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

[Jurek7]

it really is remarkable to see zoos with elephants wandering around with handlers, being touched by the public, giving rides at several zoos, being fed by visitors, and even being chained up for hours on end.

In South Asia, it is not unusual to see a working Asian elephant walking with its handler on a busy road, too.

Hundreds of Crab-eating Macaques at several zoos, but also Southern Pig-tailed Macaques, Dusky Langurs and White-thighed Surilis adds up to 4 wild primates that Konstantin and I saw on the trip, many times very close up!

It is a cultural perspective - huge and regularly man-eating alligators live in backyards in Texas and Florida, and black bears in California. So Americans are certainly used to sharing space with wild animals.

It is only that European and American zoos did not yet figure a way to explain to visitors that they are responsible for their own safety. Otherwise one could see macaques or langurs free roaming in Western zoos, too.

 

[aramacao]

Without a doubt, this thread is one of the ones I've most enjoyed since I've been on Zoochat. It's brought back wonderful memories from my visits to Indonesia and Singapore, and it's give me want to go back and explore the rest of Southeast Asia. My travels are definitely quite different of yours, because in addition to zoos and aquariums, I like to visit places more typical for normal tourists: cities, monuments, museums, and natural sites. I also like to enjoy wildlife, if possible. And I'm sure I nedd much more time in echa visit of eaxch zoo, But this thread contains thousands of interesting facts, and the contribution to the forum is impressive. Thank you so much.

As for future travel destinations, Europe is obviously a great option. I think the entire Czech Republic is a stunning destination, but also Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France and, of course, Germany. There's plenty to choose from, and some must-see zoos.

However, as a European who has visited most of the continent's major zoos (I'm missing a few, but not many of the important ones), I'm more inclined to visit other parts of Asia (Japan, China, other Southeast Asian countries) or Oceania. My next big trip, if all goes well, will be my honeymoon in Australia and New Zealand. I'm already preparing an itinerary and have lists of zoos, aquariums, and animals in the works. Obviously, as a Canadian, a tour of Europe should be a must, but... I prefer the charm and exoticism of Asia and Oceania. As for South America, I've been to Peru and Ecuador, and it's another option. I haven't had any problems, but it's true that the feeling of insecurity is much greater than in Asia or Europe. Of course, you'll be able to see many new species, some very rare, if you decide to...

Whatever you decide, we'd be happy to help you and, hopefully, to read a new thread like this one in a while!

 

[TNT]

My wife might not be so thankful to this thread and to be going to so many zoos on her honeymoon, but hopefully there will be lots of wild birds to keep her happy as well!

My next big trip, if all goes well, will be my honeymoon in Australia and New Zealand. I'm already preparing an itinerary and have lists of zoos, aquariums, and animals in the works.

It seems like several of us have "zoological" honeymoons coming up! I'm looking forward to a week in Singapore this September when I hope to tick off a small number of the zoos there. Unfortunately, my wife-to-be isn't comfortable around birds, so Bird Paradise is off the cards Some would say that's grounds to call off the wedding, but she deals with most of my zoo nonsense very well

I'll eco what others have said and thank you, @snowleopard, for another engaging and useful thread!

 

[Stefan Verhoeven]

What do we have to follow now from you @snowleopard after only 2 threads covering 1,5 years of our lives?! Thank you for sharing it with us!

 

[snowleopard]

I feel a tad conflicted with all the people that have messaged me in the last 6 months since I began this thread, as a bunch of zoo nerds are suddenly planning Southeast Asian trips and I'm not sure if I'm going to encourage strong marriages or perhaps cause terrible divorces. Hahaha! I must say @TNT that you absolutely should visit Bird Paradise as it's one of the very best zoos I've ever had the privilege to tour and I'm not even a bird nerd by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe your wife-to-be could hit the beach or a mall for a few hours? Those 8 massive walk-through aviaries at Bird Paradise destroy San Diego Zoo's offerings , my previous selection as the #1 bird zoo I've ever seen. Bird Paradise is at a whole other level.

The #1 question I receive from both nerds and muggles is always "what are your favourite zoos and aquariums?". I rattle off Singapore, Berlin and San Diego as clearly my top 3 zoological destinations, in that order, and I still have Shedd down as the best aquarium I've ever seen.

