Taman Mini-Reptile Museum

The reptile museum is rather run-down and was described as being not a must-see in the Family Guide to Jakarta book unless your kids are really into reptiles.  Well, my kids love snakes and reptiles so we decided that we wanted to go and take a look at the museum.The entrance fee to the Reptile museum is IDR 10,000 per person.  We just paid for 2 adults and our 6 year old son. The girls were free.

The museum itself is shaped like a giant Komodo Dragon which is pretty cool.  It was built in the 70’s and unfortunately it looks and smells like it is very old.  Everything inside the museum was “stuffed.” Despite the old, run-down look of the museum, the kids loved it!  The museum is air-conditioned and stroller friendly too.

The live reptiles are housed on the outside of the museum. They have all different kinds…snapping turtles, caiman, monitor lizards, turtles, etc.  They even had tree frogs although those are amphibians and not reptiles.

 

The kids got to handle a Burmese Python.  The handler got him out of one of the glass cases.

 

The kids also got to handle another large snake…not sure what this one was...some kind of python.  They were very excited to touch and hold the snake.

 

And the highlight of the day was the Komodo Dragon!  We first saw it from outside of the enclosure.  You can either go up a walkway and look down on the Komodo Dragon  or you can see it from ground level.

As we were walking away from the Komodo Dragon enclosure, one of the handlers said he wanted to show the kids the Komodo Dragon.  I told him we already looked at it.  He told us to follow him.  He opened the door to the enclosure and let us go in.  I kept the kids pretty far from the Komodo Dragon.  DH was brave and got somewhat close to the Komodo Dragon and I snapped a quick picture as the Komodo had started to move towards him and almost trampled on his foot.  Other people got a lot closer to the Komodo and even touched it.  I’m not that brave.  I had visions of the Komodo taking off with one of the kids for a nice snack!  The Komodo Dragon was initially asleep inside the pipe.  The handler went and dragged the poor thing out.  When he almost trampled on DH, the Komodo was headed for the nearby shaded area.

Having been to the reptile museum, I would actually recommend it.  The kids never even noticed the museum seemed old and run-down.  More often than not we hear complaints from our kids that they are hot and tired or bored whenever we go somewhere.  They seemed really happy at the reptile museum...no complaints!  We all had a great time!

Taman Mini-Aquarium and Insectarium

We decided to take the kids to Taman Mini to see some of the museums we had read about in The Family Guide to Jakarta.  There is so much to see and do at Taman Mini.  This time we decided to go see the birds, reptiles, fish, and insects.  I’ll post about the bird park and reptile museum in another post.

The entrance fee to Taman Mini was IDR 50,000.for 1 driver, 2 adults, and 3 children.  I should have paid more attention but I think it was IDR 10,000 for the car and IDR 10,000 per adult and child over 5 years of age.  Everywhere we went at Taman Mini, we only had to pay for 2 adults and our oldest who is 6-years old.  The girls were not charged an entrance fee.


Entrance to Taman Mini


Tickets to both the aquarium and the insectarium are purchased at the ticket office located inside the aquarium.  The ticket was IDR15,000 per person and it was good for both museums. 


 
This was a nice museum. The tanks were clean and the fish all looked like they were in good condition.  The fish are all freshwater.  There are fish from all over Indonesia as well as other parts of the world.  The kids loved looking at the fish.  There is also a touch pool full of fish that my kids really enjoyed.








My youngest took in all the exhibits from the comfort of her stroller.







The insect museum is attached to an outdoor butterfly garden. This museum was also very nice.  There are insects from all over Indonesia and the displays are beautiful.  The kids loved the outdoor butterfly museum.  We saw lots of lovely butterflies.