Snowleopard's 2024 Road Trip: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia

[Rizz Carlton]

The amount of Saltwater Crocodile exhibits that Konstantin and I saw in Southeast Asian zoos must have been a staggering number, and here we saw yet another bunch of outdoor enclosures for big 'salties'. Crocs are arguably more popular than hippos in SEA!

It's attributed to how widespread there are in both captivity and the also in the wild in Indonesia. Here there are dozens of crocodiles farms/facilities across the country that are used for multiple purposes, either to held rescued crocodiles or to be skinned for the fashion industry (Yikes!). There's a lot of cases of crocodiles entering urban territories, especially during floods, attributing to how bloated some of the population of these farms. It's probably where a lot of Indonesian zoos get their salties, but older zoos like Ragunan apparently have crocodiles that might be over half a century old.

Aside from that, a lot of zoos get their salties from confiscation or wild-caught, in the pretense of "rescues", which most often than not never released back into the wild due to "safety concern". For example, Taman Safari Bogor have an saltie named Kojek, who used to be a very obese croc and was kept by a family for years. It once had it own exhibit in the Crocodile Park (The one near the Komodo Dragon Island and Bird of Prey show stage), but Kojek's distinguishing features (I.e large belly) faded away and now becomes pretty much indistinguisable from other crocs.

It was a tight competition for a while, but Sun Bears fell to second place with only FIFTEEN exhibits. Insanity....and again with basically every enclosure having a single Sun Bear.

Some of the Sun Bear exhibits have a bright green backdrop and remind me of photos of Madrid Zoo with cement in all directions.

There should be 14 sun bear exhibits, the 15th exhibit hosted an Sri Lankan sloth bear. It's exhibit was near a toilet in one of the sun bears complex, located in first from the left part of the complex. The exhibit was signed as 'sun bears' for some reason, I wonder why, are they trying to hide that they once had sloth bears? Or they might be aging (And potentialy, dying)?

Short story, there were two sloth bears, alongside two Sri Lankan leopards, that were imported from the Sri Lankan National Zoo or the Dehiwala Zoo in 2003, in exchange for orangutans from Ragunan. The bears used to live in what is now the American black bear exhibit (They used to be in one of the exhibits in the sun bear complex). As of 2025, it appears there's only one sloth bear on-display and age might slowly came up to it sadly.

Though, honestly if that's the case in why they treat the sloth bear that way, it's either really depressing or respectful depending on your views, I guess I'm in the middle.

The single sloth bear is held in an exhibit titled by @snowleopard as exhibit #2. The bear definitely shows stereotypical stress behavior, with a lot of pacing back and fort.


The single sloth bear, as of February 2025.

And, in truth, very few of the 15 Sun Bear exhibits are anything but mediocre. Why are there so many Tigers and Sun Bears here? Are some ex-pets? Are they bred for other zoos?

It's might be a case of a lot of breedings, something also seen in Taman Safari Bogor for their carnivoras and also Surabaya Zoo in the case of their proboscis monkeys. Though, a lot of zoos often bringing in confiscated animals, most often are sun bears, or rescues.

I think it's the mindset on how a lot of Indonesian zoos view conservation. Apparently, according to @Mossman Joe, "conservation" in these zoos are often just how succesful of them in managing and breeding certain (sub)species so that taxa are maintained at the zoo for as long as they could or want to, essentialy keeping the population of certain taxa that head. There's a reason why "protection" & "preservarion" are often what these zoos advertise about, without doing to many efforts in actual conservation and research or even just making a better living conditions for these animals.

It might be the similar case for the carnivoras of Ragunan.

The lions at the zoo are listed as Masai Lions, which I believe might be unique in Indonesian collections.

Yes, Ragunan is probably the only Indonesian zoo that assigned their lions to a subspecies level. I'm pretty sure most of the lions (Excluding the white lions) are more than likely pure, since there apparently been a lot of imports for lions South Africa and elsewhere on the continent, with Gembira Loka Zoo with five lions as recent as 2024.

A lot of lions in Indonesian zoos are either the South African krugeri (I.e Batu Secret Zoo, Gembira Loka Zoo, and some others) and potentialy nubica (Taman Safari Indonesia parks and others that get their lions from them).

Sri Lankan Leopards and even a Jaguar (see below) can also be seen at the zoo, in rather dire, old-fashioned cages.

They sadly no longer have Sri Lankan leopards anymore in these exhibits. They're instead replaced by Sumatran tigers, which might be more pressing considering the condition of those two exhibits. I have no idea where the leopard (Javan and Sri Lankan) go, I'm aware they have atleast four of them, probably three since I recall that they sent an female leopard to Singapore some years ago.

According to Zootierliste, Ragunan received an jaguar from Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in the 80's. It would be very interesting if this is the same jaguar from all those years ago (Considering how old a lot of the animals are there). It also appears that the jaguar might sadly have vision impairment.

Taman Margasatwa Ragunan on Instagram: "Kegiatan dokter hewan di saat libur satwa, salah satunya adalah hari ini merapihkan kuku satwa Jaguar. Potong kuku satwa apa lagi yaa #ragunanzoo #dkijakarta #tamanhutandki #jaguar"

It's all rather dismal, and reminiscent of the god-awful primate cages I reviewed in part one. This whole area is not accessible to the public, but it's very easy to take photos from the surrounding fence. Rows of gibbon cages, loads of macaques, and apparently a whole bunch of Tarsiers off-show as well. Zero signage anywhere.

It's a harrowing sight indeed, tons of primates that have essentialy prisons as their home, where it would be a gamble wether or not they're sent to the Schmutzer Primate Centre or the exhibits at the main zoos.

They have some other off-display holdings for other groups (I.e tapirs, deers, etc.) that are far better than what the primates have. Their primates collection definitely doesn't handled quite well in term of living conditions.

As for tarsiers, from what I could understand, they're almost exclusively off-display animals. I'm aware that they have the Horsfield's tarsier and likely the only Siau Island tarsiers in captivity as of now.

Remember when I said that Ragunan Zoo takes 8 hours to see and that's pretty much non-stop walking the entire time? It literally is the Berlin Tierpark of Indonesia, with so many repetitive exhibits that even though there's around 60 mammal species, there could be so many more if there was a greater variety of species. All those Tiger, Sun Bear and Orangutan (both Bornean and Sumatran) exhibits take up a lot of space. On top of those, by my count the zoo technically has FIVE Asian Elephant exhibits.

It's sad a zoo that big and prominent, also being THE zoo of Jakarta, have a very outdated layout and infrastructures, with exhibits that essentialy a leftover from the early 20th Century. The fact that Ragunan are often seen as THE Indonesian zoos here as well is either sad or humiliating.

All of those lands, if revitalized and managed profesionaly, could make Ragunan one of the world's finest zoos. But, as the management mentioned, revitalization of Ragunan potentially might cost billions of Rupiah, mixing with the status of Ragunan as a city-managed zoo, would make it very hard to ever achieve the true potential of Ragunan.

It's remarkable to see the Elephant Barns in Southeast Asian zoos, as they are partially open to the elements and rather small everywhere you go. Perhaps the elephants have 24/7 access to their outdoor enclosures at some of the zoos, and the exhibit below is a decent size for the two elephants residing there.

Either that, or being held in small barns or even worse tired up all days. I'm not aware of there's any Indonesian zoos with a large elephant free-roaming area.

 

[twilighter]

Dear @Rizz Carlton, you are lifting this dear to my heart thread on another dimension ! Thank you very much for the interesting and valuable information that you are sharing. Not only me, but all ZooChat is in debt to you. We have been in some very sad zoos like Crocodile farm at Pataya or Lopburi zoo, but I must admit that the place I felt most sad was Ragunan. And I shared this with Scott. This zoo has the potential to be the Pearl of South East Asia, but instead it felt like it is forgotten no mans land. I couldn't comprehend , why you need to replace a pristine tropical environment with a concrete pits...

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 19: Tuesday, August 20th

Time for part three...

Zoo/Aquarium #49: Ragunan Zoo (Ragunan, Indonesia) - Part 3 of 4

The shed-like structure that I will call Bird House #2 looks almost identical to Bird House #1, with both having a dizzying array of aviaries along both sides.

A selection of the species in Bird House #2: Grey-headed Fish Eagle, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Javan Hawk Eagle, Buffy Fish Owl, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Flamingo, Black-crowned Night Heron, Javan Pond Heron, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Wreathed Hornbill, etc.

Along with Taman Safari I Bogor the day before, Konstantin and I saw Grey-headed Fish Eagles again. Just like Kloss's Gibbons, it was a case of having never seen a particular species and then seeing it twice in 24 hours!

Lesser Adjutants are common in Southeast Asian zoos, although this particular aviary is tight on space.

The zoo has yet another epic number of aviaries in what is called the Small Bird Aviary complex. There are lots of passerines, pheasants, parrots and domestic breeds, but I don't have a species list. You could spend days at Ragunan Zoo documenting every square inch of the park, including the multitude of aviaries. How many zoos have TWO Bird Houses and TWO Reptile Houses and 42 exhibits just for Tigers, Sun Bears and Orangutans? Only Ragunan.

Yet more historic aviaries. Bali Mynas, Eastern Hill Mynas and Papuan Red-sided Eclectus Parrots.

