We had purchased 2 nights accomodation at the Mara River lodge through our travel agent and the wholesaler was New Horizons. So our accomodation came with complimentary transfers, elephant ride, 2 tram rides, 4 animal encounter vouchers. The rest of our group had booked accomodation through a different wholesaler so they only had the part entry and tram ride included in their price.
We had considerable trouble arranging our transfer to the safari park. I had the Bali Garden speak with them on the phone (to overcome the language barrier) (which ended up being 3 phone calls) and in the end the Bali garden had to fax them a copy of our voucher before they would send a transfer for us. It probably would have been easier for us to organise our own transfers like the others did - but as it was included in what we had paid for I was a bit miffed that it was so hard to organise.
Anyway our whole group (11 of us) reached the Safari Park at about the same time. Most of our party had the Twiga rooms which overlooked some of the african enclosure so you could see the Rhinos and zebras from their rooms as well as the tree top walkway that you use to get to your room. Our room (family room) was the Kifaru room, room 222. It was more like a suite than a room and overlooked the pool. There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a family type room in the middle. All rooms had windows overlooking the pool area. Only shame was that you couldnt get down to the pool from the balcony and had to walk down and around - but still closer and easier access than most of the other rooms.
The rooms themselves were really nice. We found a rather large green with orange spots lizard behind our wardrobe, but after posing for a photo he ran out into the lounge area and outside. I had read on other reviews that these rooms can have mozzie problems as the roof is thatched and not 100% sealed even though you can close your bedroom door. That evening our room was filled with them (the other twiga rooms all have mozzie nets). I mentioned this to the hotel and they left mozzie coils burning and a can of spray for us. Because I had heard this was a problem and could see from the internet our rooms had no mozzie nets, I brought 2 cheap ones from home and rigged them up over the beds (I hate trying to sleep with a buzz near my ear). So not sure if the mozzie coils or my nets did the trick but wasnt an issue for us.
We all headed straight for the pool after we checked in and spent the afternoon lazing around and having a swim. Looked like we were the only guests. You can see the other tourists in their tram rides from the pool as they drive through the african enclosure and the pool faces this. The Rhino (Nelson) came quite close to the pool so we had great fun getting pics of this.
At about 4pm we headed over to the safari park and caught the tram ride. Kind of reminds you of jurasic park with all the opening gates etc. The park was pretty empty at this time of night (I think it closes at 5pm), and by the time our tram ride finsihed everything looked like it was closing.
we had dinner that night at the Tsavro Lion Restaurant. We were told when we checked in to be sure and book a good table. ha ha ha - we were the only guests in the place that night!!!The concept of this restaurant is good but it is far too pretentious for my liking as because you are a "captive" clientelle your options are very limited as there is nothing else at this time of the night close by. I found it really overpriced, and measeley servings. (e.g. my 85000rp Nasi goreng was the worst and smallest serve of my whole trip). This kids ordered chocolate pudding only for a blob of brown watery jelly to arrive which they didnt touch. The Chocolate Devil desert which sounded to die for on the menu was also a huge disappointment despite looking lovely on the plate it was very small and more about look that substance.
I noticed during our meal that the park staff drove their jeep through the lion enclosure to try and get the lions to move closer the glass. They needed have bothered as you have breakfast here anyway and see the lions easilly in the morning. There was also a lion in a very small enclosure behind the bar and also visible from the toilets. This boy roared and complained non stop, pacing in his little cell. I asked why he wasnt out with the others and it seems he is a young male and obviously there is some social problem with him mixing. I asked if he gets moved to a bigger place at night or during the day and the answer was no. So as an animal lover I had real mixed emotions about this place. Some animals seemed to have lovely enclosures and existences and this poor boy was in a jail cell. The staff brought out a python that night for us to have an "animal experience" with. The kids all took turns having a hold and a picture taken - this was something we appreciated.
Breakfast was choice of 3 set menu and they were pretty unflexible if you wanted to mix any of the choices. (i.e. getting fruit and toast) I was pretty unimpressed with breakfast on the whole.
I tried to book the elephant ride we had complementary with our stay only to find that they were booked out so had to book it for our last morning. This was fine for us as we were staying guests but would be a pain if you were just a day visitor. The rides were expensive so getting them part of our package was worth it. My hubby and I gave our rides to our nephews so the kids all set off on their elephants. The elephant guide was feeding the elephants to be used in the rides bannanas. I asked him to let the kids feed them instead (as this is probably the best bit) but he pointed around the corner to another staff where you can buy carrots to feed a mummy elephant. He seemed to miss the point that we wanted to feed and reward the elephants our kids were riding - but he started handing the bunches to the kids at this point, so maybe the message got through. My kids reported that their elephant was scared of the rhino and it ran off, they loved it! As they had been on elephants before but never a running one.
Once they had left we turned the corner and paid the carrot money to feed the big muma elephant and see her gorgeous 2 month old baby standing at her feet - great photo opportunity here. The bubba wound his little trunk around my arm - he was so adorable and smaller than my dog at home.
We took advantage of the rest of the park this morning. And used our remaining tram voucher and animal encounter vouchers. We had four vouchers and each animal handler wanted one voucher per person but if you debate for a while they all let you use one voucher only to get a family shot. And once your in there they let you take as many pictures as you want anyway. The baby orangutan "happy" was a delight. She pulled my eldest daughters extension braids around her own face and smiled at the camer with her new "hair". We also had lion and tiger pics. The tiger place also had a professional photographer and his photos were so good I bought these as well as our own copies. I had heard on this forum about the animals being drugged and the lion did stagger when she jumped from her wooden perch, but I did see them being walked to and from their locations at other times and they were playful and cordinated at those times. I even saw an impromptu tiger and lion playfight as the handlers walked them past each other.
The restaraunt inside the park seems much cheaper and which a lot more options although I didnt get chance to eat here. The amusement park centre was pretty weak and they even broke down with our kids on them. This was a disappointment, after being to many amusement centres in KL it didnt compare and there would probably be better off without it. The water park looked good for younger kids.
We had exhausted our time at the safari park by about lunch and had called in a favour from my family's recommended driver Coman Etha 0818563502 by SMS and he came to pick us all up for an afternoon trip to Ubud.
We had lunch at Cafe Wayan and then headed off to Verona Spa for some pampering before doing a quick shop at the markets. By the time we got back to the park it was evening and we had brought a doggy bag of cakes from cafe wayan back with us. We sat by the pool having drinks and cakes this evening - nice way to end the trip. The next morning the rest of our party headed back to perth and we went on to our next leg of our journey..... Ubud (coming soon)