The #2 question from zoo nerds is "how long does it take to see that particular zoo?" and it's why I provide an approximate visiting timeframe for every single zoo review I type up. Even for the book that Tim Brown and I wrote, with the 100 best zoos and aquariums in the USA, we provided ample timeframes for every facility in the book. People planning trips need to know that vital information.

On that note, here are some times to give readers a rough idea of what to expect at a certain zoo.

From my Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip thread:

I went through all my reviews and tallied the 19 zoos that I spent a minimum of 4 hours at. Of course, with children tagging along then a place like Ouwehands or Amersfoort, popular Dutch zoos that cater to families with young children, would honestly be at least 7 hours each, but for a zoo enthusiast there is no need to test out playgrounds or go on carousel rides.

Here are the 19 zoos I spent at least 4 hours at, giving readers a guideline of an average visit for me.

Pairi Daiza = 8.5 hours
Berlin Tierpark = 8
Berlin Zoo = 8
Artis (Amsterdam) = 7 including Micropia
Blijdorp (Rotterdam) = 6.5
Cologne = 6
NaturZoo Rheine = 6 (although it really is a 3-hour zoo)
Antwerp = 5
Burgers’ (Arnhem) = 5
Hagenbeck = 5
Planckendael = 5
Frankfurt = 4.5
Walsrode = 4.5
Wuppertal = 4.5
Apenheul = 4
GaiaZOO = 4
Munster = 4
Osnabruck = 4
ZOOM (Gelsenkirchen) = 4

Here are the 13 zoos that @twilighter and I spent at least 4 hours at on our Asian zoo trip. A few just missed the cut (such as 3.5 hours at Zoo Taiping in Malaysia and 3.5 hours at Night Safari in Singapore), and the all-day Ancol and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah parks are really a series of smaller collections adjacent to each other that take no time to tour.

Ragunan Zoo = 8 hours
Taman Safari I Bogor = 7
Taman Safari II Prigen = 7 (including the Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark)
Khao Kheow Open Zoo = 6
Safari World Bangkok = 6
Batu Secret Zoo = 5
Chiang Mai Zoo = 5
Singapore Zoo = 5
Songkhla Zoo = 5 (including behind-the-scenes)
Taman Safari III Bali = 5
Zoo Negara = 5
Bird Paradise = 4 (I'd recommend 2 days for hardcore bird nerds)
Gembira Loka Zoo = 4

 

[TNT]

I must say @TNT that you absolutely should visit Bird Paradise as it's one of the very best zoos I've ever had the privilege to tour and I'm not even a bird nerd by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe your wife-to-be could hit the beach or a mall for a few hours?

I think I'd be returning to England a single man!

 

[aramacao]

I feel a tad conflicted with all the people that have messaged me in the last 6 months since I began this thread, as a bunch of zoo nerds are suddenly planning Southeast Asian trips and I'm not sure if I'm going to encourage strong marriages or perhaps cause terrible divorces. Hahaha! I must say @TNT that you absolutely should visit Bird Paradise as it's one of the very best zoos I've ever had the privilege to tour and I'm not even a bird nerd by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe your wife-to-be could hit the beach or a mall for a few hours? Those 8 massive walk-through aviaries at Bird Paradise destroy San Diego Zoo's offerings , my previous selection as the #1 bird zoo I've ever seen. Bird Paradise is at a whole other level.

The #1 question I receive from both nerds and muggles is always "what are your favourite zoos and aquariums?". I rattle off Singapore, Berlin and San Diego as clearly my top 3 zoological destinations, in that order, and I still have Shedd down as the best aquarium I've ever seen.

The #2 question from zoo nerds is "how long does it take to see that particular zoo?" and it's why I provide an approximate visiting timeframe for every single zoo review I type up. Even for the book that Tim Brown and I wrote, with the 100 best zoos and aquariums in the USA, we provided ample timeframes for every facility in the book. People planning trips need to know that vital information.

On that note, here are some times to give readers a rough idea of what to expect at a certain zoo.

From my Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip thread:

I went through all my reviews and tallied the 19 zoos that I spent a minimum of 4 hours at. Of course, with children tagging along then a place like Ouwehands or Amersfoort, popular Dutch zoos that cater to families with young children, would honestly be at least 7 hours each, but for a zoo enthusiast there is no need to test out playgrounds or go on carousel rides.

Here are the 19 zoos I spent at least 4 hours at, giving readers a guideline of an average visit for me.

