Tuesday 22 May 2012

KL Bird Park

My Dad is a huge nature lover. Whenever we go anywhere, we would definitely visit the zoo/bird park/nature reserve. As there was a zoo near my house in JB we would go there really often. And since there was also a jogging park (which was previously the Johor Sultan's residence) next to the zoo (since it used to be the Johor Sultan's private zoo wtf) which we go to every evening, technically we saw animals everyday. We could  even feed the deer that wandered over to the fence separating the jogging park and the zoo. Free animal feeding.. but we were too young to appreciate the free things in life and took it for granted.

As a child i've been to the Malacca Zoo, Zoo Negara, Penang Bird Park, Taiping Zoo, Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park. Instead of Orchard Road we went to Mandai Zoo. Instead of searching for chicken rice balls, we rode on elephants in Malacca Zoo.

It is with great surprise to me then, that i have missed a  spot. And that spot is the KL Bird Park. Apparently it is the world's largest free-flight walk-in aviary. With 20.9 acres of land in the heart of KL how could i have missed this?

My brother who is the ahem..President of the Science Club in his university (we are such nerds omg), organized a trip to the KL Bird Park last weekend. Since the club offered cheaper tickets and i was post-exam,  and buay pai seh (not shy), i decided to tag along. Tag along a bus full of barely past teenage youths nearly a decade younger than me. This should be fun..

And it was fun!

The park was really decent! Pretty huge and loved that it was a full flight walk in aviary for most parts! I don't really like seeing birds/animals caged up.

The park operates from 9am to 6pm.

When the bus pulled up at the park at 8.45 am there was already a que at the ticketing counter. Seriously! I had no idea that place was so popular.

Here's a map on how to get there. It's just next to Lake Garden's.


There are Bird shows at 12.30 pm and 3.30pm and Hornbill and Milky stork feeding times.


If you go in at 9 am you'd  probably be done by 1pm, it's not so big that you can spend the whole day there, but i suppose if you have children or walk really slow you could. Nevertheless it was a really well kept, and well maintained park.

The park is divided into 4 zones, and for most parts the birds could fly freely, as the area was enclosed with sky high netting like this.


There were peacocks roaming everywhere, and it was one of the first few birds we saw.


You needed to have TWO 50 sen coins (the old ones not the new shitty coins) to use the fish and bird food dispenser. So bring the coins if you're planning on buying bird food. Otherwise you'd have to go into the shops to ask for change.


The birds there were rather comfortable around humans. You could go fairly close before they start moving away. 


A flock of unidentified birds that resemble turkeys with a peacock guarding them.


These birds were scattered throughout the park and ever photo ready.


We walked past so many peacocks who were strolling around but wouldn't show us their feathers, no matter how hard i tried to alarm them. They were too chill i guess.. or there were no attractive peahen to show off it's feathers to.

Halfway through the park though, this generous peacock was strutting his stuff. And all us visitors (there were loads of foreign tourists- they always seem to know where the good attractions are), started snapping away!


Gorgeous feathers! But the fire engine red bird next to it is an equal stunner!


There were some exotic plants aroud the park too. I have no idea what this is, but it's pretty!


The most fun portion was probably the parrot and lories feeding. Pay RM2, get a small cupfull of milk and the birds will start attacking you.. i mean the food. I had 7 birds on me at one time!


These two refused to budge even after i passed the food to someone else. I was looking at the marks the birds left on my skin with their bird feet. A little bit painful but nothing unbearable.


Everyone attracted quite a fair bit of birds..


...except my brother..wahaha..


This guy attracted birds without even holding any food.. 


The most sureal moment was when a flock of white birds flew at eye level directly at us. If you look closely you can see a flock of 10 birds fly at us.. there were more but those had already flown past.. by the time i caught my breath and got my camera app to start these were the few birds left.

Very fun!


We walked for two hours to find that we were only half way through..


The bird show was short but pretty decent. That's my brother volunteering for an act.


Thanks everyone! Had a lot of fun!


For more information about the bird park the official site is here.

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