Taman Safari

If you had come to Indonesia already, you will probably have noticed that the authority doesn’t always take care of their facilities very well. The maintenance of public area is restricted to the minimum. Not to talk about public transport (even that some improvement now in Jakarta with their Busway project). If I say that, is because I would like to congratulate the management of the Taman Safari Bogor and the nice works of all the staff in this park. This is everything but not what I just described above. The maintenance of the Safari Park is done regularly. The place is clean and the animals “seem” to be well treated. This is really a pleasure to see this kind of performance achieved in such hard condition.

The safari is a nice place for the nature lover and also for the children. You will find plenty of activities for them in the main park. First, the safari itself offers a really nice background and landscape with waterfall, wonderful trees and small ills. Next, they have a huge park including a mini-zoo and possibility to take pictures of yourself with wild animals such tiger or leopard. Additionally, they also have a swimming pool, reptile exhibition and plenty of others area with activities for the children. I talk more in detail about it in the activities section.

Getting There

Taman Safari Bogor is situated just before Puncak summit. If you had read the article about Cipanas, you know already what Puncak is about. Biggest week-end spot for jakartan’s people. So, if you planning to get there during the week-end, don’t do it Friday evening just after working hours. The traffic is horrible.

If you own a car, you will definitely get there by yourself. If not, you can rent it from Jakarta. I advise you to rent a car with driver include. It is not so expensive and much safer if you use a good travel agency. Don’t drive by yourself if it’s your first time in Indonesia. You will understand why soon enough.

You can also get there by taxi. It shouldn’t cost you more than 200’000 Rp. (around 20 USD). But check it, as the price change regularly. Only take safe reputation taxi as Blue Bird (for more information, call 794-1234). Of course, you will have to think of a solution to come back to Jakarta. Actually you should be able to find taxi in the main road.

The cheapest way, is to use the train or public bus.

By train from any station in Jakarta to Bogor and then you will have to change with bus transport to puncak. This is easy and quiet safe as you are already out of Jakarta.

By bus from Rambutan Terminal in Jakarta. The problem is you will have to take a taxi to reach the Terminal in South Jakarta. Unless you want to use public transport in Jakarta as well…. Remember safety and complication.

Once you got there, you will forget about you hard trip. The temperature is agreeable as the safari is not so far from the Puncak top (1600 m). And most importantly, it is situated far enough from the main road. So, no traffic, no pollution and if you like some nice possibility to stay here for the night.

Accommodation

If you like, you can stay anywhere close to the main road few kilometers from the safari, where the traffic is dense and the morning very loud.

Or you just can stay in the safari facilities. They offer three possibilities: the hotel, the caravan and the camping. I personally like the caravan. The concept is quiet original and it is located in a wonderful natural environment. And still close to the hotel facilities such as the swimming pool or the Jacuzzi which is very agreeable at night in this wheatear condition. For the camping, you will have to be a minimum of 6 people. I never tried, but I will.

If you are planning to get there during the week-end, you will have to make reservation at least a week before. Should be enough. You can find all the necessary information in their wonderful website : http://www.tamansafari.com/. Or just call the hotel at this number : 0251 250 000.

Activities

Taman safari offers such possibilities for divertissement that you could easy stay here for 2-3 days without getting bored.

You can drive your own car in the safari during the day. However, if you want to try the new attraction available in the park (and you should) you will have to use the bus park. I’m talking about the Night Safari. This is a great experience and it had nothing to do with the day trip. This is totally new experiment. You will discover many aspect of the wild life you won’t see during the day. I really recommend doing both.

When you finish with the safari, you just reach the main park, which have plenty of activities for children. In the right side, the main entrance to the mini-zoo, where you can take pictures with different wild animals as tiger or baby orangutan. Many different animals in the babies’ version lives here in captivity.

Entertainments such as Russian mountain, car crash, phantom house, etc… are available for children. Also possibilities to ride elephants or Camel.

The park offers also some nice shows with the animals. Wild Wild West, Tigers ……, Elephants playing basketball, dolphins show, dogs show, etc….

If you prefer real nature, you can drive (or walk) to the extremity of the park to see wonderful Waterfall. Or try the safari trek. This is a good way to visit it and have the time to take nice photos.

If you stay in the hotel, you can reserve the Jacuzzi for the evening; it is very nice after a long day trekking in the safari. They charge around 50’000 Rp (5USD) per half hour. In theory, you can rent the Jacuzzi only until 9 pm. But the staffs are very nice and open mind (as always in Indonesia). So you can easily stay until 11 pm. drinking beers and switching between the Jacuzzi and swimming pool all the night long.


Wild Life

Crocodile, Hippopotamus, Orangutan, monkeys, bear, lion, white tiger and giraffe are only a few samples of wild life you will find in the safari. The official website of Taman safari have a wonderful presentation of most species, including superb photos and videos.

In the Zoo, you will find the famous Dragon of Komodo, some reptiles house, bird of prey and much more… I remember have seen a Polar Bear few years ago. Yes, you read it correctly, a polar bear. I don’t think the climate is really appropriate for this kind of animals. I have to admit to feel pity for this miserable bear. But it seems to have solved all of his problems. The last times, I have been there it was not here anymore. I apologize if I shock any of our lector but it is the true.

For the bird’s amateur, you have an aviary with plenty of species just near the mini-zoo. However, this is at your own risk (as clearly describe in the front door) regarding the recent event with the Bird flue. When I see how they manage the rest of the park, I personally believe it to be safe.

Another very interesting and curious animal is the Babirusa. It is a very rare species and you can find it in is natural environment only in Sulawesi Island, the Togian, Sula islands, and Buru island in the Moluccas (Indonesia). Excessive hunting and habitat loss have caused a substantial decline in babirusa populations, despite longstanding legal protections. The wild population is estimated at about 4000 individuals, spread across several islands. In addition to humans, they are preyed upon by feral and domestic dogs.

Food

In the park, they have a lot of small restaurant serving principally Indonesian food. Most of them are fast food. The quality is just ok.

In the hotel restaurant. Nice outdoor atmosphere just near the swimming pool. Only few Indonesian food selection on the menu, but good taste. You should try the “sate Rusa”. I could have put this name in the wild life section as well, because the Rusa is a kind of small dear and the park seems to have plenty of them. But it is also a very good meat. Actually they serve it in barbecue in the Park restaurant and also in the hotel restaurant. It is excellent and you won’t find it anywhere else in Jakarta.