Koreksi Prediksi

First time visit to a Zoo in Java, so i do not have much comparison material (e.g. with Batu Secret Zoo etc) but Taman Safari II had us pleasantly surprised. There was a little confusion at the entrance about the 'package-prices' which were different than what we were informed about on the telephone a few days prior to our visit. Me as foreigner (Dutch) of course needed to pay more than my wife (local Javanese) but that's almost with everything in Indonesia. I could not get a 'complete' package, but in the end it turned up to save me some money compared to what we initially expected. In fact you should really decide up front if you want to go swimming and a complete package is kind of overkill anyway if you don't have little kids, since most of the park rides are for little children anyway. (for those with kids; the children's waterpark looked like great fun, big and clean, and for adults there was a deeper water area with a sliding-tube and wide family-slides) Even without park rides there is still plenty to do and see to fill your whole day as adult (you can always pay a little 10.000rp fee for attractions such as rollercoaster(small/not spectacular anyway), bumperboats, haunted house and two or 3 more suitable for adults). We went by own motorcycle, but you are able to enter the safari area with own car if you have one/want that. If not there is a bus that comes at regular intervals for those who don't. The Safari area itself was not as big as expected, and felt a bit rushed. The bus drove from spot to spot and gave you barely a minute to take a picture before moving on. The animal habitats though looked adequate and clean, and the animals looked healthy, active and content. You could of course take the bus more than once in case you felt rushed and want to review it again, in own car you can do it in your own pace. Then we got dropped of in the park itself, which is a combination of Zoo, attractions and the waterpark. Here you could find a nice selection of animals, which all had nice clean habitats, plenty of space and some good photo opportunities. The roads were all in good conditions but expect to encounter some mildly steep slopes accompanied by some stairs. The park staff was very helpful and friendly and the overall impression was really good My wife got a little ill during the safari ride but was helped quickly at an emergency post and because feeling weak they even borrowed us a wheelchair so we could still enjoy the rest of the day. Most unique about Taman Safari Park must be the baby Zoo, were you could get up close and personal with an actual Lioness, Baby Tigers, White Tiger, orang-utangs and a Snake (Python). You will have to pay 15.000 to get your photo taken (with own camera/cameraphone, bring one!) and upon entrance we did get two coupons so at least the first two pictures were free. The staff takes their time to try to get the best picture(you'll probably end up with multiple per payed occasion) and we didn't feel rushed in this at all. Beware though; even playfully a Lioness or even baby Tigers can bite hard ;-). Other places in the park offer other encounters with different animals again (Elephants, Camels, Kakatu and Parrot(Ara) etc.) A little more expensive but worth every cent; feeding Penguins (50.000rp) and a half hour swim with Dolphins (500.000rp). The Elephant ride in the park (additional 15.000rp, not included in any package) was a little bit disappointing (just a small circle around a bush) but nice to take a photo while you sit on an Elephant. Taman Safari also offers 'Elephant Journey' which i believe takes you on a stroll on an Elephant trough a patch of nature outside the regular park (price in the 260.000 - 300.000 range), but being constraint with time ourselves we did not try it (will definitively do this on a next visit). We went on a weekday(which BTW is also cheaper than Weekends) and during off-holiday season, so the park was fairly quiet having some organized groups (mostly schools i guess) visiting besides us. During the weekdays there are less shows to watch, but we did not go see any and still had a full day of fun The food establishments and snack counters are (as expected in such parks not only here but around the world) expensive, but dining next to a glass wall with white tigers strolling behind it might make you find it worth it. I would recommend bringing some drinks or snacks though since inside the prices of those easily go up to 4 times of what you expect to spend for them outside the park(e.g. we paid 28.000 for 2 glasses of young(but not so young) coconut drink(Es Degan) and for that price you could easily get 4 whole young fresh coconuts anywhere outside the park). Still affordable though for many 'western' tourist but kind of steep maybe for most local visitors! A great tip is to stay the night before (or after) in one of the recommended hotels (a list is available on the Taman Safari Website). Not only do you start rested and/or don't have to travel much again after an exciting day, the listed hotels give a decent discount on park entrance fees! In the end i highly recommend visiting this park at least once when you're nearby, it is totally worth it to take a day or two to do this and in our opinion is much more fun and interesting than say a thing such as a (overrated) trip to Bromo. Even when just visiting Java/Bali you might want to consider visiting this (or one of the other two) parks!