Best and worst zoo/aquaria in Indonesia

[Rizz Carlton]

Hi! As we all know, there are a number of facilities in Indonesia that does deserves their praises in term of exhibits, collection, and their conservational value. Though, even rather famously, Indonesian zoos are often labelled as some of the worst zoos in the world, especially Surabaya Zoo and Bandung Zoo (The former had been nicknamed "Zoo of Death").

This thread will be focused on my personal list and opinion of the top 10 best and worst zoos and aquarias based on my personal view and information that I've gotten through ZooChat, YouTube, and other platforms. Feel free to tell your own list and opinions as well, discussion and even debate are rather necessary.

Please consider that I haven't visited every single zoos and aquarias in Indonesia or have any good knowledge of all of them.

We'll be using @Salt Merchant's review model, with additional points as well.

Top 10 worst zoos and aquarias

10. Lembang Park and Zoo
Considered bad not only in management style and low conservational value, but bad implication for Indonesian human-wildlife interactions.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 6/10
• Species variety: 8/10
• Conservational value: 4/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 8/10

Positive:

• The bird-of-paradise and bowerbird corner, hornbill and birds-of-prey aviaries, and toco toucan aviary are one of the better part of the zoo, species and exhibit-wise.
• Decently sized, though outdated design-wise, common hippo exhibit.
• Rather large enclosure for the white lions.

Negative:

• Due to popularity among general visitors and even celebrities, Lembang can be considered as a bad influence on not only how people view wildlife, but also how future zoos modelled their management and curating style, which would further damaged Indonesia's zoo value.
• Strong ties with local influencers and well-known exotic pet keepers/suppliers that might contribute to excessive exotic pet craze.
• Heavy appeal towards exotic pet keeping, even sourcing most of their collection from this sector.
• Heavy promotion on interactions with most of their animals (Even allowing the more VIP guests to pet their cheetah).
• Outdated exhibits for the primates, binturong, and others.
• Incoherent mixed parrot walkthrough aviary that served only as a social media and exotic pet-keeping spectacle.
• Native protected species that are kept just for the sake of being a zoo (A trio of Sumatran elephants that doesn't seem to be planned to be bred and an sun bear and an Sumatran orangutan that haven't had a mate to this day).

9. SeaWorld Ancol
The first aquaria in Indonesia, but is the most disappointing especially after the Ancol takeover.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• Phasing over the sea turtle touch pools.
• The iconic main tank and tunnel, though the dim lighting and too many rock decoration make it a bit flawed.
• The addition of giant Pacific octopus and the Jellyfish Sphere.
• The only aquaria in Indonesia to have a large shark-only tank, though as of now only having two species.
• The best preserved deep sea collection in the Mystery of the Deep Sea museum, including an Indonesian coelacanth.

Negative:

• Lack of interesting and noteworthy species and exhibits, wouldn't worth any of your money if you want to see new and rare species.
• Freshwater farm-bred fish being prevalent, including the problematic blood parrot cichlid.
• While probably "unique", the themed tanks (Truck tank, phone booth tank, etc.) essentialy have not much value aside from just being a guest attractions.
• The rather and ugly design of the aquarium's museum.

8. Drive Thru Park
The newest yet the worst Jatim Park facility.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 4/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Bertus the Indian rhinoceros still living in a rather nice exhibit.
• The usage of EV as their main transportation throughout the park.

Negative:

• Like the name says, its a "drive thru" zoo and not a safari park, so most of their animals are confined in a inadequately small exhibits while guests went through the entire park by vehicle.
• Curating and management that are different from Batu Secret Zoo which retained some of Batu's flawed past (Overly colorful exhibits and theme in contrast to the smaller and outdated exhibit, having "unique" exhibits at the cost of their animals welfare).
• The park's aquarium is part of the park's drive thru attraction, making it almost impossible to see most of the species held there as the vehicle kept in moving.
• The park's indoor zoo is among the worst section of the zoo, with outdated and small exhibits as well as "free-roaming" birds and other animals that are either perched or being confined in a small area, which are within just a conventional building rather than an actual exhibit.

7. Samudra Ancol
While trying to rebrand itself as Ancol's zoo, some bad practises are still continued.

• Animal exhibits: 6/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 4/10
• Conservational value: 5/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive

• The Humboldt penguin exhibit is rather large and have controlled temperature, though the light-brown cement flooring put it off.
• A rather nice and large saltwater schooling milkfish tank that is also used as the underwater mermaid show.
• A suprisingly large and somewhat modern sun bear exhibit, though definitely need more foliage.

Negative:

• Small housing pool and tank for their dolphins and everything about the dolphin show.
• A plethora of small aviaries scattered around the park.
• Touch pool for adult hawksbill sea turtles.

6. Semarang Zoo
An example of a bad, local government-adminestered zoo.

• Animal exhibits: 5/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 6/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 3/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Heavily geared towards family entertainment park more than a zoo.
• Very outdated exhibits, Including small aviaries for gibbons and binturong.

5. Cikao Park
A waterpark and mini zoo that is basically the owner's way to capitalize their exotic pet hobby.

• Animal exhibits: 3/10
• Animal welfare: 4/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 4/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 1/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Outdated, small exhibits.
• The addition of an agile gibbon in a small aviary, as well as an lonely baby sun bear in a very dim and barren exhibit.

4. Jogja Exotarium
Another mini zoo that have problematic exhibits.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 0/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Even the farm animals lived in the small paddocks with limited movements.
• Horrible enclosures for the Asian small-clawed otters, civets, Asian water monitor, and macaques.
• All the parrots basically didn't have their own aviaries to rest for most of the day, mostly served for photos.

3. Safari Beach Jateng
The worst Taman Safari Indonesia park.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• Several rather nice indoor reptile enclosures.

Negative:

• Small pools for dolphins.
• Terribly outdated exhibits, you couldn't even tell at first glance that this park is owned by Taman Safari Indonesia.
• Javan leopard, sun bear, and even orangutan being housed in a row of barren and dirty glassed exhibits with almost minimal lighting.
• While had already phasing out their sea turtle touch pool, they were instead moved into a small and dirty saltwater aquarium.

2. Sinka Zoo
A resort-owned zoo in West Kalimantan that have numerous problems.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 4/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 3/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 5/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Terribly outdated exhibits.
• A rather disturbing method of mixing their saltwater collection into a freshwater tank.

1. Medan Zoo
Considered to be the worst zoo in Indonesia as of yet, Medan Zoo have been on the local headline due to their mismanagement that resulted in the almost completely ruined state of the zoo and famously the many death of their tigers, which was often attributed to the incompetence and even outright ignorance of the Medan city government.

• Animal exhibits: 3/10
• Animal welfare: 2/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 4/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 3/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Almost just everything about this zoo.

Top 10 best zoos and aquarias in Indonesia

10. Bali Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• One of Indonesia's modern zoo with some modern exhibits.
• Probably the best savannah exhibit in Indonesia.
• A very interesting deer walkthrough exhibit.

Negative:

• Several old, outdated exhibits are still present and used.
• The Sunda pangolin often being interacted with heavily as well as almost having no cover in their exhibit, risking stress.
• A weird walkthrough aviary with ring-tailed lemurs and other assored animals.
• Elephant ride are still practiced.
• A rather lack of species variety and noteworthiness.

