Natal Zoological Gardens
TrustIndex
0
Ranking
#13
in Entertainment & Gaming
NPS Score
0
Recommended: Unlikely
Jun '25 - May '26
Natal Zoological Gardens has a TrustIndex of 0 out of 10 on Hellopeter, based on 1 reviews in the last 12 months. Hellopeter has tracked Natal Zoological Gardens across 5 total reviews. How is the TrustIndex calculated? →
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Share Your Experience1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I have not visited Natal Zoological Gardens nor would I ever support a zoo, but the images of their female orangutan Opal circulating online are disturbing. Orangutans are among the most intelligent and emotionally complex animals on the planet. Seeing one kept alone in a small enclosure is heartbreaking. These animals are meant to live in vast forest environments with stimulation, space, and the ability to express natural behaviours. Isolation and confinement are the opposite of that. Zoos justify themselves using the language of “conservation,” but keeping a solitary orangutan on display is by no means that. It is a business built around exhibiting animals and using them as commodities for paying customers. By going to a zoo you are perpetuating animal cruelty. Animals like Opal and all the animals in captivity here, deserve environments that prioritise their welfare and dignity. If an orangutan cannot live in the wild, the ethical alternative is a large accredited sanctuary designed specifically for their behavioural and social needs. Situations like this raise serious questions about why someone like Gerorgina Boswell (the owner) still keeps highly intelligent species in captivity for public display. Clearly she continues her father Brian Boswell’s deplorable legacy of cruelty with his animal circus where he apparently killed 6 tigers. She and the people involved in her business should be ashamed for the reprehensible excuse for humans that they are.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I have not visited Natal Zoological Gardens nor would I ever support a zoo, but the images of their female orangutan Opal circulating online are disturbing. Orangutans are among the most intelligent and emotionally complex animals on the planet. Seeing one kept alone in a small enclosure is heartbreaking. These animals are meant to live in vast forest environments with stimulation, space, and the ability to express natural behaviours. Isolation and confinement are the opposite of that. Zoos justify themselves using the language of “conservation,” but keeping a solitary orangutan on display is by no means that. It is a business built around exhibiting animals and using them as commodities for paying customers. By going to a zoo you are perpetuating animal cruelty. Animals like Opal and all the animals in captivity here, deserve environments that prioritise their welfare and dignity. If an orangutan cannot live in the wild, the ethical alternative is a large accredited sanctuary designed specifically for their behavioural and social needs. Situations like this raise serious questions about why someone like Gerorgina Boswell (the owner) still keeps highly intelligent species in captivity for public display. Clearly she continues her father Brian Boswell’s deplorable legacy of cruelty with his animal circus where he apparently killed 6 tigers. She and the people involved in her business should be ashamed for the reprehensible excuse for humans that they are.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I was there with my family yesterday, what a lovely experience. My brother forgot his cellphone by the pool and when the staff found it, they kept it safe until my brother could come ant collect it! Thank you so much Natal Zoo!
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I was there with my family yesterday, what a lovely experience. My brother forgot his cellphone by the pool and when the staff found it, they kept it safe until my brother could come ant collect it! Thank you so much Natal Zoo!
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
The zoo grounds are very neglected and lots of cages are empty and most cages are not accessible. Not child/pram/wheelchair friendly at all. Food is oky wat takes very long to make. Tabels and chairs are old and dirty and there is a lot of littering everywhere. Animals seems cared for but the animals don't have a lot of water or the water is dirty
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
The zoo grounds are very neglected and lots of cages are empty and most cages are not accessible. Not child/pram/wheelchair friendly at all. Food is oky wat takes very long to make. Tabels and chairs are old and dirty and there is a lot of littering everywhere. Animals seems cared for but the animals don't have a lot of water or the water is dirty
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 22nd of January 2021, we decided to visit the Natal Zoological Gardens because we wanted to be out in nature and thought it's best we visit a place that supports the conservation of animals (or so we thought) being ardent supporters /activists of animal and environmental protection. Whilst walking through the park, we were horrified and absolutely shocked at how the animals are kept. The lions had ear infections that really needed treatment. Their discomfort was evident not to mention how small their enclosure was. It was mortifying to see a beautiful tiger locked in a tiny cage, alone. The saddest sight was the chimpanzees and orangutan. These creatures had no place to play as their enclosures had no trees and they sat lifeless in a corner desperately trying to remain out of the blazing sun from which they had no natural protection. Pea****s were caged along with other large birds that require space to walk around. every single cage and enclosure had a pungent smell of feaces as the cages / enclosures were obviously not cleaned regularly causing flies to be everywhere posing a huge nuisance to all the animals. Most heartbreakingly, the water troughs for every animal had stagnant, dirty water that the animals themselves didn't want to drink. Not to mention the lions and tigers had no water in their troughs despite the torrid summer heat. The lions, tigers and other large animals were malnourished and were in clear need of better medical attention as well as better diets. The park owners should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to innocent creatures. No animal should ever be caged !! The state of the park was despicable but more despicable is the fact that the people who own this park are allowing animals to suffer this way. Please can more be done to expose the sad state of this park so that the animals there can be surrendered to better parks where they can have more natural habitats that are spacy and conducive to living a free and natural life. We are utterly disappointed and infuriated by the manner in which the beautiful and majestic creatures of this world are currently living at Natal Zoological Gardens in Cato Ridge, KZN.