At Werribee Zoo

20-21 August 2026

Telling us that the road is his!

I left Christine's in plenty of time to allow for distractions, diversions, etc. and got to Werribee in good time. There was one minor diversion: going round in circles when maps told me to turn right when it should have told me to go straight ahead.  Over a glass of wine later that evening, a fellow safari participant said maps had sone the same to her.  

I checked in and wandered over to see the tortoises I am particularly amused by one adult basking in the warmth of the heat lamp. 

I looked at the gorilla being a little cryptic in his shelter across the lake, then headed down for my lions experience.

The layout of the Zoo is lovely, beautiful landscaping and themed picnic shelters all over, which are very attractive. 

There are of course dozens of school groups so lots of excited kids from prep classes through to presumably higher secondary.

I had a look at the monkeys and then the hippos. I tried to spot a cheetah but couldn't and then wandered down for my pre-booked lions experience. 

The girls just hanging around

We were taken behind the scenes and we saw the big boys being health checked, fed and some training. The training isn't just doing tricks. It is for the purpose of being able to get a look at them in case there are health issues, and gaining their trust for any minor proccedures. They did mean that we were sitting just a metre from them which was pretty awesome.

Meeting the boys

There are two relatively new lion cubs in the enclosure and they are about 6 months old. Lion cubs are born after a gestation of only 110 days.

The 6 month old male

I returned to the cheetah enclosure but given that there were a couple of keepers putting out food and cleaning up, the chances of there being cheetahs in there at the same time are roughly zero.  I did spot one on a later visit with our Safari Camp guide

 

I catch a ride on the mobility bus down to the elephants so that I can allow myself plenty of time to walk around and admire them. Their habitat/ enclosure is 20+ hectares, which is most generous. And the surrounds, like the surrounds of so many areas of the zoo, are beautifully landscaped.

I admire one of the pregnant females. She is incredibly wide. I consult Google and find that the three pregnant elephants are expected to give birth around April next year.

I stopped to chat to a staff member and a volunteer and find that the shape of this young female elephant is not due to the pregnancy. She is just inordinately wide.

I ate my lunch looking at the meerkats since their lunch has been put out. They are definitely smaller than I remember them being when I saw them in the wild in Ladakh.

At the appointed time, I move my car to the secure car park for the sleep Safari and check in to my glamping arrangement which is named the growling grass frog. 

Inside Growling Grass Frog lodge

There's a view over some enclosure areas and while the only thing I can see at the moment is an emu, I'm sure there are more.

And the chef Simon seems to be well prepared with food I can eat; he did want to check things with me first which was lovely.

He had prepared me a scone with jam and coconut yoghurt. That was something I could eat for afternoon tea and I consumed that while looking out at a nearby family of Cape Barren Geese and some rhinoceros and zebras in the distance. I did need my binoculars to be able to see those properly. 

Then it was time for our safari trip. We did a fairly brisk walk into the main zoo grounds and to our safari bus where we proceeded to have an absolutely lovely experience of getting up quite close to a number of the free-ranging animals. 

Our special animal counter was with a big boy rhinoceros, who was on the other side of his very strong fence, but we were only a metre away from him.

The keepers we have met seem to have incredibly special relationships with their animals, all of whom are named, and in some cases the keepers have worked with the animals for years and years. I was intrigued  to learn that rhinoceros shape their horns by rubbing it on trees or rocks. I had always assumed that the horn was a particular shape. The keeper who talked to us about the rhinos reckons that their horn shape was a reflection of their personalities. 

This is a youngster out on the free range area - the horn is stll small

We visited the giraffes and I was most delighted to learn that one was named Harold. 

We saw a few herds of savannah animals: 

Scimitar horned oryx

Then at the end of the Safari tour our guide took us for a walk back to camp via the scenic route.

This included looking at the cheetahs, the hippopotamus, and the lions. And given that the lion cubs were out and quite active and playing, we did linger there for I think longer than anticipated. 

cubs at play

Then it was back to Camp for some nibbles and a glass of bubbles.

After main course we went out for a night time walk around the zoo but it was raining steadily. I had embraced Billy Connely's attitude of There's no such thing as bad weather. You just need a sexy raincoat! and put on my waterproof pants and jacket and was perfectly dry and cosy inside those. 

We did see the wallabies that night but this was taken the following day
She's sitting up and looking nervous because of noisy schoolboys

We went inside a substantial Bluestone building that was the shearing shed for the property on which Werribee Zoo was developed. It is very large and solid for something that was basically constructed as a shed. I guess it reflects the affluence of the property.

The woolshed, heritage listed (taken the following day)

My special dessert was an oversized bowl of kiwi fruit, strawberries and blueberries topped with coconut yoghurt.  Most acceptable.

Then a glass of wine and chat with some fellow guests before adjourning to my very comfortable cabin.

The noise of the highway was ever present even into the early hours of the morning. So I extracted my earbuds and used those. Road noise penetrated just a little, as did the occasional roar of the lions.

The Cape Barren Geese family were around again at breakfast time, the goslings are about 5 weeks old and very cute.

After a substantial breakfast, and before the zoo was open to the public, we were taken for our morning experience with the hippos. 

Once again, I learnt so much more about the animals about their care about their training, enrichment and health and about the passion that the keepers have for them.

Then on to look at the gorillas and again more delightful chats about gorillas and the individual personalities, family dynamics and dominance and the youngest who takes great delight in scaring the tourists by throwing himself at the glass separating wall. I'm fascinated to learn that one of their favourite enrichment activities is watching Finding Nemo and listening to Michael Bublé's Christmas album - which sometimes drives staff batty.

And a few years back when the family dynamics and dominance fights were happening, Michael Bublé was doing a tour in Melbourne and the zoo  contacted him and said "We have gorillas who love your music";  he came and sang to the gorillas. 

Our guide also tells us about one of the ways they do enrichment experiences to keep animals on their toes: putting lion poo in with the plains animals: it stimulates their stress levels, which is important for their overall health!

Our guide leaves us to our own devices about 10:00 and I go for a look at the reptiles before heading back for a public Safari bus ride. 

The safari bus is a case of same, same, but different. It's a bit briefer than our private one last night. We do see some animals up closer simply because it's their choice of where they are. 

Eland

I then go for a further wander to say hello to some of the animals again and realise that the experience is very different on different days. The lions are very somulant, as opposed to our delightful time viewing them last night.

Ostrich with attitude!

I wander over all of the trails and then revisit the gorillas for one last time before I head off. Two of the gorillas are sitting quite close to the glass eating. 

One of them, presumably the youngest, goes off to the side and then bangs the fence and returns to eating and then sits, ignoring us but occasionally poking his tongue out and eyeing us side on before he turns and I start my video just in time to catch him doing his party trick:  run towards us,  with chest beating and jump and hit the glass. Of course, it got the reaction he was anticipating from the spectators!

And it left me leaving the zoo with a smile on my face.