Growing up, zoos haven’t been one of my favorite places to go to. For starters, there weren’t a lot of those where I grew up. I remember the Manila Zoo being my first ever zoo visit and that was for a school field trip. I vaguely remember it to be fascinating although, as I grew older and realized seeing animals in captivity was less… exciting than watching them roam free, zoos lost some of their appeal for me. The Safari World at Everland Resort, however, was different.
How is it different, you ask?
Well, technically, it’s in a theme park and, somehow, zoos and theme parks combined was a new concept to me. Plus, yes, they are in captivity, but they were still given a semblance of freedom as they were allowed to roam around.
Pinoys who have been to Zoobic Safari in Subic, Pampanga will be reminded a bit of the place when they get on the Safari World. You’ll see why later.
After grabbing some ice cream after the T-Express ride, we moved further along the Zootopia Zone of Everland and saw the entrance to the Safari World. Without a second thought, we went in.
There was a queue, but I really wouldn’t call it that, because it was fast-moving. While walking in, there were lots of photos on the walls of the animals and some fun facts about them. I was excited to see a white tiger.
This is our ride for the almost-twenty-minute-ride through the Safari World.
We were the only non-Koreans on the ride, haha! The driver was the guide, and it was purely in Korean. We didn’t mind, really, because the reactions of the other guests were already indicative of their awe and amazement at what they were seeing. Also, we were so fixated on what we were seeing to really care that we didn’t understand what was being said.
The bus was closed, with wide clear glass windows. I can totally understand why it had to be in a confined space because, early on, we were treated to tigers and lions.
White tigers are loooooooove. I think most of them just had their lunch so they were having siesta.
And, of course, the usual tigers that most of us know about. The typical look of a Bengal tiger.
And lions were also aplenty. And mostly resting or dozing off.
We came across some of these vehicles. If you are a follower of the Korean variety show “The Return of Superman” especially when the Song triplets were on, you probably saw the episode where the triplets and their dad Song Il-gook rode on one of these.
And had close encounters with the animals.
And there were bears, too! This is my first time seeing a bear, and one this huge. Girl from the tropics, right here!
Oh, by the way, it was only the two of us who were off our seats. Haha!!
These bears were such flirts. There was even one that playfully interacted with the driver/guide, doing poses on cue. I think they even had names, but I couldn’t remember them now.
So cuuuuute~ if not for their size, I’d say they were almost cuddly!!
But look at those limbs, though. They’d more likely crush you~
The entire Safari World tour lasted for around 20 minutes. It felt so short, but I supposed that’s because we were having too much fun. I liked how the animals seemed to be in very good condition. Of course, captivity is still captivity, no matter what the form. Still, if they are going to be held, at least they were well taken care of.
After stepping out of Safari World, we walked a bit and came across the Amazon Express. The line wasn’t long, so we decided to give it a try.
If you’re a Filipino, and you’ve been to the Enchanted Kingdom in Santa Rosa, Laguna, you may have tried going on the Rio Grande Rapids.
It is similar to the Amazon Express, only this one is on a much larger scale, and the place much bigger. Which is why the duration of the ride lasted for close to 10 minutes.
Oh, and we were already dry from the time we got soaked in the Thunder Falls. There was a large tarp installed that we can use to cover ourselves with, but the seat was already quite wet to begin with, due to the previous rides it went on, so when we sat down, we got wet all over again.
No regrets, though.
The ride was bumpy and, yes, over rapids. So there was lots of jostling and being jolted here and there, as we clung to the tarp so we won’t get too soaked, and hanging on to the edge of our seats, so we won’t be thrown overboard.
At one point in the beginning, I had my camera out, taking a video. And then common sense set in, so I put it right back in my bag, where it’ll remain dry.
After less than 10 minutes, we surfaced, soaked again. (which gave us more reason to walk around and dry off, yay~!!)
I think, after this, we’ve had enough of thrilling and bumpy rides. We just wanted to cool down and relax for a bit.
Good thing we have the Lost Valley up next. See you then!
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