KL Bird Park

We have been planning to visit the KL Bird Park for quite some time. However, something always came up that made us postpone our trip: Imran catching a fever, the haze, school holidays, KJ’s Fit Malaysia, etc. Omar wanted to see ostriches, and merak (peacock), and bangau (stork). He actually asked to go to the zoo, but we have already visited the National Zoo last December. We thought we’d wait till Imran is a little bigger before taking the boys to the zoo again and see the pandas. Last Sunday morning, the sky was clear, nobody was sick, and nothing was going on at the city centre. So off we went to the KL Bird Park.

There were still plenty of parking spaces at the park entrance when we arrived, but the crowd was definitely building up. There seemed to be as many locals as were foreign tourists. There was also a group of kindergartners. The ticket price was RM25 for adults and RM12 for children below twelve. The ticketing staff asked how old the boys were and at first quoted RM62, but then had one look at Omar and declared that he could enter for free. I paid the RM50 with my credit card.

Entering the park felt almost like walking into another world with so many birds roaming around freely on the ground and in the sky. It reminded me of a scene from Jurassic Park, but with birds instead of dinosaurs. After all, aren’t birds supposed to have evolved from dinosaurs? It was feeding time, and the birds were flocking to the nearest feeding stations. Before long, Omar delightedly saw his first stock, followed by a peacock, wondering carelessly amongst the crowd. The birds were all over the place. Even Imran was excited, calling out, “Bird!”—one of the few words in his budding vocabulary. We let Omar hold a copy of the park map, which he put to good use immediately by telling us where he wanted to go and which bird he wanted to see next.

The bird park was very well designed and maintained. Overall it was simply beautiful, like being in the middle of a rainforest. We didn’t bring a stroller with us, but the wide tracks and facilities were definitely stroller and wheelchair friendly. The most impressive feature at the bird park must be the 10-metre high artificial waterfall. Just like in the rainforest, however, the rising temperature combined with the high humidity made it quite uncomfortable as the day wore on.

We paid RM35 to have our family photo taken with as many as six different parrots perched on our arms, lap and shoulders, before heading towards the amphitheatre for a 12.30 p.m. bird show. While thoroughly enjoying themselves, the boys finally declared that they were tired at the end of the 15-minute show. Omar asked to be carried to see the emus and ostriches, our last stop. We had lunch at the Hornbill Restaurant & Café at the park before leaving for home, while being watched by a pair of egrets.

The boys fell soundly asleep in the car soon after we strapped them in their seats. We all had a wonderful time. It was a very good weekend.