Adelaide Zoo
As a conservation charity, every visit, adoption, donation and ticket helps save species from extinction

Hooray! Adelaide Zoo is ready to welcome back visitors after nearly 90 days of closure

Nearly 13 weeks since it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Adelaide Zoo is excited to announce that it will reopen its gates on Monday, 22 June 2020 reuniting animals with wildlife and conservation lovers.

Monarto Safari Park will open one week later on 29 June 2020.

“I’m so happy to say that we are reopening Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park,” said Zoos SA Chief Executive Elaine Bensted.

“It’s been nearly 90 days since we last had any members or visitors inside the gates and to say we have missed them is an understatement.

“Naturally, we will have a number of measures in place to ensure everyone’s safety including the necessity to pre-purchase tickets online so that we can keep within the SA Government’s guidelines and monitor the number of visitors on any given day.

“In addition to helping us manage capacity, this will allow us to easily trace and contact people in the event of a COVID-19 related incident.

“Entry tickets are compulsory and will be available via our website. These online tickets will be valid only for the date selected.

“Even our wonderful Zoos SA members, who usually enter with their membership card, will need to redeem free online tickets via our website before coming in.

“By operating this way, it will be easy and efficient for us to progress through the State Government’s recovery steps framework.

“Fortunately, we are blessed to have plenty of outdoor space at Adelaide Zoo, so our guests can enjoy themselves while still keeping at a safe distance.

“And of course, most importantly, visitors will get to see our wonderful animals. Our members and visitors have made it clear that they have missed seeing them and I’m so glad that we can begin to reconnect people with nature once more.

“The public will also be pleased to know that we plan to reopen Monarto Safari Park on 29 June,” Elaine finished.

Social distancing measures will apply throughout the zoo’s outdoor and indoor areas. All indoor areas will comply with the 4 sqm per person requirements.

There will also be sanitising stations, washbasins and bathrooms readily available with thorough cleaning of all public and staff areas.

The Wisteria and Fig Tree Cafés at Adelaide Zoo and the cafe at Monarto Safari Park have outdoor seating areas and plenty of space for picnics.

While visitors have been absent, it has been business as usual for keeping staff who have maintained the regular feeding, care and training of the animals.

Elsewhere, the first stage in works to expand Adelaide Zoo’s giraffe’s exhibit is complete and visitors will see that it is now double its original size. Zoos SA recently announced that the giraffe exhibit will expand throughout a number of stages until, on final completion, it will be the largest inner-metropolitan giraffe exhibit in the country.

Visitors to Adelaide Zoo will also discover a new animal on exhibit in the shape of the Zoo’s first Komodo Dragon. Located in the Reptile House, the Komodo will come out of its quarantine at around the same time as South Australians.

The female Komodo marks the beginning of the zoo’s plans to breed and grow an insurance population of the species which is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red list.

Visitors to Monarto Safari Park will get to see the four lion cubs which last week made their debut in the main exhibit.

As a conservation charity and not-for-profit, Zoos SA has relied upon and benefited from the support of the State and Federal Governments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For information about tickets and for more information, members and visitors can visit our website.