Umgeni River Bird Park — Attraction in eThekwini Ward 36

Hello to all at Umgeni River Bird Park I generally don't enjoy giving low ratings or bad reviews however in this case I feel compelled to voice my concerns.

We are bird lovers in heart and soul through and through. We drove from Pennington whilst on vacation from Gauteng specially to visit the park.

We had the pleasure of visiting many bird parks in South Africa and we have a good sense of reference for comparison.

I was very sad to see some bird cages/enclosures being in a bad condition. In one enclosure a stork was huddled in a bundle with no to little movement whatching him/her to ensure he/she was still alive or not. The water bowls were half full to almost empty and dirty. The surrounding area was not appealing at all as well as other enclosures in close proximity to the stork.

My disappointment seeing the macaw and parrot cages with no toys or anything at all to keep them busy and entertained.

Some of the other cages and bird species was in full grown vegetation being great however we battled to see the birds through the thick vegetation.

The bird show was horrific to say the least. Firstly we could hardly hear /understand the presenter properly as his pronunciations and way of speaking was not pleasant to the ear. A conversation between myself and some visitors confirmed I was not the only one experiencing it in an unpleasant way.

The feeding of the pelican with day old dead chicks?(please correct me if I am wrong) We thought fish is the staple diet of a pelican?

The vulture during feeding between the guests resulted in the bird landing on the back of a guest with his claws right in front of me. The young man was very displeased with this as he clearly felt the discomfor and pinch of the claws.

The surrounds are so beautiful and I am sure this Bird Park can be once again very successful as we understand this park was previously very...

What a waste of money. Birds names on the birds cages that was in there was not the same birds wich was shown on the boards to begin with. The animals cages were neglected and durty. One part of the park is under construction , you have to pay full price but your not aloud to see the other animals (wich is under construction). The cooldrinks were over pirced , I payed R96 for 2 sparkling waters, a powerade and an grapetiser. The one bird cage where you can walk in to is a death trap. There is spiders in there everywhere biger than my palm and they are very venomouse and deadly!! There was a woman in a wheele chair and she almost went into the deadly spider!! Unacceptable!!! The big pond is so durty and there is a big bird cage laying in the water.. This is the second time we went there. The first time was 8 years ago.. and back then the first time was amazing.. There was a woman with a talking cocato giving a show of the bird. Everything was clean back then and amazing to look at. Now I wont even give this bird park a one star. I feel like the animals should defnitly come first as its the star of the park.. What a let down to how this park has gone backwards. Discusted beyond...

It’s hard for me to write this review because I know the bird park relies on visitors to keep it all going. As soon as I entered the bird park my heart ached for the parrots… their enclosures are far too small for them especially the macaws. They didn’t even have enough room to spread their wings let alone fly. The majority of the birds honestly seem so depressed due to a lack of stimulation.

We visited the park on a Tuesday so I’m not sure if things are different on a weekend… but there was no show on despite the sign saying there was a show from Tues-Saturday at 11am. The shop was also closed. The staff weren’t overly welcoming as one would hope.

Unfortunately, the waterfall seems to have dried up too. However, the natural beauty of the forest cliff face is really beautiful.

The bird park is really rundown and is in need of TLC and a bird expert to assist the park to provide each species of bird with a habitat suited to their specific needs.

We did however enjoy the parakeets who were able to talk and engage with us… really so sweet.

I really hope that the birds can get the support...