Most of Bali feels like a bargain but sometimes you have to splurge to do the sort of things you just can't do in other parts of the world - like ride elephants and touch tigers. We signed up for the Elephant Safari package. That twenty minute ride was a lot of fun but it turned out to be just part of a full and enjoyable day.
The animals roam free in different areas of the Bali Safari & Marine Park and then visitors travel through by bus (or elephant). It is all set up to resemble an African safari. They break the areas into African wildlife and Indonesian wildlife. I'm glad we got to go through on both modes of transport. We did the bus first and got a lot of good photos. The areas looked on the small side for the size of the animals but overall they seemed well cared for.
This tiger walked right next to our bus. You can see the side of the window in the photo. If the window were down I probably could have touched him.
When we went through again on the elephants we were not able to bring our own cameras but we did feel a lot closer to the animals. And, of course, we had the thrill of being so close to the elephant. Emily and I rode together. She had a lot of questions. How old is the elephant? 34 When is his birthday? I don't know. How long does it take to teach him? 6 months. Brian tells me Tess squealed with delight the whole time and grinned ear to ear.
We made sure to watch the animal show and hear more about the variety of animals found in Indonesia. They did a separate elephant education show as well. The girls seemed to enjoy the shows and they definitely left with a keener awareness of endangered species and the threat of extinction.
The girls each took turns feeding carrots to the elephants.
Our entrance package included four professional photos. I jumped at the chance to pose with an orangutan. I'm thrilled they could fit in the whole family.
This photo with the girls and the orangutan might be my favorite from the whole trip. They have no idea how lucky they are!
Emily and Tess declined to get photographed with the tiger cub. It's probably best because Brian and I both really wanted to try it. Brian followed the rules and did not touch the tiger. The woman after him reached in and pet the tiger. When I went up I figured I'd try reaching out. The child that went after me must have pushed it further still because the tiger got ruffled and pawed at her. She left in tears without a photo. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore.
The girls each picked out a new stuffed friend to bring home. Em chose this baby white tiger that came in a little purse with his own little milk bottle. Here she is holding it up in front of the actual white tiger.
Tess chose a baby cheetah. The girls have been babying their two little guys ever since.
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