A Visit to Manila Zoo

I could hardly remember my first visit to Manila Zoo when I was a kid. Now that I have my own daughter, we paid a visit last Sunday. We just wanted to go out, without actually planning. I was thinking of going to Intramuros or Rizal Park that day. But hubby wanted to go to Manila Zoo; he is an animal lover. And then I remembered that I haven’t seen Manila Zoo for so many years, so I agreed. It’s not Yel’s first visit to a zoo. She has been to Singapore Zoo last December 2008. I doubt that she still remembers, she was just 1 year and 9 months back then.

The Manila Zoo is very close to the Harrison Plaza Shopping Mall. It is between Mabini and Adriatico Streets and Pres. Quirino Ave two blocks from Roxas Boulevard. Entrance fee is 40 pesos for adults and 20 pesos for kids below 4ft.

As I saw Manila Zoo’s entrance, I started to feel sad. It’s not how I remembered it. This was the very same feeling that I felt during my second visit to Burnham Park in Baguio. It’s like a painting, a wonderful painting of a garden that suddenly lost its color. Manila Zoo was not maintained properly. And I am scared that the animals inside may not be well taken care of.

On July 25, 1959, the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden opened its doors to the public. Manila Zoo has a land area of 5.5 hectares and has a current population of about 500 animals. There are 106 species, among which are 30 different kinds of mammals, 63 reptile species and 13 types of birds. In addition to popular zoo occupants such as elephant, tigers lions and the hippos, Manila Zoo also houses several endemic and indigenous species of animals like the bearcat, long-talied macaques and crocodiles. 

Entering the zoo, at the right is an elephant. This is Mali, an Indian Elephant. It could be seen that he is so old already. Yel calls her Teeca. Teeca is the baby elephant in Barbie as the Island Princess.

Straight ahead the zoo are the birds. Yel loves to look at the birds. It is sad that the aviaries are not well maintained. Yel calls the peacock Prince Azul, a character from Barbie as the Island Princess too.

And then at a corner, we found a hornbill or kalaw sitting on a rail outside the aviary. Then a caretaker approached us and told us that we could have our picture taken with the hornbill. They are accepting any amount of donation. We wanted to have the bird sit on Yel’s shoulder but the caretaker said that the bird may be too heavy for her. So just had the hornbill sit on hubby’s shoulder.

Moving along, in the middle of the zoo was a large pond with a small island in the middle. In the island were different kinds of flightless birds. I wanted to get close so I told hubby to find the entrance for the boat ride in pond. The fee was 60 pesos per boat for 30 minutes.

While we were having a boat ride, I saw this interesting ice cream stand: Frito Frio, the real fried ice cream. So after the boat ride we checked it out.

Hubby and I ordered pistachio and we got chocolate for Yel. I was wondering where they keep the ice cream. And I was surprised that the ice cream wasn’t ice cream yet. The vendor mixed water, some white powder, and some sticky flavoring and then placed the liquid mixture in the ice cream fryer. Obviuosly the fryer isn’t hot because moist could be seen, it’s cold instead. She spreads the mixture till it hardens and then scrapes it off. And then there’s the fried ice cream! And it tastes really good!

Hubby wanted to see the tigers and lions. So after we finished our fried ice cream. We started to look for the den. We found lots of tigers! But there was no lion. I wonder what happened to him. Hubby was disappointed cause we weren’t able to see the lion. Then we found a large tiger inside a cage near the monkeys. I wonder what’s he doing there. I was surprised to learn that the cage he is in is actually a cage that used to belong to orangutans! Oh how I pity that tiger.

Hubby and I were thinking of the same thing. It’s as if the hippo was the only animal they take good care of. But I noticed that some parts of the zoo were closed and under construction. So maybe they have already started restoring the zoo bit by bit. I think they are already done with the extension of the elephant’s place and the place where the zebras, the deer, and the horses are. I hope that they would put more funds for the animals themselves, and not just for the structure of the zoo.

And finally, the reptile house. There are actually live chickens and mice in there. And I think most of the people in there are waiting for some live action. They are waiting for the snakes to eat their prey. I think Yel is more interested with the mice rather than with the reptiles. At the end of the reptile house was a really huge snake sleeping, some say he has just finished eating cause there are chicken feathers around. Yel was so amazed with the huge snake.

Manila Zoo serves as one of the educational centers in the country where the viewing public can observe, discover and learn interesting facts about the beauty of Philippine fauna and flora.

Manila Zoo used to be in field trips’ intenerary. Nowadays, when it comes to field trips, avilon zoo and zoobic is the place to be. I haven’t been to those places. Maybe one of these days. And maybe at some point in the future, we could be proud of Manila Zoo again.