The most amazing evening after a 'normal' day swanning about the shops & walking through the lapping warm waters of the Indian Ocean. We went on a tour called A Night At The Zoo. We were picked up from our Hotel at 4pm accompanied by a now obligatory Australian couple, this time from Darwin. We were driven out of town for about an hour to Bali Zoo. When we arrived we were shepherded into a group of 10 with our own guide. We followed a couple of Elephants who had been doing rides for visitors during the day. This was easy as they left a trail of coconut sized droppings that a little Balinese bod was collecting in a wheelbarrow as they went along. The Elephants joined another three that made up the Herd at their compound. The fun begins here as we are encouraged to feed and with pieces of corn cob and pet them. They were amazingly gentle, but we had been told to stay away from their rear ends! After this we went to the restaurant area by the Lion enclosure where a young Bearcat, a snake & a young crocodile were brought out by their keepers for us to pet, hold & have our photos taken. We both had the Bearcat draped over our shoulders but declined the snake & crocodile. Darkness fell very quickly as it does in the tropics and we were herded into our groups again & set off with our guide, large torch in hand, to view the nocturnal animals that wake up after sunset.
Wending our way through dark paths we saw parrots, owls, eagles, monkeys, tigers and fed carrots to small deer and rabbits in a petting enclosure where the residents tend to do business after dark. We saved the bananas for Jacky, the enormous Orang Utan who is one of the major stars of the zoo. He is huge - I did not realise just how big these "men of the forest" are close up. The last of the carrots went to some camels who must have been staying up late to watch TV.
We return to the open air restaurant a stones throw from the Lion enclosure & watched the young Lions gambolling & snarling. We had an extremely good meal watched carefully by said Lions!
After dinner we watched a performance of the Balinese fire dance- this folk tale tells the story of hunters trying to catch a bird, but when he is caught the gods step in to save the bird's life - the gods breathe fire and cow the hunters - all jolly good fun! The place stank of paraffin so there weren't many takers for photos with the dance group.
A really good night out.