OVERVIEW
Find yourself at the Bali Bird Park to witness the largest and finest collection of Indonesian birds in the world plus fantastic birds from Africa & South America. Encompassing two hectares of botanical landscape, the park provides sanctuary to almost 1000 birds of 250 different species.
Our innovative approach towards the display of rare and tropical birds has progressed from traditional exhibits to that of showcasing mixed species in their natural habitats & in large walk in Aviaries and free range throughout the park.
The park accommodates an amazing display of flora with more then 2000 tropical plants including 50 varieties of palms alone and attracting numerous butterflies.
Incorporating a breeding, research and veterinary facility within the complex, the park has a high success rate in the captive reproduction of exotic birds such as the Bird. of Paradise and Hornbill.
HOW DO YOU GET THERE?
Bali is in the South-East Asia zone for frequent flyer awards. You will need to fly to the airport of Denpasar (DPS) which is served by many international and domestic airlines including Singapore Airlines, Thai, Garuda, Malaysian and Virgin Australia. Bali is my recommended entry and exit point to Indonesia when venturing further afield to places like West Papua.
Location of Bali Bird Park – A
Once you are there, you can stay in the wider Kuta beach resort area or closer to the bird park in Ubud. Most tourists will hire a taxi for the day and make Bali Bird Park part of a full day sightseeing trip. If you want to stay there longer and not feel like you are wasting money having a taxi sit around for several hours, you can be dropped there from Ubud for 100,000 rupiah ($10) with bargaining. It would be more from Kuta. Buses and bemos plying the Kuta-Ubud route can drop you at the corner and you would have a short walk down there. When you are ready to leave, walk back up to the main road and flag down a passing bemo or taxi.
HOW MUCH IS IT AND WHEN IS IT OPEN?
Operating hours :
The park and restaurant is open from 09.00 a.m until 17:30 p.m daily. Except on Balinese New Year ( Nyepi )
Entrance Ticket :
Adult US $ 23.5 + 10 % general tax
Child US $ 11.75 + 10 % general tax
Most major credit cards are accepted both for entry and in the gift shop.
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?
If you book a full day Bali sightseeing tour, they will rush you through the walk-in aviaries, maybe let you see the Birds Of Prey show and take a few photos in an hour or so, then rush you off to shops where they get a commission. I don’t recommend this approach, especially if you love birds. We got there shortly after it opened and stayed there 5 hours and would have stayed longer if we didn’t have plans to meet friends later on. It was raining at first off and on in the high humidity which kept fogging up my lenses so many of my photos will look a bit smoky. It was a real joy to see the birds I had seen in West Papua from far away up close. The park is beautiful, habitats are well-planted, the birds are well taken care of and some of them are even very friendly!
The highlight for me was the Papua Aviary with all the birds flying freely in a huge walk-in aviary. Some birds like the Birds of Paradise and Pesquet’s Parrots were in their own large cages but they still had plenty of room. Here’s a shaky walk through, sorry I messed up the zooming in with my DSLR on video mode.
VALUE TO CONSERVATION
Bali Bird Park plays a key role in protecting and conserving Indonesia’s endangered wildlife.
The Park have successfully bred many species, including the rare Pesquet’s Parrot and numerous Bali Starlings. We accommodate more than 40 species of protected Indonesian birds in the park, a growing number of which are now breeding successfully under the care of our staff.
The staff are proud of their new additions some of which can be seen in their incubators through the observation windows of the laboratory & nursery building.
WHERE TO STAY NEARBY ON POINTS
Several hotel chains have properties in the greater beach resort area surrounding Kuta where you can use your points. I have given rates for free rooms but you may also use cash and points for some hotels. In alphabetical order:
Best Western: Has 3 hotels in Kuta. We spent one night in Best Western Kuta Villa for 12k points which was ok if you have an early flight as it is near the airport but I wouldn’t spend a vacation here. The staff were nice and gave us breakfast boxes as the buffet wasn’t open when we left.
Choice: Not represented
Club Carlson: Not represented
Hilton: Conrad Bali for 50k points.
Hyatt: Grand Hyatt Bali for 12k points or Bali Hyatt for 5k points. This is a favourite for Chase Ultimate Rewards customers.
IHG: Intercontinental Bali Resort for 35k points and Holiday Inn Baruna Bali for 20k points. My review here. We spent 3 nights at the Baruna on points and were happy with it. It’s right on the beach, has a huge pool that isn’t over-crowded, good breakfast buffet and walking distance to several markets and spas. Massages are very cheap in this area, roughly $10 an hour and you will need one (or more) if you just got back from Papua! I would recommend this hotel to those who are seeking a middle-class place on the beach but those seeking luxury would prefer the IC.
SPG: 4 properties which participate in SPG. The Sheraton Kuta goes for 10k points, the Le Meridien Bali Jimabaran, Westin Resort Nusa Dua and Laguna Resort & Spa Nusa Dua all go for 12k points. The Westin Ubud is expected to open in Dec 2013.
Wyndham: 3 Properties – Ramada Resort Camakila & Ramada Bintang Bali Resort fro 16k points and Ramada Resort Benoa Bali for 8k points.
INDIE HOTELS: Having typed all that, if I were to go back to Bali I would go straight to Ubud. Even though it’s also touristy, it’s not nearly as hectic as the beach resort area and I am not really a beach person. There are no points redemptions in Ubud until they finish the Westin but you can still get miles if you go through Pointshound or Welcome Rewards through Hotels.com. If you join Hotels.com, they will send you promo codes every now and then for 10% off but you will forego Welcome Rewards points. If you book Cendana Resort where we stayed through Pointshound, you would get 200 UA miles per night. I will do a separate review, this was an awesome place!
PHOTOS
I took so many pics at Bali Bird Park, I will have to continue some on a separate blog post otherwise this one will take forever to load. I’ll start you off with the fabulous Papua Walk-In Aviary here. As I said before, I had problems with the lens fogging up so that messed up some of the photos. More photos are here.
