Trip to Lost World in Tambun

We have always wanted to make a holiday trip with the whole family together, but this can be difficult given that different working commitments of my sons (and soon, God willing, me too). Recently, we had one opportunity to have a family holiday together. My third son, Izhar is changing jobs from a software company to a private university and there is a one week gap after 14 August. So we plan with my son Ihsan, working in JB, to take his monthly leave within this period. At the time, we weren't sure where we would be going (various suggestions). Finally, my eldest Khair, suggested we should go to Lost World of Tambun. Googled the hotels there and they had Sunway hotel nearby. Booked ourselves a family suite and we were lucky to have discounts for the room rates, perhaps due to the off-peak period (middle of the week and not school holidays). The hotel also comes with various discounts for entering the theme parks there.

On the night before our travel, my second son travelled directly from his workplace (evening shift), reaching Seremban just after 1 am. So, for the travel day, we decided to move slightly later in the morning in order for him to get enough rest. We took off after 10am with two cars (Chevrolet Malibu and Perodua Attiva). Stopping only at Rawang, we finally arrived at Tambun just after half past two. Checked in the hotel and rested for the day. We did try to go to the theme park that night but it was raining and decided against it.

Early next morning, all of us were very excited to begin entering the theme park. We had our breakfast just nearby the entrance to the theme park.

Since the theme park opens at half past 10, we headed back to the hotel after breakfast. But before doing so, we had a group photo (thanks to the Chinese gentlemen who helped take the photo) in front of the entrance.

By 10 am, we walked ourselves back to the entrance and we saw this sign.

We had our bags checked and unfortunately, I had put a few bags of chocs and crisps, not knowing the rule of not bringing in outside food. So those snacks had to be put back in the car near the hotel (10 minute walk). Next, was buying the tickets - the 35% off given by the hotel helps reduce the expenses and I got a senior citizen discount too (the wristband given to me had the letter S instead of A for adults). We posed for awhile with the mascots before entering the park.

The first place we headed off to was the Petting Zoo as this was the main attraction for my other half.

The early sets of animals we saw were (exotic) chickens, goats and horses.

For me, the sets of animals that sort of capture my attention were capybara/pantagonian mara and raccoons (reminded me of Rocket in GOTG) since we were able to get close to them. The capybara and pantagonian mara were put together in a single place. We were told that the capybara was hurt and had some medication (and hence less active).

The pantagonian mara were more active and they came to us for feeding.

To feed the animals, one has to buy some bags of animal feed at a 'store' as we enter the petting zoo. There will always be guides to tell us which food is appropriate and how to feed the animals. The raccoons tend to stay above ground, only reaching down for the food that we gave them.

Before we enter one of the highlights of this part of the petting zoo (namely the birds section), we saw a peacock coming to us (we weren't sure what to feed it). Later, we were told that the peacock was actually from the nearby jungle and perhaps saw the good environment provided by the Lost World. Indeed there were other outside animals who came to 'stay' at the park.

We spent the most time at the bird's park feeding the colourful birds. We were told they originally are not tame as shown in the pics but gradually over time they were trained to be around people/visitors.

Here's a video.

Besides these birds, we also had parrots.

There was also this goose that got quite close to my other half, wanting to sit on her lap.

There were other animals (including reptiles) but we did not dwell too long at those places.

Before we reached the place of the reptiles, we went through the place of tarantulas (they are kept in glass cabinets) and had to climb some steep stairs.

My youngest, when he knew that we were going through the tarantula place, he was a bit reluctant to follow.

There were some scenic places where we stopped to take pics.

We went out from the petting zoo to get our lunch. The choice of food in there is quite limited, almost snack-like. Thus, it is advisable to have a good breakfast before going in. After lunch, our sons went to the water park to have fun there, while me and my other half waited somewhere nearby. At the time, I was already having some back pain after all the walking and standing. Thus, I went back to the hotel with my youngest son to get some rest while the others stayed on. There was another place where they have bigger animals, deeper within the park and they went to see it (despite it was raining a little bit).

By night time, we had a quick dinner and then we went back to the theme park to see the evening shows. For these we use the green wrist bands that were given to us by the hotel (thus, we need not pay when entering back). Before going to the show, we stopped by the foot spa to relieve some feet tireness.

The show entitled Flaming Percussion took place near the entrance of the petting zoo. Here are some pics and video.

There was another place (luminous forest) we would like to go but we were tired and it started raining. The next morning, we decided to just have our breakfast and then leave.

We went back to Seremban via the Guthrie highway. Later that evening, we heard about the aircraft disaster where a plane crashed near the Elmira exit along the Guthrie highway, just hours after we passed the place (see video here). Condolences to the families involved and may Allah protect us from such disaster.