During day three of a 4-day weekend here in Manila, we
decided on a quick trip to the zoo so that the kids would have a special
weekend somehow. It would have been a
great time to go out of town but because hub’s office does not follow the local
holidays, he didn’t have a long weekend like we all did. In fact, we only had the morning of Monday
free because hubs had to work that evening so we needed to give him enough time
in the afternoon to catch some sleep.
The zoo, we felt, was one of the best places to bring the children
because it allows them to enjoy themselves and learn at the same time. Among the zoos we had visited were the Manila
Zoo (which was on the top of our list only because they were the only ones with
an elephant), Ark Avilon (a bit expensive
but interesting because you can feed the animals and their area is very clean
and the animals are healthy), Tagaytay Highlands (also expensive but we had a
sponsor then but the animals really looked emaciated except for the pot bellied
pigs) and Residence Inn (a bit far but very nice). Among those places, it seemed that Ark Avilon
and Residence Inn maintained their animals quite well. Obviously, we have done our round of the zoos
here in Manila and that has left us with 2 remaining options: Avilon Zoo and
the Malabon Zoo. Malabon Zoo was a hands
down choice for us because the entrance fee was only P120 per head compared to
the P400 per head fee for Avilon Zoo.
In terms of appearance, I felt that the Malabon Zoo could
use a lot more improvement (like better signages, paticularly about the animals
and less quotations that I believe are hardly even read). But compared to Manila Zoo, their animals
looked well maintained/fed and their surroundings were much cleaner than Manila
Zoo. It was also an added bonus that the place was filled with trees that kept
the walk ways shaded and cool inspite of the humid Manila weather. Malabon Zoo is the only one that has a live
Grizzly Bear in its care – and it was quite impressive even if the bear
practically ignored the people ogling at him and the kids roaring at him. There were a lot of different
varieties/species of fish and birds as well and lots and lots of tigers. Of course, there were two layers of screen
around most of the animals so it was quite safe for kids to roam around the
premises. Our children enjoyed seeing the
tigers up close and would try to get their attention by roaring out load. I guess the tigers have gotten used to all
the attention because they too barely paid attention to our two tiger-wannabees. Some of the tigers were in a glass enclosure
so we were able to take photos where it seemed as if the tiger was actually
just behind the children – cool!
The
kids also enjoyed feeding the ducks, the deer and the fish with the animal feed
that you could purchase from the premises at only P30/bag.
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| Marimar the Orangutan |
My answer was a
quick no to the offer to have a picture taken with the pythons but hubs and Kuya
were up to it so we they readily went up the stage to have their photo
taken. I was concerned that Kuya would
freak out but as it turned out, he was very brave even when the snake was
placed on his dad’s shoulders. When the
black one was added, Kuya suddenly cried out loud and started struggling to get
loose. Apparently, the tail of the
yellow python found its way to his belly button and was trying to find a cozy
spot. It was cold and because Kuya was
ticklish in the belly button area, he was not at all comfortable with that
feeling. That was the only reason why he
cried!
Even our yayas were brave enough
to have their picture taken with the snakes.
It was only Nina and myself who declined and even if we were the only
ones, I maintain that I don’t regret having missed that opportunity at
all. No thanks!
All in all, the kids enjoyed their weekend extension. We only stayed at the zoo for about 2 hours –
just a short trip but it was worth every
minute. Lesson learned: there are a lot of activities for families to
do on a long weekend that won’ cost you an arm and leg. The most important thing is that you get to
bond together and create happy memories that you and your children will
remember for a long time.
