I have made it to a point for myself that I would explore at least one place of interest in Kuala Lumpur each precious weekend, to maximize the whatever limited free time I have. So this week, I chose to travel all the way to National Zoo of Malaysia, which was situated surprisingly much further than I have anticipated originally. I almost fell asleep in the long bus journey, for the first time of my life in taking any buses, the lack of sleep over the past few days due to late night outings finally chipped into my system.
WE SHARE OUR FOOD
SPLASHING IN THE POND
Why Zoo Negara? Blame all of it on that Brandon (click)!! He poisoned me several times with the pictures he took at the Zoo in Melbourne, so
Anyway, this was my second time to a zoo of any sort, the first time was at Perth, which was obviously much, much smaller and it had narrower animal variety compared to what Zoo Negara is exhibiting.
However, considering the small size, I did enjoy myself back then, since it was the first time I was seeing a lot of animals there. Unfortunately I did not have a camera back then, hence no records of pictures to show you guys. One particular animal attracted my attention, and I fell in love with it on the spot. It was the meerkat, gosh, it was darn cute and adorable !!!! If only I could keep one as a pet. Timoon from the Lion Kong, was a meerkat, the loud talkative creature who sticks to Pumba (the pig) all the time.
OMG LOOK I AM SWIMMING
The Zoo Negara was very, very huge. It took me whole afternoon to cover the whole ground, which was sub-divided into a few parts, such as the Mammals, reptiles, birds, Savana walk, and Aquarium.
The planning of the whole layout must have been very detailed, and the setup of the place was amazing, with the variety of animals available for show to the public.
I was quite impressed, though I am sure this will definitely not be anywhere near the standards you find overseas, but it was worth the money you are paying for, especially for someone like me who is not that exposed to wildlife and all.
LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS
If you were there seeing this ape, you would have felt a tinge of sympathy for him (or was it her), because he was leaning on the glass panel, and the facial expression suggested that he wanted to get out very badly. And he was staring at the eyes of the people looking at him. I tried to capture that emotion, but I do not think the picture turned out quite like what I wanted it to.
WHAT A HUGE BIRD
IN THE SUN WITH GLEE
A problem with highlight clipping (overexposed burned out white part of the picture) here, the clouds must have quickly shifted and I was still locking on the Auto-Exposure just before I fully pressed down the shutter. Sudden weather pattern change can be nasty too for noob-photographers like me.
Taking pictures at the zoo was a bigger challenge than what I have initially anticipated. Since the entire place was man made to contain the animals, and plenty of safety measures were taken to ensure the animals are protected from the dangerous carnivorous human beings, ermmm, I mean humans beings are protected by the dangerous carnivorous animals, whichever way you want to see it, it was not easy to get the shots that I really wanted most of the time.
The cages with THICK steel bars, the separating terrains between the foot standing position and the animal platform, and and the artificial man made items being placed all around the places just added miserably undesirable distractions into the pictures. It was not easy finding a good framing spot to isolate the animals.
G'DAY MATE !! I AM AN AUSSIE
In Perth Zoo, I get to touch and pet them.
SOME RANDOM PLANT
I got tired of shooting pictures for few continuous hours, hence I sat down for a bit, and I saw this flower not too far from me. Check out the amount of details it captured, with the ants and the spider webs at the left side.
The animals hiding from the sun under the deep shadows at the corners also did not help much. Many of the animals would show their butts only, and I could not think of any way to make an artistic shot out of animal backsides. Or worse, some of the animals moved so fast that you could never really follow their movements. Or worse, some of them were sleeping under the broad daylight. No wonder kids like to throw stones at them.
I am sure many of you in KL have been to the zoo, and might think that theres nothing that special about it. In a way, its true, because its not the place you would want to visit again and again.
LOOKING TO THE SKY
PLAYING WITH WATER
When I was a kid, and when the Zoo was just opened (I think), there was this advertisement on the TV by KFC with kids going around the zoo singing the theme song happily that went something like "lets go to the zoo and bring you friends along too". I could not remember the exact lyrics, but it did get stuck in my mind even until now, more than a decade later. This shows how scary advertising can be, having a lasting impact on children's fragile minds huh?
And so I have done my tourist thing for this week. I wonder where will I be exploring next week.
WHAT SEXY RED LIPS YOU HAVE
Any good suggestions and ideas?
The place I am going to must be a good place for photo-shooting too, or else my Ollie will be throwing tantrums.