Australia is home to many amazing animals, so naturally people want to see as many as they can. At the Australia Zoo, you can do one better! I got the chance to hold a koala, feed kangaroos, and have a lemur crawl on my shoulder. If you want to have this same experience yourself, you need to plan ahead. In this post, I hope to answer all of your question about animal encounters at the Australia Zoo. Want to know what else you can do at the Australia Zoo? Check out my other post all about the zoo here!
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
What Animals Can You Meet?
Below is a a lit of all the animals you can meet along with the times and cost of each encounter. Note – anyone can feed kangaroos at any time during their visit. The kangaroo area is open to everyone! Simply purchase a bag of kangaroo food and you’re good to go! The rest of the encounters listed need to be booked ahead of time.
| Animals | Cost Per Person | Times Available |
|---|---|---|
| Red Panda | $99.00 | 9:00 am |
| Meerkats | $99.00 | 10:00 am & 3:00 pm |
| Eagle | $29.00 | 10:00 am |
| Tiger Cub | $399.00 (up to 2 people) | 10:30 am |
| Rhino | $99.00 | 11:00 am & 2:15 pm |
| Koala | $49.00 | 11:30 am & 12:00 pm |
| Wombat | $49.00 | 11:30 am |
| Giraffe | $49.00 (up to 5 people) | 12:15 pm & 3:15 pm |
| Tortise | $39.00 | 12:30 pm |
| Cheetah | $69.00 | 12:45 pm |
| Elephant | $149.00 | 2:45 pm |
| Echidna | $39.00 | 2:45 pm |
| Lemurs | $99.00 | 3:30 pm |
| Wildlife Hospital Tour | $19.00 per adult, $9.00 per child | 2:30 pm & 3:30 pm |
How Early Should You Book an Encounter?
These encounters only happen once or twice a day and have a limited amount of spots, so you should plan on booking your encounter several months before your visit. I would recommend initially checking the openings on the Australia Zoo website six months before your encounter. As soon as you know what day you are going to visit the zoo, book your encounter! This was a highlight of my trip to Australia, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Australia Zoo! I know these experiences are a bit expensive, but they are so worth it!
Red Panda 
Koala 
Kangaroo 
Ring-Tailed Lemur
What About Photos?
During your encounter, you are free to take as many photos as you want! There is a professional photographer at each encounter as well, so you can look at the photos later and decide if you want to purchase any. You can purchase one photo, a few, or get all of your photos on a flash drive to take home. With each encounter, you also get a magnet with your favorite photo from the encounter as a souvenir!
Review of Encounters
Each encounter is a little different, so look up what each entails before booking. Everyone in my family did the koala encounter and one additional encounter of our choosing. Some of us met lemurs while others chose the red panda. Here is what we have to say about these encounters:
Koala
Meeting a koala is an obvious choice as they are native to Australia and you really can’t meet them anywhere else. When you meet a koala, you get to hold it as seen in the photo above. The zookeeper said they hold onto you because they think you’re a tree. Any movement will scare them, so you have to stay as still as possible. This was hard for me because I felt like I was holding a (very heavy) baby, so I naturally wanted to rock. This encounter consisted of standing there for a few minute and taking some photos, which was a cool experience. That being said, everyone in my group agreed it was our least favorite of our encounters.
Red Panda
My family members who met the red panda said it was a really cool experience! When it was first brought out it wandered around and greeted everyone which is adorable! Each person was given some food and a chance to have the red panda sit on their lap. You can see this moment pictured above! He was very friendly and loved the attention. My mom went on this encounter, and she said she would definitely recommend it to others!
Ring-Tailed Lemurs
I went on this encounter as well as the koala one, and I have to say this one was much more interactive. The Australia Zoo has a “lemur island” which you get to by riding a small barge. We were greeted by lemurs as soon as we stepped on the island! We started the encounter by taking photos with a lemur on our shoulders, then sat and fed them.
One thing different about this encounter is that we were on an island with a bunch of lemurs, where in the other encounters one animal was brought to us. This made a big difference as we could watch the lemurs interact with each other. We also had several climbing on us at once! Our handfuls of food were quickly snatched away, but not before taking some selfies! I could honestly sit there and watch them for hours, it was such a cool experience! I would HIGHLY recommend the lemur encounter to anyone visiting the Australia Zoo!
Overall, this is an amazing experience I would recommend for anyone! Be sure to book early so you don’t miss out! Book here!
Anna’s Pick of the Week
The Australia Zoo is not in a large city, so you will need to find a ride from your hotel to the zoo. I recommend staying in Brisbane so you can take the Croc Express to the zoo! This way you don’t need to deal with a rental car or pay for an expensive taxi. Check out how to book the Croc Express here!
Booking.com
