Indonesia - Zoos and Nature Watching - recommendations

FunkyGibbon

FunkyGibbon

Well-Known Member
I'm travelling in Indonesia in July. Specifically I will be visiting Java, Borneo and some of the islands east of, and including, Bali. Plans are currently extremely amorphous, and will likely remain quite changeable even when I'm in the country.

Which are the zoos in Indonesia that are worth my time? I know that very few are going to be 'good' by western standards, but which have interesting exhibits or unusual animals? Currently the only one I will certainly visit is Ragunan, for rarities and the Schmutzer Primate Centre. Taman Bogor, Bali Bird Park and Seaworld Jakarta also seem like good options.

What about national parks? I will only have just over a week in Borneo so it may be sensible, or indeed the only possible option, to remain in just one region of the island. Does anyone have experience of travelling in Kalimantan?

Lastly, any other advice? Cultural sites, great places to stay etc?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Alternatively I could remove Borneo from the itinerary and go to South Sumatra instead. Maybe Way Kambas would be tempting...
 
how long do you have in Indonesia? Travel times can be slow and paradoxically Indonesia can be an expensive place to travel in - most especially if you are visiting the national parks.

National Parks I would recommend for relative ease of reaching and a chance of seeing good wildlife would be Komodo, Tangkoko (in northern Sulawesi), and Kerinci-Seblat (central Sumatra). Gunung Gede-Pangrango in west Java is good too and easy to reach from Jakarta. I have zero experience with Kalimantan so can't help there.
 
I suggest to skip Kalimantan and spend more time in Sumatra, Java, Bali or perhaps Wallacea. Alternatively, go to Malaysian Sabah, which has all the accessible Bornean species and very good infrastructure.
 
Jurek7 said:
I suggest to skip Kalimantan and spend more time in Sumatra, Java, Bali or perhaps Wallacea. Alternatively, go to Malaysian Sabah, which has all the accessible Bornean species and very good infrastructure.
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that would basically be my suggestion too, although I can't back it up properly because I don't know what Kalimantan is like.

Sabah is dead easy for tourists to get around in so you can get to several sites quickly and see a lot of wildlife. However the same is not quite so true for Sumatra and Java, so if you only have limited time I would stick with either Sumatra/Java or Sabah, but not try to fit them both in. It really just depends on how long you have to spend.
 
I believe that Seaworld Indonesia no longer hold dugong, in case that was your main reason for visiting.
 
Jurek7 said:
I suggest to skip Kalimantan and spend more time in Sumatra, Java, Bali or perhaps Wallacea. Alternatively, go to Malaysian Sabah, which has all the accessible Bornean species and very good infrastructure.
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It looks like Sabah may well be the most sensible option. I'll have to rejig my plans so I don't have to re-enter Indonesia (visa reasons). I like the idea of roughing it in Kalimantan but with a low budget and no driving licence now is probably not the time.

I have around 40 days total, the last 10 of which I will spend in Australia. So I have time to travel to weird places if need be. Unlike some of the more hardcore members of the site I'll be doing other touristy/backpackery/stupid young people things (:p) as well so I'd rather target 2 or three great locations than a whole bunch of great/good and mediocre ones.
 
So having listened to people's opinions and done my own further research I've decided to remove Australia from the itinerary and spend the first 12 days of the trip in Sabah, followed by just shy of a month in Indonesia.
For Sabah I'm thinking Kinabalu National Park, either Tabin or Danum (depends on which is easier on a shoestring, currently trawling in Chli's old treads for info on this :p), Sepilok and then maybe a day snorkling somewhere. Even as I write this without a real understanding of travel times and distances it seems like an overly ambitious amount of things to do; I'm sure I'll end up cutting something.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
So having listened to people's opinions and done my own further research I've decided to remove Australia from the itinerary and spend the first 12 days of the trip in Sabah, followed by just shy of a month in Indonesia.
For Sabah I'm thinking Kinabalu National Park, either Tabin or Danum (depends on which is easier on a shoestring, currently trawling in Chli's old treads for info on this :p), Sepilok and then maybe a day snorkling somewhere. Even as I write this without a real understanding of travel times and distances it seems like an overly ambitious amount of things to do; I'm sure I'll end up cutting something.
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12 days is [just] enough time so long as you aren't fussed about spending a long time at each place. Mt. Kinabalu is about two hours by bus from Kota Kinabalu, Sepilok is about four hours from Mt. Kinabalu, so travel times aren't great. For snorkelling you could go to the islands directly off Kota Kinabalu (e.g. Pulau Manukan). It might make most sense to fly into Sandakan for Sepilok and Danum and then fly out of KK.

