Tours
Book NowTours for Individuals and Small Groups
Each weekend, MARS provides family-friendly tours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The one-hour outdoor & indoor tours are scheduled from 10:00 to 2:00 for groups of up to 8 people per tour. The Visitor Centre closes at 3 pm.
MARS has much to show you. With the ever-growing need, we are very grateful to our community members who support our efforts to save wildlife patients. Please pre-book your tour, and help MARS help wildlife, one patient at a time.
Our tours are suitable for all ages! Our guides love engaging children, youth, adults, and seniors in learning about wildlife and wild spaces. MARS is a family-friendly place. All are welcomed.
Admission by donation.
Planning Your Tour
Plan to be at MARS for 1 1/2 hours. The outdoor portion of the tour is about 45 minutes, then a 10 minute visit with an ambassador bird and handler, then as long as you wish to explore the gift shop and indoor exhibits hall.
Our volunteer guide will greet you at the Visitor Centre to check you in. You’ll hear the stories of our animal patients and the skilled, compassionate care they receive at our hospital. You’ll view recovering Bald Eagles in their impressive two-story flight pen. You’ll visit our non-releasable ambassador owls, eagles, and albino crows, and meet one of our birds up-close with a handler. Our comfortable trails pass through gardens and wilder spaces with native plants. Our friendly guides give you, your family, and guests a visit to remember. Finally, you’ll wrap up your experience with an opportunity to explore our gift shop and indoor wildlife exhibits hall to learn and experience more.
You are welcome to take pictures throughout your tour. Our flight pen has ports for long lens cameras. Tour guides and bird handlers are always happy to help you get good photos of your family and friends visiting MARS. Photographs of wildlife in our care must not be used for commercial purposes without permission. Please share your photos and story of your experience on Google Reviews, Facebook, Instagram, or in a review on TripAdvisor .
Tours for Classes or Large Groups
Why Bring your Class to Mars?
- To learn about human impacts on wildlife and wild places
- To understand animal adaptations and how species interact in their environment
- To make connections between habitat and healthy populations
- To be inspired by the beauty and diversity of wildlife
- To have fun!
What your group will see and experience
Group ratios: one MARS guide with 8 students and one or two adults.
Our guides will lead your group on an indoor and outdoor experience through the Visitor Centre where students will…
- learn the rescue, recovery, rehabilitation, and release stories of MARS patients, past and present
- understand the skilled, dedicated work of our rehab staff and volunteers
- travel through a native plant garden, view the wetland through our bird blind, and see what creatures are making their homes in wild spaces
- get a bird’s-eye view into our flight pen to see recovering Bald Eagles
- meet our resident eagles, albino crows, hawk, and owls
- visit with an Ambassador Bird and bird handler
- discover exhibits of hawks and hummingbirds, owls and waterfowl, and a few mammals, too
- explore our hands-on area with nests, feathers, bones, and other animal artefacts using flashlights and magnifying glasses for taking a closer look. Even read an x-ray!
- test their knowledge of bird calls and compare their strength to raptors
- become birders for the day with a scavenger hunt
- (for young children) explore a model of our local watershed with domestic and wild species
Preparing for your visit
- Give us plenty of notice (three weeks is ideal) so we can arrange extra guides and a bird handler for your visit.
- Any special considerations for your students? Please let us know.
- Remind children not to touch our Ambassador Birds, to keep fingers out of outdoor enclosures, and to speak quietly when looking into the homes of our resident birds.
- Allow an hour and a half for your visit and let us know if you’ll need extra time for lunch or snacks. We have picnic tables outside.
- Our Centre is fully wheelchair accessible. Our outdoor paths are packed gravel and sloped in some areas.
- Please wear closed-toed footwear for walking around our outdoor enclosures and clothing suitable for the weather.
- With the exception of service dogs, dogs are not allowed on the property (not even on leash) as they cause stress to recovering and resident wildlife.
Virtual Class Tours
Teachers and organizational leaders, are you ready to take your group on a virtual field trip to MARS? Learn about birds and mammals, the obstacles they face, and how they have adapted to survive. Find out what you can do when you find an injured animal and ways you can help wildlife. Join Warren Warttig, a biologist and our Man from MARS, as he takes you on a trip to the wild side. Contact us, below.
Choose from two programs:
PROGRAM 1: WHAT A HOOT!
All about Owls– 45 minutes (includes time for questions)
Meet a variety of owls that make Vancouver Island their home, and what makes them unique. You will also be introduced to some of our ambassador birds and will learn which ones are nocturnal, crepuscular, or diurnal.
PROGRAM 2: CHIRP, CHIRP!
Spring Wildlife – 45 minutes (includes time for questions)
You will learn why and how baby animals come to MARS. You may also have an opportunity to meet some of our avian patients that are being cared for in our hospital. Some are precocial, but many are altricial…what does that really mean?
Support Us!
See how classes and community groups have supported us in the past.Support Us
Donate Funds
Support wildlife through one time or monthly gifts, legacy giving, or adoption.
Donate FundsDonate Goods
See current and everyday needs and learn what items we can and cannot accept.
Donate Goods