On the second day of our Bogor getaway, we headed to Taman Safari, since it’s supposed to be one of the main attractions in Bogor. We checked out of our hotel (R Hotel Rancamaya) before we went to the safari, as the room was a tad too small for us, and N had school the next day anyway. The drive up to the safari was pretty smooth, and N was super excited because he enjoyed our recent visit to Bali Safari Marine Park.
You actually drive your own car into the safari, since our daily driver drove us to Bogor from Jakarta in our own car, it was a lot easier logistically. On our way up to the safari, we stopped at one of the many little makeshift stalls along the road, and bought some carrots to feed the animals. Tip: Don’t worry if you missed the first few stalls. There are plenty of them all the way up to the safari! Also, buy more carrots. There is no such thing as too many carrots here. We regretted not buying more!
One of the stalls along the way to the safari
Why do you need so many carrots, you ask? To feed the animals, of course! Also, if you have younger children who can’t throw/aim very well, you’ll end up feeding the floor more than the animals, and you can’t exactly get out of the car to pick carrots up from the road. Apart from the animals in their “enclosures”, there are also many free-roaming herbivores that will come right up to your car to ask for food. We all had a good time trying to pitch the carrots directly into the mouths of the elephants, camels, and hippos, and I think C, yes C, had the most fun. N was really excited when our car went over the water, where the hippos were waiting with their mouths open, and tried repeatedly to throw the carrots into the hippos’ mouths.
Where the hippos hang out
Hungry hippo (and many carrots that didn’t make it into its mouth)
The babies were pretty fascinated as well, and Meimei would laugh when the animals stuck their tongues out to reach for food. There were animals on both sides of the car, but I think most of them were usually on the left, so the twins took turns to look out of that window with C.
Look! Elephant!
Camels
Hi, Deer!
Giraffes
Can you spot the owls?
Our car has a sunroof, so C and N stood up to get even closer to the animals. I was really nervous about them doing that, especially when C carried the babies to look out of the sunroof too, because I was afraid the animals would try to eat them, but C and the kids all had fun.
C and Didi sticking their heads out of the sunroof
When the car was about to enter the area with the carnivores, we saw a few signs reminding visitors to stay in their cars, and to keep the windows and doors shut. The animals were able to walk around freely, but were generally quite chill. I think the highlight for N was seeing tigers lounging around, right next to our car. The tigers looked well-fed and happy, which probably explains why they seemed so relaxed and calm, despite the numerous cars driving past them. There are rangers on standby in jeeps around, probably to ensure that no one tries to get out of the car or do something silly like that. *looks at C*
Some of the tigers
On our way out of the safari, we saw zebras and deer walking in between the cars, and many visitors wound down their windows to offer carrots and bananas to them. Such a pity that we had run out of both items much earlier, and could only look at the animals walking past. There were also visitors riding on elephants walking past the cars, and if you gave the elephants money, they would take the notes with their trunks, and hand them to their trainers seated on them. Our driver stuck his hand out of the window with some money, and N was so excited when the elephant grabbed it, then after it handed the money to its trainer, it brushed its trunk against our window, leaving some mucus/saliva on it. So gross to me, but so amusing to N.
Zebra looking for food
Elephants looking for money
We saw some old-school funfair rides as we were leaving, but we didn’t stop to check them out, as we were hungry by then. Taman Safari Bogor is apparently run by the same folks as Bali Safari Marine Park, but I think we prefer this safari in Bogor. We’ve also been to Safari World Bangkok, and I think that this has been the best safari out of the three that we’ve visited so far. We’ll definitely go back to Taman Safari Bogor one day, but with a lot more carrots and bananas!
Taman Safari Indonesia Cisarua – Bogor Jalan Raya Puncak No. 601, Cisarua 16750, Bogor Phone: +62 251- 8250000 Email: info@tamansafari.net Website: https://bogor.tamansafari.com
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