9. Bali Safari & Marine Park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 3/10

Positive:

• A lot of great exhibit design, Taman Safari style.
• A large mixed proboscis monkey exhibit, with the only minus being the lack of foliage.
• A very unique exhibits "combination" with their Javan leopard and false gharial, creating and illusion of a mixed exhibit.
• The safari ride being categorized based on geography (Indonesia, India, and Africa), creating a nice theming.
• An interesting mixed species aviary that include the lesser bird-of-paradise.

Negative:

• Lack of a proper reptile house/exhibit.
• Honestly never a fan of their "Rainforest Trail" aside from their jaguars. The fact that jaguar was the main star, they missed the opportunity to make an "Amazonian Trail" with South American species, a concept that is quite rare in Indonesia.

8. Jakarta Aquarium and Safari

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 9/10
• Species variety: 10/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• Incredible variety of fishes, both popular and rare, in several wonderful tanks.
• A plethora of wonderfully designed tanks and exhibits.
• The best Asian small-clawed otter exhibit in Indonesia.
• The best schooling fish tank with their Indo-Pacific tarpon and Indian threadfish.

Negative:

• The "Safari" in Jakarta Aquarium and Safari is what makes this aquarium incredibly flawed, which resulted in the aquarium having some species that shouldn't even be there as well as some of the aquarium's worst exhibits.
• Changing an already good aquarium concept into a mediocre and unfitting exhibit (The Asian water monitor being replaced by serval, the mangrove beach exhibit being demolished for lemurs).
• A incoherent mix in their assorted freshwater tanks with random mix of aquarium fishes.
• The very interesting deep sea corner which basically gotten almost no promotion by the aquarium, making the area almost completely ignored by guests.
• Not a fan of the addition of the penguins and harbor seal in the small exhibits.

7. Gembira Loka Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• One of the few older facility that actively and quite succesfuly revitalizing itself, even making them one of the very few zoo that managed to went through the COVID-19 lockdown well.
• Well-designed terrariums in the Reptile and Amphibian Zone.
• The best Sumatran tiger exhibit in Indonesia.
• The best bird park section in an Indonesian zoo personally, with actual interesting birds (Not farmed variations) in several nice aviaries and exhibits.
• The only zoo in Indonesia currently that displays the Javan fishing cat in a wonderful exhibit.

Negative:

• Old and outdated exhibits still being used by the zoo.
• A very bizarre mix in the future ring-tailed lemur exhibit, with hooded butcherbird, wreathed hornbill, golden pheasant, mute swan, etc.
• A very uninteresting aquarium that even have farm-bred fishes like GloFish and hybrid parrot cichlids.

6. Bali Reptile Park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive:

• An incredible collection of reptiles, some can only be found captive here, in several wonderful exhibits.
• An almost complete collection of tree monitor.

Negative:

• Several terrariums are personally too barren.
• The smaller assorted terrariums, like described, are quite small. Making it nearly hard to find the interesting species there.

5. Bali Bird Park

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 8/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive:

• An incredible collection of both native and exotic birds.
• The most bird-of-paradise species held in Indonesian facility.

Negative

• A very random addition of Komodo dragon, a remnant to when Bali Bird Park and Bali Reptile Park was still a joint facility.
• Several zones that are based on geography that aren't always accurate.
• Several smaller aviaries still be used.

4. Batu Secret Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• A very huge and varied collection of both native and exotic species.
• Actively breeding most of their noteworthy species, as well as having various breeding project on native species.
• The addition of several new and modern exhibits that can't be found elsewhere in Indonesian zoos.
• The best exhibits for giant otter, snow leopard, clouded leopard, brown bear, and Chinese red panda in Indonesia.
• The best nocturnal house in Indonesia and a very interesting reptile house.
• One of the very few zoo that have an amphibian zone, which include rare native frogs.

Negative:

• Several outdated "exhibit design still being used, a previous concept that shows a "unique and bizarre" exhibit concept at the cost of the animal's needs and modern exhibit design.
• A rather uninteresting aquarium with only few noteworthy species like the electric eel.

3. Taman Safari Bogor

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 9/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• One of the very active eks situ conservation actor in Indonesia, with a very active and succesful breeding projects.
• Several great and natural exhibits being a prevalent concept.
• One of the very few zoos in Indonesia that can be considered modern and somewhat word-class.
• Being located in the middle of montane forest create a wonderful vibe.
• A interesting collection of both native and exotic species.
• The best Komodo dragon, Javan leopard, binturong, proboscis monkey, Humboldt penguin, and common hippopotamus (In the African Panorama with defassa waterbuck and South African ostrich) exhibit in Indonesia.
• The only zoo in Indonesia so far to have a Papua-themed exhibit, albeit flawed.
• The only zoo in Indonesia that are able to get the trust to take care for giant pandas.

Negative:

• The safari area having no geography-based division, making it a very incoherent mix.
• Lack of interesting species in the Bird Aviary, Reptile Tunnel, and Nocturnal House.
• Outdated practises like elephant ride are still used.
• Several outdated exhibits still being used, like the pygmy hippo exhibit in the Baby Zoo and the Japanese macaques.
• Having their dolphins in small pool.

2. Taman Safari Prigen

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 9/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• The safari ride being divided based on geography.
• A very active breeding facility, including the PCBA.
• Various modern and natural exhibits, especially the new Australiana.
• Having just as varied, even more, as the collection in Cisarua.

Negative:

• The addition of serval which took almost all the space in the former cat complex.
• Uninteresting collection in the reptile zone.
• Outdated exhibits for pygmy hippos.

1. Jagat Satwa Nusantara

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 8/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 10/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• A very robust collection of native species in several wonderful exhibits.
• A rather active conservation project.
• A gradual development into a modern facility with better standart.

Negative:

• Not using the other additional public spaces in the Bird Park to have additional aviaries for birds-of-prey and exotic birds.
• Due to this, the addition of exotic birds in the main walkthrough aviaries, especially the Wallace Dome, definitely ruined it a bit for me.
• Farm-bred morphs still be prevalent in Dunia Air Tawar and even the other parks.
• Almost zero upgrade on the Insect Museum.

 

[Fargusno]

Hi! As we all know, there are a number of facilities in Indonesia that does deserves their praises in term of exhibits, collection, and their conservational value. Though, even rather famously, Indonesian zoos are often labelled as some of the worst zoos in the world, especially Surabaya Zoo and Bandung Zoo (The former had been nicknamed "Zoo of Death").

This thread will be focused on my personal list and opinion of the top 10 best and worst zoos and aquarias based on my personal view and information that I've gotten through ZooChat, YouTube, and other platforms. Feel free to tell your own list and opinions as well, discussion and even debate are rather necessary.

Please consider that I haven't visited every single zoos and aquarias in Indonesia or have any good knowledge of all of them.

We'll be using @Salt Merchant's review model, with additional points as well.

Top 10 worst zoos and aquarias

10. Lembang Park and Zoo
Considered bad not only in management style and low conservational value, but bad implication for Indonesian human-wildlife interactions.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 6/10
• Species variety: 8/10
• Conservational value: 4/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 8/10

Positive:

• The bird-of-paradise and bowerbird corner, hornbill and birds-of-prey aviaries, and toco toucan aviary are one of the better part of the zoo, species and exhibit-wise.
• Decently sized, though outdated design-wise, common hippo exhibit.
• Rather large enclosure for the white lions.