Pairi Daiza = 8.5 hours
Berlin Tierpark = 8
Berlin Zoo = 8
Artis (Amsterdam) = 7 including Micropia
Blijdorp (Rotterdam) = 6.5
Cologne = 6
NaturZoo Rheine = 6 (although it really is a 3-hour zoo)
Antwerp = 5
Burgers’ (Arnhem) = 5
Hagenbeck = 5
Planckendael = 5
Frankfurt = 4.5
Walsrode = 4.5
Wuppertal = 4.5
Apenheul = 4
GaiaZOO = 4
Munster = 4
Osnabruck = 4
ZOOM (Gelsenkirchen) = 4

Here are the 13 zoos that @twilighter and I spent at least 4 hours at on our Asian zoo trip. A few just missed the cut (such as 3.5 hours at Zoo Taiping in Malaysia and 3.5 hours at Night Safari in Singapore), and the all-day Ancol and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah parks are really a series of smaller collections adjacent to each other that take no time to tour.

Ragunan Zoo = 8 hours
Taman Safari I Bogor = 7
Taman Safari II Prigen = 7 (including the Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark)
Khao Kheow Open Zoo = 6
Safari World Bangkok = 6
Batu Secret Zoo = 5
Chiang Mai Zoo = 5
Singapore Zoo = 5
Songkhla Zoo = 5 (including behind-the-scenes)
Taman Safari III Bali = 5
Zoo Negara = 5
Bird Paradise = 4 (I'd recommend 2 days for hardcore bird nerds)
Gembira Loka Zoo = 4

Reading this, it's even clearer to me that using your times as an example doesn't work for me. I can easily spend two days at Walsrode or the Berlin Zoo, and I spent two days at the San Diego Zoo. I think the animals you're interested in have a lot to do with this: if you're not a big bird lover, you'll probably only spend a few hours at Walsrode, but if you're a bird's entusiast or take a lot of photos, you'll be like me; I can spend two days in a row visiting it.

Of the Asian zoos you've listed, to compare your visits with mine, I spent the whole day at Bird Paradise (maybe 8 hours), practically twice as long as you. The times for the Singapore Zoo and the Gembira Loka Zoo are similar to you, although I admit that I visited Gembira Loka Zoo quickly because my friends were waiting for me.

 

[snowleopard]

Reading this, it's even clearer to me that using your times as an example doesn't work for me. I can easily spend two days at Walsrode or the Berlin Zoo, and I spent two days at the San Diego Zoo. I think the animals you're interested in have a lot to do with this: if you're not a big bird lover, you'll probably only spend a few hours at Walsrode, but if you're a bird's entusiast or take a lot of photos, you'll be like me; I can spend two days in a row visiting it.

Of the Asian zoos you've listed, to compare your visits with mine, I spent the whole day at Bird Paradise (maybe 8 hours), practically twice as long as you. The times for the Singapore Zoo and the Gembira Loka Zoo are similar to you, although I admit that I visited Gembira Loka Zoo quickly because my friends were waiting for me.

Yes, certainly each individual has their own pace around zoos and it can vary significantly. On the last 3 occasions I was in San Diego, I spent two days at the zoo in 2011, two days again in 2017 and two days yet again in 2023 and so we are very similar in that regard. By comparison, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was a 5-hour visit each time for me. I post my times so that fellow zoo nerds can at least get a sense of my touring style, and they can add or delete hours accordingly. Plus, I get endless questions about how long it takes to see a certain zoo.

I remember spending 3 hours at El Paso Zoo (including a quick lunch) in 2010 and someone commented on my thread that they saw everything there and left after an hour. Each to their own. Someone else questioned why I spent 4 hours at GaiaZOO in 2019 as I think they had been there several times before and could quickly go around in far less time.

It's neat to see everyone's pace, but it can make it difficult to meet up with fellow zoo nerds. One person might want to stare at starlings while the other will be keen to walk away and search for mammals. The specialist zoo nerds are the most difficult, as I once toured Woodland Park Zoo with a buddy of mine and he was content to photograph the big cats and even skip large chunks of the zoo and that attitude hurt my brain. Travelling with @twilighter was brilliant as he and I obviously have an extremely similar pace, we both take hundreds of photos at each zoo, and also his views are eerily similar to mine. If I list a zoo in my top 10 then you can bet it will be on his list too! The major difference between Konstantin and I would be that he is not crazy about seeing a lot of aquariums while I enjoy interspersing those facilities with zoos on my big trips. He's also been a major species hunter at his 200 different zoos, but I became a bit of a species hunter myself in Southeast Asia.

