by In the past, I always wonder why Borneo never has a zoo of its own, since we have been telling the world that we have rich variety of wild plant and animals. We also enjoy making the mouth of our tourists open wide, with the number of blah blah species we have in Borneo. Whatever, all this impressive facts sound more like a number. Nobody really knows what are the “content”. Many locals don’t even know what are pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys. At last, we have a “Lokkawi Zoo” (The correct name is “Lok Kawi Wildlife Park”). It is a good start, though it is not only showing animals that are native to Sabah.
Click Here to see more photos of Lok Kawi Zoo >>
If you said Lok Kawi, I would think you mean the road between KK International Airport and Kinarut. Later I figured out the Lok Kawi Zoo is actually next to the Old Penampang road. If you follow the road from KK to Dongongon town, just go straight after you passby Dongongon town, after nearly 10 minutes, you will see its signboard at your left side. About 18 km from KK, but very near to people live in Penampang. The zoo is open daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm.
Click Here to see more photos of Lok Kawi Zoo >>
Probably it is newly open, the response is quite good. I went there on Monday and there were 30 to 50 cars parked there at any time. To see what are in their zoo, you may Check out the Trail Map I got with the ticket. The entrance fee is RM10 for Malaysia Adult, RM5 for children, RM20 (nearly USD6) for foreigner adult tourist, RM10 for foreigner children. The admission is free for Malaysia Senior Citizens (above 60).
Click Here to see more photos of Lok Kawi Zoo >>
What they have? They have birds, deers, orang utan, proboscis monkeys, civets, elephants, ostrich, hornbills, tigers, otter, rhino, etc. They also have a Botanical garden, but I haven’t explored it. For serious visitors who want to learn something, it can be a full day trip. However, they don’t have restaurant or cafe shop in the park to provide lunch. Overall, the facilities and trail are well planned. For bigger animals such as tiger, they have an allocated open space, and the visitors can see them from a viewing shelter, which is equipped with fans and description board.
Click Here to see more photos of Lok Kawi Zoo >>
They also have elephant ride (for children below 12 only) at 10.30am – 11.30am and 3.30pm – 4.30pm. Hope they will have tiger ride soon, hahaha… I personally think that morning is the best time to visit. Coz in the hot afternoon, most animals would become tired and sleepy, hiding in shaded area, no mood to move already. BTW, I recorded a video of orangutan playing and relaxing, Click Here to watch it.
Click Here to see more photos of Lok Kawi Zoo >>
Sadly, the Reptile House (for snakes and lizards) is still under construction. Hope they will be completed soon. Overall, the park is well done, but I have a few suggestions:
1) Provide more shaded area for the animals
Goodness… I advise the people there take a walk in the forest and feel how cooling it is. Most area only provide a small tree or net covering roof. The excessive light still makes their surrounding very hot.
2) Animal Employee’s Right
Welfare for the animals again. The park should be closed for 1 day per week, so the animals can rest and release stress.
3) Offer Lunch and Food
With that number of traffic flow, it is probably not wise not to have a restaurant that provides food, something like stomach filler, not just light snap.
4) Provide better direction
Build more signboards next to the road. Good for promotion too.
Photos taken in Lok Kawi, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
wa wa wa..zoo..i heard my cousin say abt it..open during CNY…
no hippo there??i like cute cute hippo so much cos they likes to open their mouth wide..aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh..
when i visit Zoo Negara last time..i dont want to walk away from the hippos..my fren warn me that they will leave me there then i baru move..hahahaha
I’ve meaning to go there, but……
But?..
can u draw some map??hehehe..
my cousin cant find it..
i wish to go. can draw the map? i’m a ums student and still blur blur about whereabout of sabah. :p
sure, i will create a map. but i need to re-visit the place. pls give me some time.
ya…im also want to ask you the same thing…
pls create a map…hehe we are waiting…
p/s:get some tips from the wildlife park coz u r promoting their park…ekeke
the need to change the water in the pools for the elephants and the rhino…i was not surprised to hear the rhino was sick ..daily express…..call a vet fast
Such a good web site but how do I submit my photos?
hi chibuku, i only use my own photos in my blog, so u do not need to contribute any photo. but thanks..
may i use some of ur point to do my report about lok kawi zoo?
i dono wat to write…
can eh?
hehe….
hi missellyza, thanks for asking. yes, you may.
tq.
