National Zoological Park

Zoo Negara or National Zoological Park is BIG- 110 acres with more than 5000 specimens, crosses over 450 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. We spent a solid 5 Saturday hours there, from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, and yet with last one hour "running with a brief glance" through the zoo, chased by exhaustion. The zoo was crowdy on the weekend, but yet to reach to maximum limit of 3000 visitors per day. Limiting the number of visitors is a good practice to spare some privacy for the animals.

Our photo at the main entrance of Zoo Negara.

Our first stop was the exhibit with giraffes. The giraffes were active, moving here and there in the exhibit. Then, we moved to the amphitheatre for the animal show. The main actors were two sealions, a "senior" parrot, a "young" hawk, and a "freshy" binturong.

 Our photo with giraffes. They were active and like to "march" in their exhibit.

Amphitheatre was full with visitors. Make sure that you come early to secure a nice seat. The theatre is nicely shaded.

After the show, we visited Tunku Abdul Rahman Aquarium with tropica fishes, the bee museum (run by private company from Malacca), and many species of animals before we took our lunch at The Wild Cafe. The cafe serves western food with reasonable price (around RM 8 per person). The aquarium was bigger than what we had expected, with good air conditioning, and most of the aquariums were well decorated and maintained. While for the bee museum, it looked more to a shop selling honey than a real museum.

Betty and Kelly at the entrance of the aquarium (upper left), inside the aquarium (upper right), the forest reserve beside the aquarium (lower left), and our photo just ourside the bee museum.

We continued our journey to Reptile House and Amphibian World, Savannah Walk with a really large area of grassland, with zebras, ostriches, sable antelopes, scimatar horned oryx, and white rhino, Ape Centre with Orang Utans, and Insect Zoo with mostly dead specimen.

Our photo at the entrance of Reptile House.

Aldabran Tortoises from Madagascar, the second largest tortoise in the world after the Galapagos Tortoise in Amphibian World (upper left). Camouflaged iguana in it's comfy Reptile House (lower left). Sable antelopes and scimatar horned oryx grazing on grassy plain in Savannah Walk (middle), white rhino with toy (upper right), and orang utan in Ape Centre.

Cute entrance to Insect Zoo (left) with the specimen of tarantula, the largest spider in the world from South America (middle). Butterfly garden in Insect Zoo was lack of butterfly as it was still under development. We hope we can get more butterflies in future.

The Mammal Kingdom is just beside the Insect Zoo, with the exhibits showcasing small and cute raccoons, capybara, sunda loris, and leopard cats, and fierce pumas, leopards, and hyenas. Along the road leading us back to the zoo's entrance, we had the opportunity to say hello to Bengal Tigers and African Lions before we made our final stop at Bird House.

An aftermeal nap in hot lazy afternoon is good. Capybara, the largest rodent from South America knew that well (upper left). A puma was grooming under the shadow of the trees (lower left). Unsettled Bengal Tiger was deciding whether to keep itself dry or to take a refreshing dip in the water.

Aviary in Bird House allowed us to get close to the birds. Used to the regular visits, the storks showed no heed to our appearance.

We were amazed by the biological control of mosquitoes applied by the zoo. We didn't get a single bite during our visit. The food and beverages, as well as the souvenirs available in the zoo were reasonably priced. All the pedestrian path were well shaded and covered by trees.

We really have to put both of our thumbs up to the management of the zoo, Malaysia Zoological Society for the excellent management and the designs of the caged habitats for the animals. It is in fact an excellent zoo if we put into consideration that the zoo is run by a non-governmental organization.

Vivid coloured electricity powered shutters offer quiet and confortable lift minus the air pollution. We need to pay RM 2 for the ride.

The Wild Cafe is one of the F & B stalls offers good and reasonably priced food (left). Souvenirs are available at the shops beside the amphitheatre and at the main entrance.

The lake that sits in the middle of the zoo dotted with free roaming storks, ibises, egrets, swans and pelicans. The birds are well fed and have no intention to leave their sweet home in the zoo.

Malaysia Zoological Society had prepared a great website for Zoo Negara with almost everything that you need to know. So please take a look. Btw, the map for the zoo is provided at the entrance with RM 2 per copy. If you wish to get a free copy, please download and print the map from here.



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