On top of the 18 Tiger grottoes and 16 bear exhibits, the zoo also has a few more grotto-type enclosures that hold Binturongs (3 exhibits for that species), Sunda Porcupines (4 exhibits) and the one below had some Capybaras in it. At one point it would have been yet another in the endless line of carnivore exhibits, most likely for yet more Tigers.

Ragunan Zoo doesn't just have loads of big cat and bear exhibits everywhere, but there's also a Small Mammal Complex with plenty of 'lesser' carnivores and assorted other mammals.

Here can be found Sunda Pangolins:

Small-clawed Otters:

There's also Leopard Cats, Raccoons, Common Palm Civets, Masked Palm Civets, Small Indian Civets, Javan Mongooses, Javan Mouse Deer, Prevost's Squirrels, Sunda Porcupines, Large Flying Foxes and Javan Slow Lorises. Some of these species are found in 3 or 4 different exhibits and the animal collection is superb for western zoo nerds. However, the exhibits are all mediocre at best.

Common Palm Civet exhibit:

Ragunan Zoo has Reptile House #2, which looks almost identical to Reptile House #1 in a different area of the park. Both structures are open at the ends.

The species list includes the following: Aldabra Giant Tortoise, African Spurred Tortoise, Asian Forest Tortoise, Timor Snake-necked Turtle, Bornean River Turtle, Amboina Box Turtle, Indian Narrow-headed Softshell Turtle, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Green Iguana, Blue Tongued Skink and Amboina Sailfin Lizard.

There are a few big turtle enclosures, such as the one in this photo, that have a mixture of the following species: Asian Forest Tortoise, Bornean River Turtle, Amboina Box Turtle and Red-eared Slider.

Pig-nosed Turtle exhibit:

This being a Southeast Asian zoo, of course it's only natural to have some outstanding, absolutely mammoth enclosures for Komodo Dragons and Asian Water Monitors. It was amusing to see 3 wild Asian Water Monitors over near the hippo complex and then later on to see captive ones. They are probably wondering what they did wrong to end up in a zoo when their counterparts roam the grounds freely.

There are 3 of these huge exhibits for lizards and to me it looks like an ungulate paddock!

In one part of the zoo, almost hidden away, is an enormous Sitatunga enclosure.

The Giraffe House is very distinctive and a group of Giraffes arrived in 2015 from Taronga Zoo in Australia.

A Capybara exhibit...that used to house Sumatran Rhinos! You can see one of the zoo's FIVE Asian Elephant enclosures in the background.

Ragunan Zoo also has a Children's Zoo (for an extra fee), with some playground type materials for young kids, plus rare species such as Bawean Deer, Sitatunga and Dusky Pademelon,

Dusky Pademelon exhibit:

It's not every day that one sees a Children's Zoo with Bawean Deer!

One never forgets that there is a rainforest in the background, and the jungle roots spreading everywhere are phenomenal to see in person.

Up next: The 4th and final part of my Ragunan Zoo review, where I will focus exclusively on the Schmutzer Primate Centre. In contrast to most of the zoo, which is badly outdated, that particular zone is arguably world-class and has really impressive Gorilla and Orangutan exhibits. It all opened in 2002 and there's at least 17 primate species displayed in that one section of the zoo, which costs an extra fee to enter.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

Greater Flamingo, Black-crowned Night Heron, Javan Pond Heron

This is part of the wetlands mixed species aviary, which also include eastern cattle egret, eastern grey heron, and a couple of lesser flamingos

The area used to have a more varied collections, including a varied species of ducks (Including some species of pygmy gooses).

On top of the 18 Tiger grottoes and 16 bear exhibits, the zoo also has a few more grotto-type enclosures that hold Binturongs (3 exhibits for that species), Sunda Porcupines (4 exhibits) and the one below had some Capybaras in it. At one point it would have been yet another in the endless line of carnivore exhibits, most likely for yet more Tigers.

This complex used to held sun bears, not suprising by the look of it. The bears stayes there for until the mid-2024 I think, since it appears you didn't saw them though they're present there in around February 2024.

There's also Leopard Cats, Raccoons, Common Palm Civets, Masked Palm Civets, Small Indian Civets, Javan Mongooses, Javan Mouse Deer, Prevost's Squirrels, Sunda Porcupines, Large Flying Foxes and Javan Slow Lorises. Some of these species are found in 3 or 4 different exhibits and the animal collection is superb for western zoo nerds. However, the exhibits are all mediocre at best.

The exhibit recently saw the return of the Javan yellow-throated marten, though the Sunda leopard cat and Javan slow loris has been taken off-display in February 2025. The addition of an green iguana during that time is concerning, though probably temporary.

The raccoon has been moved to the old sun bears complex in the center of the zoo, which held the binturong, porcupines, and capybara as you mentioned.

Indian Narrow-headed Softshell Turtle

As it had been mentioned before, these are the Javan narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra chitra javanica). They have a pair, atleast one was given to the zoo by residents and authority in the Ciliwung River in around 2012-13. Attempts to breed them were mentioned, but not confirmed to be succesful.

There are a few big turtle enclosures, such as the one in this photo, that have a mixture of the following species: Asian Forest Tortoise, Bornean River Turtle, Amboina Box Turtle and Red-eared Slider.

That while complex is once the zoo's porcupine complex, though apparently exclusively houses Sunda porcupines.

In 2023 or so, this complex became a capybara complex (Ragunan made multiple capybara exhibits due to the animals popularity on the internet), and since 2024, some exhibits in the complex houses some turtles as mentioned.

This being a Southeast Asian zoo, of course it's only natural to have some outstanding, absolutely mammoth enclosures for Komodo Dragons and Asian Water Monitors. It was amusing to see 3 wild Asian Water Monitors over near the hippo complex and then later on to see captive ones. They are probably wondering what they did wrong to end up in a zoo when their counterparts roam the grounds freely.

There are 3 of these huge exhibits for lizards and to me it looks like an ungulate paddock!

The Asian water monitors are definitely wild caught from the zoo ground. Either to prevent them preying on their smaller animals or simply because they're too interesting to simply let free, or both.

The three exhibits used to be zoo's main Komodo dragon complex (With some smaller exhibit(s) previously at the center of the zoo area). They used to have a number of very large dragons, some later sent to several zoos including the Siantar Zoo (North Sumatra) and Safari Lagoi Bintan (Riau Islands). Either they died out or completely sent elsewhere in around 2019-20. After a short absence, the dragons returned with some smaller Komodo dragons from Taman Safari Bogor in 2023.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 19: Tuesday, August 20th

Time to wrap up this comprehensive review...

Zoo/Aquarium #49: Ragunan Zoo (Ragunan, Indonesia) - Part 4 of 4

I've covered this large, historic zoo except for one section, which required an extra admission fee and is a zoo-within-a-zoo featuring almost nothing except primates. The Schmutzer Primate Centre opened in 2002 and apparently it is 32 acres/14 hectares of space including a substantial off-show area. Ragunan Zoo is so incredibly vast that there's a mini zoo inside that's almost the same acreage as the entirety of London Zoo! Konstantin and I spent TWO HOURS just inside the primate centre.

This is an outdated map (see below), but the Schmutzer Primate Centre is so large that it's sort of amusing that there's even maps posted for this complex. The vast exhibit at the entrance is a 5-acre habitat for Gorillas, with a Bornean Orangutan exhibit at the back that is also close to 5 acres in size. The rest of the centre is packed with a variety of smaller primates.

Primate Pusat Primata Schmutzer species list (17 Species): Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan, Chimpanzee, Siamang, Bornean White-bearded Gibbon, Muller’s Gibbon, Agile Gibbon, Silvery Gibbon, Proboscis Monkey, Silvery Lutung, East Javan Langur, Javan Surili, Mitered Surili, Sulawesi Crested Macaque, Tonkean Macaque, Heck’s Macaque and Tufted Capuchin…and Grizzled Tree Kangaroo and Sunda Porcupine to make it 19 mammal species in total.

There's a spacious plaza (quadruple the size of what is shown in my photo) and the entrance is up a steep flight of stairs. There is the clear sense of stepping into something grand and impressive.

Adjacent to the stairway is a lengthy, and rather odd-looking, exhibit for Bornean White-bearded Gibbons.

@twilighter

After the gibbons (1.1 individuals), there's a vast Gorilla exhibit that's incredible to witness in person. Several Gorillas were sent over from Howletts in England and that zoo helped sponsor the opening of this world-class habitat. Apparently the whole space for the Gorillas is close to 5 acres/2 hectares in size, and visitors walk through the high, rather futuristic walkway and look down at the apes in the jungle. There's plenty of ground-level viewing as well, with Gorillas roaming the dense undergrowth in this massively impressive exhibit. My photo, taken via an iPhone, looks like it was A.I. generated or a shot from a movie set!

Some of those full-sized, huge trees are inside the jaw-dropping Gorilla exhibit. This enclosure is on the level of Apenheul in the Netherlands.

Funnily enough, the immense Gorilla rainforest exhibit also has a side yard that's straight out of Howletts, with cement floors, metal play toys and it's one ugly old cage.

Some of the gibbon exhibits, such as this one for Muller's Gibbons, aren't huge, but Konstantin and I saw some of the most active gibbons we've ever seen. Many of the enclosures have a central fake tree, with a lot of branches everywhere, and with gibbons brachiating in all directions.

