Jeremy seems to like animals and can name a fair few of them although he still needs to know what a badger is and what it does. And with him now able to be walk and talk and manage long trips and walking I took him to Jakarta Zoo or Ragunan Zoo which is about 30 minutes bus trip from our house.
The zoo opens nice and early which is useful as it gets too hot to wander around after 10am with a small child so we got up and left early.
The bus trip is part of the city wide Transjakarta and so 3,500 rupiah (18p) later and the whole bus to ourselves we arrived at the zoo. The bus was empty because it was travelling away from the city and on a Thursday morning in a working week, there wont be many people excited to see the monkeys and that's alright by me.
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| In the bus |
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| Empty |
The North Entrance is straight across from the bus station and so we wandered in, lured by the prices of 4,000 rupiah for an adult (20p) and half that for a child. However this being Jakarta, I was quickly introduced and forced into buying a Jakarta City card for 30,000 and then once I have protested enough over that and made the cashier squirm enough, I was charged 14,000 (75p) to get in. The benefits of being western.
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| Another Jakarta Card to have |
Still Jeremy got into the Zoo free as he was being carried and he is still 2'ish.
The Zoo is huge. I have written about it before and there was much that had changed but much still the same. It was a lot cleaner. There were a lot more signs in English. There were less people trying to sell me stuff inside the place. But there were still empty pens, run down areas and of course misleading signs. The signs for tigers and lions pointed in all directions except the one you needed to go in but it was OK.
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| The Zoo was empty as well |
Jeremy likes the freedom to run and play and jump and shout and things and so on seeing an Elephant was impressed to say it was big and whats that and then moved on. Giraffes didn't do much either. Seeing some fish made him happier. Then he asked to see monkeys.
Inside the zoo is a well designed and thought about Gorilla enclosure which you have to pay to see and it is worth it. what they don't tell you is that half the cages are empty and the Orangutans have moved to other places. However Jeremy was enthralled by the monkeys, gorillas, chimps and apes etc and was quite happy exploring the caves and walk ways inside it. With so few people there he could be as noisy as he wanted and was more than happy to make such noises.
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| The Gorilla was very impressive |
After an hour or more, he was lagging and I was sweating and struggling to find the Tigers but we did eventually and they were asleep in the shade so we gave up and headed back home. However, we will return as there is still much to see; Komodo Dragons, the birds, More big cats, Reptiles and snakes, bugs and things and Camels. I would have taken more pictures but looking after Jeremy sort of stopped that, a lot.
Since going to the Zoo, everyday the he is asking if we are are off on the bus and going to the zoo. Sea World is coming soon, that will be a great fun day for him.
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| Worn out in the taxi on the way home |
The Zoo online
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