Negative:

• Due to popularity among general visitors and even celebrities, Lembang can be considered as a bad influence on not only how people view wildlife, but also how future zoos modelled their management and curating style, which would further damaged Indonesia's zoo value.
• Strong ties with local influencers and well-known exotic pet keepers/suppliers that might contribute to excessive exotic pet craze.
• Heavy appeal towards exotic pet keeping, even sourcing most of their collection from this sector.
• Heavy promotion on interactions with most of their animals (Even allowing the more VIP guests to pet their cheetah).
• Outdated exhibits for the primates, binturong, and others.
• Incoherent mixed parrot walkthrough aviary that served only as a social media and exotic pet-keeping spectacle.
• Native protected species that are kept just for the sake of being a zoo (A trio of Sumatran elephants that doesn't seem to be planned to be bred and an sun bear and an Sumatran orangutan that haven't had a mate to this day).

9. SeaWorld Ancol
The first aquaria in Indonesia, but is the most disappointing especially after the Ancol takeover.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• Phasing over the sea turtle touch pools.
• The iconic main tank and tunnel, though the dim lighting and too many rock decoration make it a bit flawed.
• The addition of giant Pacific octopus and the Jellyfish Sphere.
• The only aquaria in Indonesia to have a large shark-only tank, though as of now only having two species.
• The best preserved deep sea collection in the Mystery of the Deep Sea museum, including an Indonesian coelacanth.

Negative:

• Lack of interesting and noteworthy species and exhibits, wouldn't worth any of your money if you want to see new and rare species.
• Freshwater farm-bred fish being prevalent, including the problematic blood parrot cichlid.
• While probably "unique", the themed tanks (Truck tank, phone booth tank, etc.) essentialy have not much value aside from just being a guest attractions.
• The rather and ugly design of the aquarium's museum.

8. Drive Thru Park
The newest yet the worst Jatim Park facility.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 4/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Bertus the Indian rhinoceros still living in a rather nice exhibit.
• The usage of EV as their main transportation throughout the park.

Negative:

• Like the name says, its a "drive thru" zoo and not a safari park, so most of their animals are confined in a inadequately small exhibits while guests went through the entire park by vehicle.
• Curating and management that are different from Batu Secret Zoo which retained some of Batu's flawed past (Overly colorful exhibits and theme in contrast to the smaller and outdated exhibit, having "unique" exhibits at the cost of their animals welfare).
• The park's aquarium is part of the park's drive thru attraction, making it almost impossible to see most of the species held there as the vehicle kept in moving.
• The park's indoor zoo is among the worst section of the zoo, with outdated and small exhibits as well as "free-roaming" birds and other animals that are either perched or being confined in a small area, which are within just a conventional building rather than an actual exhibit.

7. Samudra Ancol
While trying to rebrand itself as Ancol's zoo, some bad practises are still continued.

• Animal exhibits: 6/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 4/10
• Conservational value: 5/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive

• The Humboldt penguin exhibit is rather large and have controlled temperature, though the light-brown cement flooring put it off.
• A rather nice and large saltwater schooling milkfish tank that is also used as the underwater mermaid show.
• A suprisingly large and somewhat modern sun bear exhibit, though definitely need more foliage.

Negative:

• Small housing pool and tank for their dolphins and everything about the dolphin show.
• A plethora of small aviaries scattered around the park.
• Touch pool for adult hawksbill sea turtles.

6. Semarang Zoo
An example of a bad, local government-adminestered zoo.

• Animal exhibits: 5/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 6/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 3/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Heavily geared towards family entertainment park more than a zoo.
• Very outdated exhibits, Including small aviaries for gibbons and binturong.

5. Cikao Park
A waterpark and mini zoo that is basically the owner's way to capitalize their exotic pet hobby.

• Animal exhibits: 3/10
• Animal welfare: 4/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 4/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 1/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Outdated, small exhibits.
• The addition of an agile gibbon in a small aviary, as well as an lonely baby sun bear in a very dim and barren exhibit.

4. Jogja Exotarium
Another mini zoo that have problematic exhibits.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 5/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 0/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Even the farm animals lived in the small paddocks with limited movements.
• Horrible enclosures for the Asian small-clawed otters, civets, Asian water monitor, and macaques.
• All the parrots basically didn't have their own aviaries to rest for most of the day, mostly served for photos.

3. Safari Beach Jateng
The worst Taman Safari Indonesia park.

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• Several rather nice indoor reptile enclosures.

Negative:

• Small pools for dolphins.
• Terribly outdated exhibits, you couldn't even tell at first glance that this park is owned by Taman Safari Indonesia.
• Javan leopard, sun bear, and even orangutan being housed in a row of barren and dirty glassed exhibits with almost minimal lighting.
• While had already phasing out their sea turtle touch pool, they were instead moved into a small and dirty saltwater aquarium.

2. Sinka Zoo
A resort-owned zoo in West Kalimantan that have numerous problems.

• Animal exhibits: 4/10
• Animal welfare: 4/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 3/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 5/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Terribly outdated exhibits.
• A rather disturbing method of mixing their saltwater collection into a freshwater tank.

1. Medan Zoo
Considered to be the worst zoo in Indonesia as of yet, Medan Zoo have been on the local headline due to their mismanagement that resulted in the almost completely ruined state of the zoo and famously the many death of their tigers, which was often attributed to the incompetence and even outright ignorance of the Medan city government.

• Animal exhibits: 3/10
• Animal welfare: 2/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 5/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 4/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 3/10

Positive:

• Personally none so far.

Negative:

• Almost just everything about this zoo.

Top 10 best zoos and aquarias in Indonesia

10. Bali Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 6/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• One of Indonesia's modern zoo with some modern exhibits.
• Probably the best savannah exhibit in Indonesia.
• A very interesting deer walkthrough exhibit.

Negative:

• Several old, outdated exhibits are still present and used.
• The Sunda pangolin often being interacted with heavily as well as almost having no cover in their exhibit, risking stress.
• A weird walkthrough aviary with ring-tailed lemurs and other assored animals.
• Elephant ride are still practiced.
• A rather lack of species variety and noteworthiness.

9. Bali Safari & Marine Park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 3/10

Positive:

• A lot of great exhibit design, Taman Safari style.
• A large mixed proboscis monkey exhibit, with the only minus being the lack of foliage.
• A very unique exhibits "combination" with their Javan leopard and false gharial, creating and illusion of a mixed exhibit.
• The safari ride being categorized based on geography (Indonesia, India, and Africa), creating a nice theming.
• An interesting mixed species aviary that include the lesser bird-of-paradise.

Negative:

• Lack of a proper reptile house/exhibit.
• Honestly never a fan of their "Rainforest Trail" aside from their jaguars. The fact that jaguar was the main star, they missed the opportunity to make an "Amazonian Trail" with South American species, a concept that is quite rare in Indonesia.

8. Jakarta Aquarium and Safari

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 9/10
• Species variety: 10/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• Incredible variety of fishes, both popular and rare, in several wonderful tanks.
• A plethora of wonderfully designed tanks and exhibits.
• The best Asian small-clawed otter exhibit in Indonesia.
• The best schooling fish tank with their Indo-Pacific tarpon and Indian threadfish.

