Zoo or Safari Park?

[OskarGC]

I will be visiting Bali in late November and am wondering whether I should visit the zoo or safari park? Coming from Australia I haven't seen a whole lot of species and have only visit the Mandai parks outside of my home country. What are the main highlights and pros or cons from each zoo?

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I will be visiting Bali in late November and am wondering whether I should visit the zoo or safari park? Coming from Australia I haven't seen a whole lot of species and have only visit the Mandai parks outside of my home country. What are the main highlights and pros or cons from each zoo?

It depends on your imperatives when visiting these zoos. Are you looking for new species you haven't see before? Or do you want to have a new experience in zoos that aren't available in where you live?

For species highlight, this would be my list:

• False gharial
• Silvery gibbon
• Black-tailed prairie dog
• Agile gibbon
• Dusky pademelon
• Sumatran masked palm civet
• Javan slow loris
• Lesser mouse-deer
• East Javan langur
• Arabian striped hyena
• Sunda pangolin
• Ocelot
• Asian golden cat

Bali Safari and Marine Park:

• False gharial
• Javan leopard
• Proboscis monkey
• Malayan porcupine
• Sunda pangolin
• Chacoan mara
• Dusky pademelon
• Channel-billed toucan
• North Sulawesi babirusa
• Jaguar
• Lesser bird-of-paradise
• Himalayan black bear
• Grévy's zebra

In term of price, Bali Zoo cost IDR 126.000/ticket for adult international guests and IDR 90.000/ticket for their kids. Bali Safari is more expensive, the regular ticket costed around IDR 600.000/ticket. For other pros and cons, it honestly depends on your preferences, maybe you can share some of them if you may.

 

[OskarGC]

I don't know much about either zoo but I'm particularly interested in things such as bird aviaries and reptile houses. Do both zoos have these or which would be better to visit in this regard and why?

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I don't know much about either zoo but I'm particularly interested in things such as bird aviaries and reptile houses. Do both zoos have these or which would be better to visit in this regard and why?

Both of these zoos don't really that big of a reptile or bird collection compared to other larger Indonesian zoos. Bali Zoo doesn't have a reptile house, they do have some smaller bird aviaries that I'm not aware of much of their bird collection. Bali Safari meanwhile is quite ahead with this one in regard to bird aviaries, including two large aviaries with wreathed hornbill and several passerines (Including a lesser bird-of-paradise). They also didn't have any reptile house, the closest thing is the Komodo dragon underground viewing with pig-nosed turtles, Asian water monitor, and Sunda pangolin.

If you're looking for birds-of-prey and reptiles in Bali in particular, try visiting Bali Reptile Park and Bali Bird Park. Located just across each other and houses a number of very interesting species that I don't think are kept anywhere else outside of this facilities.

 

[CGSwans]

Go to the Bird Park. Some of the aviaries are unacceptably small, but overall it’s a worthwhile visit, especially for Australians as we don’t have hornbills, birds of paradise and so many others.

My visit to Bali was way back in 2012, but my impression of the tourist trap Bali Zoo was very unfavourable. The place was raking in huge amounts from charging tourists $US25 per adult (no idea what it costs now), but it was clearly not being invested in animal care. I didn’t go to the Safari Park.

 

[snowleopard]

I visited both Bali Zoo and Taman Safari III Bali this August on a big trip that saw me tour almost 60 zoos in 4 Southeast Asian nations. I would recommend both facilities and you can check out the galleries here on ZooChat.

Bali Zoo has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years, more than doubling in size in terms of both land area and animal exhibits. An expansive African zone and an entire upper section of the zoo has been added in the last few years. It's around $23 U.S. for a ticket for a zoo that is 50% brand-new, but naturally still with flaws like all zoos. I see that @Rizz Carlton has already supplied this thread with a list of notable species and I enjoyed my time at Bali Zoo. I was touring zoos with @twilighter and in one day we did Bali Zoo (3 hours), Bali Reptile Park (1.5 hours) and Bali Bird Park (2 hours). A most enjoyable zoo day! There's hundreds of photos in the gallery of all 3 of those establishments and you can see a wide range of species if you copy what we did. The Reptile Park and Bird Park are literally right next to each other.

I already uploaded approximately 220 photos from my visit to Taman Safari III Bali and you can scroll through the gallery and see if this zoo appeals to you. This facility is not as fantastic as its peers Bogor and Prigen, but it's still very nice and it takes hours to tour as there's a safari ride and a walk-around area with excellent exhibits for species such as Proboscis Monkey, Javan Leopard, Tiger, Bali Starling, Komodo Dragon and Saltwater Crocodile. Tsavo Lion Restaurant is a terrific place to eat, with views into the Lion habitat (even from the toilet!) and African Savanna.

 

[OskarGC]

I visited both Bali Zoo and Taman Safari III Bali this August on a big trip that saw me tour almost 60 zoos in 4 Southeast Asian nations. I would recommend both facilities and you can check out the galleries here on ZooChat.

Bali Zoo has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years, more than doubling in size in terms of both land area and animal exhibits. An expansive African zone and an entire upper section of the zoo has been added in the last few years. It's around $23 U.S. for a ticket for a zoo that is 50% brand-new, but naturally still with flaws like all zoos. I see that @Rizz Carlton has already supplied this thread with a list of notable species and I enjoyed my time at Bali Zoo. I was touring zoos with @twilighter and in one day we did Bali Zoo (3 hours), Bali Reptile Park (1.5 hours) and Bali Bird Park (2 hours). A most enjoyable zoo day! There's hundreds of photos in the gallery of all 3 of those establishments and you can see a wide range of species if you copy what we did. The Reptile Park and Bird Park are literally right next to each other.

I already uploaded approximately 220 photos from my visit to Taman Safari III Bali and you can scroll through the gallery and see if this zoo appeals to you. This facility is not as fantastic as its peers Bogor and Prigen, but it's still very nice and it takes hours to tour as there's a safari ride and a walk-around area with excellent exhibits for species such as Proboscis Monkey, Javan Leopard, Tiger, Bali Starling, Komodo Dragon and Saltwater Crocodile. Tsavo Lion Restaurant is a terrific place to eat, with views into the Lion habitat (even from the toilet!) and African Savanna.

Do you have to pay separately to visit the bird and reptile park or is it one ticket for both? I may do what you did and visit those three all at once.

 

[snowleopard]

Do you have to pay separately to visit the bird and reptile park or is it one ticket for both? I may do what you did and visit those three all at once.

The two different zoos require separate tickets, but my photo from August 13th shows just how close they are to each other. (On a side note, the Reptile Park has 22 monitor species and that must be close to the most in the world)

 

[OskarGC]

I have decided on visiting the zoo and bird park on the same day.
How long do they each roughly take to see?

 

[snowleopard]

I have decided on visiting the zoo and bird park on the same day.
How long do they each roughly take to see?

I replied earlier on this thread (October 14th) and I listed the times I spent at each zoo in August. It's a most enjoyable day and I highly recommend all 3 facilities if you can find the time.