Located off the Murray River just an hour away from Adelaide, Dundee Wildlife Park is a charming little old-school zoo focusing primarily on native Australian birds, reptiles and animals. A boutique-sized establishment catering largely to families and kids, it occupies a fairly small area and can be easily covered in an hour and a half (or less). This privately-owned establishment includes a restaurant and hotel too, so one can literally eat and sleep with the animals (ala Doctor Dolittle). As this was the first wildlife park that my family and I visited, Ethan was naturally all excited about it.
The theme for this visit? “Food Glorious Food!” and you will see why as we go on.
Looking fairly nondescript, with a simple and disarming facade, Dundee Wildlife Park was quite a “no-frills” park although prices are not exactly cheap at $10 per adult and $7 per kid.
The moment we got in, Ethan had to get up close and personal to a crocodile, albeit the furry and non-living variety.
Feeding was the order of the day, and our first beneficiary was a brown, white and furry llama.
Our next culinary candidate was this donkey, which wasn’t quite as stubborn as we imagined it to be.
We next saw a huge buffalo and a highly irritable looking emu. Thankfully both were behind a fence (though it looked rather flimsy).
More gastronomic adventures ahead, this time with a cute and docile wallaby.
These furry bunnies apparently had their lunch and were about to have a mid-day snooze.
From furry animals we next visited some colourful feathered friends like this parakeet and parrot.
We also saw a brown rooster…
…and the king of the bush himself (a Kookaburra) apparently having an insect for a snack.
Something more palatable perhaps is this bowl of fresh apples and carrots.
The favoured food of the stone curlew, a long-legged wading bird.
We next move onto close encounters of the scaly kind, and saw this nicely patterned python.
As well as this baby crocodile who was having a nice nap.
My wife Tina probably felt like catching 40 winks of her own too, while we waited for the crocodile shows.
Remember that baby crocodile in the water? Well, here it is, rudely jolted from its slumber!
The highlight of the day was the feeding of a salt water crocodile who leapt out of the water for a fowl feast.
And swallowed it whole after maneuvering it in his mouth.
The moral of the story as Captain Hook would say is “Never smile at a crocodile”!