Here's another example, this time for Silvery Gibbons. There's a central tree, loads of branches, at least 25 metal rings to swing on, and even various platforms. What these gibbon exhibits lack in terms of actual space is enhanced by the use of the interior of the cages. Active, healthy looking gibbons were everywhere in the primate centre and the enclosures have a lot of height.

Silvery Lutung exhibit:

Between the primate centre and the main zoo, I counted SIX exhibits for East Javan Langurs. That is a species I have seen 3 times in the USA, 5 times in all of Europe, but then 6 times just in Indonesia within a week. So, to have a whopping 6 exhibits at a single zoo for East Javan Langurs is stunning.

Javan Surilis bouncing around in an enclosure with a lot of height and climbing opportunities.

A very narrow passageway has Mitered Surilis on one side and Proboscis Monkeys on the other. Zoo nerd heaven!

This vast, sprawling former primate exhibit held a single Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, one of 6 zoos in Indonesia where we saw the species.

A single, elderly female Chimpanzee can be seen here and we were surprised with her athletic ability as she clambered up to the very top of that huge ladder with great skill.

Not to be outdone by the 5-acre Gorilla complex, there is also an enormous 5-acre Bornean Orangutan exhibit. At one point the zoo had something like 14 Bornean Orangutans here, in various areas, but we only saw maybe a half-dozen. This Orangutan habitat is something else, arguably even more outstanding than the accommodation for the Gorillas. I took numerous photos and labeled them as 'Exhibit View', which added up to 15 different visitor viewing areas. We had a friendly debate for the rest of the day as to which was the better exhibit...orangs or gorillas?

@Maxime

At one point, there is an epically long Orangutan Tunnel that stretches out forever. Each corner that we turned we felt as if we were close to the end, but sure enough there'd be another viewing window and a peek into the jungle. Inside the dark tunnel is the zoo's 4th exhibit for Sunda Porcupines. The green carpet is ripped and torn in many places and needs an upgrade, but seeing a Bornean Orangutan in the trees is like a glimpse into the wild.

Mammal species list (35 species): Asian Elephant, Common Hippo, Pygmy Hippo, Giraffe, Plains Zebra, Sitatunga, Javan Rusa Deer, Malayan Sambar Deer, Bawean Deer, Lesser Mouse-deer, Southern Red Muntjac, Lowland Anoa, Mountain Anoa, Babirusa, Dromedary, Tiger (Bengal, Sumatran), African Lion, Jaguar, Sri Lankan Leopard, Leopard Cat, Sun Bear, American Black Bear, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Raccoon, Masked Palm Civet, Common Palm Civet, Small Indian Civet, Javan Mongoose, Pangolin, Dusky Pademelon, Capybara, Sunda Porcupine, Prevost’s Squirrel and Large Flying Fox.

Primate species list for main zoo (18 species): Bornean Orangutan, Sumatran Orangutan, Siamang, Silvery Gibbon, Agile Gibbon, Muller’s Gibbon, Kloss’s Gibbon, Proboscis Monkey, East Javan Langur, West Javan Langur, Silvery Lutung, Javan Surili, Natuna Island Surili, Heck’s Macaque, Tonkean Macaque, Gorontalo Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque and Javan Slow Loris.

Schmutzer Primate Centre species list (17 Species): Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan, Chimpanzee, Siamang, Bornean White-bearded Gibbon, Muller’s Gibbon, Agile Gibbon, Silvery Gibbon, Proboscis Monkey, Silvery Lutung, East Javan Langur, Javan Surili, Mitered Surili, Sulawesi Crested Macaque, Tonkean Macaque, Heck’s Macaque and Tufted Capuchin…and Grizzled Tree Kangaroo and Sunda Porcupine.

Total primate species at zoo: 24

Summary:

Ragunan Zoo is vast. Taman Safari I Bogor and Taman Safari II Prigen are easily 7 hour zoos, or much longer if you have families spending time in the waterparks and amusement zones, but Ragunan goes a step further. I clocked 24,000 steps just inside this zoo and Konstantin and I walked like crazy men for 8 hours. We were actually quite foolish, if I'm being totally honest, as other than a few drinks and a bag of chips each, we didn't stop to replenish our diminishing energy levels and so by the end of our visit we were truly depleted.

Our excuse for pushing on is that we had no idea just how large Ragunan Zoo was and we wanted to see it all. It's one of the biggest walking zoos to be found anywhere, up there for me with San Diego, Berlin Zoo, Berlin Tierpark and Pairi Daiza as the 5 zoos that require an absolute minimum of 8 hours to properly see everything in one day. Ragunan can be summarized with these crazy, startling facts. The zoo literally has 18 Tiger exhibits, 16 bear exhibits (14 Sun, 1 American Black, 1 Sloth), at least 9 Orangutan exhibits, at least 6 hippo exhibits (3 Common and 3 Pygmy), 6 East Javan Langur exhibits, 5 Asian Elephant exhibits, 5 Siamang exhibits, 5 Silvery Gibbon exhibits, 4 Agile Gibbon exhibits, 4 Sunda Porcupine exhibits and the list goes on. The zoo has TWO Bird Houses and rows of aviaries, TWO Reptile Houses and many outdoor reptile enclosures, and large empty spaces like Berlin Tierpark and so there's a mountain of walking to do. My 600th zoo was an epic experience.

So, what to make of Ragunan Zoo? I'd honestly go back if I ever went to Indonesia again (admittedly highly unlikely) as the Schmutzer Primate Centre is awesome for fans of primates and most of the exhibits there are excellent. The Gorilla and Bornean Orangutan complexes, a combined almost 10 acres, might be the best I've ever seen as the apes are outside in world-class exhibits all year long. (There's no locking them inside during the winter months like at northern zoos) Reptiles do well at Ragunan Zoo, with huge outdoor crocodile pools, lizard enclosures the size of ungulate paddocks, and the two Reptile Houses have spacious terrariums. Birds are okay here, but the rows of aviaries are tight for space and in a couple of examples there's been the joining of aviaries and the knocking down of middle walls to create more room. Hippos also excel at this zoo, with huge lakes, and there's a number of decent exhibits (Giraffes, Sitatunga, some of the Tiger enclosures) scattered here and there. There's the bones of a good zoo.

However, Ragunan Zoo needs some serious investment. The tiny Aquarium is a waste of time, the 3 or 4 blocks of primate prisons are just about the worst thing I've ever seen in a zoo as they are truly horrendous cages, and almost all the bear exhibits are mediocre eyesores. With some significant investment from somewhere like a Taman Safari Indonesia company, Ragunan Zoo could become one of THE great zoos of the world. It's not out of the realm of possibility. But if management is determined to keep all those primate rarities in 55 year-old cages, not to mention the even smaller primate hellholes in the quarantine building, then what hope does the zoo have? I'll follow what happens from afar and I'm quite intrigued as to what the future holds, as since the wonderful Schmutzer Primate Center opened in 2002 it appears that the zoo's progress has stalled. Where are the new exhibits? Where's the desire to modernize? The potential for Ragunan Zoo to be one of the 10 or 20 greatest zoos on the planet is there for all to see, if a company comes in with bright ideas and a truckload of cash for this government-run facility.

Up next: It's sort of astonishing to look back and imagine that after 7 hours at Taman Safari I Bogor the day before, then 8 hours at Ragunan Zoo, with lots of walking in insane temperatures, we took an Uber/Grab to a couple of gloriously chilly, air-conditioned shopping malls to add on TWO small aquariums that are both open late into the evening. It was a joy to hit the malls, grab some dinner and be inside and away from the steaming heat and humidity of Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I've covered this large, historic zoo except for one section, which required an extra admission fee and is a zoo-within-a-zoo featuring almost nothing except primates. The Schmutzer Primate Centre opened in 2002 and apparently it is 32 acres/14 hectares of space including a substantial off-show area. Ragunan Zoo is so incredibly vast that there's a mini zoo inside that's almost the same acreage as the entirety of London Zoo! Konstantin and I spent TWO HOURS just inside the primate centre.

Definitely one of the best section in Indonesian zoos, with the best (and only) gorilla exhibit in Indonesia and the best orangutan exhibit probably elsewhere. The orangutan exhibit and the overall Schmutzer Primate Centre was the idea and curated by the late-Ulrike von Menden, a German by n who became the curator of the orangutan and some other animals for more than 50 years at Ragunan.

Adjacent to the stairway is a lengthy, and rather odd-looking, exhibit for Bornean White-bearded Gibbons.

I think this originally housed the zoo's ring-tailed lemur, including several animals sent in 2010-11 from Sóstó Zoo of Hungary.

There is a similar, but smaller exhibit on the other side of the stairwell, which to this day is always empty.

Funnily enough, the immense Gorilla rainforest exhibit also has a side yard that's straight out of Howletts, with cement floors, metal play toys and it's one ugly old cage.

And this where the gorillas are more often seen by guests, so don't be suprised why visitors often flocked this part of the Primate Centre.

Regarding the gorillas, Ragunan received four male from Howlett, which include Kumbo, Kihi, Komu, and Kidjoum. All four of them used to be kept together in the massive exhibit, but there was apparently a fight that resulted in the death of Kidjoum, so eventually the main exhibit rotated to a single individual.

There were plans to add female gorillas from Japan in the 2010's, but it never come to fruition.

