Taman Safari Cisarua Bogor Indonesia

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We spent the day at Taman Safari in Bogor Indonesia.  It was  about a 3 hour drive from Bandung which was actually quite beautiful as we traversed the winding roads through Puncak.  We viewed large areas of tea plantations and the weather was cooler and a bit foggy compared to Bandung or Jakarta.  It reminded me a bit of a Fall day in Oregon only more warm and humid.

When we finally arrived at Taman Safari we drove through an area where vendors were selling bunches of carrots.  As we later learned it’s a good idea to buy a few so you can later feed the aggressive zebras and keep them from eating your car.

As we entered the Safari Park we drove through different sections of animals.  The first was the elephants and giraffes as well as deer.  We saw all kinds of birds, llamas, hippos, bears all within arm length from the car.  We drove through the lion and tigers stopping to enjoy these wild animals and take a few photos.

The rain started and came down hard so every time we opened the windows to take a photo the rain would stream in getting the edge of the seat wet and blowing onto the camera lens.

Then we reached the zebras.  Apparently the zebras were hungry and there we were without any carrots to feed them.  When you don’t have carrots the zebras then want to eat your car.  We had the windows open  bit and they would stick their noses into the car as far as they could reach sniffing around for any food.  When they couldn’t find any they started chewing on the windows.  A quick touch to the nose made them back off a bit.

It was a great experience that the whole family really enjoyed.

After driving through the safari we reached the main attraction area where we took an overhead view of the park via a tram.  The tram cost RP15K per person and is well worth the cost as you get to see the entire park from above.  The kids really enjoyed it.

Afterwards we toured the baby animals where we walked through a bird arboretum with all kinds of cool and interesting birds flying around.  We saw parrots and pelicans and all kinds of colorful birds.  Only a few were caged while the rest could fly around you.

From there we went to an area where there were tigers that you could get your photo taken with.  Each of us got our photo taken with a baby white tiger and I took a photo with a Bengal Tiger that was incredibly large. The whole time I was sitting there I kept thinking; “Please don’t eat me!”  It was incredible sitting right next to this powerful animal with my hand resting on it’s back.  The experience was well worth the RP15K per person.

We ate lunch at the food court which was fair to good.  Of course it was a bit more expensive than normal but that was to be expected.  After lunch we got our photos taken with the elephants.

It was quite the experience actually touching an elephant.  The skin on it’s trunk was very rough but also squishy.  It was quite interesting.  They were very playful elephants as I’m sure they have been trained to interact with tourists.

The rest of the day we spent going on a few rides such as bumper cars, a haunted house and a roller coaster and then touring the rest of the animal exhibits.  We saw monkeys, orangutans, chimpanzees, komodo dragons, penguins and a host of other animals.

At the very end of the day we watched a dolphin show where dolphins jumped out of the water, threw balls into the crowd and spun rings on their noses.

It was a full day and we didn’t actually get to see the entire park.  There was still a bunch left.  Just a good reason to return at some point.

If you are in Indonesia and get a chance to visit Taman Safari Cisarua Bogor take it.  You will really enjoy the day.