Bukit Gambang Resort Part 2

The next day, we woke up with much anticipation as today we would be visiting the Safari Park.  Knowing that this would be another energy draining day, we filled our stomach with the complimentary buffet breakfast at Caribbean Coffee House.   The park only opens at 10am, so we have a lot of time to indulge in Nasi Lemak, porridge, toast bread, cakes, fruits and other typical Malaysian food.

The Safari park covers a total of 138 acres of land compared to 45.8 acres for the Water park.  The tram brought us to the park lobby where we redeemed our entrance tickets and bought the park map for RM1.  Henceforth, we walked towards Simba Hill where we saw their prized collection - the white lions.  It's the one thing that all visitors must not miss.

Next, we visited the Little Farm House.  Children had fun feeding the rabbits, goats and birds.  Of course, we needed to purchase the animal feed (which is basically carrot slices) at RM5 per cup.

Our next destination was the Forest Land.   In there, you will be surrounded by butterflies, insects, snakes, turtle, birds and even lizards!!!   

But we also had lots of fun feeding the bears, deer and lemur  This was our first time feeding the bears.  Although we couldn’t do it up-close, seeing the bear stand up and lurching forward for the food were good enough for us to keep feeding them.  Feeding the deer was another humorous event!  We have done so in the past but there were always a fence between us.  This time, we entered into their territory and fed them directly.  The deer were so enthusiastic (or maybe they were really hungry!!!).  The photos below showed it all.  They even licked Erwyn!!! Does Erwyn taste like food?  I’m not so sure about that.  But that definitely reminds me of our previous Australia trip to Cavershem Park whereby the kangaroos kissed Erwyn non-stop.  Oh boy oh boy, looks like my boy is a charm.  Even animals are attracted to him.   

The lemur was a cutie.  It was very shy, too.  It doesn’t allow us to touch it but I managed to steal a moment when it was busy eating. 

All the walking had definitely worn us out and we stopped for lunch and tea break whenever we had a chance.  However, the kiosk and the restaurant do not have much variety of food as compared to the Water Park.  Not to mention everything is marked up here. 

Since little feet were tired, we took the tram to visit the Wild Savannah.  This area is divided into 3 zones, i.e. Afraican Savannah, Tropical Rainforest and Australian Outback.  The tram stopped from time to time at various spots for us to watch the animals up close.  Each tram is guided by a park ranger, who acts as a tour guide during the ride.

Land of Predators was the last place we visited.  That’s where we rode on a 30-year-old camel.  This was Erwyn and my first time riding on a camel; but Elyse did so 2 years ago when we visited A Famosa.  Camel riding reminded me of my late mother-in-law.  She tried it once when she visited Israel and she lamented that she was so scared till she felt she was about to die.  A bonus for Erwyn as he was given a chance to feed the llama although it was not meant to be.  It was feeding time and the park rangers graciously gave a few loaf of bread to Erwyn to feed the llama, without any charges on the parents!!!  hehehe…

There were 5 shows staged, namely Multi-animal Show, Bird Show, Predator Show, African Yabara Fire Show and the Tarzan Adventure.  The last two were performed in the evening. 

Few months ago when we visited Zoo Negara we thought the show was bad; shame to say that the shows here were worse!  Most of the time, the animals just walked out from their enclosed, ate the food, and headed back to their familiar ground again.  Perhaps the only bonus from the Predator Show was that the tiger preferred to entertain us with his art of defecating rather than eating the chickens hanging around.

Erwyn enjoyed the Bird’s show although it was average.  I guess that was the result of his sweet memory when Daddy brought him to Malacca Zoo.  He took a photo with a parrot on his shoulder at Malacca Zoo.  That was a huge step for my boy.  Perhaps the only thing that electrifies me at the bird show was holding the eagle.  Both kids wanted to do that but the personnel said the eagle was too heavy for them.  Hence, he suggested mommy.  I was exhilarated coz I, too, wanted to hold the eagle.  But it wouldn’t be nice to grab that golden opportunity from my children.  Now with peace of mind, I proudly hold the eager and even brought it nearer to me for picture taking.  This was definitely another highlight of this trip.

We only managed to have an hour break to go back to our room to freshen up before heading back to the park for dinner.   We expected to be welcomed by a clean room but it was not so.  The night before, we moved the bed nearer to the fan as the air-cond was not very cold.  To our horror, we found lots of rubbish under the bed.  Hubby picked up the rubbish and threw them in the bin.  But the floor was still very dusty.  When we returned from the park, the room was still the same.  One of the rubbish bins was cleared but the house-keeping did not replace the plastic bag.  They refilled the complimentary coffee and tea sachets but everything else remained the same.  We called up the management and made a complained.  Since we were in a hurry, we only requested the house-keeping to sweep the floor and clear the other bin.  The rest… we just bear with it for another night.

One of the highlights in this place is dining with the white lions at Simba Hill Gourmet Hall.  We made our way there as the price is average but the additional benefit is certainly alluring.                                                       

After dinner, we went back to Safari Park for the nocturnal animals.  The Night Jungle Square was a let down.  I thought it would be an eye-opener for the kids since they have never been to a night Safari. 

The only show that was worth watching was the Tarzan Adventure, a stunt performance, in the evening.  But this show involved some effect (loud sound) that may frighten little children.  My kids were fine though.
 
Finally, we retreated to our room.  Exhausted, we called it a night after a long day. 

The next morning, we had our breakfast and then headed to the swimming pool.  We failed to explore some outdoor fun such as flying fox, sky trail or driving the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) as time was running out.  Upon check-out, we bid farewell to this place but carried lots of sweet memories back home with us.

Thank you, hubby, for this family getaway.  Please spoil me with more of these holidays… yes, greedy me.