This vast, sprawling former primate exhibit held a single Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, one of 6 zoos in Indonesia where we saw the species.

As of February, it hosted a pair, one young tree-kangaroo and one visibly elderly one.

A single, elderly female Chimpanzee can be seen here and we were surprised with her athletic ability as she clambered up to the very top of that huge ladder with great skill.

I believe the chimpanzee at Ragunan are the western subspecies, pan troglodytes verus. A couple of these chimps were sent from the Zoo Aquarium de Madrid in the 80's.

The elderly female might be one of the zoo's oldest inhabitant.

So, what to make of Ragunan Zoo? I'd honestly go back if I ever went to Indonesia again (admittedly highly unlikely) as the Schmutzer Primate Centre is awesome for fans of primates and most of the exhibits there are excellent. The Gorilla and Bornean Orangutan complexes, a combined almost 10 acres, might be the best I've ever seen as the apes are outside in world-class exhibits all year long. (There's no locking them inside during the winter months like at northern zoos) Reptiles do well at Ragunan Zoo, with huge outdoor crocodile pools, lizard enclosures the size of ungulate paddocks, and the two Reptile Houses have spacious terrariums. Birds are okay here, but the rows of aviaries are tight for space and in a couple of examples there's been the joining of aviaries and the knocking down of middle walls to create more room. Hippos also excel at this zoo, with huge lakes, and there's a number of decent exhibits (Giraffes, Sitatunga, some of the Tiger enclosures) scattered here and there. There's the bones of a good zoo

However, Ragunan Zoo needs some serious investment. The tiny Aquarium is a waste of time, the 3 or 4 blocks of primate prisons are just about the worst thing I've ever seen in a zoo as they are truly horrendous cages, and almost all the bear exhibits are mediocre eyesores. With some significant investment from somewhere like a Taman Safari Indonesia company, Ragunan Zoo could become one of THE great zoos of the world. It's not out of the realm of possibility. But if management is determined to keep all those primate rarities in 55 year-old cages, not to mention the even smaller primate hellholes in the quarantine building, then what hope does the zoo have? I'll follow what happens from afar and I'm quite intrigued as to what the future holds, as since the wonderful Schmutzer Primate Center opened in 2002 it appears that the zoo's progress has stalled. Where are the new exhibits? Where's the desire to modernize? The potential for Ragunan Zoo to be one of the 10 or 20 greatest zoos on the planet is there for all to see, if a company comes in with bright ideas and a truckload of cash for this government-run facility

I said this a lot since this is my belief towards this zoo, it could've been one of Asia's best zoos, with a plentiful collection, modern infrastructures, and up-to-date conservation and research projects. But, money and politic currently became the zoo's main obstacles.

Though financing and other support from Taman Safari Indonesia are not out of the question, but the government currently has done a lot of efforts in managing certain facilities that are currently under them and their apparatus, including Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and especially their animal park under the brand of Jagat Satwa Nusantara, and the 2023 Animalium south of Jakarta. Though, it might be more complicated with Ragunan, since they're managed by the Jakarta city government, and the current national government most likely care very little for zoos, but we can see some upgrades in the future if the local city government is pushed hard enough.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 19: Tuesday, August 20th

After touring one of the largest zoos in the world (Ragunan Zoo), and writing one of my longest reviews, it was time to bang off a couple of small aquariums much later in the day.

Zoo/Aquarium #50: BXSea Aquarium (Jakarta, Indonesia)

This is a brand-new aquarium that had its grand opening in early 2024. It is advertised as having 54 exhibits, 44 of which are aquarium tanks and 10 terrariums as well. The facility is found inside the Bintaro Jaya Xchange Mall 2 and one intriguing aspect of Jakarta's shopping malls is that they are not spread out in terms of size but instead they are high. Konstantin and I would go to one section of the Bintaro mall and see a whole army of escalators taking people up and down to various tall floors. Also, usually the highest floor is all food outlets, like a massive food court with a wide array of restaurants to choose from. Compared to the heat and humidity outside, the malls we visited were at times almost chilly, with air conditioning cranked up as cold as it could get.

The mall has these aviaries that I saw from a distance:

There's a couple of small paddocks for deer at this shopping mall.

Entrance to BXSea Aquarium:

There's a series of galleries, with names like Rocky Hideout, Seahorse Kingdom, Schooling Fish, Tropical Ocean, Exotic Rainforest, a jellyfish area and a kiddie playground. I didn't compile a species list as at aquariums that always seems to be a lost cause. We just walked around and enjoyed the sights.

A stunning, floor-to-ceiling tank:

Schooling Fish exhibit:

Shipwreck area:

Sea Tunnel:

Sea Tunnel:

Jellyfish exhibits:

Rainforest zone with a Leopard statue in a tree:

Tree roots growing over a temple-themed tank:

Easily the worst exhibit in the aquarium. The sign said False Gharial but instead I saw a couple of Sailfin Dragons sitting on a slab of cement.

Yellow Submarine (homage to the Beatles?):

Two-level Coral Reef exhibit:

There is an area designated as a "future African Penguin exhibit".

The only mammals (as of August 2024) are Small-clawed Otters and their exhibit has a neat cylindrical tank outside the main enclosure.

Summary:

BXSea Aquarium is an enjoyable way to spend an hour and we were just happy to be indoors after weeks of strolling around zoos in temperatures that would melt mere mortals into puddles. There's some nice exhibits at this aquarium, such as the big Sea Tunnel walk-through tank, Coral Reef exhibit, shipwreck area and schooling fish tank. On the other hand, I felt that it's an aquarium that will take a year or two to smooth out its rough edges, improve its signage and perhaps add a few new species to keep visitors coming back for repeat visits.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

This is a brand-new aquarium that had its grand opening in early 2024. It is advertised as having 54 exhibits, 44 of which are aquarium tanks and 10 terrariums as well. The facility is found inside the Bintaro Jaya Xchange Mall 2 and one intriguing aspect of Jakarta's shopping malls is that they are not spread out in terms of size but instead they are high. Konstantin and I would go to one section of the Bintaro mall and see a whole army of escalators taking people up and down to various tall floors. Also, usually the highest floor is all food outlets, like a massive food court with a wide array of restaurants to choose from. Compared to the heat and humidity outside, the malls we visited were at times almost chilly, with air conditioning cranked up as cold as it could get.

While the mall is pretty decent and even connected directly to a commuter train station from Jakarta, it's worth noting that BXSea is an attempt by some businessmen to copy the Sea Life Bangkok, a popular aquarium in Thailand. Comparing the two facilities, they look almost similar to each other. Though their attempt to make a direct copy of them has results in minimal results. So, they recently resorted to copy Jakarta Aquarium & Safari with the addition of several mammals

The mall has these aviaries that I saw from a distance:

The aquarium, which also include that aviary and the deer paddock, are part of one management, interestingly. Sometimes the parrots from that aviary are taken into the aquarium for certain presentations.

Easily the worst exhibit in the aquarium. The sign said False Gharial but instead I saw a couple of Sailfin Dragons sitting on a slab of cement.

There's a number of others that I considered bad, especially in the reptile/terrarium areas where some of the exhibits are small or inadequate for the animals, not to mention how recently the newer mammals only have overhead wired pathway.

Two-level Coral Reef exhibit:

This is what I considered the main highlight of the aquarium, an massive coral tank with dozens of rarities. This tank is named and themed around the Raja Ampat Archipelago, located off West Papua.

There is an area designated as a "future African Penguin exhibit".

The plan for adding penguins to the aquarium has apparently been canned, which the exhibit planned to house them are currently closed for view.

No idea what they will be planning for this exhibit, though I presume they will still try to get some penguins later on.

The only mammals (as of August 2024) are Small-clawed Otters and their exhibit has a neat cylindrical tank outside the main enclosure.

As of June 2025, they recently acquired binturong, Prevost's squirrel, and even a couple of ring-tailed lemur. All of them sadly have a limited movements that consist of overhead wired pathway or tunnels that located above or the sideway of the terrarium area. These mammals are also used for presentation/shows.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 19: Tuesday, August 20th

First it was Ragunan Zoo, one of the largest zoos in existence, then it was the brand-new BXSea Aquarium, and we had one more to go on this epic day of 30,000 steps...

Zoo/Aquarium #51: Jakarta AQuarium Safari (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Jakarta AQuarium Safari advertises itself as being 1 hectare/2.5 acres in size, consisting of two floors and 13 zones and having a zoo-like environment with its mammal exhibits. The owners are...you guessed it...Taman Safari Indonesia! The facility is located inside the Neo Soho shopping mall, a center filled with modern, bustling stores and a huge food complex.

The map shows how visitors enter on the left side and encounter a more zoo-like atmosphere, before coming across to the aquatic theme on the right-hand side.

The aquarium entrance is glitzy and colourful and invokes memories of Sea Life establishments.

Small-clawed Otter exhibit (with an underwater tunnel you can crawl through):

Prevost's Squirrel exhibit:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Unfortunately, this is a very common scene in Indonesian zoos. Even in a couple of the safari parks, which are mostly excellent establishments, there are birds of prey tethered to branches inside fake tree trunks. I was able to walk directly up to large birds such as Eurasian Eagle Owls and Crowned Eagles that were tied by their talons and my guess is that this Barn Owl rarely has an opportunity to fly. I'm sure it sits there day after day when the aquarium is open.

