The relaunch comes after Australian Wildlife Parks acquired the Nulkaba zoo in July, joining its Featherdale Sydney and Mogo properties as part of the largest privately-owned wildlife park group in Australia.

The park will be offering three new encounters - lions, maned wolves and capybaras - in addition to its meerkat, squirrel monkey and lemur encounters.

Australian Wildlife Parks managing director Chad Staples said these encounters provide visitors with the amazing opportunity to hand-feed and interact with these animals up-close.

While zookeeper talks haven't resumed yet due to social distancing concerns, the park has a QR code tour featuring animal education videos from Mr Staples, the park's head zookeeper and ambassador (otherwise known as Zookeeper Chad, with 350,000 followers on Instagram).

Mr Staples said the change of ownership at Hunter Valley has been exciting for the wildlife park group.

"We are lucky that Jason (Pearson, the zoo's former owner) created such an amazing facility," he said.

"We don't have to make huge changes, just let it grow."

To celebrate the start of the new era for the Hunter Valley, Australian Wildlife Parks has launched an annual pass that offers unlimited visits to all three of its parks.