Having visited one zoo prior to this, she was quite the pro in asking whether there would be tigers and crocodiles or komodo dragons (this being one of the animal that we missed at the Singapore Zoo and is forever casted up to us) here.
This place is quite a distance from town and the road that led to it was not properly marked. In fact, you’d have to be a local to find it as the only guide you’ll get is that it’s somewhere along the old Penampang-Papar road.
There are still a lot of construction going on but I thought, it already looked impressive and very promising as it is.
After paying for entrance, you have a choice of taking either a route that led to the Children’s Zoo or birds’ cage. We chose the Children’s Zoo but there was nothing here except a ground for elephant rides.
So the first animal that we saw was a hornbill bird and a giant turtle in this huge cage, which also housed several other kind of birds like peacocks.
Hornbills and Giant Turtle
From here on, we saw this signboard which clearly marked most of the animals that are available at the park.
Next up was the elephants area where Eu immediately complained of the smell.
We next went inside the Aviary and we saw a few birds and a couple of ducks which got Qi very excited. The entrance to this place was a bit special as we had to go through 2 sets of doors and a heavy chain links curtains in between!
After this area was a building which will probably be a restaurant (hopefully, as it would be cool to eat and see the animals!) or maybe an information centre.
I was lucky to have 2 babysitters and my girls bullied them a lot!
The next area we checked out was the tigers. There was a basement viewing area with hard plastic wall and an open viewing deck on top. The tiger that was on the field was asleep but there was another somewhere as we heard it roaring. So this was Eu and Qi’s first sight of the common tiger as Singapore Zoo only had the white tigers.
We were quite impressed with the sun bears as they were much bigger than the one we saw at the Singapore Zoo’s.
Sun bears
The orang utan area was large and very natural, perfectly blending with the surroundings where most of the original landscape was maintained. The orang utans that were out were quite small but a taxi driver, who was there to accompany a couple of Taiwanese tourists, assured us that there are bigger ones hiding somewhere.
Orang Utan
Of course after orang utan, the next obvious animal to be featured was the native proboscis monkeys. Unlike the orang utans, these monkeys were in a cage and most of them were babies, as again informed by the same taxi driver. There was actually only one that I saw that has the trademark huge nose.
Proboscis Monkeys
To the back, there was a botanical garden with orchids and herbal plants which I successfully convinced my mother to skip (since I am not a plant-fan) and instead went on to see the “tembadau” or wild cattles.
Wild Cattles
Next to it were the deers and it was here that I saw the difference between a mousedeer (pelanduk) and a barking deer (kijang). In fact, I myself did not even realized that a kijang was actually quite small that I even mistook it for a mousedeer! Mousedeer, by the way, was even tinier!
Barking Deers and Mousedeer
The next animals that we saw were the gibbons. For some reasons, the gibbons had the priviledge of being in the open, unlike the proboscis, and it reminded me of the Singapore Zoo which had the same set up for their gibbons with water at the front. Probably that was how they contained the animals?
Gibbons and Otters area
Gibbons
By this time, both my cameras went flat. So we went to the birds area without a single picture. It was unfortunate too because there were some lovely birds here as sis Jacq saw when she visited this place a while back.
Exotic birds (Pictures : Jacq)
The last bird cage there contained birds that mimic words and a Caucasian lady there told me that a bird spewed an “I love you” to her! As to us, the birds only squawked a boring “hello!”. Later as we were leaving, my mother distinctly heard one swearing a local slang!
There were supposed to be some reptile animals but the area doesn’t seemed to be ready yet. There was a rhino but the viewing area was sealed although we caught a glimpse of it from another section. Jacq saw the hippo and some ostriches but those animals were not around when we were there.
Ostriches (Picture : Jacq)
I read a comment in BenGodomon’s post that there were actually more animals coming but the delivery was postponed due to some health precautions.
I’m sure that when the Park is fully functional, this place will be really great.
In fact, as I was browsing for other blogs that has featured this park, I came across Julian and Morin’s which has a comment by the Park Director. I thought I’d republish it here so more of us can really support this truly wonderful addition to the interesting places around Sabah :
My Name is Dr.Sen Nathan, Zoo Director of the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. Thank you very much for supporting us . As you are a quite aware the zoo is not 100 % complete, hence the soft opening. Rest assured Our team at the zoo will strive to make all important improvements on facilities available. We are also in the process of increasing our animal population to further enhance our visitors experience, when they visit the Zoo. Please do come again and support Sabah one and only wildlife Park. Thank you
Dr.Sen Nathan Zoo Director Lok kawi Wildlife Park Sabah Wildlife Department
So people if you haven’t already done so, go visit the Park!
In fact, I think Brunei should consider having such a facility as zoo or wildlife park, as most young and old will enjoy them, not to mention the educational values that such a place offers.
One friend who is currently in the United States plans to tour the western part of the country – covering places like the Yellowstone, Jackson Hoke, Grand Teton, Salt Lake City among others.
When we do go to malls, our strategy was each of us would take one child and would wander by ourselves. The thing about having Qi sans stroller is that you’d have to carry her the whole time as she’s adventurous.
At Poring, we had lunch at one of the eatery outside the park as the only restaurant inside Poring Hot Spring caters to western taste and pocket.
The private hut with hot tubs was really good – you get a bathroom, some benches and 2 tubs. The only thing is, because you’re in your own hut, the fun of people watching is zero but that is the only disadvantage.
The drive up to Kundasang was 
As you get nearer to the park (1500+ metre above sea level), usually you’d get mist and it is nice when you see that your car thermometer registers a 21°.
Actually they looked fabulous – except that they looked totally out of place.
