In Reply to: Anyone stayed at the Safari Lodge? posted by balivickinan on Tuesday, 9. September 2008 at 11:33 Bali Time:
We stayed in a Twiga Suite lat month.
It was fantastic
from my JBR ......
We arrived at the gates to Bali Safari &Marine Park. The car parking area was full. We told the attendants we were booked into the Mara Lodge and a staff member from the Lodge escorted us to reception. We checked in and were shown to our room, Twiga Suite 210, last room with sensational views across the savannah. The view is uninterrupted. The room is round with the bed in the centre of the room facing the park. You can lie in bed and watch the animals and explorer vehicles pass by. A moat separates the animals from the rooms. We immediately walked out on to the balcony to see a rhinoceros straight out front. There were frolicking zebras, wilderbeast and antelopes. Seven Sumatran elephants came on to the savannah with their keepers and waded through our moat.
At reception I confirmed our booking in the Tsavo restaurant, which I had booked via my email communications with the manager but was told the restaurant had a private function. They then politely suggested it would be ok for us to choose a table and they would uphold our booking. We reserved a table in front, up along the glass where the lions were lounging. Little did we realise there would be a full on Lion sex show.
We were also offered seats at the Premier of Hanuman the Hero. The show was held in an auditorium with a stage about 25 metres wide and within the Safari Park. It included a team of ducks (a couple of the naughty ones dashed into the water), 7 elephants, many dancers, monkeys, chooks and roaring flames, possibly a cast of 60. The elephants were dueling, in ‘anger' one kicked a couple of rocks. The performance was really fantastic. So much was happening, we found it hard to catch all that was coming and going. The show will be held each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from August 21 to October 16 from 6pm.
Tsavo restaurant was set up with a buffet and the manager of the show invited us to join the special guests. A chef from the Singapore zoo has been sharing recipes with the park chef and he will do the same in the Singapore zoo soon. There were tv cameras and lots of interviews with guests. Bottle of Wine of the Gods shiraz, was 500,000rp and small Bintangs 30,000rp (imported beers 60,000rp). The toilets and cocktail bar has a lion in a separate enclosure immediately outside the glass windows and boy could she roar (think she wanted a turn with the randy lion). The lion in the main area was particularly frisky and mounted a female many times whilst we were in the restaurant. Apparently when he is in the mood he will fulfill his need up to 30 times a day. Honeymooning lion!
A park ranger wandered through the restaurant with a semi automatic rifle/machine gun thingy, which we felt was ‘overkill'. Later we found she was part of the dancing troupe. There are security guards positioned all through the park and staff on motor bikes surrounding the exterior.
We were asked to fill out comments sheets on show then restaurant, twice. We were also given excellent show bag.
We walked back along the raised boardwalk from restaurant to our suite to the sounds of the local Mosque.
(Trevors comments on the day ..... started off good and got better)
Our beds were turned back, slippers beside bed, curtains drawn and face washers changed.
It feels like dreamtime. What a day!!!!
We watched the animals from our balcony first thing in the morning then walked to the infinity pool area, to check it out. Breakfast was delicious and most substantial. The lions were released from their overnight area and we found Ms Lion was the friskier one and waved her scent past Mr Lion repeatedly until he succumbed to her temptation and mounted her. She made many demands for the duration of our leisurely breakfast.
We entered the park just after 9am and waited for the first explorer vehicle to take us through the park. There is a large ‘concrete' elephant as you walk towards tigers and elephants. I lay on the ground under the slighty raised foot of the elephant for a photo opportunity. Trevor took a couple of photos and bumped his head on the elephants belly. He cursed and a security guard came running towards me, thinking I had fallen and hurt myself. Whoopsies!
Many animals were still grazing on their morning food. Keepers were cleaning areas and the park seemed to be waking. We checked out the baby tigers and naughty orangutan, she seemed sick of her duties and gently bit a few holders. She was a good girl for me. We watched the bird show, with macaws, cockies and eagles. I bought a few items at the park shop and received 15% as a Lodge guest. We headed back to our room by 11.30 to pack then enjoy foot massages each. The Mara Lodge charged us 190,000rp to drive us back to Legian.
I have uploaded lots of photos on to Web shots. Search for a member, tinagalebali