Stephen and Henry in Melaka Crocodile Park
In the light of its rich historical past, Melaka has become one of the best places for travelling even for the locals. Two weeks ago after having lunch with Stephen and Henry, who always love to tour around Melaka, suggested to me to visit some of the tourism hot spots in Melaka. First of Henry’s choices was Taman Buaya Melaka (in Malay, Melaka Crocodile Park) which has a history of more than two decades.
The Melaka Crocodile Park is located in Ayer Keroh of Melaka; about 20 minutes drive from the town of Melaka. As the name suggests, the park created an ideal captive environment for the crocodiles and displayed to the public. It has more than 100 species of crocodiles, including all local species with also crocodiles from America, Mexican, India, and Thailand. Some of the crocodiles hunted at other places within Malaysia are also brought into this farm, such as one huge 3.9-meter saltwater crocodile captured in Kampung Jawa, Melaka River.
Henry and the little croc in Melaka Crocodile Park
Since its opening, the park has expended and transformed to include a section of other reptilian species and birds. Furthermore, there are also special and exciting performances by the trained keepers and their crocodiles on every Saturday. Other attractions of the park include haunted ghost house, mirror mystery house and train ride, which make the park great for kids.
Where we visited each of the cages, the crocodiles were so still that it looked dead or like a dummy. However when we looked at their eyes, they were like staring at us fiercely as if they were ready to strike. We were lucky that not needing to dive to the river nor travel to overseas to see live crocodiles from over the world where many of the species can be found here, yet getting so close to them.
The park had changed a lot since our last visit during our childhood. For instance, more species have been brought in, the enclosures for crocodiles have been improved and we could still see some renovation on going to upgrade the facilities for the park. Overall the tour in the park was thrilling.
Stephen imitating the mouth open croc behind the cage
After the Crocodile Park, we went across the highway to the Zoo of Melaka. It is right opposite of the Crocodile Park. The last time I went to the Zoo Melaka was early this year in January but it was still fun to go again with friends.
The Melaka Zoo is the second largest zoological park in Malaysia. According to its official website, the Zoo currently features a handsome collection of more than 1,200 animals from the world over, representing more than 200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
Henry (left) and Stephen at the entrance of the Melaka Zoo
The best time to go to the Zoo of Melaka would be early morning as most animals are usually up and active; they are feed and exercised early. Most of the animals tend to be sleepy or turn lazy during noon as it is the hottest hours of the day. Then they get a second wind around in late afternoon. That was the time when we arrived at the zoo so we could see most of the animals getting active. As the sun going down and hiding behind the trees, we got to see nocturnal animals going lively, such as wild cat, owl and wolf which sleep all day and up all night.
Since we were exhausted taking a half day walk in the parks under the hot sun, we didn’t stay at the zoo for long. Rather we took a quick tour in the zoo without taking many photos.
To conclude, the tour to Melaka Crocodile Park and Melaka Zoo was amazing and the fact that taking the tour with Stephen and Henry, the two humorous guys had made the trip even more funny and joyful. The tour in Melaka didn’t end here, we then headed to largest bowling centre in Malaysia, Melaka International Bowling Centre with 52 lanes for two games, and continued to spark the night of melaka by taking a ride to the 80-meter height revolving tower, Menara Taming Sari, and enjoyed the beautiful Melaka River sceneries with the river cruise. I hope to have time to do a write up on the latter two attractions.
Sharing some shots I took in the Melaka Crocodile Park and Melaka Zoo. May all beings be happy.
