Bali Safari Park

Took the little tacker to one of Bali’s many big tourist attractions today. Of course she loved it and surprisingly so did I! Mr T stayed at the villa having a rest day so it was just the two of us. A girl’s day out you might call it.

The main attraction of this park is a ‘safari tour’ through the grounds, getting up close and personal with the inhabitants. The bus is fully enclosed (and air-conditioned which is a pleasant bonus) so no fear of being eaten by a lion. First on the journey is the collection of Indonesian animals, followed by the Indian and then finally the African animals. Elephants, crocs, lions, zebras, tigers, giraffes etc. All the usual zoo fare but still pretty exciting for a 4 year old. She was extra chuffed when the bus stopped and there was a zebra’s butt right outside her window.

Those things still amaze me… zebras, not butts. The stripes are such high contrast and so intricately patterned it doesn’t seem real. Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned about Z’s – no two zebra’s stripes are the same, much like our fingerprints, and apparently this is how a baby finds its mother in a crowd. The pattern of their mum is imprinted into their memory from birth.

Following on from our little bus trip we headed to the elephants. We watched a mother and baby for a little while as other tourists fed them carrots. I didn’t ask IJ if she wanted to have a go, just assumed she would be too scared but she surprised me and asked if she could. Well, $3 for a bunch of carrots, I thought ok, who cares if I end up feeding the whole bunch to the elephant while she cowers behind me? But she didn’t. She walked straight up to it with her arm outstretched and fed it one carrot at a time. I stood quietly beside her and clicked away with the camera. What a proud parenting moment it was. My child can feed an elephant!

Next stop was to feed ourselves while two very lazy lions napped just outside the restaurant window. Tis not the cheapest place to eat in Bali but I still can’t complain about an $8 club sandwich. A zoo in Aus would likely charge twice that.

The afternoon was spent at what I think is a genius addition to the place – a water park. Small in the grand scheme of things but with slides, water jets and all that jazz - it was the perfect end to the day.

There are also several animal shows and traditional dances performed at different times throughout the day. We caught the Animal Variety show in the morning, a short, sharp and super cute little performance that starred cats, dogs, guinea pigs and orangutans to name a few.

The combination of seeing the majority of the park in the bus and then relaxing in the water afterward saved us from the usual cries of ‘my legs are hurting Mum’ and ‘I’m too hot to walk any further’.

Our little day out was a big success!