Zone 3 is Island of Indonesia and yet Konstantin and I saw a Serval napping at the back of this exhibit.

@Caribbean Flamingo

A small, mock-rock disaster of a Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur enclosure:

@Caribbean Flamingo

This open-topped Banded Archerfish tank has a couple of bullseyes above it:

Meerkat exhibit:

Tufted Capuchin/Binturong exhibit:

Fan-Sea Paradise: Explore Indonesia zone:

The fish tanks are generally much better than the mammal exhibits, with a large Piranha exhibit (although overstocked) and Weedy Sea Dragons being memorable highlights.

A huge fake tree with assorted fish tanks in the background:

"Don't Worry Be Cappy!" is the slogan for the Capybara exhibit, which is literally a slab of cement with a pool on the side.

Outer Reef tank:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Touch Tank:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Awkward viewing into the Humboldt Penguin exhibit:

Ocean Tank with some big rays resting on top of the piers:

A solitary Harbour Seal was there in August 2024, but apparently it's now gone and has been replaced by a South American Fur Seal.

Mammal species list (9 species): Serval, Tufted Capuchin, Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Meerkat, Capybara, Prevost’s Squirrel and Harbour Seal.

Summary:

Jakarta AQuarium Safari is arguably not as good as the brand-new BXSea Aquarium 45 minutes away. Both facilities can be seen in an hour each, and thankfully for Konstantin and I they have late-night hours and for instance Jakarta AQuarium Safari was open until 9:00 p.m. when we were there. The main issue is the poor accommodation for all the mammals, with each species having a disappointingly bland exhibit. The fish tanks were far superior, and there are quite a few popular jellyfish displays, but there's very little in the way of WOW moments at Jakarta AQuarium Safari. I'd be intrigued to know what the visitor numbers are like at the aquariums around the city of Jakarta, as there happens to be a lot of animal attractions competing for similar audiences.

Up next: Konstantin and I toured 4 different zoos in the sprawling city of Jakarta that are all almost on top of one another.

 

[Emanuel Theodorus]

DAY 19: Tuesday, August 20th

First it was Ragunan Zoo, one of the largest zoos in existence, then it was the brand-new BXSea Aquarium, and we had one more to go on this epic day of 30,000 steps...

Zoo/Aquarium #51: Jakarta AQuarium Safari (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Jakarta AQuarium Safari advertises itself as being 1 hectare/2.5 acres in size, consisting of two floors and 13 zones and having a zoo-like environment with its mammal exhibits. The owners are...you guessed it...Taman Safari Indonesia! The facility is located inside the Neo Soho shopping mall, a center filled with modern, bustling stores and a huge food complex.

The map shows how visitors enter on the left side and encounter a more zoo-like atmosphere, before coming across to the aquatic theme on the right-hand side.

The aquarium entrance is glitzy and colourful and invokes memories of Sea Life establishments.

Small-clawed Otter exhibit (with an underwater tunnel you can crawl through):

Prevost's Squirrel exhibit:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Unfortunately, this is a very common scene in Indonesian zoos. Even in a couple of the safari parks, which are mostly excellent establishments, there are birds of prey tethered to branches inside fake tree trunks. I was able to walk directly up to large birds such as Eurasian Eagle Owls and Crowned Eagles that were tied by their talons and my guess is that this Barn Owl rarely has an opportunity to fly. I'm sure it sits there day after day when the aquarium is open.

Zone 3 is Island of Indonesia and yet Konstantin and I saw a Serval napping at the back of this exhibit.

@Caribbean Flamingo

A small, mock-rock disaster of a Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur enclosure:

@Caribbean Flamingo

This open-topped Banded Archerfish tank has a couple of bullseyes above it:

Meerkat exhibit:

Tufted Capuchin/Binturong exhibit:

Fan-Sea Paradise: Explore Indonesia zone:

The fish tanks are generally much better than the mammal exhibits, with a large Piranha exhibit (although overstocked) and Weedy Sea Dragons being memorable highlights.

A huge fake tree with assorted fish tanks in the background:

"Don't Worry Be Cappy!" is the slogan for the Capybara exhibit, which is literally a slab of cement with a pool on the side.

Outer Reef tank:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Touch Tank:

@Caribbean Flamingo

Awkward viewing into the Humboldt Penguin exhibit:

Ocean Tank with some big rays resting on top of the piers:

A solitary Harbour Seal was there in August 2024, but apparently it's now gone and has been replaced by a South American Fur Seal.

Mammal species list (9 species): Serval, Tufted Capuchin, Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Meerkat, Capybara, Prevost’s Squirrel and Harbour Seal.

Summary:

Jakarta AQuarium Safari is arguably not as good as the brand-new BXSea Aquarium 45 minutes away. Both facilities can be seen in an hour each, and thankfully for Konstantin and I they have late-night hours and for instance Jakarta AQuarium Safari was open until 9:00 p.m. when we were there. The main issue is the poor accommodation for all the mammals, with each species having a disappointingly bland exhibit. The fish tanks were far superior, and there are quite a few popular jellyfish displays, but there's very little in the way of WOW moments at Jakarta AQuarium Safari. I'd be intrigued to know what the visitor numbers are like at the aquariums around the city of Jakarta, as there happens to be a lot of animal attractions competing for similar audiences.

Up next: Konstantin and I toured 4 different zoos in the sprawling city of Jakarta that are all almost on top of one another.

I always have the main issue of the safari area of this aquarium especially. It is all way too small and way too much of a concrete. Its one of the worst forms of edutainment seeing as these animals are basically easy visitor attractions when it really can be replaced with better reptile/amphibian terrariums. I especially dont like the serval exhibit that looks much more suitable for a small crocodile exhibit.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

Unfortunately, this is a very common scene in Indonesian zoos. Even in a couple of the safari parks, which are mostly excellent establishments, there are birds of prey tethered to branches inside fake tree trunks. I was able to walk directly up to large birds such as Eurasian Eagle Owls and Crowned Eagles that were tied by their talons and my guess is that this Barn Owl rarely has an opportunity to fly. I'm sure it sits there day after day when the aquarium is open.

It's unfortunate, even sadder that it's considered the "norm" of keeping BoP in Indonesia.

Especially when these birds are often only relegated for photo ops or shows (Where the justification for keeping them this way based around, claiming that this is where they get their flight from). It's a systemic issue in a country that seeing having exotic pets are "being cool and anti-mainstream".

Zone 3 is Island of Indonesia and yet Konstantin and I saw a Serval napping at the back of this exhibit.

The name "Island of Indonesia" appears to likely surrounding around the big digital map of Indonesia in the middle, between the otter and serval. A lot of their exhibits are named or based around Indonesia, though half of them aren't even native to this country.

The exhibit that now have serval originally was meant to house Komodo dragons back when the Aquarium first conceived, but apparently the idea what scrapped due to obvious reasons (Moving a literal massive lizards around a shopping mall might not be ideal). When the exhibit first opened, it had a couple of red tegus (One of them currently in one of the tiny, wooden log-shaped exhibit) and later on being a perfect exhibit for an Asian water monitor.

After the monitors moved to Taman Safari Bogor in exchange for a serval and several other mammals, the land animal collection mostly served as mere "branding purpose", as to show that they're part of Taman Safari Indonesia, as well as also for entertainment purposes of course.

This open-topped Banded Archerfish tank has a couple of bullseyes above it:

It's for certain events, like presentation on how their unique hunting behavior works. But, throughout most of my visits, I think I never see this presentation playing.

Tufted Capuchin/Binturong exhibit:

These are held separately of course.

No idea why they decide to have their capuchin here instead of the more equipped Taman Safari Bogor, they aren't even popular compared to other mammals.

Binturongs are very popular in Indonesian, so that's make sense in a marketing way. They used the binturong for presentation and interactions most of the time.

While the situation might be grim to some, I'd say it was a lot grimmer back then. The binturong exhibit originally housed several slow loris, in an open-topped enviroment. No wonder they were kept for a very short amount of time.

The exhibit that is now for a couple of capuchins, at first was open-topped, originally housed some panther chamelons during their soft-opening, later on officialy houses Sunda porcupines and green iguana, and later on even houses a couple of dusky pademelons.

Weedy Sea Dragons being memorable highlights.

They don't have these on-display again sadly. The tank now have a couple of Australian fishes, like old wives and some others.

The seadragon, old wives, and the aquarium's former giant isopod, giant Pacific octopus, and some others are part of a large import by the aquarium from unspecified facilities (Though they had somewhat imply that these came from Japanese and Australian sources).

One of their head curator is an Australian, who mostly worked with these imports and generally their marine collection (Which shows the huge contrast between JAQs marine and freshwater/land collection ).

"Don't Worry Be Cappy!" is the slogan for the Capybara exhibit, which is literally a slab of cement with a pool on the side.

These came from the country's capybara craze, where I suppose almost every zoo in Java tried to get some of these critters, though of course most of them are in horrible conditions.

The aquarium received two shipments, one adult from Taman Safari Bogor and a pair of babies from unspecified source.

Awkward viewing into the Humboldt Penguin exhibit:

The penguins are somewhat exclusive for the next door Pingoo Restaurant, owned by the aquarium.

Their penguin exhibit is horribly small and was apparently protested during their opening, but sadly it failed to deter the aquarium and the penguins are still there to this day.

