What to do in Kuantan: Visit the Bukit Gambang Safari Park

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends & readers! How's your 1st day of celebration? I sure hope that you've had a great day 1 celebrating the festival together with family & friends.

As today is a public holiday in Malaysia, I just thought of sharing this post while it's still 'fresh' on my memory; I'll continue with posts on Houston after this post ;) It's a free & easy day for AP & I, so we decided to make a trip to the Bukit Gambang Safari Park. Park entrance fees aren't exactly very cheap here in Malaysia, so I looked up for promotions & coupons for the park in hopes to grab some good deal for the day. I was really thankful to come across a 40% discount promotion on 11street.my for the combo ticket (Safari Park + Night Jungle; normal price = RM48.00/adult with MyKad). In addition to the 40% discount, 11street had an RM10.00 Raya discount coupon, so we got to save 50% per person in total! *yay* We ended up paying only RM24.00/person for the combo ticket :D

The park is a great place for a day trip, especially for families with young children (kindergarten age - primary school) as you get to introduce your children to the many species of animals & these animals look well-fed & healthy! Today's weather was really pleasant as well, albeit slightly warm, but thanks to all the shades & canopies at the park, we didn't really need to walk under the hot sun.

White lions

We started our journey from Simba Hill, where we saw the white lions (their fur looked so healthy), towards Foreign Land, where we watched the 1st Multi-Animal Show at the Village Arena. It was quite a good introduction to the various types of animals & we were very pleased to hear such well-spoken English, Malay & Mandarin by the Malay host! The only set back was the acoustics of the amphitheater.

The Village Arena

After that, we walked across to the Petting Kingdom (you can feed the animals there) & the Malayan House before heading towards Forest Land, the area to view insects, reptiles, birds, primates & bears (at Bear Mountain).

You can feed the goats here at the Petting Zoo

Buy a cup of treats to feed the rabbits & goats for RM5.00/cup 

At the Discovery Center - still-born/dead animals are seen preserved in jars

The short-clawed otters here were really CUTE!

Ok, this was one of the many free-roaming lizards at the Reptiles area 

Lemur - King Julien! 

My favorite looking bear, the Sloth Bear :) 

Lastly, we took the tram to the Wild Savannah area, where we got to see wild animals like the lions, Malayan tigers, elephants, leopard, camel, buffalos, hippopotamus, deers of all sorts, oxen of sorts & emus - all up close! It's kinda like a ride in Jurassic Park...haha. The animals were free to roam within their perimeter. Interesting experience indeed.

Leopard spotted from our tram 

Zebras & ostrich were roaming freely in the same area 

We enjoyed ourselves as 1st timers. Here's a short video montage that I've put up (for my personal memory since I've poor memory) that will give you a glimpse of what you can expect from the safari park here. We didn't go for the Night Jungle in the end as we were too tired, so I guess we'll leave that to another trip! Hahaha...

An exciting day at the safari park,