Philippines - Baluarte, Vigan

After my morning was spent visiting Santa Maria Church, I took the minivan back to Vigan. It was already in early afternoon when I reached the city and after my lunch, I decided to drop by Baluarte. Baluarte is a mini zoo of sort located about 10 minutes drive from the city centre and it's owned by Governor of Ilocos Sur.

The welcoming committee

This wildlife sanctuary is dedicated to teaching and educating the public on the animals living here. Some of the animals under the care of the sanctuary are tigers, ostriches, macaws, and so on. 

Some of the animals in this mini zoo

One of the best things about Baluarte is that you get to interact with these animals. You get to feed them and take pictures with them. Almost every hour there is animal show for you to watch and be amazed. 

How can I not take the opportunity to snap a photo with this beauty?

The star attraction of Baluarte has to be the tiger. This majestic creature sat there looking pretty and always game for a photo session with the public. I think some might even forget the fact that this is a dangerous animal, what with it looking so cuddly.

The said tiger..I missed out the chance to take photo with it..

I do find the giant dinosaur models a bit weird and it gives off the strange feeling like I was in Jurassic Park or something.

Welcome to Jurassic Park!

There is no entrance fee for Baluarte, making a visit a must for budget travellers looking for some fun in the 'wild'.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Visit Malaysia Year 2014 - Taiping Zoo, Taiping

To support Visit Malaysia Year 2014, I will be writing on various tourist attractions in the country. Let us work together to bring in tourists to our lovely Malaysia.

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The first of its kind in the country, Taiping Zoo has become an establishment of sort, popular with day trippers and weekend retreats, especially those of us from the northern Peninsular Malaysia. I myself have visited the zoo countless times, most of it during my childhood. 

Map of Taiping Zoo

Located within the lush green of Lake Garden, this 34 acres establishment is just the right size for a 2 hour adventure. The zoo consists of over 1300 animals of about 180 species. From the mighty animals like tigers and elephants to the aviary kind, you can find it all here at Taiping Zoo.

Photogenic giraffe this one is

See how smitten he was by her

You might notice that most of the animals here were lazing around under the shades of trees or manmade caves, trying to escape the scorching heat. It can be quite a frustration as the very reason of visiting a zoo is to see these animals up close and personal and to interact with them. Or maybe they are mostly nocturnal creatures in which the best time to visit is during Night Safari session.

Animals are lazing around due to the heat

However, if you explore around patiently, you will definitely see something interesting. Tigers trying to out-roar each other over a tigress. A giraffe smitten by a beautiful woman. Our primate cousins swinging around. Patience is virtue and here in Taiping Zoo, you will most likely be rewarded for it as I did during my last visit when I saw all of the above.

You can read more about it here in Virtual Malaysia and do leave a comment or two while you're at it. Click on for more pictures of the animals.

Taiping - Taiping Zoo

Hello, readers, however few you may be.

Sorry for the lack of updates. My laptop has officially been certified, leaving me no other means of posting any entries. Using my phone to do so seems like such a tedious work, so, I rather wait until I bought a new laptop. Or like now, when I borrow my friend's laptop for a night. Anyhow, I'll just post new entries whenever I found a way to do so.

Back in last month, I followed my friends to Taiping for a day trip. The purpose was to go exploring the Hindu temples around the town. In between the temples hopping, we also stopped by some famous places in Taiping such as the Lake Garden, Maxwell Hill and Taiping Zoo.


RM 12.00 per adult



I had been to the zoo quite a number of times and I always find the animals in the zoo rather inactive. They would just laze around the cages, either sleeping off the afternoon or just laying there doing nothing. The same scenario happened for this visit and the animals were just motionless. Well, can't really blame them since the weather that day was freaking humid.

It was such a hot day that we can't blame them for not moving...

 Not all the animals were inactive. Some are still giving us quite a show. One particular giraffe was interacting with us visitors, giving off some very striking poses. The tigers were at one point roaring out loud, possibly arguing who's going to go into the manmade cave. They were even attempting to fight until the hot weather demotivated them, I presume.

Hello, handsome!



These two tigers were having a fight off!

And the losing one being exiled to far end...

Flamingos!



This camel is sponsored by AmBank...

Taiping Zoo is still a nice place to bring your families and children to get up close with nature. Its close distance to both Penang and Ipoh gives the zoo an added advantage for those living in these cities. Besides the Taiping Zoo, there is also a night safari that you can consider going. I have yet to go for it so, maybe, I should. Someday.