Teams of wild animals on safari in capital
Wild animals will be roaming around Wellington on Sunday, May 15 – deep in the suburbs and even on the Cable Car.
It’s all part of Orienteering Hutt Valley’s annual Metlink City Safari.
The race to explore Wellington, including Tawa and Kenepuru, by foot and by all forms of public transport, is Wellington’s biggest navigation event, with more than 700 people expected to take part.
Kelvin Thiele, Metlink City Safari manager, said this year’s event would have a wild animal theme, acknowledging the new starting location at Wellington Zoo.
‘‘Teams will start the Safari exploring the zoo and locating and identifying images of wild animals,’’ he said.
‘‘They’ll then explore the rest of the city, tracking down tigers in in Miramar, meerkats in Petone and baboons in Kenepuru.’’
Thiele said the inclusion of the Zoo this year’ was unique and a great way for participants to have a look at the impressive changes that had happened there.
Each participant will be given a map book and a day pass. The map book will tell participants where the wild animal images are. The teams then race to visit and identify as many of them as possible in the three or six-hour time limit.
The day pass can be used for all forms of public transport. Teams can take the train to Petone, the cable car to Kelburn, the bus to Island Bay, or the ferry to Days Bay.
Wellington Regional Council and all of Wellington’s public transport operators support the event, regarding it as a great opportunity for people to see how convenient Wellington’s public transport is and all the places you can get to on it.
Thiele said Safari participants choose where they will travel, and how.
‘‘Everyone is participating for the same length of time. That means it attracts a wide range of participants.’’
The Metlink City Safari uses a text-based live scoring system. Participants text the identity of the wild animal at each location. They then receive leaderboard updates throughout the event.
Categories include open, schools, young family, vets and older families.
For details and to register, go to citysafari.org.nz.