Taman Safari Bogor Indonesia - Daytrip with Children - Part 1

We were excited when my mum wanted to arrange for a day trip to the Taman Safari, which was about a 3 hours drive from where we live in Jakarta. Oscar was particularly excited about the trip because it's been his desire to go to the zoo ever since he started learning about all the animals.

We decided to go on a weekday because my sister experienced during the weekends and it can get very crowded and the traffic can become really hectic. My mum proceeded to book the van by the blue bird which they charge on a full day basis, with a driver. Since it was my mum who booked, I can't exactly tell how much it costs but think it's around Rp 2,000,000 which was about SGD 200 for a full day trip with the van and driver. The van can fit 14 people and we had about 10 people on the car, including 2 children.

Getting ready to go for the exciting family day trip

We headed from home at 8 in the morning and traffic was very smooth. It was a good start to the day. 

On the way to reaching the Safari, there are plenty of stalls on the side of the street selling banana and carrots. We bought 20 stacks of 5 carrots (20x5) for about Rp 50,000 (about SGD 5) and the banana costs about Rp 30,000 (SGD 3) for the animals later. We negotiated the price a bit since they were offering higher before.

On our way reaching the premise entrance

This is what we bought - carrots and bananas for the animals later

Finally, after about a 2.5 hours drive, we reached the Safari at about 10 plus. We bought the total package which includes not only the safari area but also the zoo premise where we can drop off from the car, and have a walk in the area.

One tip is if you are bringing an external driver, do purchase the tickets at the front gate near the toilet before going in as they would exclude the cost of the driver.

They also differentiate the price between local and tourists so we get the better deal since we are locals. Children under 5 gets to enter for free.

This is only the safari area, excluding the roam around zoo walkpath

If you have an external driver, please buy tickets NOT at this entrance as they will include the cost of the driver too

The safari area is huge and highly recommended in my opinion.

We've been to the safari area in Thailand where we have to take a public bus and sadly are unable to get an experience feeding the animals right on site. I think being able to do that adds to the experience for the kids themselves.

The first animal that we see on sight was the elephants.

The kids (and adults too) were getting too excited by now and we started throwing bananas from the van to feed the elephants.

There were a lot of elephants maybe about 20 of them and most of them were Sumatran elephants. Ok don't ask me how I know them, the guide told us afterwards :)

Elephants

The view from our van

Next, we encountered the Tapir and Hippo from the left and right view from our van.

Tapir

Hippo

Next, we encountered upon a camel!!!

I was pretty surprised when I saw them because I thought all along camel only exists in deserts?? And the premise area is very cooling contrary. Hmm, ok time to brush up my knowledge on animal habitats.

The kids also get enclosed to feed the carrots to the camel right from the van.

Camel

Feeding carrots

Hello guys!

We also encountered bull with a huge "Tanduk" on their head which can smash right into the glass window. Right when we opened our glass window, they started charging their bull at us, perhaps asking for food. We got frightened indeed.

Bull Charge coming!!

Asking for some foodies

Over the next few turns, we encountered the bear, giraffe, zebra and some other animals that I have never seen before.

Bear

Giraffe

Zebra

The view from the bus for those who do not have their private car

Next, we started to enter the endanger zone where animals such as lion and tigers surface. Drivers are encouraged to lock their doors and windows and not to get off the vehicles unless you want to become their prey.

The lions are roaming around the premise while some are sleeping on a chilling afternoon.

Lions posing for the photograph

Lions roaming on the street

Tiger

Last but not least, we encountered the Orang Utan area where it is not much different from what we have in Singapore. Since it's one of the last few stops, we started throwing our bananas from the vans where they are delighted to eat so many food that we give to them.

Orang Utan

Alpaca

African Village

It took us about 50 min on the drive to finish getting around the safari area, feeding them and slowly appreciating their existence.

I'll continue in part 2 next when we get to the zoo and the shows by foot.