Hi there, I'm Fargusno. I'm a zoo and aquaria enthusiast and photographer from Jakarta, Indonesia.
I joined Zoochat back in 2020 after seeing Nandito's posts on the Indonesia subforum of the website. I used to lurk on Zoochat back in the 2010s, but there was a lack of activity in the Indonesia subforum back then. Ever since I and Nandito joined Zoochat, other Indonesian Zoochatters like Caribbean Flamingo and Mossman Joe joined the fun on the Indonesian subforum. I used to post photos of animals from zoos and aquaria on Instagram since 2016, but ever since I left Instagram due to its toxicity, problems with FOMO and crap algorithm, I decided to post my photos here, both old and new. Despite that, I still need to get used to posting a lot of photos here, preferably ones that look good for the website.
TBH, I'm more of an aquaria kind of a guy, because I like fishes and aquatic fauna more. Sadly, Indonesia is lacking in aquarias so most of the aquarias I visit are the usual suspects (SeaWorld Ancol and Dunia Air Tawar since the 2000s, Jakarta Aquarium & Safari since 2017 and BXSea since 2023). I feel that Indonesia could use more aquaria, especially in tourist places or major cities that doesn't have aquarias yet to spotlight Indonesian marine and freshwater biodiversity to the public audience. I really love sharks, yet most of the sharks that I see in Indonesian aquarias are the same species (usually blacktip reefs, whitetip reefs, zebras, tawny nurses, bamboo sharks, coral catsharks and occasionally wobbegongs). Marine Safari in Bali keep grey reef sharks and SeaWorld Ancol once kept sand tiger, grey reef, bull and scalloped hammerhead sharks. BXSea once kept scalloped hammerheads back in 2024, but they fared very poorly and perished. In the past, I once visited Underwater World Singapore back in 2001 and 2011, SEA Aquarium in 2014, River Wonders in 2014 and Hong Kong Ocean Park and Wetland Park in 2012. I really want to visit Okinawa Aquarium Churaumi or Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan one day.
As for zoos, my favorite zoos in Indonesia are Batu Secret Zoo in Malang, East Java and Taman Safari Indonesia in Cisarua, West Java. I used to go to Taman Safari a lot back in the past, but not anymore since it's very expensive. Batu Secret Zoo is arguably the best zoo in Indonesia, and as of recent they have been acquiring and housing rarities seldomly or even never been kept in Indonesian zoos at all. I also went to other zoos like Lembang Park & Zoo and Ragunan Zoo, but most of them only pass as "cheaper" alternative to Taman Safari and many of the exhibits are outdated or poorly designed, though Taman Safari Indonesia II in Pasuruan, Bali Zoo and Bali Safari in Gianyar were very good. I also went to Singapore Zoo back in 2007 and 2011, and I kinda miss that place. There are also places that specializes in keeping one family/order of animals in Indonesia, like the Aviary Park in Bintaro and Museum Komodo in TMII. These places are pretty unique, and since I love dinosaurs, they work as "Jurassic Park in Real Life" for me!
Speaking about dinosaurs, Indonesia doesn't have much museums for paleontology, but there's the Geological Museum in Bandung that houses authentic Cenozoic fauna fossils as well as a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil replica and Otodus megalodon teeth dug from Sukabumi. There are also places to see dinosaur animatronics in Jakarta and surrounding cities, like in FunWorld Adventure in QBig Mall BSD and Buaran Plaza East Jakarta, IPTEK (Science and Tech) Museum in Taman Mini, Taman Safari's Jurassic Train in Bogor and DinoXscape in Supermall Karawaci. There used to be a DinoLand in Bogor back in the late 2000s, but most info about it is lost media and supposedly they have authentic Utahraptor fossils from the US, and the biggest dinosaur park in Indonesia is Jatim Park 3's Dino Park. As for living fossils, there's a preserved Indonesian Coelacanth in SeaWorld Ancol.
