On the first day of 2009, Dan and I made an impromptu visit to the Zoo in Taiping (about 1 hour drive south). Before anyone plans to go there keep one thing in mind - “expect nothing and you’ll gain everything; expect something and you’ll gain nothing”.
Taiping Zoo Map
The zoo was overly crowed for a public holiday. The queue for tram was long while there was a lack of manpower. An over heated radiator made it all worse for the tram driver. So instead of queuing, we decided to take a walk instead. It took us 2 hours to walk a full circle (inclusive of a brief break for drinks and toilet, taking pictures and loads of chit chat). But I must say, if the zoo has a little more money to spare, they should build a pedestrian path as we won’t have to stop and shove ourselves to the side each and every time a tram passes by - or at least fix the potholes! Yup, you heard me right, even there are potholes in the zoo!
Taiping Zoo Train Over Heats
Anyway while walking, we noticed that most of the displays had undergone renovation with glass panels installed. However taking pictures proved quite difficult as more often than not, we capture our refection image instead. But there are a few pictures that turned out nice like the picture below
A pair of storks in their nest on a tree
The good thing about some of these animals do not need a 360 cage (a.k.a. box cage) and the open concept allows birds from the wild to drop by and feast on some free meals like this bird below.
Bird walking on lily leaves
But the disadvantage of wild animals being locked up in a cage is that most of the them here are over fed, had zero exercise and lonely. I can’t help but feel sorry for some of these animals that are alone. Some are lucky enough to have at least a partner for companion.
Over fed crocodile
He looks stuck
But I guess with meals being served on a daily basis (most carnivores can live without meals for days if not weeks) does help the animals here put on the extra pounds FAST. Like these chickens awaiting to be released into the crocodile pen - it does look like it is a little too much.
Crocodile Feed
Now, advertisements can be informative and at the same time influential. There is this particular color pencil company which uses macaw as it’s mascot. So there was this particular kid which pointed at the macaw and squeal “Mommie, mommie, look! COLOR PENCIL!!!” When the boy said that, I was scratching my head wondering why on earth the macaw is mistaken for a color pencil. If the macaw is mistaken for a parrot, its understandable - but color pencil?? As the poor mother tried so hard to explain to the child that the animal perched on the tree is NOT a color pencil, I realized that the boy had misinterpreted the advertisement that has been repeatedly played on our television for so many years…
This is a Macaw, not Parrot, nor color pencil
Anyway, the two carnivores (the lion and the tiger) was only heard but not seen as both animals were locked up in their cages instead of being placed in their pen. At least we saw Marty and Melman in the African themed pen but only saw Gloria’s glorious butt in the pool!
Giraffe and Zebra
I wonder which animation was it featured in
After our long walk, we headed BACK to the entrance to catch a tram ride (the crowd was getting less as the sky grew darker). The tram ride wasn’t fun as the driver spoke gibberish (I think the faulty speakers are to be blames), barely made any stops and the potholes just made it all bumpier. It was almost like a bumping drive through! But it didn’t bother us so much as we got on the ride just to rest our legs! And once we got out of the zoo and into our car, it rained cats and dogs!
In total we spent RM34 ( approx USD10) for 2 adult tickets (RM12 each) and the remainder on snacks and drinks bought inside the zoo.
