We arrived home from Bali last Saturday. It was my 6th trip and went with my Mum, sister, my 1 year old son, 11 year old niece and 6 year old nephew. We stayed at the Ramayana which was OK. Wouldn't rave about it but it's in a good location.
I'm just going to do JBR's on areas of interest. So here goes about the Safari Park.
We were picked up from the hotel at 8am and set off for the Safari Park. It takes about an hour to get there from Kuta...and would you believe bub fell asleep on my lap as we were pulling into the Safari Park driveway. That would be right. So he was woken up as we set the pram up and paid. The price to get in was 232,500RP for adults and kids. We didn't have to pay for bub.
We first went on a bus that takes you into the grounds and from there you can go off to do your thing. We saw some fish to begin with that didn't interest any of us. Walked up a bit further and saw some leopards? Maybe cheetahs? Again not very exciting.
We kept on walking and came to a small shack that sold ice-creams, so we all got one. It was only early but my god it was hot already.
A bit further up Mum, sister, niece and nephew went on an elephant ride. I didn't go as I went on one in Thailand and couldn't wait to get off the darn thing. HATED it. They paid 100,000RP each and was meant to go for 15 minutes. Quickest 15 minutes of my life...and when they returned they were rather disappointed. While I was waiting I took bub over to see some elephants. One rudely put it's nose right up to his face which in turn made him hate elephants also. Poor kid, we had a photo taken and he's crying!
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We walked around some more and saw the white tigers, but no animals were ready yet for you to have your photo taken with them.
I think we then went down for the Safari tour. We hopped on a big truck thing that takes you through all the animal areas. A tour guide tells you all about the animals and they stop the truck for photos. Photos turned out really crap though as they were taken through the glass windows.
We then went back to the lions and had our photos done. The lion was very dopey - I think it was drugged. This was the main reason I wanted to go to the Safari Park. I just love lions and tigers.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s124/Tatecoby/bali2008pointshoot057editweb.jpg
We then found a baby tiger to have our photo with. The thing barely moved. Poor little thing, it was just gorgeous, so soft. The guy looking after the tiger heard me say 'I think it's drugged' and he quickly said 'No No Not drugged, just had milk.' Hrmm, interesting.
Here's my beautiful niece getting nice and close!
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We had lunch in a restaurant that overlooks the lions area. The food was nice although expensive for Bali. A funny thing my nephew said...We were discussing what the green stuff might be that they brought out with the bread (possibly pesto?) Right next to the window he was at was a fishpond. He then tells us 'I think the green stuff is out of the fishpond' Nice thanks! haha.
We then went down to the water park to cool off as we couldn't find the orangutang. It was really well set out and the kids loved it. My niece also roped us into going on some of the rides. Things I haven't been on since I was a teenager! So after a swim and rides we thought we would have another go at finding the baby orangutang. Bub fell asleep in the pram which was nice. On the way there some zoo keepers were riding some elephants to which they stopped for us to get photos. Well one of the elephants KICKED my nephew! Poor kid - now he also hates elephants.
We then found the orangutang, and I'm glad we did. She was gorgeous. Her name was Effie and although it freaked me with it's human like hands, I still loved her. Bub was still asleep, but I don't think he would have liked it anyway.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s124/Tatecoby/IMG_0881editweb.jpg
That pretty much ended our day after we stopped for a drink to let bub have a longer sleep.
Mum bought bub's birthday present from there, a beautiful soft Tiger floor rug/mat. I love it! It was 325,000RP.
After leaving we went to a department store and a few other shops and finally got back to the hotel at about 7pm. What a LONG day that was. But worth it :) The Safari Park wasn't as good as I expected but was still a good day. There's a couple of gift shops in the park which sell a lot of stuffed toys etc, reasonably priced aswell.
More to come! Hope the photos work.