I really hope to meet other zoo and aquaria enthusiasts from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. Kudos if you love dinosaurs too!
I joined Zoochat back in 2020 after seeing Nandito's posts on the Indonesia subforum of the website. I used to lurk on Zoochat back in the 2010s, but there was a lack of activity in the Indonesia subforum back then. Ever since I and Nandito joined Zoochat, other Indonesian Zoochatters like Caribbean Flamingo and Mossman Joe joined the fun on the Indonesian subforum. I used to post photos of animals from zoos and aquaria on Instagram since 2016, but ever since I left Instagram due to its toxicity, problems with FOMO and crap algorithm, I decided to post my photos here, both old and new. Despite that, I still need to get used to posting a lot of photos here, preferably ones that look good for the website.
TBH, I'm more of an aquaria kind of a guy, because I like fishes and aquatic fauna more. Sadly, Indonesia is lacking in aquarias so most of the aquarias I visit are the usual suspects (SeaWorld Ancol and Dunia Air Tawar since the 2000s, Jakarta Aquarium & Safari since 2017 and BXSea since 2023). I feel that Indonesia could use more aquaria, especially in tourist places or major cities that doesn't have aquarias yet to spotlight Indonesian marine and freshwater biodiversity to the public audience. I really love sharks, yet most of the sharks that I see in Indonesian aquarias are the same species (usually blacktip reefs, whitetip reefs, zebras, tawny nurses, bamboo sharks, coral catsharks and occasionally wobbegongs). Marine Safari in Bali keep grey reef sharks and SeaWorld Ancol once kept sand tiger, grey reef, bull and scalloped hammerhead sharks. BXSea once kept scalloped hammerheads back in 2024, but they fared very poorly and perished. In the past, I once visited Underwater World Singapore back in 2001 and 2011, SEA Aquarium in 2014, River Wonders in 2014 and Hong Kong Ocean Park and Wetland Park in 2012. I really want to visit Okinawa Aquarium Churaumi or Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan one day.
As for zoos, my favorite zoos in Indonesia are Batu Secret Zoo in Malang, East Java and Taman Safari Indonesia in Cisarua, West Java. I used to go to Taman Safari a lot back in the past, but not anymore since it's very expensive. Batu Secret Zoo is arguably the best zoo in Indonesia, and as of recent they have been acquiring and housing rarities seldomly or even never been kept in Indonesian zoos at all. I also went to other zoos like Lembang Park & Zoo and Ragunan Zoo, but most of them only pass as "cheaper" alternative to Taman Safari and many of the exhibits are outdated or poorly designed, though Taman Safari Indonesia II in Pasuruan, Bali Zoo and Bali Safari in Gianyar were very good. I also went to Singapore Zoo back in 2007 and 2011, and I kinda miss that place. There are also places that specializes in keeping one family/order of animals in Indonesia, like the Aviary Park in Bintaro and Museum Komodo in TMII. These places are pretty unique, and since I love dinosaurs, they work as "Jurassic Park in Real Life" for me!
Speaking about dinosaurs, Indonesia doesn't have much museums for paleontology, but there's the Geological Museum in Bandung that houses authentic Cenozoic fauna fossils as well as a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil replica and Otodus megalodon teeth dug from Sukabumi. There are also places to see dinosaur animatronics in Jakarta and surrounding cities, like in FunWorld Adventure in QBig Mall BSD and Buaran Plaza East Jakarta, IPTEK (Science and Tech) Museum in Taman Mini, Taman Safari's Jurassic Train in Bogor and DinoXscape in Supermall Karawaci. There used to be a DinoLand in Bogor back in the late 2000s, but most info about it is lost media and supposedly they have authentic Utahraptor fossils from the US, and the biggest dinosaur park in Indonesia is Jatim Park 3's Dino Park. As for living fossils, there's a preserved Indonesian Coelacanth in SeaWorld Ancol.
I really hope to meet other zoo and aquaria enthusiasts from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. Kudos if you love dinosaurs too!
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