Africa is closer than you think. If you follow the bumpy perpetually unfinished highway running along the southeast coast of Bali to a village in the middle of nowhere with the unlikely name of Herzliya, turn in at the sign announcing the Bali Safari & Marine Park, this will be about as close as you will get.
The safari part started soon after we pulled into the big parking lot, looking around in vain for the entrance to the Mara River Lodge. Cars were not permitted inside the park, so we boarded a land rover that traveled up through a grand winding forest road past bas reliefs of ancient kingdoms carved into rock faces. It was at that point that I stopped resisting and surrendered wholeheartedly to the make believe world of the park. The lobby of the Mara River Lodge was decked out with a stuffed lion, zebra skins, warrior masks and Masai spears. A guy in a spiffy khaki uniform and pith helmet drove us in an electric powered car to our lodge, actually a Xhosa round hut with conically shaped roof, one of a number along an L-shaped perimeter.
Afro touches were visible at every turn. It was like playing a Where’s Waldo? game trying to find the motifs - impala horn lamps and door handles, spear head curtain rods, stick chairs and tables, kraal-style crockery, paintings of elephants, giraffes and masks on walls, pillowcases and shower curtains. Amenities included two air-conditioners, a flat-screen TV mounted above the bed, fridge, coffee and tea service, but no reading lamp – the bane of Indonesian hotels! Our guide told us not to eat the basketful of scrawny carrots on the table. “They’re for the animals,” he said. Our windows faced a big open muddy wildlife refuge full of wallowing pits, watering holes, rock formations and thatched animal shelters. A broken down land rover had been abandoned in the middle, giving the impression that its occupants had barely escaped with their lives.
Later that afternoon, elephants slogged slowly across our front. Surrounding us was lush vegetation and coconut palms. My wife threw some carrots from our balcony over the perimeter fence to some milling zebras. No sounds of cars, trucks, music, chanting, not even the ubiquitous Bali motorbike could be heard. A fast flowing brook gurgled below. Beyond a river on the other side of the road were five meter tall elephant grass, treetops and waving green as far as the eye could see. Dining in the Tsavo Restaurant early that evening, we gazed out a curving 60-meter long floor-to-ceiling window at a quintessential African tableau: lions perched on ledges of a rock cliff. The eerie beating drums and the loud muffled roars of the big cats could be heard through the glass. Guests vied for tables near the window so they could get close up views.
The next morning we woke to twittering birds and the obscene belching of wildebeests. Two gigantic 2000 kg rhinoceros and frolicking zebras could be seen and more mounted elephants sauntered by. A solitary stork sat on top of a pinnacle of boulders and was to remain there immovable as a statue for the whole two days we were there. After breakfast we walked to Kampung Gadja, an elephant trekking, education and feeding center. A mother and its calf approached us from the other side of a rope, expecting carrots from the half-meter high stack on a table. We followed the roadway, crossed a bridge over an elephant assembly area, but when we reached a T-junction the driver of a maintenance truck told us to turn back. Park employees on top of a long line of approaching elephants gave us the same warning. The map was not to scale and we had wandered into a restricted area of lions, tigers and bears. Oh, my!
We found our way back to the main path down to the Toraja Terminal and took the Safari Journey, a half hour tour of the park on a guided a/c bus. We drove by spacious outdoor animal enclosures of swinging gibbons, bears and lions resting in caves, grazing antelope and ostriches, a group of tigers dozing in a shelter, finally traversing a pond of wallowing hippopotami. We definitely weren’t in Bali anymore.
Starry Night Safari
Both a walk-through and a drive-through wildlife park, the environment is a natural and shady haven for incarcerated animals, albeit they don’t have to work for a living. Unlike Africa’s big game reserves, there’s no rolling golden savannah grass, flat-topped trees, native Askari armed guides, and you don’t get to see animals killing each other. Wildlife is visible from almost every vantage point - from the walkways, swimming pool, massage parlor, restaurants. Three of Africa’s Big Five (lion, elephant and rhino) are super easy to spot, as if served up on a platter.
At 6 pm we climbed into a battered all-terrain vehicle for the Night Safari. Piled on the seat were the usual buckets of carrots. We stopped in the open refuge area and fed the carrots through the window to a half dozen hungry zebras which had surrounded our vehicle and the one in front. We were part of the herd. A little later all of in both vehicles became part of the African scene in front of the restaurant, fully visible to the diners. Our guide shoved a stick pierced with fatty dripping meat at a waiting overfed lioness. Sitting the closest, I could smell her putrid breath as she stood up on her back legs against the caged window and clawed at the food.
The Grande Dame of Bali’s Animal Parks
In a rural area about 20 km northeast of Denpasar, this sprawling theme park encapsulates three zoological regions of the world - Africa, India and Indonesia. With 400 different animals, the park also plays an important role in animal conservation efforts. This is wildlife-viewing with a conscience. Starting from the lodge, the property rambles down through 40 hectares to the main gate with family-friendly attractions all along the way – the Ranthambore White Tiger, Komodo Dragon enclosure, trained camel and pony rides, jungle cruise, restaurants, Bali Market, kid’s water park, amusement rides, freshwater aquarium and a replica of Bali’s sacred Tampaksiring bathing place.
