My Ramblings

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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Let's Go To The Zoo

Remember the KFC song ? 


Let's go to the zoo.. there's lot's of things to do..
And the food is finger licking good.
There's elephants, tigers, big sunny bear
Birds and tigers, without a care

or so .. that's as much as I remember of the KFC song but alas.. KFC closed shop and is no longer there.

We live close to the zoo and Amber always ask why we don't go to the zoo. Always.  The best she gets is the faded plastic model elephant on the gates of the zoo.

Quite shameful too, I must say. Living so close to the zoo and not having been there before. I was always afraid of being disappointed with the lacklustre animals, facilities and service.

I was wrong. The Zoo Negara is much better than I had expected although it still has many rooms for improvement such as better signages and directions. Our Zoo Negara is funded by collections from visitors and donations and every little bit of our contribution helps. 

I promised Amber a trip to the zoo for good behaviour and for BETTER behaviour, her good friend, Ashley cheh cheh will come along. Throughout the whole week, we've been bribing and threatening her if she does this, this and that.. she gets to go to the zoo, if she's extra nice, she'll get to go with Ashley. We parents are soooo good and knows when and how to carrot her :)

So, on a bright and early morning, we met Barbara and her family at the zoo. Amber's good friend and mei-mei, Sharon came along too. The more the merrier.  Luck was on our side, weather was cooling and it only poured cats and dogs when we reached home.

The kids, they just couldn't wait to go to the ZOO

Our first stop was giraffes and elephants. I kinda pity the elephant, held in captivity for our human's viewing pleasure but the kids were awed. I put myself in their little foot and thought ... isn't is SO SO AMAZING to see a life giraffe and elephant ? At such close proximity ? I mean.. the zoo to me, is just an outing out with the kids but for the kids, it's more than outing, it's getting up,close and personal with animals they see on tv, the animals they learn to write and spell in school and the animals they were asked to color. I mean..  this is it. staring at a very tall Giraffe :

 Amber was anticipating the giraffes and elephant but Ashley couldn't wait to see flamingos. The moment she entered zoo, she was looking for flamingos, frantically. She asked me for the map searched for flamingos. 
The zoo had quite a collection of storks though and here's one :
 and some pelicans
 but no flamingos ! Ashley didn't complain much, she too, was awed by so many live animals
 Our 3 little princesses
 and getting up close and personal with the King of The Jungle. Majestic. Awesome !

I think this is a seladang.. the sign boards were not very visible or informative, and with 3 running kids, I can only guess the animals but not have time and read their literature, something I'd love to do.
 a tiny green frog.. very tiny, about the size of my thumb but looks magnified here.
 and a phython

 komodos - triple decker..hmmm.... i wonder why they like to stack each other up. Ain't it a bit heavy for the one below ??

and the giant tortoise getting a bite. See how she tip toes ? Hard work just to grab a bite !


We were in the Zoo by 9am and out by noon. We skipped a few sections, namely the monkeys, orangutan, gorillas, camels and also the savannah. The kids were already hungry and screaming for McDonalds and so were the adults. After many hours of walking, I just wanted Coke. Too bad KFC closed down, we went to McDonalds, which is just up the road from Zoo.
Luck was on our side, the weather was perfect for a day out to the Zoo. It rained cats and dogs only when we reached home.

Zoo Negara, we'll be back. I heard there's a multiple entry pass for kids and I must check that out.