Arguably, having pinnipeds in a very small enviroment is very problematic as well, though sadly there haven't been a lot of calls against that.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 20: Wednesday, August 21st

This Wednesday was just as crazy and jam-packed as the rest of the whole trek. We visited zoo #52, then zoo #53, then zoo #54, then zoo #55, then back into zoo #52 for a second trip through the grounds, and at night finally zoo #56. It was a 5-zoo day, but each of the zoos can be seen in an hour or less quite easily and they are all close together geographically. Konstantin and I even had time for a half-hour walk through Eco Green Park early in the morning, a fast food lunch, and we took a cable car ride in the afternoon. Another full day...but a fun day!

Zoo/Aquarium #52: Faunaland Ancol (Jakarta, Indonesia)

This privately-owned zoo opened in 2017 within Eco Green Park and the company Ancol owns a significant amount of land encompassing a large area and multiple attractions. I found Faunaland Ancol to be sort of like Central Park Zoo, in that both are fairly small zoos situated in a vast, park-like setting. We actually saw the Javan Rusa Deer and Siamang exhibits before we even entered with our tickets, as those enclosures are outside the entrance booth. There's also a Javan Langur exhibit that can be seen while walking down the road!

This enclosure pre-dates 2017 and it was weird to see people out walking and jogging while Siamangs were hooting in the trees in their island exhibit.

Then the rarities come thick and fast, with this zoo being a bit of a zoo nerd's dream. So many cool critters to look at, but unfortunately every single exhibit is too small and the animals don't have a lot of space whatsoever. The size of the enclosures tainted the overall experience, although the rarities are a dream for many to see in person.

A Javan Leopard exhibit (with a melanistic specimen) is decent:

Malayan Tapir exhibit:

Faunaland Ancol has an elderly Sunda Clouded Leopard (Bornean subspecies) that moved quite slowly around its exhibit. The animal also appeared to have very poor eyesight and I'm not sure if there's another Bornean subspecies Sunda Clouded Leopard at another zoo in the world.

Asiatic Golden Cat exhibit (there are two cats in the photo and both are up high):

We saw two Dholes (Sumatran subspecies) in a very small enclosure and one had a skin condition.

Spectral Tarsier exhibit:

Spectral Tarsier:

The Grizzled Tree Kangaroo exhibit had one animal who was aggressive and agitated on several occasions.

Dusky Pademelon exhibit:

This is another Indonesian zoo with several Proboscis Monkeys, including a huge male. Next door was a half-dozen Crab-eating Macaques, all of them albino specimens.

The White Lion exhibit is of a standard size.

When Konstantin and I approached the Arabian Oryx exhibit, one of the animals charged the fence and smashed its horns into it. Some of the animals at this zoo appeared to be stressed due to their small enclosures and with nowhere to escape close scrutiny from visitors.

There's a daily Animal Show and guests enter the small stadium through the legs of an enormous Cassowary statue.

Northern Cassowary exhibit:

Lesser Bird-of-Paradise aviaries:

This Siamang was listed as being albino on the sign and he is an extraordinary specimen. We saw the whole zoo in less than an hour and then lingered here for a while as the golden hair on this unique individual, possibly the only such specimen on the planet, really shone in the sunlight. His eyes are kind of wonky as they roll around and don't stay in one spot, hence there is perhaps a neurological disorder of some kind, but he was so friendly and would follow visitors around the exhibit by swinging on the edge of the wire. There was at least 1 or 2 other black Siamangs in with the golden one, but this crazy looking gibbon was a real highlight of the entire trip for me. This ape had a chill vibe and was always interested in any visitor that came close to the glass. He glowed.

I like the idea of an enormous Crocodile-themed Restaurant!

Mammal species list (24 species): Arabian Oryx, Javan Rusa Deer, Fallow Deer (albino), Malayan Tapir, African Lion, Javan Leopard, Sunda Clouded Leopard (Bornean subspecies), Asiatic Golden Cat, Caracal, Serval, Dhole (Sumatran), Siamang (including an albino), Proboscis Monkey, Crab-eating Macaque (albino), Javan Langur (outside zoo grounds), Ring-tailed Lemur, Spectral Tarsier, Binturong, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Dusky Pademelon, Raccoon, African Crested Porcupine, Malayan Porcupine and Mara.

Summary:

Faunaland Ancol is a zoo with a collector's touch. There's probably a few zoo nerds reading this review and thinking that there's maybe 5 or 6 species of mammals here they've never once seen EVER. To view them all at close quarters within the space of a few minutes was special. For the rare creatures and especially the albino Siamang, this is a must-visit zoo. Konstantin and I actually visited it twice, first thing when it opened and then again later in the afternoon, but the exhibits should all be much larger and that's a major disappointment.

Up next: We walked 15 minutes to Sea World Ancol, which is not like the big American Sea World parks but instead is a typical aquarium that can be seen in around 45 minutes or so.

 

[aramacao]

I've been reading this thread for several days, fascinated: Indonesia was my first travel destination outside of Europe, in 2019, and I was able to visit some of the zoos listed here. I'm sure some of the others I visited in Jakarta will appear soon.

I see that the sensations I had there are common to many Western visitors and zoonerds: on the one hand, observing so many rare animals, many of which don't exist anywhere else in the world, is wonderful. I still remember the excitement of seeing several rare species there that I've never seen again. But on the other hand, you can also often see outdated, old, small, or dilapidated facilities. The potential is enormous, but it doesn't seem to be fully developed. I still remember the elephants chained up or taking walks...

However, I would go back right now with my eyes closed, and that's my intention. I see that some things have already improved, and I'm sure many others will do so in the future.

I'm very surprised by how quickly you visit zoos! For almost any zoo, I need at least half a day. For larger zoos, I need a full day. For very large zoos, I might need two days (San Diego or Berlin). This is mainly because I take a LOT of photos. I think if I travel to these places in the future, I'll take things more slowly and combine zoo visits with regular sightseeing to avoid stress, haha.

 

[twilighter]

I'm very surprised by how quickly you visit zoos! For almost any zoo, I need at least half a day. For larger zoos, I need a full day. For very large zoos, I might need two days (San Diego or Berlin). This is mainly because I take a LOT of photos. I think if I travel to these places in the future, I'll take things more slowly and combine zoo visits with regular sightseeing to avoid stress, haha.

Do not underestimate @snowleopard photo-taking abilities I think one of the reasons we teamed up for this extreme trip is our similarly fast pace when exploring zoos. When we met in Sweden in 2022, we subconsciously sensed that we were capable of a multi-zoo adventure together.

 

[aramacao]

Do not underestimate @snowleopard photo-taking abilities I think one of the reasons we teamed up for this extreme trip is our similarly fast pace when exploring zoos. When we met in Sweden in 2022, we subconsciously sensed that we were capable of a multi-zoo adventure together.

Not only do'nt underestimate it, but I'm impressed. I need a certain amount of calm to take halfway decent photos... I'm currently reviewing my photos from my 2023 trip to Japan (yes, I know, I'm way behind schedule) and the number of photos I've to delete because they're blurry, out of focus, or poorly lit is overwhelming. In some cases, it drives me crazy. Honestly, I admire you all; taking decent photos on such quick visits is truly admirable.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 20: Wednesday, August 21st

After wandering around Eco Green Park and spending time inside Faunaland Ancol, it was time to walk away from all those rarities. A jaw-dropping sight in the form of an albino Siamang, a Sunda Clouded Leopard, Sumatran Dholes, a Spectral Tarsier, Proboscis Monkeys, Asiatic Golden Cats, a Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Arabian Oryx, etc. It was a 15-minute walk to our next stop...

Zoo/Aquarium #53: Sea World Ancol (Jakarta, Indonesia)

We were excited to find that this aquarium had ultra-chilly air-conditioning blasting away, as the baking heat of Jakarta felt hotter than anywhere else on the trip due to the concrete everywhere. 'Cement heat' is a real thing and on this trip there was often a jungle to offset the warmth of the sun, while in Jakarta the land was flatter and there was less rainforest to ease the feeling of being trapped inside a toaster. On this particular day, there seemed little respite from the heat of the blazing sun.

Sea World Ancol pushed hard to obtain a Whale Shark for the Ocean Tunnel Tank many years ago, just as is the case with S.E.A. Aquarium in Singapore, but both locations missed out. Sea World Ancol has a model Whale Shark inside and this painting of a Whale Shark outside, but has never displayed the species.

The aquarium map, with a significant amount of space for the Ocean Tunnel Tank.

There's a big 'Amazonia' exhibit here:

Another spacious tank, with a couple of large schools of fish, once held a Dugong. According to @Rizz Carlton the aquarium had a pair of Dugong (Doel and Diana) from around 2001 to 2016. Then from 2018 to 2019 a rescued baby Dugong was also at the aquarium.

Another large tank, this time for Piranha.

The main hallway has quite a bit of space for visitors to move around. You can see a full-sized Whale Shark model hanging from the ceiling, as well as a red car that contains a fish tank!

A Wetlands/Mangrove set of 3 exhibits was totally devoid of life during our visit. Apparently, this area used to house Saltwater Crocodiles and False Gharials, then there was several fish species and Small-clawed Otters, but all 3 exhibits were empty as of August 2024.

