Visiting Tasmania Zoo: An Unforgettable Animal Experience near Launceston

On our last visit to Tasmania, we spent a couple of nights in Launceston visiting my great-aunt and some family friends with my grandparents, as well as doing some sightseeing. One of the places we visited was Tasmania Zoo, a place I had known was near Launceston but never really heard or knew much about until recently, when I actually went to the website to see if it would be worth visiting. Lo and behold, I discovered an actual ‘proper’ zoo in Tassie, with lions, tigers and giraffes (no bears, unfortunately) as well as experiences where you could get up close with certain animals – like Tassie Devils! Needless to say, I booked us in quick-smart and now I’m going to tell you all about visiting Tasmania Zoo, near Launceston. Read on to find out everything you need to know to plan your own visit!

About Tasmania Zoo

Tasmania Zoo is located officially in Riverside, a suburb of Launceston, although it’s a bit further out from the city closer to the town of Rosevale. It’s only about a 22-minute drive from the city centre though, so it makes for a lovely half or full-day trip from Launceston.

Originally opened in 2003 and spread out over 900 acres, it houses the largest collection of native and exotic animals in Tasmania. As I said before, I knew there was a Tasmania Zoo near Launceston but I had never really seen any advertising for it, so I was very surprised to see on the website that it was home to very exotic (for Australians) species like tigers, lions, giraffes, capybaras, African wild dogs, red pandas, lemurs, caracals and more!

I love animals but I always feel very conflicted about zoos. While they often do important conservation work they are still keeping animals in captivity. But then again, sometimes seeing endangered animals is what encourages everyday people to want to help them. Tasmania Zoo does conservation work with endangered species and also cares for injured native wildlife, re-releasing them into the wild when possible. Of course, I recommend checking out their website for yourself and seeing if you are happy with their work/ethos before visiting.

Visiting Tasmania Zoo

We visited the zoo on a hot day in the middle of summer (February) so many of the animals were sleeping or very lethargic. That’s just one of the downsides to exploring Australia in summer, I guess! We still got to see many exciting animals, although if you visited during a cooler season then some of the carnivores, in particular, would likely be more active. The lions, tiger, African wild dogs and dingoes were all sound asleep, so we didn’t get to see them much, although we saw one lion get up and move two metres before going back to sleep again!

The heat also made it hard on my grandfather and even me (because of my fibromyalgia) as the sun is quite fierce and there aren’t many places to sit and rest throughout the park, so do be aware of that. My grandparents ended up sitting in the shade at the café while we ventured down to the very end of the park to see the giraffes, and since the café is next to the meerkats they still enjoyed watching them, of course.

One thing I didn’t love about Tasmania Zoo was that many of the enclosures felt very cage-y. I prefer zoos that try to make the animal enclosures feel as natural as possible, although I guess the animals don’t really care if they’re held in by bars or glass walls. Some sections were a bit better though, like this monkey island below; and the giraffes had a huge amount of open space to walk around in, which was nice to see.

Highlights at Tasmania Zoo

While seeing the lions and tigers moving around would have been exciting, my personal favourite highlights were the animals that were active even during the heat! When we first passed the red pandas they were sleeping up high in the trees, but then they were fed and we got to see them very close up and they’re so cute! I also enjoyed seeing the otters as they were swimming and playing in their little pond.

I’m a little biased, of course, but I also enjoyed the multiple huge Tassie Devil enclosures, and I also chose to have an up-close and personal photo shoot with a Tasmanian Devil since my whole blog persona is all about them! Again, I generally wouldn’t support somewhere that lets visitors handle the animals as that’s usually stressful for the animal (koalas in Queensland being a key point) but I saw the wombat encounter as well as my Tassie Devil encounter and they used baby wombats and devils who were very sleepy as it was the middle of the day. They didn’t seem distressed as they just went back to sleep but again, it’s up to you whether you choose to support something like this. I had always wanted a photo holding a Tassie Devil, so I did it this one time.

Some other highlights for me were the cute little Tamarin monkeys, one of which helpfully posed on his sign. Here are some more photos for you to get a feel of the zoo overall:

How to Get to Tasmania Zoo

There isn’t really any public transport access to Tasmania Zoo from Launceston, so you will need to drive or get a taxi/Uber to visit. There’s free parking though, if you come with a car and there were plenty of parking spaces when we visited in the middle of a weekday during the Australian summer school holidays. The zoo is open every day except Christmas Day from 10am until 4pm but make sure you check the website for ticket prices, special encounters and more. Make sure you also check out my guide to the best things to do in Launceston while you’re in the area as well!

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Have you visited Tasmania Zoo near Launceston before? Let me know about it in the comments or pin one of these if you’re planning to visit in the future!