Bali Safari and Marine park

Bali Safari & Marine

For those unaware, this is not the "bali zoo", Bali zoo is another zoo which is quite smaller and my opinion a waste of time. 

This was my second visit to the Bali Safari & Marine park and its always an enjoyable activity! The main attraction of this zoo is how hands on it is! 
What I mean by that is their are different animals around the zoo that you can hold or feed and have a photo opportunity. This is at no extra cost, and you can capture the moment on your own camera. Of course theres a photographer there taking photos and you can pay $10-$15 for a printed photo in a cute Safari and Marine park frame. For first timers I really recommend getting a printed photo as its a cute memorable souvenir to take home. 

Let me begin with prices! A lot of tourists like to book these types of activities before they go to Bali, so its already organised. BUT  for our little adventurous bargain hunting souls, we prefer to barter a good deal in Bali. 
So it was of a morning time that we decided we wanted to visit the park, so we finished our breakfast early and set off down the street. It was about 8-9 am in the morning, as you have to get an early start. 
We found a good tour guide that we ended up using our whole holiday. It wasn't hard to barter, they always gave good prices and majority of the time they didn't charge us for Transport. They we apart of the Rama Garden Hotel, which also is a restaurant (located in Legian on the Padmas street). 
Keeping in mind that with the Zoos and things they have set prices! So the man named Gary that we were dealing with, pretty much gave us the same price as on the brochure but didn't charge us our return transport. This ended up about $25 cheaper then what other tourists were paying! 

Have a look on the website for Rates and Packages, keeping in mind all Zoos are pretty pricey, and just because its Bali doesn't mean their Zoo is cheap! The admission prices keep the Zoo running! 
http://balisafarimarinepark.com/RatesPackages.asp

The Zoo is quite big, but does't take forever to walk around. There are plenty of things to do including;
- Live show
- Theatre
- Feeding opportunities
- Photo and animal holding opportunities
- Two restaurants
- Shopping
- Water park
- Safari ride
- Even a safari resort

Theres plenty to do! We started with all of the photo opportunities while everyone was busy watching the Live show (good tip so theres no lines). We then visited the elephants and got some gorgeous photos feeding them. After that we went on the Safari bus which I really enjoyed as your so close to so many of the Jungle animals including Lions and things. The safari bus tour guide also gives you so many tips about the animals, very educational for kids.
After that we were a bit starving so after seeing all of the animals we went and had a feed at the restaurant. All of the prices were very reasonable and alike most of the other Bali restaurants, CHEAP!
We ate for about $10 each and it was a very good meal. Last time I visited the park I went to the all you can eat buffet as it was included in my package, that was also a very good feed!

Overall we had a fantastic day and it was great to see Jakes face as it was his first time visiting the park. As i've mentioned above, the best part about the zoo is all of the photo opportunities you get with the animals. Australia offers nothing like that, we're you can pat a tiger, hold an orangutang or a bear cat. Unless your willing to pay top dollar! SO it really is the best part.
After visiting twice now I probably wouldn't rush to go again, but thats only because I've seen it all now, nothing to do with the lovely Zoo.
So I highly recommend making this one of your activities in Bali, and please enjoy my photos with the animals!