Sea World Ancol has a whole series of gimmicky tanks, such as this one highlighting the Indonesian military.

There are two separate fish tanks inside this truck.

Visitors were touching the fish in the 'Interactive Fish Touch Tank' exhibit:

'Soccer Field Tank' with small, yellow fish inside.

There's an Electric Eel exhibit as well as this tank with signs for species such as Giant Moray Eel, Spotted Moray Eel, Undulated Moray Eel, Honeycomb Moray Eel and Yellow-edged Moray Eel.

A frigid Alaskan King Crab exhibit:

There's an enormous Giant Pacific Octopus statue and you can see an actual, real live octopus in this photo.

The rather plain and boring Shark Tank, with only two species: Blacktip Reef and Tawny Nurse. According to @Fargusno the exhibit has held (at various times) species such as Bull Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, White-spotted Wedgefish and Bowmouth Guitarfish.

The highlight of the entire aquarium for many visitors is the Ocean Tunnel Tank:

There's a room filled with museum-like displays of various specimens. Here can be seen an Indonesian Coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) rather than the better-known Comoros Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae).

There's an upper level with a big room called the Digital Gallery where there's piles of specimens (usually former inhabitants of the aquarium) in artistic settings.

Summary:

Sea World Ancol gave Konstantin and I a nice break from the heat of Jakarta, as the interior is downright chilly in places. We spent 45 minutes here, enjoying some of the gimmicky tanks as those are ones that we don't normally see elsewhere, but there really isn't anything truly outstanding here. Signage is hit and miss, the big Ocean Tank Tunnel is just okay, and if anything some of the preserved specimens in the museum room and Digital Gallery hold more interest than a few of the live fish!

Up next: Directly next to Sea World Ancol is Jakarta Bird Land, a small bird park literally a one-minute walk from the aquarium.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

This privately-owned zoo opened in 2017 within Eco Green Park and the company Ancol owns a significant amount of land encompassing a large area and multiple attractions. I found Faunaland Ancol to be sort of like Central Park Zoo, in that both are fairly small zoos situated in a vast, park-like setting. We actually saw the Javan Rusa Deer and Siamang exhibits before we even entered with our tickets, as those enclosures are outside the entrance booth. There's also a Javan Langur exhibit that can be seen while walking down the road!

Those two exhibits are not part of Faunaland and instead are of Ancol Dreamland (An theme park company in which Faunaland is located within), as part of their Eco Park (Collaboration with the German Allianz group).

Faunaland Ancol or Faunaland Indonesia is a owner by an local wildlife enthusiast and trader, hence the interesting faunas but questionable maintenance and exhibition.

This enclosure pre-dates 2017 and it was weird to see people out walking and jogging while Siamangs were hooting in the trees in their island exhibit.

It was a very interesting experience indeed. The Allianz Eco Park (Which is the park's name) was opened in around 2015-16, which already have the rather large siamang family (The island should contain around five of them including younglings as of February 2025). Faunaland was already intended to be located there, but was opened a year later in 2017. I vividly remember the tree-kangaroo face (A mascot according to them) that were plastered across the park, you can hear parrots there back then. Back then, hollering of siamangs can be heard loud and clear, making it a surreal experience to hear one in one of the many urbanized part of Jakarta.

There's also several exhibits in the area, including aviaries for some birds, an island for chital (Originally housing cassowary), and an area called "Learning Farm", which aren't for public visit (Which I learn the hard way). This "farm" interestingly have an Javan langur in a crappy exhibit.

Then the rarities come thick and fast, with this zoo being a bit of a zoo nerd's dream. So many cool critters to look at, but unfortunately every single exhibit is too small and the animals don't have a lot of space whatsoever. The size of the enclosures tainted the overall experience, although the rarities are a dream for many to see in person.

A Javan Leopard exhibit (with a melanistic specimen) is decent:

The zoo was somewhat marketed towards interactions, something that are unfortunately common in Indonesia. It's somewhat depressing that local visitors here are often relegated as some bunch of money-machines, but most of the the time the demand came from these people as well (Where exotic pets content are quite rampant and wildlife keeping are still popular).

They should have two Javan black leopard, with one that was apparently rescued because it's hand was caught in a pig snare.

Faunaland Ancol has an elderly Sunda Clouded Leopard (Bornean subspecies) that moved quite slowly around its exhibit. The animal also appeared to have very poor eyesight and I'm not sure if there's another Bornean subspecies Sunda Clouded Leopard at another zoo in the world.

They originally have a pair, an female of unknown origin and an male that came from Central Kalimantan (Indonesian province in Borneo) after he entered an village near the province capital in 2018.

Attempts for breeding them has been done since the male arrival, though apparently it has failed. While this leopard might be the last one outside of Borneo, there should be some in zoos on their native island. I recall them being held in Tabang Zoo (East Kalimantan) and an zoo in Kinabalu City, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

We saw two Dholes (Sumatran subspecies) in a very small enclosure and one had a skin condition.

Their living conditions are absolutely horrible, these tiny exhibits were meant for wild cats previously by the zoo, as well as (Interestingly) birds-of-paradise and some small primates. The dholes are obviously there to fill some spaces and to show the "breeding success" of the facility that owned this zoo.

Spectral Tarsier exhibit:

The single animal is luckly quite active, probably because of the lack of shelter and foliage there. I recall a succesful breeding some years ago, but I forgot the details. They once held these tarsiers in one of the larger glassed exhibits where the binturong is now.

The exhibit right next door housed an Javan black giant squirrel, originally housing silvery marmosets (One and only in Indonesia). These marmosets also lived previously in one of those large glassed exhibits where the dholes is now, I believe.

The Grizzled Tree Kangaroo exhibit had one animal who was aggressive and agitated on several occasions.

Interestingly, the zoo intended to make the tree-kangaroo as their main mascot, especially when at first the zoo planned to have an Papuan/New Guinean theme. They used to have a pair on-display, attempts for breeding has apparently resulted in a miscarriage unfortunately.

If you're lucky (Or if you're a special guests), you can come inside the exhibit to pet some of the animals, including this single tree-kangaroo, another emphasis on interactions.

This is another Indonesian zoo with several Proboscis Monkeys, including a huge male. Next door was a half-dozen Crab-eating Macaques, all of them albino specimens.

The macaques and proboscis monkeys are some of the zoo's oldest inhabitants, which they have been there since the opening in 2017.

There is a succesful breeding of proboscis monkey (Single pair) in around 2021 I believe, so now they have a small family of three.

The White Lion exhibit is of a standard size.

It's a quite interesting footnote on how Faunaland have a part in boosting the popularity of white lions. Almost every big zoos have these now as one of their attractions, even some smaller zoos as well.

Though it definitely came at a price, including awfully small exhibits and them being treated as "rich boy" pets, especially when a lot of these likely came from private farms.

When Konstantin and I approached the Arabian Oryx exhibit, one of the animals charged the fence and smashed its horns into it. Some of the animals at this zoo appeared to be stressed due to their small enclosures and with nowhere to escape close scrutiny from visitors.

It's, again, one of the zoo's unfortunate and grim aspects. Since the owner and management is a somewhat "interesting" character, they do have a lot of rarities from within and outside Indonesia as somewhat of a "rare collection", in which Faunaland has been marketed as for years.

The owner have quite good relations with people in the government and some parties outside, including several Emirati collectors. I suppose this is how they able to have a pair of these rare oryx.

There's a daily Animal Show and guests enter the small stadium through the legs of an enormous Cassowary statue.

It's mostly birds-of-prey presentation I believe, the usual things which are super common in Indonesian facilities.

Lesser Bird-of-Paradise aviaries:

Like I said previously, these birds-of-paradise had once been exhibited in one of the glassed exhibits before. This aviaries I believe was build around 2019 or so. Aside from the lesser bird-of-paradise, they also once had twelve-wired birds-of-paradise next door, which now have several black-capped lories instead.

This Siamang was listed as being albino on the sign and he is an extraordinary specimen. We saw the whole zoo in less than an hour and then lingered here for a while as the golden hair on this unique individual, possibly the only such specimen on the planet, really shone in the sunlight. His eyes are kind of wonky as they roll around and don't stay in one spot, hence there is perhaps a neurological disorder of some kind, but he was so friendly and would follow visitors around the exhibit by swinging on the edge of the wire. There was at least 1 or 2 other black Siamangs in with the golden one, but this crazy looking gibbon was a real highlight of the entire trip for me. This ape had a chill vibe and was always interested in any visitor that came close to the glass. He glowed.

I recall the siamang having some neurological issues, according to the zoo. What makes it more interesting is that this siamang came and rescued from the wild (Unfortunately no more details are given from there), what are the chances!

I guess having a very rare traits like that might unfortunately results in the siamang having those issues, in which the zoo took a good care of it but I can still feel that there's a exploitative bits in there.

Mammal species list (24 species): Arabian Oryx, Javan Rusa Deer, Fallow Deer (albino), Malayan Tapir, African Lion, Javan Leopard, Sunda Clouded Leopard (Bornean subspecies), Asiatic Golden Cat, Caracal, Serval, Dhole (Sumatran), Siamang (including an albino), Proboscis Monkey, Crab-eating Macaque (albino), Javan Langur (outside zoo grounds), Ring-tailed Lemur, Spectral Tarsier, Binturong, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Dusky Pademelon, Raccoon, African Crested Porcupine, Malayan Porcupine and Mara.

