Taman Safari Bogor is a wildlife adventure park, located roughly about 70 km away from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. If you are in Jakarta and tired of the indoor life and hot weather, then Taman Safari is a wonderful getaway for you. Not only, you get to enjoy the outdoor activities because of the cooler weather of the hilly areas of Bogor but also get to have a great Safari experience.
Getting there:
You can visit Taman Safari in your own car, or you could even rent a car, if not, then train from Jakarta to Bogor is another option. When you reach Taman Safari, you can take Safari tour train and they can give you a ride through the park. Just beware of the traffic, if you are coming from Jakarta, it should take you about 2 hours, but if there’s heavy traffic, the 2 hours can be stretched to around 3-4 hours. Best is to leave at around 8 a.m. in the morning.
Things to do:
When you reach near the park, you would see many stalls selling bunches of carrots and bananas for the animals to feed. That shouldn’t cost you more than IDR 40-50,000 for 6-7 bunches, so look for the next stall, if they try to charge you more and get the best deal. Also, don’t forget to get the grilled corn on the cob. Since, you won’t be able to get the food until you pass the drive through animal park area.
When you enter the park, you buy the tickets at the ticket counters, while sitting in the car. Tickets information is available on their website. (www.bogor.tamansafari.com)
If your plan is to stay overnight, that is the area, where you will find the Royal Safari Resort and Safari lodge hotel. For the day trip, you go towards the park entrance.
After you get the tickets, they give you the safari map, and you can know the whereabouts of the park. Although, all the information is there on the website, I am just giving you some tips based on our experience which we gained by visiting it multiple times over our eight years stay in Jakarta.
Drive Through Animal Park:
First, comes the animals drive through park, where you get to see the animals, while sitting in your car. Please follow the safety instructions written on the boards or map.
- Don’t forget to get your carrots and bananas ready.
- Only feed those animals, which you are allowed to.
- Do not get out of the car at any of the animal stations.
- Do not bug the animals.
- Don’t forget to take photos of the animals and beautiful sight of the forest.
You can check out the map to know, which animal comes first, usually, elephants come first, followed by camels and so on. Always roll up your windows, when you reach the station of lions and tigers, remember, safety always comes first.
Parking A:
It is near the baby zoo, pony and camel riding area, Rainforest restaurant, plaza Gajah, and Café Onta. If you are lucky enough to park there, go ahead, otherwise you need to go further up.
This is the area, where you will find the Rimba Food Court consisting of many options to eat, water park, adventure rides and Tiger and Lion show area.
Parking C:
This area is designated for the Sea Lion show, Birds of Prey, Komodo Dragon and Penguins. You will also find a drive through donut shop here.
Parking D:
This area is where the Cowboy show happens; very interesting, not to be missed. Just be sure, not to take small children to the show because of the earsplitting sounds.
Parking E:
This is the water fall area, you need to walk a bit to reach there.
Parking F:
When you take a U-turn from parking E, there comes this area, which has the newly arrived Pandas, you need to take the shelter bus to reach there. You will also find a restaurant there.
After this area, you go back down the slope towards Parking A, and from there, you can go towards the exit.
Things to know:
- Every area of the park has toilets, so you need not worry about that.
- Souvenirs
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- Souvenir shops are present at different locations, throughout the park, don’t forget to get souvenirs to add to the memories.
- Food
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- Restaurants and cafes are all over the park. Rainforest restaurant offers different cuisines, in front of it is Café Onta, which has great coffee along with its bakery. You will find SFC (Safari Fried chicken) at various locations. There are two food courts, one at Parking B and the other one at Panda section. Also check out the drive through Donut shop.
- Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, as you will have to walk once you park the car, and keep a light jacket as it might get a bit cold.
- Try to watch all the shows and visit baby zoo, they are free of cost; whereas you need to pay for the adventure rides, pony, elephant and camel rides and few more activities.
- Most of all, enjoy to the max.
After you are done, get ready to face some traffic on the way back, specially on Sundays, when everyone goes back home.
Enjoy!
Fusion Tales 