Negative:

• The "Safari" in Jakarta Aquarium and Safari is what makes this aquarium incredibly flawed, which resulted in the aquarium having some species that shouldn't even be there as well as some of the aquarium's worst exhibits.
• Changing an already good aquarium concept into a mediocre and unfitting exhibit (The Asian water monitor being replaced by serval, the mangrove beach exhibit being demolished for lemurs).
• A incoherent mix in their assorted freshwater tanks with random mix of aquarium fishes.
• The very interesting deep sea corner which basically gotten almost no promotion by the aquarium, making the area almost completely ignored by guests.
• Not a fan of the addition of the penguins and harbor seal in the small exhibits.

7. Gembira Loka Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 6/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positive:

• One of the few older facility that actively and quite succesfuly revitalizing itself, even making them one of the very few zoo that managed to went through the COVID-19 lockdown well.
• Well-designed terrariums in the Reptile and Amphibian Zone.
• The best Sumatran tiger exhibit in Indonesia.
• The best bird park section in an Indonesian zoo personally, with actual interesting birds (Not farmed variations) in several nice aviaries and exhibits.
• The only zoo in Indonesia currently that displays the Javan fishing cat in a wonderful exhibit.

Negative:

• Old and outdated exhibits still being used by the zoo.
• A very bizarre mix in the future ring-tailed lemur exhibit, with hooded butcherbird, wreathed hornbill, golden pheasant, mute swan, etc.
• A very uninteresting aquarium that even have farm-bred fishes like GloFish and hybrid parrot cichlids.

6. Bali Reptile Park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive:

• An incredible collection of reptiles, some can only be found captive here, in several wonderful exhibits.
• An almost complete collection of tree monitor.

Negative:

• Several terrariums are personally too barren.
• The smaller assorted terrariums, like described, are quite small. Making it nearly hard to find the interesting species there.

5. Bali Bird Park

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 8/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 2/10

Positive:

• An incredible collection of both native and exotic birds.
• The most bird-of-paradise species held in Indonesian facility.

Negative

• A very random addition of Komodo dragon, a remnant to when Bali Bird Park and Bali Reptile Park was still a joint facility.
• Several zones that are based on geography that aren't always accurate.
• Several smaller aviaries still be used.

4. Batu Secret Zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• A very huge and varied collection of both native and exotic species.
• Actively breeding most of their noteworthy species, as well as having various breeding project on native species.
• The addition of several new and modern exhibits that can't be found elsewhere in Indonesian zoos.
• The best exhibits for giant otter, snow leopard, clouded leopard, brown bear, and Chinese red panda in Indonesia.
• The best nocturnal house in Indonesia and a very interesting reptile house.
• One of the very few zoo that have an amphibian zone, which include rare native frogs.

Negative:

• Several outdated "exhibit design still being used, a previous concept that shows a "unique and bizarre" exhibit concept at the cost of the animal's needs and modern exhibit design.
• A rather uninteresting aquarium with only few noteworthy species like the electric eel.

3. Taman Safari Bogor

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 9/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 4/10

Positive:

• One of the very active eks situ conservation actor in Indonesia, with a very active and succesful breeding projects.
• Several great and natural exhibits being a prevalent concept.
• One of the very few zoos in Indonesia that can be considered modern and somewhat word-class.
• Being located in the middle of montane forest create a wonderful vibe.
• A interesting collection of both native and exotic species.
• The best Komodo dragon, Javan leopard, binturong, proboscis monkey, Humboldt penguin, and common hippopotamus (In the African Panorama with defassa waterbuck and South African ostrich) exhibit in Indonesia.
• The only zoo in Indonesia so far to have a Papua-themed exhibit, albeit flawed.
• The only zoo in Indonesia that are able to get the trust to take care for giant pandas.

Negative:

• The safari area having no geography-based division, making it a very incoherent mix.
• Lack of interesting species in the Bird Aviary, Reptile Tunnel, and Nocturnal House.
• Outdated practises like elephant ride are still used.
• Several outdated exhibits still being used, like the pygmy hippo exhibit in the Baby Zoo and the Japanese macaques.
• Having their dolphins in small pool.

2. Taman Safari Prigen

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 9/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• The safari ride being divided based on geography.
• A very active breeding facility, including the PCBA.
• Various modern and natural exhibits, especially the new Australiana.
• Having just as varied, even more, as the collection in Cisarua.

Negative:

• The addition of serval which took almost all the space in the former cat complex.
• Uninteresting collection in the reptile zone.
• Outdated exhibits for pygmy hippos.

1. Jagat Satwa Nusantara

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 8/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 10/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 6/10

Positive:

• A very robust collection of native species in several wonderful exhibits.
• A rather active conservation project.
• A gradual development into a modern facility with better standart.

Negative:

• Not using the other additional public spaces in the Bird Park to have additional aviaries for birds-of-prey and exotic birds.
• Due to this, the addition of exotic birds in the main walkthrough aviaries, especially the Wallace Dome, definitely ruined it a bit for me.
• Farm-bred morphs still be prevalent in Dunia Air Tawar and even the other parks.
• Almost zero upgrade on the Insect Museum.

Where would you put BXSea in?

 

[Rizz Carlton]

Where would you put BXSea in?

What I could consider the "middle-ground", not that bad but not great enough to be in my top 10. Personally, it would be in my top 15, with its position barely reaching the top 10 in number 11.

My personal rating would be;

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 6/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 3/10

 

[twilighter]

Thank you for taking the time to rate the Indonesian collections @Rizz Carlton and create a thorough review and criteria. I am sure @snowleopard will be very happy to see that we have been to all of your top 10

I would personally put Taman Safari Bogor on the top, but this is only if we consider PCBA, as a stand alone facility.

 

[Fargusno]

And now, for my own Top Cinco (be warned that I'm more of an aquaria guy so more emphasis on aquaria):

Numero Uno: Batu Secret Zoo (10/10, last visited back in 2014)

• Best zoo in Indonesia I've ever been, not gonna lie. I literally had a shock when I saw some of the zoo's rarer collections back then, like the hyenas and the African monkeys. They even had insects at one point (stag beetles at the reptile house/aquarium/nocturama complex exit). Literally peak zoo in Indonesia and no wonder it kept getting more awesome with animals such as giant otters, red pandas and snow leopards. The only mehh thing is just that it has lots of nutrias.

Numero Dos: BXSea (9/10, last visited back in March this year)

• The fourth aquaria in Jabodetabek, with SWA on the North, JAQS on the West, DAT on the East and BXSea is on the South but (though Bintaro is part of Tangerang). It has the biggest aquarium that Indonesia ever had, and exhibits inspired by SEA Aquarium and Sea Life Bangkok. I like their tunnel tank, Raja Ampat and King of Rivers exhibit, and plugging to Endless Ocean OST while going there makes me feel as if I'm diving. The only bad thing is that they failed to keep hammerhead sharks to the point they changed the logo from the hammerhead shark to the zebra shark.

Numero Tres: Taman Safari Cisarua (8/10, last visited back in 2018)

• The classic since my childhood. I remember visiting there back in 2018 and yes, the animals still amazed me after all these days. While I don't like the current iteration of TSI with the "modernization" of the Rainforest plaza area (it was more immersive at is), I like TSI's animal collection. It's not as well, "impressive" and "rare" as BSZ except for the giant pandas, but the exhibit presentations are pretty good, though some are dated. I just hope they'll revitalize the reptile and nocturama section with rarer animals someday.

