Where to start with today?!?! We got our free lift to Bali Safari & Marine Park and had the day of a lifetime!!!
As always (we would miss it if it was all smooth sailing!) there was a bit of confusion. The driver thought he was picking up 3 adults and 1 child so was a bit worried he had picked up the wrong people! All was sorted in the end.
Hannah and I went for the top package, Rhino. That was entrance to all the shows, with reserved seating, dinner in a restaurant with panoramic views of animal enclosures, a 30 minute elephant safari and lots of other things. Sarah went for the jungle hopper package, as she had done the elephant trekking before. She had entry to all the shows too but didn't get reserved seating.
We got a bus to the park and were treated as VIPs from the start. We had a welcome drink and a lady sat with us and worked out a schedule for the day.
We went straight for the safari and were not disappointed! We went through enclosures of animals from Indonesia, India and then Africa. We were so close to animals such as lions, zebras, rhinos, hippos, pig deer, ostriches, giraffes..... The baby lions where so cute, they were playing with a frog! The lady doing the safari was really funny and I was cracking up at her jokes. When we got off we got a free drink and a small cookie.
Next we went to have our picture with an orangutang. We all sat down and the orangutang laid across Sarah's back! He was a bit naughty! Then he sat on our laps and we posed for a picture (and a million taken on my phone, the Balinese love taking 100 at a time!). Sarah bought the picture.
We then went to have our picture with a baby lion cub. It was one at a time and he was very playful! I bought my photo with my voucher. We got some great pics on our phone.
Next it was time for the animal educational show - we had reserved seating and although they were pretty strict, they let Sarah sit with us as we were 'family'. The show was excellent, it was an outside stage and the lady talked about loads of animals and as she said their name they would swoop on to the stage, or run across it, or walk in from the back. Then they would stay on the stage as she gave facts about them and fed them. There was a naughty cat who stayed on the stage the whole time. Even the orangutangs didn't scare her off!
Next we walked up to the elephant show, again they let Sarah sit with us! The performance was to show how devastating humans had been on elephants and vice versa, then how they had come to live in harmony. The elephants all had their acting parts and they were brilliant! One pulled a 'drowning man' from a pool of water. When they asked for three volunteers, Hannah told me to put my hand up and I was picked!! I went on stage and the elephant, Bella, put a flower garland over my head with her trunk - I loved it and got to keep the garland.
We had 15 minutes until our Elephant Safari so we went through the poo paper factory where it showed you the process of recycling elephant poo to make paper. We bought some souvenirs in here.
It was now time for our Elephant Safari and as Sarah had a different package, she went off to explore the park. We got on to our elephant, I was a bit nervous as the lady in front of us had nearly toppled off sideways but a keeper had stopped her!! Once on the elephant, we rode up a hill and into the panoramic safari enclosure that we had previously driven though. It was amazing and for 20 minutes we just rode on the elephant as it wondered round between rhinos, wildebeest, ostriches and zebras! They fed, stood in the shade and drank water. You could see the lodges to stay in and the pool area from here and there was a feeding platform. Some children staying in the lodges called us over to it and fed the elephants carrots, they loved it!
After our time was up the elephants headed back to drop us off, we got free Balinese hats to keep here.
We got another free drink and found Sarah to head off to lunch.
Lunch was amazing, it was in a restaurant with glass edges, looking out to the lions and the meerkats - lunch with a view! Hannah and I got a 4 course dinner included in our ticket but Sarah didn't so she ordered a burger. We got pumpkin soup, tomato and mozzarella salad, grilled chicken with spinach and a cream covered sponge desert with essence of tiramisu. Blooming gorgeous!! We had strawberry milkshake and smoothie to wash it down! While we were eating there was announcements about the Bali agung show starting soon. I had read that it was amazing and so was stressing we would miss it. I practically shoved Hannah and Sarah's dinners down their throats and Sarah got her bill. They accidentally gave her a bill for our smoothie and milkshake, then sorted it out and her dinner actually was less than the two drinks, crazy!
We rushed to the agung show, and made it with loads of time. We were shown to our front row, platinum seats and again they let Sarah sit with us. At this point we realised the show was going to be like the show we saw on one of our tours earlier in the holiday (the one Hannah hated!) as we were handed a piece of paper that explained the story, so we weren't expecting much. However, the show amazed us!! They had a Balinese band, they had elephants, a cheetah, goats, chickens and other animals. There was amazing dances, costumes and set. We loved it!!
After the show we had just over an hour to explore the rest of the park.
We headed up to the petting zoo, to stroke to rabbits, guinea pigs (which Sarah took a picture of to send to her mum but I'm sure she still won't reply!), goats and other small animals.
There is a children's water park and fun zone with rides in it, we think we spot a roller coaster so head to fun zone!!
It's debatable whether we had much fun in this zone though! First there was a ride that goes round in a circle, forward and backwards, bouncing up and down. A promising start. We enjoyed that one.
Next we went on the spinning roller coaster. I was genuinely nervous and enjoyed it, but Hannah said it was too slow and there were some pretty abrupt stops. Headache central!
Next we had spotted a water ride where you sit in a round boat, it looked like fun and we convinced Sarah to join us. Started off nicely, down a river. Then we went into this water lift that wooshed us upwards. We were released from the top, spinning down a spiral, getting splashed (still quite fun at this point). Then we went under a waterfall. Sarah tried to duck to escape the water but head butted the handle in front of her and her glasses fell onto her face!
I couldn't stop laughing but I think Sarah will have a fat lip, oops!!
We would have hoped the injuries stopped there but unfortunately, Hannah and I made the foolish decision to go on the trampolines (fun zone was practically desserted apart from a few couples wondering round). There was a weight limit in kilograms that I convinced myself I was under. I bounced a few times then decided to show off with a seat drop. I was certain at this point that I was not under the weight limit as my bum hit a metal bar beneath the trampoline, taking my breath away. I got off straight away and hobbled round the rest of the park!

We left Sarah watching a naughty orangutang who was on the open air stage, halfway up a wall, surrounded by keepers rattling food, but refusing to come down. Then we tried to go one last time on the safari but due to the wait (the bus was out and we were the only two wanting to go round again) we decided just to head back. The orangutang had just gone back to the keepers!
We went through the foyer and picked up our souvenir bag and t-shirt and exited the park.
Our driver was waiting for us and brought us back to the hotel.
We did a bit more shopping, chilling and the went to the Watering Hole (Sarah's fave place) for our last dinner in Sanur as we move on to Nusa Dua tomorrow.
Ps we were in secret competition with a rude French lady all day - got picked to go up to elephants when she didn't, our elephant overtook hers but she got to eat dinner right next to the glass of the meerkat enclosure. Final score: 2-1 to Hannah and Michelle.