Animals Abound In Zoobic Safari
Ever wanted a close encounter with animals of the wild? At Zoobic Safari, the country's only tiger safari, you get to be up-close with different animals (and yes, tigers!) in a forest atmosphere.
Located at the Ilanin Forest of Subic Bay, Zoobic is a huge 25-hectare area dedicated to entertaining and educating people about animal life.
For an Entrance Fee of P395/person, you can tour Zoobic Safari for about a couple of hours. Entrance Fee for children 4 feet and below get P100 off the price, while kids 3 feet and below get in for free. No food and beverages are allowed inside, as different stores and vendors are in the area already. Since the entire place is built around a forest, prepare for an outdoorsy experience - wear comfy clothing and shoes. You will walk a lot. Bring a fan or some wet wipes if you easily perspire, as it tends to get humid and hot.
They have different attractions, and the tour will first take you to the Zoobic Park to meet some of their wild and farm animals. Some of the farm animals roam around freely, so watch your step! A goat or a duck may just be behind you while you trek the forest.
Afterwards, guests will be lead to the Rodent World. In this attraction, I learned that most non-flying mammals are rodents. The more common ones include mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rats. Zoobic is also selling cute little Abyssinian Guinea Pigs (P249 each), if you wish to take a critter or two back home. Right after this attraction, the next one is the Serpentarium, where they have different common and exotic kinds of reptiles.
Some of Zoobic's cuter critters
Next is a short ride to the Tiger Safari! You can opt for the Adventure Ride using the Zooper Train (P50 per head, per trip). It's a customized tram with tiger stripes and colors. The ride is optional, since you can also choose to use your personal vehicle to get to the other farther attractions.
Zooper Train
Zoobic houses around 20 tigers, and they have one white tiger named Snowy. The White Tiger (or Panthera Tigris) is commonly mistaken for an albino tiger. The white of their fur is a result of gene mutation (recessive gene).
White Tiger
Tiger Safari
You can also get some animal chow to feed the animals yourselves! At the Tiger Safari, you can feed them Chicken (P200) while you're inside the caged vehicle. At another attraction, the Croco Loco, you can feed the crocs some Chicken (P50), too.
We got ourselves one chicken and boarded our well-protected vehicle to enter the tiger safari. Earlier, we saw different kinds of animals in cages. Now, it's the other way around as we enter their habitat while on board a 'mobile cage' to get to see them up close.
Our guide teased us with tiger trivia: if we observe a tiger coming towards us with its tail moving up, that is a signal that it will urinate. Add to that, the stench of luminous (!) tiger pee according to them, sticks to you for 3 days. That was enough to make us all the more excited as they ambled toward our side of the vehicle, eyeing our piece of raw chicken intently. There were only several inches between me and the tiger, thank goodness for the reliable metal bars in between us! It was fun and scary to watch them gobble up the meat and even climb on top of our jeep!
After the safari, there is a tiger Close Encounter where several cages are lined up and you walk about a feet from the tigers. After the safari, this was easier to do, although the fear of getting sprayed with tiger pee lingered.
Our next stop was a short Zooper Train ride to the Savannah, where ostriches abound. While I can obviously say the birds were tamer, a lot of shrieks came from our train as they walked closer and closer to us. Since there are no glass windows and the animals can pretty much kiss us if they like, it was fun to dodge around and take photos as close as we can.
After the Savannah, we headed to the Bone Museum for a short while to view some preserved animals and bones on exhibit, then moved along to the Aeta's Trail. It was a cooler area with the tall trees, and we sat for several minutes to watch some Aetas perform their ritual dances. It was amazing to see them move with such grace in their animal-like movements. They danced the Tutubi (dragonfly dance) that signals neighboring tribes of a change in weather; the Unggoy (monkey dance) which they perform during hunting season; and the Pagbabayani (war dance), performed whenever they need guidance for a victorious fight.
Aeta's Trail
Afterwards we saw hundreds of Philippine freshwater crocodiles at the Croco Loco. There were so much that you see more crocodile skin than the ground! They looked like statues because they barely moved.
Croco Loco
Before heading home, you can also take a short trip to the Zoovenir Shop, where they have a lot of Zoobic merchandise like shirts, bags, and animal stuffed toys, that you can give to the kids or bring home as pasalubong.
Close encounters with tigers and ostriches at Zoobic really made our overnight trip more fun. This popular Subic Bay attraction has a good mix of activities for friends and family that will both be educational and entertaining. Aside from the thrilling tiger encounter, it was my first time to see a Cassowary (a flightless bird from New Guinea) and our local Palm Civet Cat up close and within the same area where Bearcats and Otters hang out. The sights and sounds of Zoobic was a good escape from the gray buildings and urban noises that I am exposed to everyday. Head on to Subic for a zoo-per time!
Zoobic Safari is open 8am to 4pm daily (including Sundays and Holidays). Their Animal Parade begins every 3pm during weekends and holidays. Visit www.zoobic.com.ph for more information.
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