I went there once and honestly i wasn’t very impressed. Neither do the australian and german tourists i met and talked to. To be honest, it was one of the ‘sadastic’ looking zoo. It wasn’t well kept. I’m an animal observer. I have problem with zoo chaining their animals. The elephants especially, has less freedom to move around. The elephants cant even get their water from the pool and they are strugling to do so (because they were chained for goodness sake). When I asked one of the zoo keeper, he said “ooo…kami suda ukur tu tali dia daru ni pagar sampai di kolam…kami takut tu gajah rempuh itu pagar.” I’m like what the fuck?! Build a strong fence man! It was embarassed when a german couple came to see the elephants and they went like “oh my god..this is so wrong! they are chaining the elephants. this is wrong…this is wrong.” THIS IS WRONG!
Even the tiger cage is so sad to look at. It’s like belukar di blakang rumah sia! It’s so depress and the animals are so depress! Makes me so angry. I’m going back there again to see how things change. Gosh!
vila dines> i agree with you to some extent. the animals don’t look very happy. but i didn’t see them chain the elephants though.
hehe…this saturday i will go to zoo… cool
I went to the wildlife park the first week in March 2009. I liked the Aviary but apart from that the Sea Eagle in a cage so small it couldn’t fly across it. The clouded Leopard and Civets in small cages with only a branch across and no grass or vegetaion on the ground just slept in the corners of their cages I felt like crying. We go to these parks becaus we love animals and hope to see them well looked after. I am hoping that new eclosures are being constructed for these animals but I won’t hold my breath. Neither will I go again
Plan to bring my daughter to the Park this weekend. i hope the park mgmt had done some chmanges by now.
mama mia> yes, there are some changes for betterment. btw, they will celebrate world environment day on jun 13. there are some activities for family to join.
You know so many interesting infomation. You might be very wise. I like such people. Don’t top writing.
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!
i’ll be there with my friends next week. let’s see how it goes.. can’t wait to watch tigers. 🙂
michelle> have fun! don’t miss the animal show in Ampitheater (11:15am & 3:30pm daily, except Friday and rainy day). the elephant feeding is at 10.20am.
Hi!
I’m a conservation biologist student.I’m looking forward to do great projects on nature conservation in the future.Borneo is the world’s third owned diverse biodiversity.I hope there will be more conservation projects coming soon.
Nature rules!
Lysa> all the best to your study and hope you will play an active role in conservation. For Sabah, if the Corridor of Life and Heart of Borneo projects are successful, it will be a very big achievement. Furthermore, we need to get the local community to involve so they will be benefits by conservation thus protecting the forest. Besides clearing of rainforest, the next challenge we face is the conservation of wetland.
as it is open daily, does that include public holidays? thanks
Sophia> yes, they open on public holiday as well
i want to see it.. ^_^
good information
i think i will go there
Re: Poor conditions: Write to the government !!! Believe me they want to save their reputation. We were informed of this fact when I volunteered at a wildlife rescue centre.
saya ingin menagadakan lawatan ambil belajar, tololng bg no fax segera
Hi…i have a question…im Sabahan..and i live in Putatan…Im interested to do volunteering works with pgymy elephant with my friend for 2-3 weeks…one of the reason to educate people and communities to appreciate wildlife more…
As u know, research done by University of Columbia and WWF has recently discover our pygmy elephant is genetically different than other Asian elephant…SO..we really2 want to protect the species and educate people in ecological issues…
Im planning on starting it at the end of October…Plz reply dear Administrator…
Sharifah> thanks for your interest. but i don’t keep pygmy elephant as pet, so i can’t help you.
u may contact WWF or Sabah Forestry Department to check if they need volunteers.
ok..thanks for the reply..!
mohon no fax kerana mau buat lawatan sambil belajar
dr. persatuan Bahasa Melayu
sekolah rendah advent tamparuli
Lok Kawi Wildlife Park Fax No.: 088-765762
semoga harimau dahan saya sihat selalu d dlm zoo lok kawi my sweet baby(manja)