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 22nd of January 2021, we decided to visit the Natal Zoological Gardens because we wanted to be out in nature and thought it's best we visit a place that supports the conservation of animals (or so we thought) being ardent supporters /activists of animal and environmental protection. Whilst walking through the park, we were horrified and absolutely shocked at how the animals are kept. The lions had ear infections that really needed treatment. Their discomfort was evident not to mention how small their enclosure was. It was mortifying to see a beautiful tiger locked in a tiny cage, alone. The saddest sight was the chimpanzees and orangutan. These creatures had no place to play as their enclosures had no trees and they sat lifeless in a corner desperately trying to remain out of the blazing sun from which they had no natural protection. Pea****s were caged along with other large birds that require space to walk around. every single cage and enclosure had a pungent smell of feaces as the cages / enclosures were obviously not cleaned regularly causing flies to be everywhere posing a huge nuisance to all the animals. Most heartbreakingly, the water troughs for every animal had stagnant, dirty water that the animals themselves didn't want to drink. Not to mention the lions and tigers had no water in their troughs despite the torrid summer heat. The lions, tigers and other large animals were malnourished and were in clear need of better medical attention as well as better diets. The park owners should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to innocent creatures. No animal should ever be caged !! The state of the park was despicable but more despicable is the fact that the people who own this park are allowing animals to suffer this way. Please can more be done to expose the sad state of this park so that the animals there can be surrendered to better parks where they can have more natural habitats that are spacy and conducive to living a free and natural life. We are utterly disappointed and infuriated by the manner in which the beautiful and majestic creatures of this world are currently living at Natal Zoological Gardens in Cato Ridge, KZN.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 22nd of January 2021, we decided to visit the Natal Zoological Gardens because we wanted to be out in nature and thought it's best we visit a place that supports the conservation of animals (or so we thought) being ardent supporters /activists of animal and environmental protection. Whilst walking through the park, we were horrified and absolutely shocked at how the animals are kept. The lions had ear infections that really needed treatment. Their discomfort was evident not to mention how small their enclosure was. It was mortifying to see a beautiful tiger locked in a tiny cage, alone. The saddest sight was the chimpanzees and orangutan. These creatures had no place to play as their enclosures had no trees and they sat lifeless in a corner desperately trying to remain out of the blazing sun from which they had no natural protection. Pea****s were caged along with other large birds that require space to walk around. every single cage and enclosure had a pungent smell of feaces as the cages / enclosures were obviously not cleaned regularly causing flies to be everywhere posing a huge nuisance to all the animals. Most heartbreakingly, the water troughs for every animal had stagnant, dirty water that the animals themselves didn't want to drink. Not to mention the lions and tigers had no water in their troughs despite the torrid summer heat. The lions, tigers and other large animals were malnourished and were in clear need of better medical attention as well as better diets. The park owners should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to innocent creatures. No animal should ever be caged !! The state of the park was despicable but more despicable is the fact that the people who own this park are allowing animals to suffer this way. Please can more be done to expose the sad state of this park so that the animals there can be surrendered to better parks where they can have more natural habitats that are spacy and conducive to living a free and natural life. We are utterly disappointed and infuriated by the manner in which the beautiful and majestic creatures of this world are currently living at Natal Zoological Gardens in Cato Ridge, KZN.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 22nd of January 2021, we decided to visit the Natal Zoological Gardens because we wanted to be out in nature and thought it's best we visit a place that supports the conservation of animals (or so we thought) being ardent supporters /activists of animal and environmental protection. Whilst walking through the park, we were horrified and absolutely shocked at how the animals are kept. The lions had ear infections that really needed treatment. Their discomfort was evident not to mention how small their enclosure was. It was mortifying to see a beautiful tiger locked in a tiny cage, alone. The saddest sight was the chimpanzees and orangutan. These creatures had no place to play as their enclosures had no trees and they sat lifeless in a corner desperately trying to remain out of the blazing sun from which they had no natural protection. Pea****s were caged along with other large birds that require space to walk around. every single cage and enclosure had a pungent smell of feaces as the cages / enclosures were obviously not cleaned regularly causing flies to be everywhere posing a huge nuisance to all the animals. Most heartbreakingly, the water troughs for every animal had stagnant, dirty water that the animals themselves didn't want to drink. Not to mention the lions and tigers had no water in their troughs despite the torrid summer heat. The lions, tigers and other large animals were malnourished and were in clear need of better medical attention as well as better diets. The park owners should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to innocent creatures. No animal should ever be caged !! The state of the park was despicable but more despicable is the fact that the people who own this park are allowing animals to suffer this way. Please can more be done to expose the sad state of this park so that the animals there can be surrendered to better parks where they can have more natural habitats that are spacy and conducive to living a free and natural life. We are utterly disappointed and infuriated by the manner in which the beautiful and majestic creatures of this world are currently living at Natal Zoological Gardens in Cato Ridge, KZN.
© Copyright 2026 hellopeter.com and its affiliates. All rights reserved.