Ecotourism

After the typical busy Jakarta weekends, we finally spent a(nother busy) weekend in a nice place close to the nature, Taman Safari Indonesia. It's a large park located on the slope of Mount Gede in Bogor, West Java. It has a zoo, a baby zoo, recreation parks, hiking trails (Safari Trek), a camping ground, an outbound area, bungalows, caravans, lodges, hot-water swimming pool, jacuzzi, etc.

It was my sister's idea to spend a weekend there to take her mom-in-law who came from Japan. Unexpectedly, it became a big family weekend as we found out that my aunt was also taking my cousin and her kids who came from UK for a holiday here. They also invited my cousin's parents-in-law and sister-in-law and her kids. There are also my other cousin with her family (hubby & kids) and her sister-in-law with her hubby, another cousin with her kid and parents-in-law. So there were 3 bungalows with many families altogether (count for yourself). Maybe it's hard for you to imagine, but this is not so unusual for Indonesian families. By the way, each bungalow has 3 bedrooms. Only our bungalow has a kitchen, so in the evening we gathered there - had dinner and chats.

Saturday late morning we left Jakarta - 7 adults + one baby in one car: Didi, my parents, my sisters, my sister's baby, and my sister's mom-in-law. We went up to Puncak - the summit - and had lunch at the well-known restaurant there called Rindu Alam. The service was bad - the waiters didn't welcome you nor came to take your orders. It was difficult to get them and our orders came after a long wait and we were very hungry. After lunch we stopped for a while at a mosque with a nice view down to the tea plantation.

There were many street vendors selling food, drinks and accessories at the parking lot. After then we went back down to Taman Safari, to our bungalow. The others were at the recreation park and went back to their bungalows late afternoon.

After dinner at our bungalow, some of us got out for the Night Safari. I didn't go because I didn't feel like it, but then I'd been there before. You must try if you haven't been there. After you finished the Night Safari you can have fun at the recreation park. Jet coaster and the like. You want to know how scary Indonesian ghosts are? Try the haunted cave!

As planned, the next morning we went for the Safari Trek. The "Kancil Trail" is 3 kms and the "Macan Tutul (Cheetah) Trail" is another 3.5 kms. We went through a forest, met an elephant on our way, crossed a creek through a hanging bridge and so on. The end of Kancil Trail is the camping ground and the outbound area. You can play all the games there for only 25,000 rupiahs (about only US$0.25). I saw adults acting crazy there, playing games and water slide - it's such a healthy way to release stress.

In the afternoon we went to see a new performance called "Wild Wild West". It's like a play performance about American Indians and cowboys. I don't know why it should be about Wild Wild West, but...nice effects. Maybe I'll put the photos later.

For you who like shopping, there are many nice and cute merchandise in the shops at Taman Safari. I bought a baby blanket with giraffe-skin-like prints and a cute tiny T-shirt for my nephew. There are also dolls/stuffed animals, mugs, CDs, umbrellas, photo frames, and other animal-related stuff.

On our way back to Jakarta, we stopped to have a late lunch at a restaurant called Sinar Alam. The food was good! I am a person who don't really like eating, but I was so amazed by its Ayam Penyet and sambal.

A tiring but fun weekend.