Numero Quattro: SeaWorld Ancol (8/10, last visited back in 2019)

• The OG aquaria, I even was part of SeaWorld's Klub Si Woli back in 2011-2014. SWA has many ups and downs of its own, Well they finally brought back some of the animals from their olden days, like the GPO and the zebra shark, improved on some of the exhibits and more per other people's videos, but yeah as Rizz Carlton said, there are still some problems of its own. The truck aquarium space could've been used for mini exhibts exhibiting native freshwater fishes, and the former milkfish exhibit in the wetland area looked empty.

Numero Cinco: Jakarta Aquarium and Safari (8/10, last visited back in 2023)

• The one I've been waiting for back in 2016. Same as SWA, it had some of its ups and downs. Its prime days is when they had the water monitor in the current serval exhibit, when they had their own GPO and giant isopod, managed to house bigfin reef squids and chambered nautilus. Nowadays it's just the husk of its former reign, with the arrival of the mammals in the park. Well I don't mind the binturongs, but the serval exhibit wasn't even built for a serval and the seal exhibit is too small for it.

Honorable Mentions: Lembang Park & Zoo, Dunia Air Tawar, Bali Zoo and Bandung Zoo (post-TSI acquisition)

 

[Fargusno]

While I don't have a list for the worst zoos in Indonesia, but Medan Zoo takes the cake after all of the disasters that happened there. Surabaya Zoo is improving, but yeah there are still lots of outdated parts to revitalize.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

And now, for my own Top Cinco (be warned that I'm more of an aquaria guy so more emphasis on aquaria):

Numero Uno: Batu Secret Zoo (10/10, last visited back in 2014)

• Best zoo in Indonesia I've ever been, not gonna lie. I literally had a shock when I saw some of the zoo's rarer collections back then, like the hyenas and the African monkeys. They even had insects at one point (stag beetles at the reptile house/aquarium/nocturama complex exit). Literally peak zoo in Indonesia and no wonder it kept getting more awesome with animals such as giant otters, red pandas and snow leopards. The only mehh thing is just that it has lots of nutrias.

Numero Dos: BXSea (9/10, last visited back in March this year)

• The fourth aquaria in Jabodetabek, with SWA on the North, JAQS on the West, DAT on the East and BXSea is on the South but (though Bintaro is part of Tangerang). It has the biggest aquarium that Indonesia ever had, and exhibits inspired by SEA Aquarium and Sea Life Bangkok. I like their tunnel tank, Raja Ampat and King of Rivers exhibit, and plugging to Endless Ocean OST while going there makes me feel as if I'm diving. The only bad thing is that they failed to keep hammerhead sharks to the point they changed the logo from the hammerhead shark to the zebra shark.

Numero Tres: Taman Safari Cisarua (8/10, last visited back in 2018)

• The classic since my childhood. I remember visiting there back in 2018 and yes, the animals still amazed me after all these days. While I don't like the current iteration of TSI with the "modernization" of the Rainforest plaza area (it was more immersive at is), I like TSI's animal collection. It's not as well, "impressive" and "rare" as BSZ except for the giant pandas, but the exhibit presentations are pretty good, though some are dated. I just hope they'll revitalize the reptile and nocturama section with rarer animals someday.

Numero Quattro: SeaWorld Ancol (8/10, last visited back in 2019)

• The OG aquaria, I even was part of SeaWorld's Klub Si Woli back in 2011-2014. SWA has many ups and downs of its own, Well they finally brought back some of the animals from their olden days, like the GPO and the zebra shark, improved on some of the exhibits and more per other people's videos, but yeah as Rizz Carlton said, there are still some problems of its own. The truck aquarium space could've been used for mini exhibts exhibiting native freshwater fishes, and the former milkfish exhibit in the wetland area looked empty.

Numero Cinco: Jakarta Aquarium and Safari (8/10, last visited back in 2023)

• The one I've been waiting for back in 2016. Same as SWA, it had some of its ups and downs. Its prime days is when they had the water monitor in the current serval exhibit, when they had their own GPO and giant isopod, managed to house bigfin reef squids and chambered nautilus. Nowadays it's just the husk of its former reign, with the arrival of the mammals in the park. Well I don't mind the binturongs, but the serval exhibit wasn't even built for a serval and the seal exhibit is too small for it.

Honorable Mentions: Lembang Park & Zoo, Dunia Air Tawar, Bali Zoo and Bandung Zoo (post-TSI acquisition)

I feel like my biggest pet peeves with Indonesian aquarias and aquarium in zoos as well is that these aquaria, while mostly have done a good job with curating their saltwater collection, almost always fumbled their freshwater one. It's very often you see a very different group of fishes from very different biome or geographic-location, size, and even maintenance into one crowded tank, not to mention the addition of farm-bred morphs or mutation as well. It just like there's no specific theming to these tanks that make it interesting and instead taking notes from the local private fish hobbyist instead.

This is something that I found to be a pattern in Indonesian aquaria, except for of course Jagat Satwa Nusantara that focused in freshwater collection and had done a excellent job in curating them, which is why I'm only comfortable enough to put Jakarta Aquarium into my top 10 mostly just for their saltwater collection and some of their better exhibits like the otter's.

 

[Emanuel Theodorus]

I personally enjoyed Batu Secret Zoo a lot more than Prigen tbh. Species variety of Batu is an absolute joy, plus most of the walking around the zoo is really enjoyable.

I wish I can visit TSI Bogor again. I wondered how it looked like since I visited them at least ten years ago.

 

[Fargusno]

I feel like my biggest pet peeves with Indonesian aquarias and aquarium in zoos as well is that these aquaria, while mostly have done a good job with curating their saltwater collection, almost always fumbled their freshwater one. It's very often you see a very different group of fishes from very different biome or geographic-location, size, and even maintenance into one crowded tank, not to mention the addition of farm-bred morphs or mutation as well. It just like there's no specific theming to these tanks that make it interesting and instead taking notes from the local private fish hobbyist instead.

This is something that I found to be a pattern in Indonesian aquaria, except for of course Jagat Satwa Nusantara that focused in freshwater collection and had done a excellent job in curating them, which is why I'm only comfortable enough to put Jakarta Aquarium into my top 10 mostly just for their saltwater collection and some of their better exhibits like the otter's.

The reason why LPZ isn't in the top 5 because it's because of its lack of conservation, too much influencer pleasing and too many domestic animals. Even their "Kampung Satwa" section has too much farm/domestic animals like merino sheeps, donkeys, alpacas and turkeys. I can tolerate the watusis because TSI has them too, but TSI's safari areas doesn't have farm animals, except TSI Prigen has turkeys in their Americas section of their safari area. Honestly, LPZ could've replaced the turkeys with guineafowls but too lazy to do so. LPZ also pointlessly charge people to go to the big bird aviary, whereas other zoos like Bandung Zoo makes their walkthrough aviary free.

However, LPZ's redeeming factors are:

• Best waterfowl collection I ever seen. They managed to exhibit some seldomly-seen waterfowls such as the hooded merganser and the Orinoco goose. Their new waterfowl exhibit is much better than the dinky "Kampung Bebek" waterfowl aviary which has been dismantled and repurposed for a mixed exhibit for mute swan, black swan, Australian pelican and bar-headed goose. Honestly, this could've made a good exhibit for Batu's surplus nutrias which can be sent to Lembang.
  
