A visit to Zoo Negara
MHH took us to Zoo Negara last Saturday. We’ve enjoyed ourselves, Alhamdulillah. We went early (upon advise from my sister), and were among the first few admitted when the zoo opened at 9. And the treat for us the early ‘birds’ were – well, birds, flocks of storks were roaming free on the street, unhindered by non-existing crowd. They were so many and so close, we could chase and touch them if we wanted to. And we watched the zoo staff on a truck threw fish to them, and the birds quickly flew towards the moving truck, right above us, we could feel the wind caused by all the flapping of their wings. That was a novel experience.
Anyway, I’m somehow interested to look a bit (just from a visitor’s view, I have no information whatsoever) in terms of their funding. I think (guesswork only) their main sources of income, in order to operate and maintain the zoo, comes from:
- Government/state funding
- Ticketing (RM15 for adults, RM6 for children/senior citizen
- Corporate sponsorship
And their secondary sources of income:
- Merchandising (all the T-shirt/cap/etc souvenirs)
- Tram tickets (RM3 for adults, RM2 for children)
- Renting out commercial outlets (drinks/snacks/meals/souvenirs booths etc there’s even a Celcom booth)
- Photos with animals (deterrently expensive, IMO)
- Renting out space for private function (a group were having some sort of telematch, probably a family day for a company, when we went there)
- Public donation
- There’s even a large inflatable slides (which reminds MHH of Thundercats) that charges kids to go on them
- And my favourite - a stint during the animal show, where a parrot would fly and take money from your hand. More effective than a donation box; afterall people are willing to pay for experiences.
Some suggestions for more incomes:
- A bit more advertising (but careful, don't be too disruptive and annoying)
- Visitors can buy prepared food to feed certain animals (only tame animals like goats, turtles, fish etc, janganlah pula nak feed lions and tigers hehe)
- Bicycles for hire (or would this be a nuisance to other visitors?)
- More vending machines (visitors are thirsty!)
- Pony rides or other experiences relating to animals (but not to be overdone lah)
Unrelated: A lady in black abaya and niqab (purdah), likely to be from Middle East, gave salaam to me. I smiled and answered. It's pleasant to receive salaams from strangers :)
10 comments:
waaa....pi zoo
sini pun ade zoo [kat area darling downs...45min dari tempat kami.. belum gi lagi...] mereka bergantung pada tiket kita masuk... tempat tu macam byk binatang...nanti lepas kami pi kami tunjukkan ye gambar..
rizza,
wah bestnya, dapat tengok animals yg lain drpd biasa. kat zoo negara cuma ada kangaroo kecik (wallaby) :)
..about the lady with niqab,
'permandangan' camtu is a bit rare kat Msia compared kat sini kut kan, k.Mynie. Kat sini, bertegur sapa sesama Muslim [strangers] biasa jer. Kat Malaysia, sesama Melayu [strangers] pun belum tentu nk berbalas salam.
bestnya gi zoo... been there when my kids were a bit smaller so kurang best sebab letih layan depa... :) i think i will make it a point to visit the zoo again soon...
but i think, there is an association kut yang support the zoo... tak ingat dah nama nya...
baiti,
agree. itu one of the hikmah being in the minority..
ipohmom,
yup, the zoo is managed by an ngo called malaysia zoological society. lepas ni teringin nak gi zoo taiping pulak. zoo melaka dah pergi dulu.. :)
my dear, kat sini they also rent out this little 'car' thing where your kid can sit in it. for kids who are too-old-4-strollers-but-can't-walk-the-whole-way. though nasreen wanted one anyway. and you can't say no to nasreen =)
oh, and forgot to mention that parent pulls the little 'car' thing =)
we went there last year.
tp sangat sadisla - kesian dengan binatang2 tu - kelihatan sangat tidak bermaya!
dan harimaunya - tidak garang macam harimau. siap dipasang bunyian harimau mengaum supaya kedengaran ganas lagi gagah perkasa. sedih, sedih.
ke manakah perginya binatang2 yg ceria lagi gembira suatu masa dulu?
aidanasreen,
that would be useful! munief kat rumah claims "munief tak penat, munief dah besar", pastu bila kat zoo after 1 hr, conquer stroller. nasib baik fifa ringan lagi boleh dukung :) hmm bila la nak gi zoo spore ni.. :)
mio,
pasang suara harimau mengaum? that's so sad.. hari tu takde pulak perasan, rasanya mmg takde bunyi mengaum pun, real or otherwise. hmm gitula dilemanya, on one hand kesiannya kat animals ni kena kurung, but on the other hand, it's educational la jugak to the public (eh ke entertaining je? tch tch)..
sonoknyer gi zoo negara kanns.. salamms
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