 

[ralph]

Zoo/Aquarium #26: KL Bird Park (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
There's a Love Aviary with a sign for the following 7 species: Cockatiel, Budgerigar, Sun Conure, Green-cheeked Conure, Indian Ring-necked Parakeet, Alexandrine Parakeet and Monk Parakeet.


One sad thing about many zoos that Konstantin and I saw in Southeast Asia is the common occurrence of having owls on display while they are tied to branches. There's 7 in this photo, with the sign listing the following 6 species: Brown Wood Owl, Spotted Wood Owl, Barn Owl, Malay Eagle Owl, Buffy Fish Owl and Oriental Bay Owl. I wonder if these owls sit there all day, every single day, and are then put elsewhere at night? I'd much rather see a line of owl aviaries such as can be found at Penang Bird Park (also in Malaysia).

There were indeed 7 species signed in the 'love aviary' but I only saw the sun conure and ring-tailed parakeet

When I visited the bird park, I happened to pass by this 'enclosure' at the exact moment the owls were brought out. They do indeed spend the nights in off-show cages.
However, when being brought out, the owls (except for the barn owl, which was a new arrival) were actually not restrained and I saw two of them fly, although they didn't fly far.
So, technically they do have access to the entire aviary if they choose to do so. They are not forced to stay perched on their branches, although I imagine they feel most comfortable this way (especially the very noctural bay owls and barn owl). Sitting still all day is kinda what owls do.

 

[SeaOtterHQ]

Japan is one country that I'd love to visit, even though the animal exhibits in many zoos appear to be quite dodgy judging from the gallery. I'd be tempted to tour a whole pile of aquariums and I generally like anything Japanese (movies, food, culture) and so this one is a real possibility.

There's other destinations as well, such as the Czech. Republic, Poland and other European nations. The best, most historic, trend-setting zoos in the world are found in Europe and so that's likely my best option for a future Snowleopard Road Trip. I've got one other zoo trip tentatively drafted and it would see me bang off a whack of zoos in southern and eastern Germany, as I already did the western half in 2019. Besides all those German beauties, I could easily tag on a few outliers such as Vienna, Prague and Plzen. I'm leaning in that direction, but it wouldn't be until at least 2027 and who even knows what will happen in the future. Life is unpredictable.

I know this is a very belated reply and you might have made plans already, but these options seem most enticing to me if you wish to avoid the Americas for now and explore regions underrepresented on Zoochat:

1) Iberia. Bioparc and Oceanografic Valencia are probably the most well-known Spanish zoos on Zoochat, but there are many more facilities which need a Zoochat review from an experienced zoo nerd, such as the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno, Bioparc Fuengirola, Barcelona Aquarium, and Faunia. If we include overseas territories, there's also Loro Parque, Palma Aquarium, and Poema del Mar. Portugal is of course home to one of the continent's best aquariums - the Lisbon Oceanarium - as well as smaller but notable collections, such as the Vasco da Gama Aquarium.

2) Japan. Of course, @Chlidonias was there earlier this year, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on country's aquaria as well. The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in particular is increasingly recognized as one of the world's top aquaria, and Japan has a number of other interesting collections with many rarities, such as Aquamarine Fukushima, Toba Aquarium, Aqua World Oarai, and Tokyo SeaLife Park. Japan also has its fair share of endemic terrestrial species which are rarely seen elsewhere, such as the Japanese tanuki, the Japanese badger, the Japanese serow, the Japanese marten, and various herps.

3) Eastern Europe (minus Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, for safety reasons). @pachyderm pro is in the region right now and has already covered some hidden gems such as the Zagreb Zoo in Croatia, but Poland, Hungary, Romania, Greece, and the Balkans have a number of zoological facilities which rarely if ever get mentioned on Zoochat. While I would be surprised if many of them could rival the top Western European zoos such as Berlin or Chester, I'm sure there are numerous minor gems to be discovered. Poland and Hungary seem the most promising in terms of collections, with Wroclaw and Sosto both ranking highly in the eyes of locals.

Looking over this thread, I regret not nominating it for Thread of the Year, but I lazily assumed it missed the cutoff date, like Chli's Asia thread. It's great to hear that Southeast Asia has quite a few zoological gems and hosts so many rare species!