• Not only that, LPZ has lots of rare birds like the flame bowerbird, the hoopoe, the grey peacock-pheasant and the turacos. Their aviary design are pretty modern and well-designed. Honestly, the turacos should be exhibited in a separate aviary instead of with the parrots in the big bird aviary.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I personally enjoyed Batu Secret Zoo a lot more than Prigen tbh. Species variety of Batu is an absolute joy, plus most of the walking around the zoo is really enjoyable.

I wish I can visit TSI Bogor again. I wondered how it looked like since I visited them at least ten years ago.

Atleast when I visited last July this year, there's some decrease in term of species in display (Notably Sulawesi dwarf cuscus). But, its still enjoyable for me mostly since I love the cool montane forest setting as well as some species that can't be found in other Indonesian facilities. If you like giant and red pandas, as well as some other species and exhibit you may like (They still have the best common hippo exhibit called African Panorama), it definitely worth the cost.

I consider conservational value and exhibits design when ranking these facilities, which is why Prigen is a bit higher than Batu, especially since Prigen have PCBA. It's probably just a bias of mine since I really enjoy native Indonesian species as opposed to dozens of exotic species, even if Prigen have a pair of wombats.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

However, LPZ's redeeming factors are:

• Best waterfowl collection I ever seen. They managed to exhibit some seldomly-seen waterfowls such as the hooded merganser and the Orinoco goose. Their new waterfowl exhibit is much better than the dinky "Kampung Bebek" waterfowl aviary which has been dismantled and repurposed for a mixed exhibit for mute swan, black swan, Australian pelican and bar-headed goose. Honestly, this could've made a good exhibit for Batu's surplus nutrias which can be sent to Lembang.
  
• Not only that, LPZ has lots of rare birds like the flame bowerbird, the hoopoe, the grey peacock-pheasant and the turacos. Their aviary design are pretty modern and well-designed. Honestly, the turacos should be exhibited in a separate aviary instead of with the parrots in the big bird aviary.

I recommend you visiting Eco Green Park in Batu one day. They almost have the same waterfowl collection with the addition of Canadian goose, Andean goose, magellan goose, whooper swan, and others in Batu that couldn't be found anywhere in Indonesia.

In term of zoos, maybe yes especially with the addition of the flame bowerbird, magnificent riflebird, and Samar rufous hornbill, probably almost beaten by Gembira Loka and Prigen. It's just my problem is that these rare birds are mostly used for display, which honestly is rather pointless for them.

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks @Rizz Carlton for coming up with your detailed list of the best and worst zoological facilities in Indonesia. I was with @twilighter in August and we spent 10 days traveling through Indonesia (2 days on Bali and 8 days on Java) and I'm happy to report that we visited all 10 of the best Indonesian zoos. I would have Bogor as #1 and Prigen as #2, a couple of zoos that can be compared to any in the world. I've also visited 3 of the worst zoos and I will eventually write all about them on a future travel thread.

 

[Mossman Joe]

Making this list has made me realise I haven't really been to many zoos, actually. As such, here are my top 3 zoos for Indonesia.

(3) Jagat Satwa TMII (Have not visited the Bird Park)
Animal exhibits: 8/10
Animal welfare: 7/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 9/10
Conservational value: 10/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positives:
- The most robust collection of native species in Indonesia and knows to be proud of that fact
- Visually appealing terrariums in Museum Komodo, the Papuan Biodome in particular I can stay and observe for hours

Negatives:
- Though aesthetically pleasing, some of the vivariums in Museum Komodo are not appropriate for the species, being either too small, too open and some not having enough water
- Dunia Air Tawar aesthetically is far behind the bird park and museum komodo. Aside from the entrance area, it looks quite old


(2) Taman Safari Prigen
Animal exhibits: 7/10
Animal welfare: 8/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 7/10
Conservational value: 10/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 8/10

Positives:
- PCBA exists and contributes to some of Prigen's most interesting/unique species on display such as the Raffray's Bandicoots, Small-toothed Palm Civets, Tenggara Hill Myna and others
- Novel guest experiences such as the python walkthrough exhibit, penguin photo and feeding
- Reptile area stocked with often overlooked native reptiles
- The entire Australiana section is modern and appealing, except for the crate terrariums found inside of the nocturnal cave

Negatives:
- The dolphin show tank being too small, something you'd find on old travelling circuses (anyone remember those?)
- Strange dissonance of seeing Lions and Camels in a heavily forested area
- Phasing out of interesting species such as the Clouded Leopard, which used its space much better than the Hyenas
- Lack of information on conservation successes, something all Indonesian zoos suffer from
- If I hear that theme song again I might just go insane


(1) Batu Secret Zoo & Eco Green Park
Animal exhibits: 8/10
Animal welfare: 9/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 10/10
Conservational value: 8/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positives:
- Extensive collection with a lot of species not found anywhere else in Indonesia, standouts include New World Primates, the Sumatran Hog Badger, Giant Otters, Fossa, Snowy Owl, African Crowned Eagle, etc.
- Outstanding Proboscis Monkey exhibit, viewable from 3 separate levels.
- The collection is STILL growing! While other zoos seem stagnant, Batu is regularly adding new animals to the zoo such as the Red Pandas.
- Clear development plan with a lot of exciting future plans including a new Jaguar exhibit with underwater viewing, a new Pygmy Hippo exhibit, Gorillas and returning the Indian Rhino.

Negatives:
- Not many other standout exhibits
- Mismanaged Amphibian area with a lot of missing animals and improper signage.
- The back end of the zoo receiving less polish, making it somewhat forgettable despite housing several cool animals such as the Blesbok, Hyenas, Giraffes and Brown Bears
- Nutrias. Nutrias everywhere.

 

[Fargusno]

Making this list has made me realise I haven't really been to many zoos, actually. As such, here are my top 3 zoos for Indonesia.

(3) Jagat Satwa TMII (Have not visited the Bird Park)
Animal exhibits: 8/10
Animal welfare: 7/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 9/10
Conservational value: 10/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positives:
- The most robust collection of native species in Indonesia and knows to be proud of that fact
- Visually appealing terrariums in Museum Komodo, the Papuan Biodome in particular I can stay and observe for hours

Negatives:
- Though aesthetically pleasing, some of the vivariums in Museum Komodo are not appropriate for the species, being either too small, too open and some not having enough water
- Dunia Air Tawar aesthetically is far behind the bird park and museum komodo. Aside from the entrance area, it looks quite old


(2) Taman Safari Prigen
Animal exhibits: 7/10
Animal welfare: 8/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 7/10
Conservational value: 10/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 8/10

Positives:
- PCBA exists and contributes to some of Prigen's most interesting/unique species on display such as the Raffray's Bandicoots, Small-toothed Palm Civets, Tenggara Hill Myna and others
- Novel guest experiences such as the python walkthrough exhibit, penguin photo and feeding
- Reptile area stocked with often overlooked native reptiles
- The entire Australiana section is modern and appealing, except for the crate terrariums found inside of the nocturnal cave

Negatives:
- The dolphin show tank being too small, something you'd find on old travelling circuses (anyone remember those?)
- Strange dissonance of seeing Lions and Camels in a heavily forested area
- Phasing out of interesting species such as the Clouded Leopard, which used its space much better than the Hyenas
- Lack of information on conservation successes, something all Indonesian zoos suffer from
- If I hear that theme song again I might just go insane


(1) Batu Secret Zoo & Eco Green Park
Animal exhibits: 8/10
Animal welfare: 9/10
Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
Species variety: 10/10
Conservational value: 8/10
Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

Positives:
- Extensive collection with a lot of species not found anywhere else in Indonesia, standouts include New World Primates, the Sumatran Hog Badger, Giant Otters, Fossa, Snowy Owl, African Crowned Eagle, etc.
- Outstanding Proboscis Monkey exhibit, viewable from 3 separate levels.
- The collection is STILL growing! While other zoos seem stagnant, Batu is regularly adding new animals to the zoo such as the Red Pandas.
- Clear development plan with a lot of exciting future plans including a new Jaguar exhibit with underwater viewing, a new Pygmy Hippo exhibit, Gorillas and returning the Indian Rhino.

