The Yunnan Safari is a great place to see, if staying in Kunming a few days, it is only a few kilometers away from downtown. It is the only mountainous park in China where you can see wild animals from allover the world in a fairly open space and enjoying them as you were in their natural habitat, it is really pristine.
Getting there it was all but easy; I had to take three buses, the trip lasted over two hours but the problem was that, at the end, I got at the wrong place, because I was following the indications given to me by the navigator and I should have arrived nearby the entrance of the Safari Park but instead I was still a few kilometers away from it. As I got off the bus I tried to stop some taxies but they all just ignored me and surprised I walked all the way to the park entrance. It was not terribly hot and luckily I found some shadow walking underneath the trees, there was a light breeze, it was a tranquil place, there were several markets along the way, I could smell the fruits and vegetables rotting
under the sun, these were typical markets with many people chatting each other, laughing, I like this kind of atmosphere reminding me the warm Asia; Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, I like this feeling of been again in my beloved southeast Asia. After all this walk to the Safari Park was not too much bad.
I was surprised no to see a long queue that there is always when visiting places of this kind, so I quickly paid my ticket and went in the park. The price is around 100 yuan but I paid 70 cause I had with me the student card.
I got a map of the area and began to explore the animal zones around me. The first one I visited was the one of the black bear, there were five bears, three of the were fed by the tourists that from the top platform threw down some vegetables and the other two were playing in the pool. It was so exciting to see them playing, splashing inside the water and becoming all wet.
I also enjoyed the monkey zone; there were Rhesus and Amurensis macaques, it was
really entertaining to watch then jumping into the pool after swinging on a wooden stick from the above platform. The macaques are quite spiteful, I recall when I was on Borneo island, I was visiting a rehab center for the orangutans, in Sepilok, and suddenly while walking along the wooden platform, hundreds of those creatures appeared and one of them tried to grab my bag, he was very naughty but they are really gorgeous creatures, I love the macaques.
There were also the baboons but they were just a few and did not seem so playful and stayed most of the time underneath the tree in the shadow.
Some rare birds were kept inside a glass room but I could not see much because the glass was a bit dirty and the birds were hidden behind the plants. I have just seen a great Indian hornbill, toucan and some parrots.
I then arrived at the reptiles habitat; there were red and green iguanas, Komodo dragons, snakes, lizards and turtles but I just gave a quick look and kept on my exploration around the zoo.
One animal that really amazed me for its
size was the white rhinoceros, it was massive, I kept staring at that for a moment, it was the first time that I saw a white rhinoceros. There were two of them but they did not move and seemed not interested to the tourists.
The next zone was the one of the giraffes, they were also impressive and I got the chance to get just a few inches from them, walking up on a feeding platform where the visitors could buy some carrot and feeding these beautiful animals.
There were also wildebeests, elands, zebras, deers, alpaca, lamas and ostriches grazing around the area.
The last part was dedicated to the felines but the zone was about three kilometers from where I was and I had to walk along the winding path for half an hour before reaching the tigers and lions habitat.
There were Bengal tigers, white tigers and lions. They were all kept in separate zones, a nice path built on top of the enclosure gave the visitors an excellent view of all the animals. Some tourists bought a piece of meat the they tied on a thread and using a
bamboo rod they played with the tigers watching them in catching that piece of meat.
Tigers are gorgeous animals, I could spend hours watching them, when I was in Thailand I also took pictures with them inside the enclosure, in Chiang Mai, but here it was not possible.
Even though I arrived a bit late due to the unexpected issue I had with the bus, I got to visit a bit of all the Safari Park and I spent a lovely day. In Kunming is probably one of the best place you can visit for the abundant nature and its beautiful animals.
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Safari Park
Did this feel like a zoo? Were the animals well cared for.