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3 August 1934 – 20 September 2019
The founder of Ti Point Reptile Park – the only zoo in New Zealand that specialises in reptiles – died on September 20. Ivan Borich was 85.
Ivan grew up in West Auckland and showed an early aptitude for science, developing a keen interest in the natural world, particularly insects, reptiles and other kinds of animals.
Following school, Ivan worked for the ANZ where he met his future wife, Myfanwy. His duties included transporting cash between banks in a duffle bag. He carried a .22 calibre revolver to deter would-be robbers, but joked that the bullets kept falling out of the gun and would have been useless in a hold-up.
Following his stint at the bank, Ivan completed a building apprenticeship, but the idea of establishing some kind of zoo was never far from his mind.
In 1964, Ivan purchased an old farm at Ti Point that lacked road access and power, and comprised little more than manuka bush.
Ivan continued to build around Ti Point and Leigh – but at the same time began to acquire a collection of native and exotic birds. Over time, the bird collection morphed into a fully-fledged zoo, featuring emus, raccoons, bison, monkeys, penguins, sand monitors, water dragons and African cats known as servals.
Ivan would acquire the animals from private collectors and other zoos eager to exchange animals to enhance their own collections.
All the paths, enclosures and buildings to create the property into a functioning zoo were constructed mostly by hand by Ivan himself, with some help from his trusty 20HP Ferguson tractor.
His grandson, Tony Borich, recalls that Ivan worked extremely hard, never taking a day off in his life, though he always had time for his grandchildren, ready to drop everything to help build a trolley or a treehouse.
The switch to exclusively focusing on reptiles 20 years ago was meant to lessen Ivan’s workload, but in practice it didn’t quite work out that way. The park became home to lizards, tortoises, tuataras and alligators, and Ivan was often presented with problems keeping and breeding reptiles that had never been encountered before.
He was not prepared to let his lack of formal zoology training hold him back and solved many problems through trial and error.
Ivan nursed a special affection for alligators, though had a hair-raising moment in his younger days, when on one occasion he slipped while cleaning an alligator pool that had been emptied of water. Ivan slithered to the bottom of the pool on his backside, managing to accidentally hit an alligator in the head in the process. Fortunately, he managed to scramble out without further incident.
Another mishap occurred when a logger brought some kauri snails to the reptile park for Ivan to identify. The snails were released at the park and bred like wildfire, escaping to a nearby forestry block owned by Auckland Council.
Logging at the forest was delayed for years when the snails – a protected species – were discovered, and individual snails had to be tracked down and relocated. Ivan read about the drama in the paper and couldn’t resist having a chuckle about it.
Ivan continued to work right up to the last few weeks of his life, climbing around scaffolding to construct a 1000 square metre greenhouse with a heated reptile enclosure to facilitate viewing of the creatures year-round.
He finally succumbed to heart complications about two weeks after being admitted to Harbour Hospice in Red Beach.
Tony recalls the pleasure his grandfather took in passing on his knowledge about reptiles to park visitors, especially children.
“Ivan’s life was one of a path less followed and is proof that if you chase your dreams, work hard and never give up, anything is possible.”
Ivan is survived by his wife Myfanwy, children Mark and Karen, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