Negatives:
- Not many other standout exhibits
- Mismanaged Amphibian area with a lot of missing animals and improper signage.
- The back end of the zoo receiving less polish, making it somewhat forgettable despite housing several cool animals such as the Blesbok, Hyenas, Giraffes and Brown Bears
- Nutrias. Nutrias everywhere.

Gorillas?! In BSZ?!
This is going to be interesting because I still remember the gorilla statue in Batu. This time it'll come there for real, hoepfully.

 

[Mossman Joe]

Gorillas?! In BSZ?!
This is going to be interesting because I still remember the gorilla statue in Batu. This time it'll come there for real, hoepfully.

Do note that these seem to be very early plans, the first two points seem to take precedent for now, as it seems they're at a point where they need the completion of the current project to make room for the next one.

 

[kevin moses santosa]

Disclaimer :
This list is based on my personal opinions, which will only cover zoos that I have visited physically and will not cover my reviews based on media coverage of the other Indonesian zoo.

Without further here's my list of the top 5 best zoos

1. Bali Reptile Park

• Animal exhibits: 9/10
• Animal welfare: 8/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 8/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 8/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

positives :
- the best reptile collection in captivity, with a majority of them consisting of native reptiles, some of them can only be found here (as what others in this forum have highlighted)
- incredible list of venomous snake species and monitor lizards
- the ancient temple motives of the enclosures, with many Balinese and Southeast Asian accents, really fits the reptiles, particularly the snakes

Negatives:
- some of the enclosures are too small

2. Bali Bird Park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 8/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 8/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

positives :
- an incredible collection of native and exotic birds
- it has some of the best bird aviaries in Indonesia
- great collection of birds of paradise species in a conservation facility

Negatives:
- the addition of a Komodo dragon in a bird park feels out of place (thankfully, they have brought the komodo back to the reptile park)

3. Bali safari and marine park

• Animal exhibits: 8/10
• Animal welfare: 9/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

positives :
- it has some of the best enclosures out of all the Taman safari parks in Indonesia
notable enclosures such as :
Javan leopard and false Gharial enclosure
komodo dragon enclosure
Bengal tiger enclosure
jaguar enclosure
- great zoo theming with the safari ride
- it really utilized its advantage of being in Bali, which is a tourist hotspot as the face of Taman Safari Indonesia for foreign tourists

negatives :
- for a zoo that was meant to be the "face" of Taman Safari Indonesia for foreign tourists the animal lineup is a bit too "generic"
- the lack of a proper reptile house still disappoint me (especially since I love herpetofauna)

4. Bali zoo

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 9/10
• Species variety: 9/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

positives :
- one of the best modern zoos in Indonesia that is not part of the taman safari group
- the best African savannah species lineup

negatives :
- not a lot of noteworthy species under its collection (except for their ocelot)
- some of the old exhibit is still used

5. Solo safari

• Animal exhibits: 7/10
• Animal welfare: 7/10
• Zoo's setting/layout: 7/10
• Species variety: 7/10
• Conservational value: 7/10
• Domestic morphs and breeds: 7/10

positives :
- it is a major upgrade over what comes before (aka Taman satwa taru jurug)

negatives :
- despite the major upgrade there are a lot of missoppurtunity including :
enclosure design
animal lineup
space management

 

[Jonathan Harry]

In my opinion, there is actually no worst zoo in Indonesia, because this country has not advanced its people's thinking and human resources. But I have a list of the best zoos in Indonesia and hopefully, it will be used as a design standard, so that once in a while there is a zoo exhibit from Indonesia that enters the AZA Exhibit Award.

#5. Surabaya Zoo, Surabaya
Positive Points

• This zoo has a ticket price of IDR 15,000 but visitors can see various artistic animal murals, unique photo spots (thanks to Tri Rismaharini, previous Mayor of Surabaya), and foreign animals such as Japanese macaque, ring-tailed lemur, blackbuck, watusi cattle, blue wildebeest, Barbary sheep, banded mongoose, Hamadryas baboon, Von der Decken's hornbill. This an experience that lower-middle-class visitors can get even better, unlike Ragunan Zoo which has an area of hundreds of hectares (because it functions as a city forest and jogging track) but it is difficult to find animals that have high value and no various murals/photo spots.
• Having Nocturama which is indeed the interior is set dark like night, but for the animal exhibit inside it is given lighting so that visitors can see the animals clearly. An experience that is not obtained at Taman Safari Cisarua or Batu Secret Zoo.

Things to Improve

• If it's for evaluation, I might have explained it on this site (Wishes for Indonesian zoos & aquariums (Fantasy)). But I think that the Proboscis Monkey Islands area (in the two large islands), which also contains many Bawean deer, should be replaced and revitalized into a mini zoo similar to Habitat SCBD in Jakarta (since they have almost the same area size if combined). The proboscis monkeys that are free to roam in the zoo area, can still nest on this island because the mini zoo will later be inhabited by herbivorous animals only (including Bawean deers which has been reduced in population) so as not to injure the proboscis monkeys. Although some parts of the mini zoo are made identical to the Habitat SCBD such as the owl cage and bird presentation.

#4. Gembira Loka Zoo, Yogyakarta
Positive Points

• This zoo continues to move towards positive modernization, thus creating various new animal zones that are more modern and prioritize animal welfare, such as the Reptiles & Amphibians Zone, Scratch Zone, Bird Park, and Primate Zone.

Things to Improve

• I started to think that the Arboretum area, which this time is not allowed to be entered by visitors because it functions as a city forest, should be built into a safari area similar to Kampung Satwa in Lembang Park & Zoo. Later, this area will contain collections that are mostly not yet available in Solo Safari, such as reticulated giraffe, white rhinoceros, Barbary sheep, North Sulawesi babirusa, etc. The total number of species in this safari area is a maximum of 11 to maintain its function as a city forest. Supported by the road to the Arboretum is a steep descent (although not as scary as the bus route to the Panda Palace in Taman Safari Cisarua) so making the Arboretum a safari area is a reasonable decision.

#3. Taman Safari Cisarua & Royal Safari Garden, Bogor
Positive Points

• A safari park that has its own memories for people across generations who live in the Jabodetabek area because it once had a collection of animals that were difficult to find in any other zoo in Indonesia, such as polar bear, snow leopard, Pagai Island macaque, Bornean bay cat, roan antelope, bongo antelope, etc. Now this safari park has an enclosure for giant pandas and Mishmi takin (the only zoo in Southeast Asia that has a takin collection).

