We’re just getting back from Taman Safari, a wildlife park off Jakarta, near Puncak. We did the night safari and the day safari and a couple of shows in between, some of which got me depressed about how far we can push nature to ‘entertain’ us.
The Safari Malam (night safari) is thankfully just a Saturday night affair; busloads of people (us included) disturbing the peace of the night with spotlights on the animals, incessant commentary, and if that wasn’t enough, signing off with some firecrackers or gunshot sounds and ghouls for Halloween. The animal show after that was much, much worse. Making dogs do silly tricks on 2 legs is so last century and cringe-worthy! How that show delivers a message of “save our wildlife” I fail to see.
That said, our caravans for sleeping were simple, functional, the food at the restoran was ok – all local flavours (that’s good) and I got to eat some veggie nasi goreng for breakfast that put me in a very good mood for the day.
The daytime safari was miles better! We’d heard and read all about feeding the animals that walked up to the car, but the experience was extraordinary. Every animal has a beauty that has only a little to do with their looks, and a lot to do with their elegance and their place in the ecosystem. We loved every creature out there, fed loads of carrots and bananas (not to the big cats, naturally, coz we didn’t want to feed them our arms!) and captured a few adorable expressions! Look at these: