Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre
Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre
Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre
4.5
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
One of Rarotonga's newest must see attractions, featuring amazing live exhibits and interactive displays. Discover jaw-dropping coconut crabs, astonishing stonefish, stunning aquarium fish, inspiring natural history, cinema and so much more in this unique Cook Island Marine and Wildlife Centre. Interactive and informative displays make learning about our natural world and ecology fun!
Duration: 1-2 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
93 reviews
Excellent
52
Very good
31
Average
4
Poor
3
Terrible
3
YouCantKillAwesome
Palmerston North, New Zealand141 contributions
Oct 2022 • Couples
Reading the other reviews, I wonder if we were in the same place. What started out as interesting visit suddenly ended. Has potential, but for the $12 each entry, it is just too short. While I am all in favor of people finding a way to make some money, this is an example of making money for nothing.
Unfortunately, when we visited the tanks were mostly empty, there was nothing to really look at.
The static displays are interesting, but we were there for probably 20 minutes, so felt over charged. We both agree that $5 or 6 per person would be fair.
Unfortunately, when we visited the tanks were mostly empty, there was nothing to really look at.
The static displays are interesting, but we were there for probably 20 minutes, so felt over charged. We both agree that $5 or 6 per person would be fair.
Written October 4, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
missnate2023
Gisborne, New Zealand9 contributions
Sep 2023 • Family
Would recommend if you have the time to do some reading and look at everything to make it worth your money. Seeing the baby turtles, starfish and crab were cool. Wouldn't recommend if you have older children who will be doing other activities to see these animals. The disappointing part for us was Lickety Lix, for a name like that I thought it would be more grand in choices. However, we did enjoy a SourSop (local flavour) ice cream. An ok activity if you really need a gap filler.
Written October 8, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stephen
Whangarei, New Zealand4 contributions
Nov 2022 • Couples
It was absolutely amazing! It was so informative and the artefacts that they have I wasn’t expecting. It talks about all the different islands, the whale history of the Cook Island and information about all sorts of sea. The lady also asked if we wanted to watch her feed the stone fish, now that was a sight to see!
Written November 26, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Johno C
New Zealand2 contributions
Sep 2022 • Family
Had nice coffee and lemonade in the cafe then went into the eco center.
Some very interesting information about the various islands' geography.
We were lucky enough to see the rescued bird have his wings exercised and the stonefish be fed in the aquarium. Plenty of interesting fish and facts, definitely recommend!
The woman obviously cares a lot for the animals and had plenty of cool info for us.
Some very interesting information about the various islands' geography.
We were lucky enough to see the rescued bird have his wings exercised and the stonefish be fed in the aquarium. Plenty of interesting fish and facts, definitely recommend!
The woman obviously cares a lot for the animals and had plenty of cool info for us.
Written September 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nonavee
Auckland, New Zealand5 contributions
Jan 2023
What a wonderful educational visit! They happened to have rescued one just the other day, which came up in the beach (not a good sign). Stephanie told us all about her care of the turtle while at her ice cream and coffee shop duties as well! It was just $39 for a family pass.
We got to see a coconut crab as well. There was a touch pool with sea stars, and sea cucumbers, there were tanks with sea life such as a stone fish, and baby puffer fish.
We also saw skeletons and jaw bones of many creatures, including sharks and turtles, museum objects of the past such as old diving and whaling gear, info boards on how islands are formed and the nearby island group.
I also really enjoyed their artwork by locals - and their coffees and ice-creams are great.
We got to see a coconut crab as well. There was a touch pool with sea stars, and sea cucumbers, there were tanks with sea life such as a stone fish, and baby puffer fish.
We also saw skeletons and jaw bones of many creatures, including sharks and turtles, museum objects of the past such as old diving and whaling gear, info boards on how islands are formed and the nearby island group.
I also really enjoyed their artwork by locals - and their coffees and ice-creams are great.
Written January 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
carmel c
Auckland, New Zealand39 contributions
Mar 2023 • Couples
Don't miss out on this little gem of a place on your visit to Rarotonga. Tucked in behind an ice cream parlour / cafe is a an interesting exhibit of local wildlife ecosystems and marine history with a multitude of items to keep the whole family engrossed for an hour or two. The young and "young at heart" will love being able to get up close and personal with a few south pacific critters including coconut crabs, a fledgling and baby white tern chick, stonefish, and blue starfish. The history of foreign whaling in the Cook Islands and its detriment impact on the ecosystem is well covered.
Love the work being done here to rescue and restore the injured birds so they can be returned to the wild.
Love the work being done here to rescue and restore the injured birds so they can be returned to the wild.
Written March 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nicky J
1 contribution
Sep 2023 • Friends
What an amazing little treasure the "Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre" is. The place to go if you want to learn about the history of the island, see, face to face some of the native species of creatures from the islands. The kids loved the icecream while we enjoyed a quite coffee from the cafe looking at all the exhibits. Friendly attentive staff - couldn't rate high enough!! Thanks Steff and crew!
Written October 24, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil
Whangarei, New Zealand4 contributions
Jul 2023 • Couples
The only disappointing part of our visit to the island was the Discover Marine Wildlife and Eco Centre. The name is misleading as there is not much to discover, there is precious little marine wildlife and nothing eco about it. It looks like it was abandoned 50 years ago and recently re opened exactly as they found it. On the plus side it was cheap, There was a coconut crab in a cage which was quite impressive to see and some small rescued turtles in a grubby bath that will be released soon. The hostess is great and she gave us a $5.00 off voucher to another tour.
Written August 16, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ange Z
Melbourne, Australia29 contributions
Jan 2023 • Family
What a great little treasure in Rarotonga. The exhibits were very well displayed and there was so much useful information, not only about sea creatures, but about the island and it’s history as well. Getting to see a live coconut crab and stonefish and pat a sea cucumber and starfish was pretty special. The lady who runs the centre is lovely and she even has a cafe you can stay and eat/drink at. Plenty of nice items on the menu, not to forget the ice cream as well! It’s also very affordable for families. Definitely worth putting on your must do list.
Written January 18, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ali
New Zealand651 contributions
Feb 2020
Come and support marine life by exploring this little friendly centre. We have spent about an hour there, reading all the posts and learning a lot. We have ordered an ice cream there on two different days-one one day an island looking lady was wearing gloves while serving it, but the next day a European lady handled money, didn't use the gloves to hold my cone and took a mango piece with here BARE HANDS to put in into my icecream! With infections on the rise I found this unacceptable and threw away most of the icecream. Before this she was feeding birds with bits of fish and had a smoke-who knows if her hands were washed, don't take chances and be braver than me to mention this to her.
Written February 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I’m sorry that this happened and will put in place measures so that it doesn’t happen again. I’m glad you enjoyed our Centre and we do take your criticism seriously, and thank you for it.
Written April 23, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Hi, we are still on our opening special prices, $9 for an adult and $7 for a child. Next year prices will go up slightly.
Written December 7, 2019
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