Things to Improve

• The many controversies such as visitors' mischief in giving things to the animals, encourage the staff to be more competent in the development of this safari park.
• Many exhibits have the same animal species in different areas/zones (a common thing in any zoo in Indonesia). For example, reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) can be found in the Komodo Island and Reptile House zones. It would be better to try different animal species, or at least subspecies, such as on Komodo Island, it is better to use the Djampea reticulated python subspecies (Malayopython reticulatus jampeanus).

#2. Taman Safari Prigen, Pasuruan
Positive Points

• In addition to being called the largest zoo in Indonesia, this safari park has various recreational features with a large area such as the Baobab Safari Resort, Oriental Circus Indonesia, and Enchanting Forest. Combined with the Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark (PCBA) which functions as a private breeding place containing endemic Indonesian animals that are difficult to find in any zoo in Indonesia, this safari park uses the land provided optimally.

Things to Improve

• Hopefully, if some breeding programs on animals in PCBA are successful, then an exhibit can be made in Enchanting Forest. The goal is so that these animals are not easily seen by visitors and to protect these animals from visitor mischief.
• The Australiana Zone can be said to be very large but only certain Australian animals are in this zone. In fact, an aviary and vivarium can be made containing Australian animals that already exist in several zoos in Indonesia. The aviary will be filled with red-collared lorikeet, Australian ringneck, princess parrot, Barraband's parrot, red-tailed black cockatoo, etc. The vivarium will be filled with Australian arowana, coal grunter, Rendahl's catfish, spiny-tailed monitor, Burton's legless lizard, shingleback skink, etc.

#1. Jatim Park 2 (Batu Secret Zoo + Drive-Thru Park + Eco Green Park)
Positive Points

• Many new species do not exist in any zoo in Indonesia, such as fossa, pygmy marmoset, mantled guereza, Indian rhinoceros, Sumatran hog badger, common brushtail possum, red river hog, rock hyrax, giant river otter, giant anteater, red-collared lorikeet, Egyptian vulture, hooded vulture, white-backed vulture, Rio Azuela glass frog, ribbon eel, etc. This is precisely what led Batu Secret Zoo to enter Asia's top 10 best zoos at that time.
  
• The layout of the zoo is also neatly arranged, so that visitors can see various animals from just one pathway and not branched. Even season tickets are provided so that visitors can visit 3 zoos in one area of Jatim Park 2.
  
• Each information panel about the animals is also informative and has a graphic design quality that attracts visitors. For example, for the Lemur Kingdom, an information panel is made in the form of a large book containing the lemur species there. Besides that, there are also many interactive information panels for visitors, such as guessing the type of animal from the eye image.

Things to Improve

• It would be better if there were certain species in Batu Secret Zoo then there is no need to have them in Drive-Thru Park or Eco Green Park. For example, De Brazza's monkey and red-tailed monkey have another enclosure in Drive-Thru Park, even though they are already in Batu Secret Zoo. So it would be better if the ones in Drive-Thru Park were replaced with primates that are not yet in Batu Secret Zoo such as Heck's macaque and Tonkean macaque. The same thing also applies to the flightless birds' enclosure at Drive-Thru Park, which should be replaced with several types of storks or cranes that are not in Eco Green Park. This is also intended to bring back the animals that were once in Batu Secret Zoo so that they can be placed in the Drive-Thru Park, such as Eurasian lynx, cougar, North Sulawesi babirusa, lowland anoa, and cheetah.
  
• For the indoor zoo in Drive-Thru Park, the interior needs to be reviewed, because it is similar to Nifrel Aquazoo in Osaka, but of course, this cannot be applied in Jatim Park 2. So the solution is to reduce the collection in the indoor zoo or make the interior with an "indoor jungle" concept so that it resembles the natural habitat of the animals inside.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

In my opinion, there is actually no worst zoo in Indonesia, because this country has not advanced its people's thinking and human resources

This is literally what makes Indonesian zoos & aquarias bad. The mindset of general guests generally prefer the more entertainment factor rather than the value of the species themself, let alone conservation (Which had impacted the management of these facilities). I feel like this is something that should be given awareness off, rather than justifying it due to social constructed factors.

I started to think that the Arboretum area, which this time is not allowed to be entered by visitors because it functions as a city forest, should be built into a safari area similar to Kampung Satwa in Lembang Park & Zoo. Later, this area will contain collections that are mostly not yet available in Solo Safari, such as reticulated giraffe, white rhinoceros, Barbary sheep, North Sulawesi babirusa, etc. The total number of species in this safari area is a maximum of 11 to maintain its function as a city forest. Supported by the road to the Arboretum is a steep descent (although not as scary as the bus route to the Panda Palace in Taman Safari Cisarua) so making the Arboretum a safari area is a reasonable decision.

Do you aware on the exact size of the whole Arboretum area?

A safari park that has its own memories for people across generations who live in the Jabodetabek area because it once had a collection of animals that were difficult to find in any other zoo in Indonesia, such as polar bear, snow leopard, Pagai Island macaque, Bornean bay cat, roan antelope, bongo antelope, etc. Now this safari park has an enclosure for giant pandas and Mishmi takin (the only zoo in Southeast Asia that has a takin collection).

I feel like this being the first safari park in Indonesia and being built rather early in 1980 (Also due to proximity with Jakarta as mentioned), definitely are what makes it very popular and had cultural impact. Aside from the giant pandas, polar bear, and maybe also snow leopard, these animals aren't really that popular or barely well-known for ordinary guests to visit alone.

Worth noting that Batu Secret Zoo have a pair of golden takin off-display, arriving from the Czech Republic in 2021. Though, this still made Indonesia the only SEA country to held this animals in captivity.

 

[Fargusno]

I personally enjoyed Batu Secret Zoo a lot more than Prigen tbh. Species variety of Batu is an absolute joy, plus most of the walking around the zoo is really enjoyable.

I wish I can visit TSI Bogor again. I wondered how it looked like since I visited them at least ten years ago.

Me too, but I feel that some of the "modernization" that happened there should never happened, like what happened to the elephant plaza. I prefer the old one because it was more "down to earth" and "immersive" with its jungle theming. The old Rainforest Restaurant felt better than the new one, especially wth exhibits for turtles (red-eared and amboina box turtles) and cotton-top tamarins, as well as parrots on certain times for the patrons to interact and take pictures with.


The new Rainforest Restaurant on the other side, looked too "generic". The atmosphere felt like as if you were in a school cafeteria or a mall food court, not in a zoo restaurant. It also got rid of the animal mini-exhibits there that made the restaurant felt like in a rainforest. I don't like how "modern" the new elephant plaza right now.

 

[Mossman Joe]

Having Nocturama which is indeed the interior is set dark like night, but for the animal exhibit inside it is given lighting so that visitors can see the animals clearly. An experience that is not obtained at Taman Safari Cisarua or Batu Secret Zoo.

I'd have to disagree here, though note that I've only been to BSZ, The darkness does allow the animals to be more comfortable, while it seems the Surabaya Nocturama combines bright lighting and a lack of hiding spaces to make their animals generally more active.