Group of 6 myself, wife and our two children one 3 years old the other 1 year old plus a couple of Bali virgins in my mother and her partner, flew from Tassie to Melbourne stayed overnight at formulae 1 airport hotel. Flew Garuda next day flight left on time staff great on the trip asking if there was anything we needed had bassinet for our 1 year old and we all loved the new on board entertainment screens with the flight info, games and a large list of new release movies, flight even arrived a little early.
Transfers had been arranged when booking Mara River but for some reason only one small van to pick up 2 people?? Needless to say 6 of us and bags were not going to fit had to get a taxi to help take us as well.A bumpy 1 hour trip to Safari Park due to the roadworks the hotel ended up paying for taxi after a bit of a discussion with front desk staff.
We all stayed in a Kifaru room, nice and roomy for the six of us with an aircon unit in the sitting room and in each bedroom. Breakfast was great pancakes, eggs, cereal, real bacon, sausages, hash browns, pastries and staff were fantastic with the children showing them the lions and giving them treats etc. What a difference the Safari Park is in the early morning, at breakfast the lions were running around playing with each other, the white tiger was right up walking in front of the glass windows with our 3 year old walking along the windows beside him we took the first safari journey of the day all the animals were out and eating food that had just been put out for them last time we went on a day trip and hardly saw an animal as they were all sleeping in the heat of the day.
We ate at the Tsavo restaurant for our meals, yes a little pricey but all meals we had were great and desserts were fantastic. On our second night we did the night safari where you feed carrots to the zebras and feed the lions. The guide puts a small piece of chicken on a stick and pokes it out the window grill the lion then jumps up on the van and eats it we made sure the kids kept their arms in and didn't become satay sticks for the lion. When we got back to the restaurant the staff had a 24 year old elephant out the front that you could touch and have your photo taken with. We checked out at 12:00 and using our arranged driver made our way to Kuta.
JBR 2 to come Kuta and the Bali Garden Hotel.