My Trip to Asia and Zoo Review

On July 7th, when it is winter in Aus and freezing, I set of to a little slice of the tropics. (Which you can see here) My first stop was Bali. I didn't go to the zoo there, but I went to the Bali Safari and Marine Park. It seems a little strange that they call it a marine park at all, they just have some aquariums with fish and that's about it. I was imagining a much broader scope of marine animals, but what they had there looked pretty good.

Bali Myrnah birds

The safari ride part of the park was pretty cool. Lots of freer ranging animals, bigger enclosures, some animals like the deer and cow-like ones could just wander around in their sections. The elephant enclosures looked a bit small for such big animals though.

Lion lazing around in the safari section

I was also a little disappointed and upset at the 'take a photo with an Orangutan' section. The Orang in question was clearly just a baby and he was being passed around like some kind of toy. Orangutans stay with their parents for a long time, the longest of any primate other than us. So I had to wonder what had happened to his mother.

Even though that all sounds slightly depressing, the trip there was still well worth it. I got to see some great animals, some of them just running around, like lizards and birds. There was also a water park there for those with young kids or who just want to cool off in the tropical heat.

Random lizard. He was so pretty!

Next stop was Jakarta. I wasn't really looking forward to going to Ragunan Zoo, as I had heard some quite negative stuff about it. I was therefore surprised when it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Some of the enclosures were horrible and small, like those for some monkeys and gibbons, but some of them were actually pretty good, like for the racoons. They had a lot of birds in the zoo (in enclosures, not just free-flying) and I would have liked to see more greenery in their enclosures.

Sad to see such beautiful animals in such small enclosures with nothing to do.

The highlight of Ragunan was meeting Ibu Ulla. She has been living in Jakarta for 60 years or so now, having originally come from Germany. She is 90+ years old, and lives in her own little house inside the zoo grounds. She very graciously agreed to meet with me and my dad, and sat down with us for some iced tea. All around her house are enclosures with Orangutans, which have been bought to the zoo for various reasons including being confiscated pets. Some of them have even been born at the zoo. It was amazing to meet them, but sad to know that some of them have spent a large portion of their lives in these small enclosures, simply because there is nowhere else for them to go.

We spent a little time talking to Ibu Ulla, and then made plans to visit her the next day aswell. When we showed up, she took us on a little guided tour of the zoo in her car (driven by someone else), where we were able to go into non-public areas. The video of the white tiger and of the pygmy hippo were both from behind the scenes areas. She also took us to see the crocodiles, and some more Orangutans in other parts of the zoo. It was a little sad to see some of the enclosures, but if there's one thing that Ragunan has a lot of, it's space, so I hope that the zoo will continue to improve the enclosures that their animals live in.

After the tour, we went back to Ibu Ulla's house, had some more iced tea, and said goodbye. I think she gets quite lonely, as she told us that come 4pm, she's alone in the house as everyone goes home.

As we were leaving, one of the younger Orangs was out of her cage for some exercise. That meant that we got to play with her for a while before we left. She loved making a little nest for herself with branches that were around for her, and at one point I think she decided to see if my pants tasted the same as the leaves as they were almost the same colour. I wish I could have stayed there all day playing with her, but eventually we had to leave.

She loved eating berries that were found on the browse she was given.

Singapore was next, and the zoo that I had been looking forward to most. Singapore Zoo is amazing, from the moment that you walk in and see Cotton Top Tamarins in a little home with no bars or walls or cage doors of any kind, just a little island of vegetation that you can walk right up to.

Why hello there....

All of the enclosures that I saw were beautifully done, and the zoo had some amazing areas to walk in to, such as the 'Fragile Forest' exhibit, where there were free-flying birds and fruit bats, ring tailed lemurs walking around, and if you look carefully enough, even mouse-deer.

Shh! Don't scare her away :)

There were a lot of interactive things all over the zoo, the most common of which was feeding the animals. This cost you $5, and then you recieved some food which you could give to the animals and get close to them. This is a great opportunity for people to get a real connection to these animals, and I'm sure that it made more than one person's day.

The animal shows are something that Singapore Zoo is famous for, and I saw part of the 'Rainforest Fights Back' show, and all of the 'Safari Splash Zone'. I had heard some bad things about the shows in the past, but maybe they have been improved since then. Most of what I saw was pretty good, the animals weren't forced to do 'tricks' as such, most of them just making an appearance. The Splash Zone show was focussed around a sea-lion called Stan, and while he did do tricks, most of the things that he did could have been classified as natural behaviours.

All in all, the zoo was fantastic, and I would love to return there.

Mum can't see me...

A beautiful enclosure.

After the day zoo closed, I then wandered over to the Night Safari. This was a really cool place, although I have a feeling it would be cooler if it was during the week (I went on a Friday) when not as many people would be there. There are 4 different walking paths that you can wander around at your own pace, the tram ride that takes you around to see some of the enclosures, and a show. I didn't get to see the show as by the time I finished walking around and riding the tram, it was quite late.

It was a bit hard to take photos (as for obvious reasons flash is not allowed on your cameras), but the feeling of walking around a place like that at night is amazing. One of my favourites was the walk in bat enclosure, where there were fruit bats and some smaller bats, as well as a few birds. The smaller bats were flying around a lot, and it was just a great atmosphere to be in.


There is still a lot that I could say about my trip, but I'll leave it there for today. I hope that someone has enjoyed this post, even if it was just looking at the pictures :)

-Bec