Family Trip To The National Zoo

It’s the start of the year-end holidays and we decided to visit the National Zoo. The National Zoo is 3 years older than I am and was opened on 14 November 1963 by Y.T.M. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, our first Prime Minister. The zoo received its one millionth visitor on 14 November 1966 just three years after its grand opening - Miss Juliana Chan, a 19 year old student was the millionth person to walk through the turnstiles of the zoo and was duly presented with a commemorative plaque and a free pass for one year. Since then, the zoo has been host to millions of visitors from all over the world.

Sara, Mummy and Sam

I remember when I was a wee little lad, the journey to the zoo was a long and winding journey that was free except for the petrol in your car. Today, it is a leisurely one-hour drive from Klang using the Kesas Highway and costs RM13 in toll (to and fro). The entrance fee is RM15 for adults and RM6 for children.

I really can’t remember how much has changed in the zoo from the time I visited it as a boy, but the excitement and look of amazement on the faces of children is still the same. However, today, I noticed that there are just as many monkeys OUTSIDE of the cages as there are IN them (if you know what I mean).

Our last visit to the zoo was about a year ago and I must say that there are many pleasant changes :

• The train trips are now more informational with each train having a trainee guide who would brief visitors on the interesting aspects of the animals and zoo as we trundled along.
• The multi animal show is still entertaining, with the addition of a new sea lion named Dawbi (if I heard the host pronounced his name correctly).
• The aquarium has received a nice new facelift.
• The zoo’s website looks great now with lots of information.
• Zoo Negara by Night is open on Saturday, Sunday and Malaysian Public Holidays from 9.00am – 10.30pm which must be really thrilling although we have not made a trip there at night.
• More food pitstops which is important to us.
• The toilets are cleaner and seem to be well maintained.
• Zoo Negara seems to be more brand conscious. They’ve started branding some souvenier items with their logo. More revenue can only mean a better zoo. I say “Yay” to that!.

Some things have not changed though :

• The smell of poo and wee is really overwhelming in some areas and my city kids need their emergency “hong eui” (minyak angin) handy when we go into these areas.
• The host of the multi-animal show still spoke only in Bahasa Malaysia although I noticed that they proclaim to be one of the more popular zoos in the world and I notice foreigners at EVERY animal show that I have attended. Surely the Zoo realizes this is a weak point.
• There are many animal shelters and walkways that could do with a major sprucing. I can’t blame the zoo for this though because I’m sure the zoo is not running with a fat budget.
• The main waiting area for the train ride needs a shelter really badly. I wonder why they don’t see it?
• I think they could help themselves a whole lot by including a small souvenier goodie pack for every visitor. Perhaps a button badge, bird whistle or stickers would make a great keepsake for the kids and help market themselves.

Sam and Sara have a couple of friends that they simply MUST visit every time they come to the Zoo. There’s Wizard and Hobbit, the 2 miniature ponies at the petting zoo, Ottie (we gave him that name), who lives in the otter enclosure, and Manja and Bud, the orangutan and aging (but lovable) sea lion at the multi animal show.

My favorite thing in Zoo Negara is the train ride. It was a busy weekend, and there were many school groups plus Petronas organized a function for hundreds so kids, so we could only go the train ride 3 times. Dang…

The other thing I really like about the zoo is it’s natural surroundings. After over 40 years of existence, the trees and foliage give you an almost jungle like feeling - somehow, very calming for me. Perhaps my inner self longs to go back to my hairy roots and live in the trees?

All in all, Zoo Negara is a great place to bring your family for a day-trip. A couple of pics follow below. Some are a bit grainy because I screen captured them from the videos I took.

Sara loves Hobbit, the miniature horsie

Wizard’s more affectionate though - likes to snuggle close to you

Manja - the orangutan at the multianimal show. People say I look a lot like her…

The new seal Dawbi. Really lovable fellow. He’s set to replace the aging Bart

Bart is the star of the animal show but he’s due for retirement pretty soon

Sam was really hoping the parrot wouldnt poop on him. I was hoping he would!

Sam and Sara always look forward to visiting Ottie.

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