Thailand: A fun-filled day at Bangkok Safari World and Marine Park (Part 1)

We hired the same minibus to Farm Chok Chai to take us to the Safari. Traffic was quite smooth. It took us about an hour to reach the attraction from our hotel. I must confessed that the pictures quality are not good as we don't have time to shot properly due to the 'threatening' crowd, the hot weather and cranky Beatrice.

Visited the attraction on 10 June 2013, Monday. I deliberately chose a weekday to avoid the weekend crowd. To my horror, the attraction was swarmed by tour groups and students on a normal Monday too. The two attractions are side by side but they have entrance different tickets.

Marine Park: 900 Baht
Safari Work: 700 Baht
Both Attractions: 1100 Baht (Adult) 800 Baht (Child)

No need to think! It's definitely more economical to purchase the entrance to both attractions. I can't remember the exact price for child's tickets. The total damage for the admission was 4100Baht. Fortunately, it's free admission for Beatrice again. I can't find the ticketing price on their website. However, I know that it's more economical to take up a day tour from local operator. They are charging around 800 - 1000 Baht per pax. Includes hotel transfer to attraction, admission to both parks and a buffet lunch. I didn't take up the offer as I wanted more flexibility with timing and I wanted to visit a special restaurant for dinner after the Safari World.

For a start, I suggest you visit the Marine Park first. Once you purchased the tickets, they will give you a map and show time information. They have many shows to catch throughout the day (one after another, only some time allowance for you to walk to different venue) and there is only one timing for all the shows. You can't catch them again once you missed it. The very first one was the Orang-utan show.

The stage setting and backdrop was appealing and interesting. The show was hilarious. Raphael was laughing all the way.

There were ample shades around. Powerful mist fans were installed all around the place especially the seating area. But I think it's still a must to bring along a fan to keep your temperature down.

 Look at the crowd! Hardly any empty seats left in between.

Thai Boxing

 It took us quite awhile to leave from the orang-utan show as everyone was rushing to the next show venue to chope front seats. We were only left with less than 5 minutes to get to the sea lion show. Nothing fanciful. Similar to all sea lions show. You might want to give this show a miss if you have watched sea lions show previously. Take some time to walk around and proceed to elephants show to get good seats. I left the sea lion show 10 minutes earlier as I believed their elephants show must be quite good and I want to have unblocked view.

I made the right decision move on earlier. Got the first row seats for elephant show. Daddy even had the chance to buy a bowl of ice kachang before the show starts.

Walking on a tight rope

Elephants painting a picture. The pictures are for sale at 500 Baht each at the end of the show.

Marksman

Playing basketball

The kids are enjoying the elephant show.

Playing football

A dare-devil Singaporean

A dare-devil Indian National

The man behind the lens. You hardly see him appearing in the photos.

The elephant show timing clash with the stunt show. I would recommend you to watch this show if you have young children. Singapore zoo offers the show 'Elephants of Asia' showcasing elephants at work while this showcase elephants at play. I can't compare which is better as both shows are very different. However, the elephants don't squirt water at audiences in Marine Park. Visitors can buy food to feed the elephants and take pictures after the show. There was a 90 minutes lunch break before the next show. We decided to have some finger food at the food kiosk in a quiet corner. Beatrice managed to squeeze in some time for a power nap before the dolphin show.

Besides the shows, the park has many animal enclosures. However, mostly are caged.

The Giraffe feeding is definitely a must-see at the Marine park. I was kind of intimidated by the number of giraffes at the park. It's quite a sight! My aunt told me that she recently went to the South Africa Safari but only saw two pathetic giraffes. I guessed all their giraffes migrated to Thailand.

Look at the number of giraffes! This is only one side of their enclosure. There are more on the other side.

I'm hungry! I want food!

You want to see my tongue?

One can pay 50 Baht for a bucket of feed for the giraffes. It was a great learning experience for myself. I know giraffes have long tongues but I have not seen it for myself. Raphael and Beatrice were quite scared as they were not used to getting so close to animals. I guessed we were also outnumbered by the giraffes too. Nevertheless, they have seen it for themselves at least once.

Coming up next.... The Dolphin show

Excited crowd dancing to the music... High, high high!

 It was already 1.30pm. Hot and humid. I'm impressed by how this large group of visitors were still so high-spirited. They stood up and danced to the music while waiting for the show to start. Their moves were so infectious that other groups of people started swaying too. I'm so hot but they're so high!

Anyway, it's Raphael second time watching dolphins show. We watched the dolphins show at Ocean Park, HK in 2011. I think it's quite similar except that this one seems smaller in terms of the pool area.

There were two other shows after the dolphin show but we decided to move on to the Safari World. You may still continue to watch the shows till 3pm before moving on to the Safari World. There is no need to worry about the weather as visitors must be seated in a vehicle throughout the Safari tour. You can choose to take their in-house coach services, own vehicles or even taxis are allowed within the premises of the Safari. 

The admission tickets are considered quite expensive in Thailand. It cost even more than Singapore zoo's admission. However, I think it's worth every penny if you managed to watch most if not all the shows. They have so much more to offer. One thing I preferred them over Singapore zoos is the low cost of food and drinks within the park. Most items are going at 30 Baht each. Mineral water cost around 10 Baht.I think it is reasonable to charge higher admission fees but not charge a premium on the food and drinks. The Thais and PRs get to pay around 300 Baht to visit the attraction. I think it's a good way to encourage their own locals to visit the attraction. Although, we have annual pass, it's still not economical if we only visit the zoo twice a year. Will continue the second leg of the journey, Safari World, in the next post. Stay tuned...