much about kiwis, tuatara, and penguins. You can tell that the center really cares about their animals and is passionate about their work.

An excellent visit. Very interesting and informative with the chance to get up close to nature. It is well worth paying for the Backstage Pass - you get a a lot more detail and information plus a better understanding of the conservation work being undertaken. Thoroughly recommended.

We had a fantastic time. Steve's VIP tour was incredibly informative - we loved it! The work the centre does seems vital in support of kiwi populations and looking after injured penguins - hats off to their team.

OMG, this was an incredible experience. The tour was lead by Steve, he explained about how they are helping with a breeding programme and the development of a Kiwi. We even got to see some chick's in the back stage area. Steve was knowledgeable and very engaging and I felt we have learned a great deal. We were on to see the Tuatara and again Steve was full of useful information, showing us how they were little changed from the time of the dinosaurs. From there on our own, we went into the Kiwi enclosure where we saw 2 Kiwis in their natural habitat, these will eventually be released and more brought in. We also went in to see the delightful Little Blue Penguins. This was in excellent visit the staff were charming and helpful and you really feel they are helping endangered species

Wasn't expecting a lot from this visit as didn't seem to be much to it. Decided the best option was to go for the back stage pass to gain a better understanding of what was there. So glad we did. A very knowledgeable conservationist talked us through the centres involvement in incubating kiwi eggs collected from the wild where the young birds only have a 5% chance of survival to adult hood due to being eaten by stoats and possums (non native animals). Once these birds reach adult size, they are released back into a predator free environment. Next was the tuatara. Looked like a lizard to me but, thanks to the back stage access, we found out they are not lizards at all but a unique to New Zealand species going back to the time of the dinosaurs. I'm not saying any more. Go yourself. Get the back stage pass tickets. Here was me, the skeptic, leaving with a lovely kiwi mug from the gift shop 'cos you've just got to support these wee guys.

If you long to see some of the wildlife on South Island and also talk to conservationists who are working hard to protect New Zealand's wildlife, this is the place for you. They have little blue penguins and kiwis and tuaturas (often mistaken for a lizard but it is actually a unique species from the time of dinosaurs). You can't take pictures of the kiwis but a backstage tour will give you more information about the conservation work they've done to preserve this most unique bird that was close to extinction.