Taman Safari Indonesia

Our second day in Puncak was spent at Taman Safari.  Taman Safari is a short 30-45 minute drive down the mountain from the bungalow (assuming everything goes as planned).  We set out a little after 8:00 and assumed we would be at the Safari by about 9:00 - easy!  We even assumed we would eat breakfast when we got there.  We were making great time getting down the mountain until we came to a traffic stop at about 8:32.  We were the first vehicle stopped and assumed there was some sort of construction causing the road to go down to one lane.  We assumed that they were taking turns letting the traffic travel on the one open lane.  After about 15 minutes went by, we assumed the closure was timed and they would let us go through around 9:00.  Just after 9:00, the police officers stopping traffic went across the street.  We assumed they were going to prepare to open the lane for us.  After another 30 minutes or so, we assumed the officers must have gone for a little coffee break and would be back soon.  Another 30 minutes later and the officers were on the way back to open the lane for us (or so we assumed!).  30 minutes more and our driver, Pak Firman, got out to talk to the police officer.  For those keeping track, it was now about 10:30 and we had been sitting there for 2 hours.  The officer informed Pak Firman that the traffic coming up the hill from Jakarta, to go to Taman Safari,  gets so bad on Saturday and Sunday that they close the road to those heading down the hill - and here we assumed we were ahead of the game because we were already up the hill and would be heading in the opposite direction from all of the traffic.  We were told they would open the road for us as soon as they got word from the Chief of Police - somewhere between 11:00 and 11:30.  Apparently, this road gets closed from 8:30 until about 11:30 every Saturday and Sunday...if only we had left 3 minutes earlier!!! Finally, at about 11:15, the road opened and we were on our way.  We had now been in the car for over 3 hours, most of which was literally sitting there, waiting for the road to open.  

Waiting...

A short time later, we were entering the Safari and assumed we could head straight to the restrooms, then grab a little something to eat and go on the Safari.  We assumed wrong, apparently, the flow of traffic goes THROUGH the safari prior to getting to the parking lot with the restrooms and restaurants - oh boy!  Lucky for us, the drive through the safari was AMAZING and we were able to ignore our empty tummies and full bladders for the remainder of the drive!  

Once traffic was moving,  we got a police escort down the hill!

Keep in mind, none of us ate breakfast (assuming you don't count the boxes of mints we consumed while sitting in the car).  We were coming up on lunchtime; Everyone was hungry and had to pee.

The safari was great.  We drove through the grounds as animals roamed freely through-out.  In some places, the animals came right up to the cars.  People were able to feed the animals carrots, but we were warned that the animals would possible scratch and dent your car as you were feeding them.  Since our car technically belongs to the company, we didn't want to chance it.  Regardless, we were able to get some up close and personal time with the animals.

Once we got to a certain part of the safari, there were signs telling us to close our windows and stay in our cars...

Once we finished driving through the safari, we stopped for a restroom break and a little lunch.  I learned yet another life lesson in the restroom...

The rest of the safari park was a little like a zoo with amazing habitats for all of the animals.  They also had rides, a small water park, and several animal shows.  We went to the tiger show and the dolphin show.  These were great, but it is definitely different watching a show when it is entirely in Bahasa Indonesia.  

Despite our rough start, we had a great day and really enjoyed Taman Safari.  We were impressed with all of the animal habitats and the safari was amazing.  We will be back again and have learned another valuable lesson about the dangers of making assumptions (especially when living in Indonesia).