FieldyVancouver Island
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Animals and farms

Volunteer guided school tour

North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre8 hr 11 min by bus · 120.5 km
✓ Fits your group
A black bear lying along the top of a wide cut tree stump inside a wire mesh enclosure, with green leaves behind it.
Cost
Price not published
Needs confirmation
Admission fees are waived for a support person/education aide(s) accompanying a student(s) with special needs; however, this person(s) does not count in the requested ratios.
Ages & size
Ages not published
Up to 45 children
Duration
1.25 hours
Year round
Days not published
Book by
Not published
Plan this trip
Fieldy handles all communication and booking for you.

What it actually looks like

Photos from North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre's website
Our note
It is sixty to seventy five minutes of walking outdoors with nowhere much to sit down, so have a plan for tired legs. You need one adult for every five children aged 12 and under, which is six grown ups for a class of thirty. Ask for the cost in writing when you send the request, because the figure only comes back with the payment schedule.

What the children do

A volunteer guide walks a class around the centre for roughly 60 to 75 minutes, with the exact length depending on the age of the group, its interest and how much support the adults give. Requests go in through the school visit form and are processed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The centre takes one group at a time, in the morning or the afternoon, and recommends booking at least three weeks ahead because spots fill quickly. A volunteer guide is not guaranteed. If the group is more than 30 minutes late without calling, the guides leave and the visit becomes self guided. Groups are 15 to 45 students. What a school group pays is not published: after the request goes in the school tour coordinator sends a payment schedule, and payment is taken at the gift shop counter on arrival.

Walk the gravelled paths from enclosure to enclosure behind a guide, stopping to look at eagles, owls, hawks, ravens, turtles and black bears and asking questions as they go. Afterwards they can sit at the picnic tables for a snack or lunch.

Good to know

Washrooms with a change table are in the Eagle Flight Enclosure building, the paths are gravelled and take a wheelchair, and parking is free with room for a bus. Picnic tables are dotted around for lunch after the tour, but nothing is said about shelter if it rains.

Sources disagree. Their own two pages print admission slightly differently. The home page says $15 for an adult and $6 for a child aged 4 to 16 with tax on top, and the visit page shows the same figures with nothing said about tax. The numbers agree, so budget for tax being added and check the total when you pay.
Washrooms
Washrooms are wheelchair accessible and have one baby changing station. They are located in the Eagle Flight Enclosure building.
Lunch space
Picnic areas with tables and benches are scattered around the grounds. Picnic tables are available for use after your tour for snack and/or lunch time.
Rain backup
Needs confirmation
Strollers
Needs confirmation
Wheelchair access
Our paths are graveled and wheelchair accessible. Two wheelchairs are available for visitor use at no charge.
Bus parking
Bus parking is available (a parking map will be provided). Parking is free, and reserved spots for the disabled are in the main lot near the entrance.
Nearby park
Needs confirmation
Restrictions
Cell phones are for photo use only. Please turn off flash and put phones in 'silent' mode while on-site. Any behaviour (such as running, yelling, rough-housing or playing tag) that frightens, causes stress or endangers the safety of our animals is unacceptable. Students must always stay with chaperones. Please note that free passes and Annual Memberships are not valid for booked tours. Please dress for the weather and be prepared to walk during the tour of the facility

Getting there

1240 Leffler Road, Box 364, Errington, BC V0R 1V0

On foot
26 hr 12 min
too far with this group
By bus
8 hr 11 min
includes a 9 min wait
Driving
3 hr 50 min

The dark pin is Victoria.

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Details checked on 2026-09-10 against the venue’s own pages. Something wrong? , it takes one tap. · Venue page · 250-248-8534 ext 3