At intervals along the way we passed “animal encounters” or print stations where your photo may be taken with baby orangutans and white tigers. The clean, smoothly managed high-tech park has placed wide screen monitors at intervals displaying maps, info and up-to-date announcements. The African theme is faithfully echoed throughout. Signage is in Swahili and all park vehicles are painted in zebra stripes. Walkways are covered in netting and open spaces and even entertainment rides are fitted out with cool mist sprayers to give visitors respite from the midday heat. Voted “Indonesia Leading Amusement Park” in ITTA awards in 2010, BSMP gives more natural space to animals and its layout is on a grander scale than the other animal parks and zoos of Bali. The marine portion of the park, located nearer the entrance, is due to be completed next year.
It was Sunday and the walkways were filling up fast with Indonesian families, so we hurried to make the free 20-minute Educational Show at the Hanuman Stage beginning at 11 am. Even though it was open air, there was standing room only. Pigeons and hornbills swooped down from above. Parades of guinea pigs traipsed across the stage. Pre-adult orangutans ambled around. Trained cats ran up a conduit. A little girl was called up, given big protective gloves and an eagle landed on her hand. We wished we had brought the kids.
A New Kind of Wayang Theater
In the mid-afternoon, we joined the throngs heading for the Bali Theater, a gigantic green box in the middle of the park dominating the whole landscape - the largest modern stage on the island – to see the much ballyhooed Bali Agung performance. As the audience took their seats, the show opened with the rippling cadence of a gamelan orchestra. Offerings were laid on each side of the wide stage, then the rhythm quickened as a whole royal court and its retinue (including 10 elephants) began a long and stately parade. The procession circled around to behind a giant curtain where it appeared again as moving shadows.
Just as in Indonesian traditional wayang theater, the outline of a huge Khayangan symbol, visible through the screen, signaled the start of the actual performance. Accompanied by thunderous music, the curtain dissolved as tottering animal figurines hovered magically over a shimmering waterhole. This was only the beginning of a massive collaboration of 150 performers. Back stage, as well as chambers underneath, were used as assembly areas for scene changes that take place right before your eyes.
Suddenly a banyan tree, forest and village houses materialized with live quacking ducks, fighting cocks, fishermen paddling canoes, farmers working paddy – the actions of the players reflected in the pool in the front. Haunting music totally enveloped the audience. Appealing to the increasing numbers of Chinese visiting Bali, the story line recounts the tragic 12th century marriage between a Balinese king and a Chinese princess. Enormous seagoing junks appeared amidst ostentatious pageantry. Later in the show the fleet, attacked by sea monsters, crosses a vast ocean of churning waves.
The extravagant production is a clever blending of the Chinese, Balinese and Javanese civilizations, combining elements of wayang and dazzling special effects, all seamlessly flowing into one another. Actors in oriental costumes and celestial fairies synchronized with the movements of tiny gold-clad Balinese legong dancers and flamboyant entrances of a Chinese dragon and Balinese Barong. A long-bearded sage and a curious little boy are the only actors talking. The old man, responding to the boy’s questions, narrates in the deep sonorous voice of a puppet master. As in Javanese traditional theater, the other players express their roles in pantomime. But this is live theater in which cattle, elephants, camels, snakes, eagles and hornbills take part, making their entrances and exits amidst smoke, bubbling water, wavering shadows, shooting light beams, statues rising from the floor, giant Landung puppets and grotesque centipede-like insects. This thrilling hour-long phantasmagoria, from beginning to end, leaves one at a loss of words.
Practicalities
Bali Safari & Marine Park, Jl. Bypass Professor Ida Bagus Mantra, Km 19.8, Gianyar 80551, tel. 0361-747-5000, email: info@balisafarimarinepark.com, website: www.balisafarimarinepark.com. Opening hours: 9 am-5 pm weekdays, 8:30 am-5 pm weekends. If coming from Denpasar, take a left just after Masceti Beach. Transport: US$15 from almost anywhere in south Bali (reservations: tel. 0361-950-000).
The basic package “Jungle Hopper” ($35) is limited but satisfying for a half-day visit by just paying for the extras like photos with the animals, elephant rides, etc. The most inclusive is the “Rhino” ($99). Take the Safari Journey in the morning or the afternoon when animals are most active and the light for photography is best. More animals - over 60 species – can be seen on the Safari Journey than on the Night Safari.
Visitors with KITAS get 50% discount, the same as children. The $180 it costs to stay in the one of the lodges is good value because each member of the family has to pay $35 for the Safari tour alone – that’s already $140 for a family of four.
Bali Agung is performed at the Bali Theatre in the park from Thursday to Sunday. Tickets: US$39 during the promotional period until March 2011. For info, call 0361-950-000 or visit www.balitheatre.com. Show starts at 2:30 pm, convenient for those visiting the park for both half day or full day.
