Marine Park and Safari World are two separate parks next to each other; sub-sections of what is known as Safari World (confusing isn't it?). The park was opened in 1988 and since then, it seems that there has only been one major renovation that was done in 1989 (Wikipedia). And its age certainly shows, especially in Marine Park (more on that later).
Admission fees (into both parks) are separate although there is a package to both parks. If you ever visit this place and want to save on the admission fees, you can actually skip the Marine Park and go straight to Safari World.
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| The ticket booth |
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| The admission fees |
Marine Park
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| The colorful (and noisy) macaws greeted us when we entered |
Why is Marine Park not worth the visit? Well, for starters, the place needs some serious revamp (since the last one was in 1989!): the facility is showing its wear and it looks old and tired; there are even cobwebs above the ceiling when you enter the park (going for a Halloween theme perhaps?). For the amount of money they collect for the entrance fee (which by zoo standards is not cheap), they should at least use the proceeds of to spruce up the place and make the animals live more comfortably. If visitors to the park are underwhelmed, I can’t imagine how the animals living there feel.
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| Mini ponies. I hope they only let children ride them, if they let adults ride these tiny creatures... it'll be such a sad thing |
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| Can you spot the crocodile (or was it an alligator) lurking in the waters? |
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| On our way to the bird show |
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| Directions to get there |
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| But first some swans for distraction |
Secondly, don’t be misled by the name, Marine Park doesn’t have anything marine about it, rather it is essentially like a zoo with animals in enclosures and animal shows (e.g. Orang-Utan Boxing, Sea-Lion Performances, a Western Cowboy Stunt Show, Bird show, Polar Bear feeding, Spy War Show etc…). The animal shows are roughly an hour apart or so, and we were there just in time for (only) the “Bird Show” which also happened to be one of the last shows of the day (either the 2nd or 3rd last show). It was like we paid the admission fee into Marine Park just to watch the “Bird Show” – a very expensive experience.
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| Bird show |
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| On our way out, children feeding a tiger cub |
Safari World
Safari World is an interesting concept: you can drive your own car or take a ride on a safari mini-coach through eight kilometers of wilderness.
Did you know? Safari World is the only drive through open zoo in the heart of Bangkok, housing rare and endangered species from every part of the world.
The upkeep of the safari was sightly better than Marine Park, but there were still some improvements that could be made to improve the experience (of of both visitors and animals). The water feature which housed the birds (e.g. storks) was a little (over) polluted at one corner: at one side of the water feature, there was a thick slush of algae covering the waters.
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| the slightly polluted waters |
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| the very polluted waters... is it even water? |
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| the uncontaminated portion of the river |
Still, it was an interesting experience driving through the safari with only the vehicle acting as a barrier between us and the animals (herbivores of course). The more dangerous animals such as the tigers were in open space enclosure separated from the herbivores, but it was still a close up experience.
Herbivores like deer, zebras and giraffes were let loose to roam freely around the safari (away from the carnivores of course). There were even a couple of deer who come up to our vehicle thinking we had food for them (super adorbs!).
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| Magnificent tigers |
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| Frolicking tigers |
Herbivores like deer, zebras and giraffes were let loose to roam freely around the safari (away from the carnivores of course). There were even a couple of deer who come up to our vehicle thinking we had food for them (super adorbs!).
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| Ostriches |
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| Grazing zebras |
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| Zebra up close! |
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| Rhinos |
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| Giraffes |
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| Baby deer (aka fawn)! |
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| The adult deer |
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| Another spices of deer |
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| A type of antelope I think... |
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| Deer resting stop |
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| Chillin' deeer |
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| Male deer (?) |
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