Neither Tabin nor Danum are cheap, but of the two Danum is the cheaper option, and at Danum the field centre is cheaper than the Rainforest Lodge. They suck at organisation though. When I went to the Danum field centre (in 2009) I got zero responses to emails before going to Borneo, so I went to the head office in KK and organised it there, but when I got to the office in Lahad Datu they knew nothing about it. My suggestion (if you like it) would be to just turn up at the office in Lahad Datu and arrange it on the spot. The transport only goes from there to the field centre on certain days of the week though, so you need to time it right. I think I put all the prices for the field centre in my 2009 thread, but they are well out of date now - I think they may have doubled since then.

If cost is an issue (and it generally is), I might suggest just going to the Kinabatangan River instead of Danum. The packages there are usually two nights/three days so would fit well with your short time-frame, and the wildlife is easily seen there (finding wildlife in proper rainforest like at Danum or Tabin is very difficult). They should pick up from Sandakan, so that would fit well too.
 
I think Tabin is cheaper than Danum, at least cheaper if you are staying at the Rainforest Lodge in Danum (I don't know about the field centre). There are various 5-day tours available from Sandakan which combine two nights at Kinabatangan with two nights at either Danum or Tabin, some with the option of visiting Gormantong Caves. If you are leaving from Danum the easiest way out is flying from Lahad Datu.
 
I've just spent a few days based in Jakarta - a surprisingly good place for zoo rarities. Traffic in the city is horrendous, so leave several hours if you want to get anything done.

Ragunan Zoo - A very mixed zoo. Some parts are amazing - the gorilla and chimpanzee enclosures in the Schmutzer primate centre are among the world's best: other parts are very poor. Worth visiting to see the primate centre (and the arrays of gibbons, macaques and langurs displayed - including a Presbytis natunae in the zoo's primate enclosures). Also around are a maleo, Buru babirusa, Bawean deer, differing cassowary taxa displayed next to each other....

Taman Safari Bogor is difficult and expensive to reach, with a mixed safari route (some enclosures are spectacular, others are much smaller/poorer than they look) but treasures on the walking route including a walkthrough aviary which subtly features four species of bird of paradise (I'm told), the Sumatran subspecies of Sunda clouded leopard, grizzled tree kangaroo, two species of cuscus, more impressive langurs and proboscis monkeys... Be aware that the zoo has two species of tarsier but they are both off-show. To see them you will need to book a behind-the-scenes tour and confirm with a curator/director in advance that you'll be seeing them.
For all its brilliance, this place is really crap at times. I stumbled across a low-walled kiosk where photos can be taken with a tiger to find a young (but big) tiger resting, unrestrained and unsupervised. Able to raise his head to look up at me, but he wouldn't respond much beyond that - admittedly I can't say I was trying too hard to get him to jump up. :/

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah - I visited today. A very impressive complex of tourist attractions, four of which are animal based. The bird park is decent - a nice selection of native species although not as rich as it was previously. Giant aviaries and three bird of paradise species (magnificent, twelve-wired & red) were the highlights for me.
The reptile park is one of the best reptile facilities I've seen. A very high standard, even though it's mostly made up of standard vivaria dotted around the site (which centres on a huge Komodo dragon-shaped museum building). Highlights are Bornean earless monitor (!!!) and a beautifully-coloured tri-coloured monitor, although there's so much else here that's incredibly impressive.
An aquarium houses a vast array of fish from around the world. A quirky and interesting collection which is worth visiting, even though displays could do with a little work.
An insect museum which previously had a butterfly house and a couple of mammal exhibits seems to be taking its last breaths (at least in terms of the live collections). Only a few beetles, cockroaches and pupae left.

devilfish said:
I believe that Seaworld Indonesia no longer hold dugong, in case that was your main reason for visiting.
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It seems I had been misinformed - sorry. As of this afternoon they do still have one dugong on display. A fairly standard Asian aquarium otherwise. Outrageous in places, nice collection and some impressive parts. A touchpool for blacktip reef sharks and another for adult hawksbill turtles are among the most ridiculous things here.

I've just arrived in Bali so can hopefully update you in a couple of days on some of Bali's collections.
 
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I visited Ragunan on a weekend day and the crowds there were insane - best to try for during the week instead!

