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At Pukaha Mount Bruce we have plenty of activities and attractions for our visitors.
Your entry free covers seven daily wildlife talks and feeds as well as entry to the nocturnal house where you will see Manukura, the worlds only white kiwi in captivity. Also in the nocturnal house is Turua, another North Island Brown Kiwi. Enjoy a walk through our free flight aviary where you can experience the bush as it was hundreds of years ago. Enjoy the birds flying around you while viewing the Whio (Blue duck) and Pateke (Brown Teal) on the river run.
We have aviaries which are inhabited by endangered New Zealand birds which are being bred for release to increase their populations. Pukaha Mount Bruce is the only site in NZ where you will see the hihi (stitchbird) in aviaries. We also have North Island Kaka (a native parrot), whio (blue duck) and kakariki (a native parakeet). We also have a North Island Kokako, Kahurangi, who has been hand reared and is imprinted and unable to be released into the wild. She loves people and will often be heard wolfwhistling through the park. We have two adult male takahe, Bud and Natural, who have retired from the breeding programme and are enjoying their retirement at Pukaha.
We have juvenile and adult tuatara and a stream of longfin eels which we feed daily. Come and learn about their long, long journey to breed.
There is an interactive gallery on site - make sure you go into our Rata Tree and see how many native species you can find with the help of the torches.
We have a 2 hour loop bushwalk as well as our aviary walk which can take either all day or 40 minutes depending on how long you wish to stay looking at each of the species of birds. We have regenerated New Zealand bush right off State Highway 2 with ample free parking.
Our on site cafe, Wild Cafe at Pukaha, overlooks our takahe enclosure and services wonderful coffee and meals. Group bookings can be accommodated easily by the cafe. The cafe is open until 4pm daily. Just keep an eye out for our wild kaka population who love to beg for food from the cafe! They are pretty cheeky throughout the reserve too and if you don't have a meeting with a kaka at Pukaha, we'll be really surprised!
As well as self guided entry we provided a number of guided tours and walks.
Wheelchair Accessible
More information to come from the Centre very soon with regards access.
Great access for young children traveling in pushchairs.
Tracks are good - we used a Hoyt All-terrain wheelchair and found only one area we couldn't access due to steps. We also saw a power chair user having no problem getting around.
T Thomas 2017
