Chung and I went to the Kuala Lumpur Birds' Park located in the Lake Gardens. It's a lovely garden filled with plants, little ponds, streams and waterfall albeit man made. Well better than nothing. Surprisingly the park is very well kept. The walking paths are well marked out and lots of warning signs about it being slippery after rain. There are even ramps for baby prams and wheel chairs! Almost unheard of in KL! Perhaps because of foreign visitors, the city father thought the park must be of higher standard in safety and security.
The birds are left free to fly and roam all over the park. Some are housed in cages and special holding area. I guess you can't have eagles, owls, emu and ostriches mixing with the two legged kinds. Many years ago my friend father was in a similar kind of bird park in Australia. He was walking along without realising that he was too close to some ostrich eggs. The female bird kind of attacked the old guy by slashing him with her talon. Do not let the birds fool you. Despite the comical and gentle look of large flightless birds, they are lethal. Lucky thing the old gentleman lived but had to spend several weeks in a hospital.
Anyway our main intention was to take some pictures. You know lah, any excuse to bring out the camera. The walk was pleasant enough and some birds were very obliging to photographer. They actually sit there motionlessly. There were many peafowls in the park. One of them even obliged us by doing a spectacular strut in all his full glory. That alone was worth the trip.
On the other hand I wish there were more birds. Yes, I know, the cost of maintaining such places must be enormous. We were there on a Sunday morning, the crowd at best was just okay. It's a trade off, if you have lots of people the birds will not exactly be very happy. As it is I saw some really idiotic behaviors from both adults and children.
So if you are in the city and for want to do something then head for the park. The entrance fee RM19 per person. If you are a foreigner its RM39! Do not forget to bring your camera.