No, they don't have those porcupines I believe, they always have several Sunda porcupines, including some albino variants.

Those other porcupines listed on their sign are there to showcase the different species within the hystrix species.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I see that the sensations I had there are common to many Western visitors and zoonerds: on the one hand, observing so many rare animals, many of which don't exist anywhere else in the world, is wonderful. I still remember the excitement of seeing several rare species there that I've never seen again. But on the other hand, you can also often see outdated, old, small, or dilapidated facilities. The potential is enormous, but it doesn't seem to be fully developed. I still remember the elephants chained up or taking walks...

This is something that very unfortunately a trend in Indonesia; many different species and animals in zoos are often very much relegated to entertainments-subject. Uncontrolled feedings and interactions, rides, questionable shows and exhibits, and some practises are still a norm in Indonesian facilities. Not that Indonesians care too much about their own country's endangered species, as they're often ignored and skipped away. For example, Batu Secret Zoo's Sumatran hog badgers and some others are definitely quite an interesting sight, but they're often skipped or ignored to go straight for the themed park rides (Which is a trend in Indonesian zoos as well). Which, I guess, are a better fate than being tossed around and aggresively pet I suppose.

Development might not be maximal due to said issues. Any form of revitalization will always ended up very much flawed, especially when zoos and aquariums here are always sees as a form of mere entertainment. Eks situ conservation within these zoos are tend to be very underfunded and under-reported, since these are seen as the last objectives on the the list compared to bringing in more money and celebrity/creator visits to boost their social media presence.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

Sea World Ancol pushed hard to obtain a Whale Shark for the Ocean Tunnel Tank many years ago, just as is the case with S.E.A. Aquarium in Singapore, but both locations missed out. Sea World Ancol has a model Whale Shark inside and this painting of a Whale Shark outside, but has never displayed the species.

They were protests by enviromentalist group of the prospect of bringing wild whale sharks to Ancol, which results in the Aquarium denying the idea (Which might contributed to the canning of the idea). It makes sense, the main tank, while look large are very tiny compared to the aquariums in Singapore and most of other East Asian facilities, and there's lot of rocks and decorations in there making movements for these large whale sharks to be likely hard. It's honestly a good thing that they don't went through with plans.

Another spacious tank, with a couple of large schools of fish, once held a Dugong. According to @Rizz Carlton the aquarium had a pair of Dugong (Doel and Diana) from around 2001 to 2016. Then from 2018 to 2019 a rescued baby Dugong was also at the aquarium.

As of now the aquarium's replaced it to house predominantly several sea turtles. Sea turtles, which include around three species, are held here since the dugong phased out in 2019.

The next door "Samudra Ancol" or previously called "Gelanggang Samudra Ancol" predates SeaWorld (Which opened in the 90's) in having dugong. Ever since their opening in around 1973 to around 1986, they have multiple dugongs.

• Wild-caught pair from the Karimata Strait, off South Sulawesi in 1974-75 (Died in 1983).
• One dugong from Surabaya Zoo in 1981 (Fate unknown)
• Wild-caught three dugong from around Timor, donated by the local government of East Nusa Tenggara in 1983 (Fate unknown)

A Wetlands/Mangrove set of 3 exhibits was totally devoid of life during our visit. Apparently, this area used to house Saltwater Crocodiles and False Gharials, then there was several fish species and Small-clawed Otters, but all 3 exhibits were empty as of August 2024.

The three tanks were once a single exhibit housing dozens small saltwater crocodiles and false gharials. After a legal battle between the previous private ownership of SeaWorld Indonesia (The aquarium's previous name) and the Ancol Dreamland in around 2013-16, the crocs are moved to different facilities, including the Bandung Zoological Garden.

After the exhibit separated into three, for a while it has been these exhibits:

• Turtle and assorted fishes exhibit.
• Mangrove exhibit, later housing an massive alligator snapping turtle and some pacus.
• Asian small-clawed otter exhibit, later become an very shallow freshwater fish tank

A frigid Alaskan King Crab exhibit:

As of February 2025, the aquarium saw a return of the Japanese spider crab, an old-time attraction that was last held until 2022. An single, smaller specimen are held in this tank.

The rather plain and boring Shark Tank, with only two species: Blacktip Reef and Tawny Nurse. According to @Fargusno the exhibit has held (at various times) species such as Bull Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, White-spotted Wedgefish and Bowmouth Guitarfish.

The scalloped hammerheads are imports from the Taiwanese Farglory Ocean Park in 2013, which include around 10 of these sharks. They later become quite an appeal, even more so than the dugong. The last one apparently got phased out in around 2022. It was reported that some of these sharks had either been released or died there.

The bull shark was quite an interesting case on it's own. In an unconfirmed date, the zoo received some planned grey reef sharks, where much later it turns out one of them is a misidentified bull shark. The remain of that single shark, still present in the aquarium's museum.

The highlight of the entire aquarium for many visitors is the Ocean Tunnel Tank:

This is something that is actually quite culturally significant, especially for Jakartans during and after the New Order-era. I considered the main tunnel tank of SeaWorld Ancol as one of the well-known landmark of Jakarta and their history post Indonesian independence, especially with Ancol Dreamland itself being quite a significant historical landmark of the development of the city.

The image within that tunnel is somewhat iconic too, which often are associated with the Aquarium.

There's an upper level with a big room called the Digital Gallery where there's piles of specimens (usually former inhabitants of the aquarium) in artistic settings.

I believe these are mostly (If not all) are former inhabitants. The four larger displays, which include the preserved remains of an tawny nurse shark (Still on-display), sandtiger shark (Original inhabitant from the 90's), an bull shark, and an plastic replica of a dugong are definitely a highlight for me.

The fact that they go out of their way to make an replica of a dugong does somewhat make me believe that this museum are intended to also the Aquarium's collection museum, not just an general marine life museum.

 

[snowleopard]

DAY 20: Wednesday, August 21st

Thanks once again @Rizz Carlton for providing anecdotes and historical information about all these Indonesian zoos that @twilighter and I visited. My overall impression is that just about every single Indonesian zoo "wheels and deals", meaning that there are wildlife traders and zoo curators making deals for animals every day. It's the norm in Indonesia. We didn't know much of anything about all these zoos beforehand, but upon reflection it seems that trading animals with tons of collectors (both government supported and possibly others that are in it just for the money) is a normal part of Indonesian life.

After visiting Faunaland Ancol and Sea World Ancol, we walked for one minute into our next zoo...

Zoo/Aquarium #54: Jakarta Bird Land (Jakarta, Indonesia)

As is often the case in Southeast Asian zoos, here's yet another grandiose, spectacular entrance. There's prominent red and white colouring at many Indonesian attractions, particularly as this August is the 80th year of Independence.

Remember the big, shiny Sea World Ancol entrance from my last review? That aquarium can be seen in my photo below (left-side, center) and that shows just how close these two attractions are to each other. If I remember correctly, I think it's possible to buy a combo pass for both facilities.

The first impression here is a positive one, with a pair of neat escalators and visitors are immersed within an enormous walk-through aviary.

One of the gimmicks here is a glass-bottomed floor zone:

Greater Flamingo pool at the bottom of the escalators:

Map of Jakarta Bird Land:

There's tiered seating on the left, a presentation stage with turf, a central lake and a mock-rock wall with a waterfall on the right.

During our visit, we were slightly dismayed to see that one of the big waterfall zones had its water turned off.

There are macaws and parrots and pelicans on the pathways in all directions.

Konstantin and I saw a group of staff members sitting around with a number of birds on perches. Do you want to hold an Oriental Honey Buzzard for an extra fee? Then this is the zoo for you!

There are loads of birds on perches that can be handled for an additional fee.

Wreathed Hornbills have free roam of the place and visitors can get very close to the birds.

There's a definite lack of accurate signage here, but from what I gathered via my own photos and the ZooChat gallery, here are some of the bird species at this zoo:

30 species: Greater Flamingo, Australian Pelican, Wreathed Hornbill, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Brahminy Myna, Bali Myna, Black-winged Starling, Eclectus Parrot, Hahn's Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Golden-mantled Rosella, Black Palm Cockatoo, Yellow-crested Cockatoo, White Cockatoo, Galah, Alexandrine Parakeet, Yellow-streaked Lory, Red Lory, Dusky Lory, Mandarin Duck, Wandering Whistling Duck, Sunda Teal, Little Black Cormorant, Pied Stilt, White-breasted Waterhen, White-faced Cuckoo Dove, Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Green Peafowl and Golden Pheasant.

Summary:

Jakarta Bird Land has a great entrance and once inside the initial 'treetops zone' of raised walkways is genuinely terrific. However, after that, visitors descend back to the ground and do a short loop looking at birds here and there and nothing is that memorable. There is a big push from the staff to hold birds for an extra fee, which means there's a whole bunch of birds sitting on perches all day long and that's not cool. Konstantin and I spent around 45 minutes inside Jakarta Bird Land, about the same as Sea World Ancol next door.

Up next: All of the Ancol attractions are close together and we next walked 5 minutes to our 4th small zoo of the day and it was only just past noon. This one has several different names online, depending on which website you use, such as Ocean Ancol, Ancol Ocean Dream and Samudra Ancol Marine Park. Bring on some dolphins, sea lions and Sun Bears!