When I went to Taman Mini the bird park was already closed for the day unfortunately, so I didn't see anything there. The reptile collection did not have an earless monitor then either :(
 
Chlidonias said:
I visited Ragunan on a weekend day and the crowds there were insane - best to try for during the week instead!
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I'd agree - even my weekday visit during ramadan was still reasonably busy in places (although my visit from 7.30-10.30 on a rainy Saturday morning was emptier). :D

Chlidonias said:
The reptile collection did not have an earless monitor then either :(
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Apparently I missed out on a Xenodermus javanicus which was on show a few months ago. Still a very impressive collection, and they've had the three earless monitors for over 6 months now.
 
devilfish said:
Taman Safari Bogor is difficult and expensive to reach, with a mixed safari route (some enclosures are spectacular, others are much smaller/poorer than they look) but treasures on the walking route including a walkthrough aviary which subtly features four species of bird of paradise (I'm told), the Sumatran subspecies of Sunda clouded leopard, grizzled tree kangaroo, two species of cuscus, more impressive langurs and proboscis monkeys... Be aware that the zoo has two species of tarsier but they are both off-show. To see them you will need to book a behind-the-scenes tour and confirm with a curator/director in advance that you'll be seeing them.
For all its brilliance, this place is really crap at times. I stumbled across a low-walled kiosk where photos can be taken with a tiger to find a young (but big) tiger resting, unrestrained and unsupervised. Able to raise his head to look up at me, but he wouldn't respond much beyond that - admittedly I can't say I was trying too hard to get him to jump up. :/
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there's a video here of a clearly-drugged lion being used for photo opportunities at Bogor: https://www.facebook.com/scorpionmonitor/videos/vb.606599662816555/722144924595361/?type=2&theater (it opened this thread by vogelcommando: http://www.zoochat.com/238/taman-safari-bogor-443701/). I would choose not to visit the place from that basis alone, despite the rarities on show.

How did you get around the safari park, just out of interest? Did you hire a driver for the day, or are there park buses or something to get around?

Also, how many countries have you visited this year?!
 
Chlidonias said:
there's a video here of a clearly-drugged lion being used for photo opportunities at Bogor: https://www.facebook.com/scorpionmonitor/videos/vb.606599662816555/722144924595361/?type=2&theater (it opened this thread by vogelcommando: http://www.zoochat.com/238/taman-safari-bogor-443701/). I would choose not to visit the place from that basis alone, despite the rarities on show.

How did you get around the safari park, just out of interest? Did you hire a driver for the day, or are there park buses or something to get around?

Also, how many countries have you visited this year?!
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Yeah until I visited Bogor I hadn't seen such lethargic photo carnivores. A real pity, but I prefer to visit these places and make my mind up about them.

I got an Uber (taxi which you can organise, follow and monitor through a mobile phone app) from my hotel in Jakarta to the park - it cost about 180 000 rupiah. I then took the free bus around the safari route, did the walking trails and slowly made my way to the exit. I took a motorbike down to the main road (40 000 rupiah - a rip-off), a minibus to Ciawi taxi rank (10k rupiah) and then a taxi to my hotel (300k rupiah). Entry to the park was 300k rupiah. My original driver had offered to wait for 3 hours for an additional 300k rupiah but I ended up spending over 6 hours at the park so I got a better deal anyway.

Good question - so far I've visited 16, with plans for another 6 before I head back to England, and at least one more later in the year :eek:
 
devilfish said:
I got an Uber (taxi which you can organise, follow and monitor through a mobile phone app) from my hotel in Jakarta to the park - it cost about 180 000 rupiah. I then took the free bus around the safari route, did the walking trails and slowly made my way to the exit. I took a motorbike down to the main road (40 000 rupiah - a rip-off), a minibus to Ciawi taxi rank (10k rupiah) and then a taxi to my hotel (300k rupiah). Entry to the park was 300k rupiah. My original driver had offered to wait for 3 hours for an additional 300k rupiah but I ended up spending over 6 hours at the park so I got a better deal anyway.
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I was under the impression that Taman Bogor was in the city of Bogor which is some distance from Jakarta. Did you get a taxi all that way or am I horrendously mistaken?

Great news about the Dugong!
 
FunkyGibbon said:
I was under the impression that Taman Bogor was in the city of Bogor which is some distance from Jakarta. Did you get a taxi all that way or am I horrendously mistaken?
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Yeah I got a taxi all the way - the journey from my hotel to Ragunan Zoo would take about 1h, and the trip to Taman Safari (which is beyond Bogor) took about 1h45 on the way there, and about 2h on the way back, so not as unfeasible as it may seem.
 
if you wanted to visit the safari park, and you wanted to stay in Bogor overnight to make things a bit easier (there's a famous botanic gardens there which is now a bit unkempt but still worth seeing), you can get buses from the Jakarta airport straight to Bogor. Then bus back to Jakarta when you're done.

It's worth noting that Bogor is en route to Cibodas, the town outside Gunung Gede-Pangrango National Park, which is recommended (but not on public holidays or weekends!)
 
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