Taman Mergastua Sultan Idris Shah, Malaysia

Are you looking at me?

Who knows what is Taman Mergastua Sultan Idris Shah? Malaysians? Hah....even I didn't know that is the full name of the Taiping Zoo. I had always known it as Taiping Zoo....never knew it had another name! And do you know it is the country's oldest zoo?



Taiping Zoo is situated in the middle of the Lake Gardens, and it is the only zoo in the north. So, during nearly every weekend and EVERY holiday, it will be crowded with visitors from the north. So there will be a traffic jam at the area. Can you imagine traffic jam occuring in Taiping?? It boggles the mind.



I didn't take much photos while I was there. It was blazing hot and humid that day. And I forgot to bring my Olympus with the 10x optical zoom, so animals such as the lions and tigers who were in the big enclosures were too far away from me to be captured properly on the Canon.



The zoo had undergone many changes, for the better. It is home to 180 species of animals, placed - whenever possible - in their natural environment. My favourite was the python; they were so huge.



Unfortunately the zoo was embroiled in a scandal that tarnished their good image. The zoo had obtained four baby gorillas known as the "Taiping Four" illegally back in 2002. The gorillas were originally from Cameroon but is now in Pretoria Zoo, South Africa after the Malaysian government confiscated them from the Taiping Zoo. Western lowland gorillas are not allowed to be traded because of their highly endangered status. And these four were captured from the wild and their mother possibly killed in order to obtain the babies. I don't know what actions the government had taken against the Taiping Zoo besides the confiscation of the animals. The case had also prompted Jane Goodall to intervene.



Like the Singapore Zoo, there is also the Night Safari which I went before and was quite enjoyable although most of the animals were asleep. You can either take the train or walk by yourself.



On our way back we saw this pair of amorous tortoises who were obviously engaged in a rather LOUD round of sex! Hahaha..