East Java (Surabaya, Madura, Malang) Trip : Part 2 - Batu Secret Zoo & Agrowisata, Pohon Inn Hotel Review

Note: This is a photo loaded post.

Okay, now that you've read the first part of my holiday trip on my previous post, now it's time for part 2 :)

Yesterday on Part 1 I told you we went to Surabaya and Madura and headed out to Batu, Malang at night. Here is the part where we spend our lovely day in Batu, Malang - East Java. And the same as yesterday, I will do this post in 2 language version.

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Kami menginap di hotel yang namanya "Pohon Inn". Saya ingat pernah baca tentang Jatim Park 2 entah dimana (mungkin di internet) dan tertarik dengan konsepnya di mana terdapat Kebun binatang modern, Museum Satwa modern, Bianglala raksasa, dan sebuah hotel tepat di tengah-tengah semuanya. Saya suka konsep kaya gitu, jadi kita nggak perlu jauh-jauh dari hotel untuk ke tempat hiburannya. Sejujurnya sih saya agak blank dan don't know what to expect pas booking kamar di sana, tapi pas kita nyampe disana tengah malam, tempatnya keliatan cukup mengagumkan (bahkan dalam keadaan gelap karena waktu itu jam 12 malam!).

Dan begitu kita sampai di lobi, saat itu juga saya tau kalau saya tidak membuat pilihan yang salah. Saya langsung yakin ini pasti hotel keren begitu saya lihat di belakang meja concierge-nya nggak ada dinding tembok melainkan aquarium kaca segede gaban yang ternyata itu kandang lemur! Jadi kalo kita lagi check-in atau check-out kita bisa sambil lihat lemur lagi pada main (waktu saya datang lagi pada tidur sih) tepat di belakang kepala mas/mbak resepsionis ;) Sayangnya saya nggak sempet foto itu reception desk...

We stayed in a hotel called "Pohon Inn". I remember I read about Jatim Park 2 somewhere (probably on the internet) and got interested with the whole concept area where there's a modern zoo, a modern museum, a giant ferris wheel, and a hotel smack dab in the middle of the whole thing. You don't need to go far from your hotel to enjoy the fun. I honestly don't know what to expect when we book our rooms there, but when we arrived there in the middle of the nigh, the place looks amazing enough (even in the dark!).

And when we hit the lobby I know I didn't make the wrong choice. You know you come to the right place if you see a hotel lobby with a big glass window cage of Lemurs instead of walls, right behind the concierge desk ! So when you do your check-in you can see the lemur plays (or in my case, sleep) right on the back of the receptionist head ;) Too bad I didn't take photos of it..

This is the hotel's front view. It is shaped like a tree hence the hotel name "Pohon Inn". Pohon means tree in Indonesian language.

Kamarnya bagus dan nyaman banget, bernuansa warna hijau. Kami book 3 kamar, yang satu (kamar adek saya) menghadap depan hotel, dengan view gunung di kejauhan yang diselimuti awan kabut tebal, indah banget...

Sementara 2 kamar lainnya (kamar saya & orang tua saya) menghadap ke belakang hotel yang mana adalah Kebun Binatang itu sendiri! Check this out, karena halaman belakang hotel kita itu langsung kebun binatang jadi di bawah teras saya itu ada kandang cheetah! Woohooo ... keren banget. Nggak tiap hari kan kita pagi-pagi dibangunin sama suara binatang seperti lagi berada di hutan (dari suara binatang di zoo), terus pas keluar ke teras kamar malah ngeliat ada cheetah lagi berjemur pas banget di bawah teras, deket banget rasanya!

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The hotel room is great and very comfy with green hues decor. We booked 3 rooms, one of them (my brother's room) faced the front view which has a gorgeous mountain view with thick mist that surrounds it and looks so ethereal..

And the other 2 rooms (mine & my parents's) faces the back view of the hotel which is the Zoo itself!! Check this out, since our backyard is the zoo so there's a cheetah cage right below my terrace!! Woohooo... it's not everyday experience to be woken up in the morning with the sounds of the forest (animals sounds from the zoo), and then you see a cheetah basking in the sun right beneath your hotel room terrace!


View from my brother's room that faced the front of the hotel

View from my room that faced the hotel's backyard which is the Zoo itself!

That's my dad, soaking up the morning weather.. See the brown corridor thing on the left? that's one of the corridor in the zoo. Yes, we are that close to the zoo, we love it!

Now see the cage with the greeneries below?

That's the cage of this cheetah! Right beneath your terrace!

Keluarga saya itu pecinta hewan, semua anggota keluarga senang binatang dan saya beruntung karena punya suami yang sama-sama penyayang binatang, jadi kami semua benar-benar menikmati liburan ini! Seneng banget karena bisa deket sama hewan. Kita semua girang banget waktu ngeliat cheetah dari teras kamar, trus waktu kita turun untuk sarapan di restoran kita juga senang bukan main karena di restorannya itu sebagian besar nggak pake dinding beton melainkan dinding gelas gede banget yang dibaliknya ada kandang binatang kaya kandang tupai dan kandang si cheetah yang tadi kami liat dari atas!

Iya, itu kandang si cheetah yang tadi kita lihat dari teras, ternyata kandangnya ada di balik dinding restoran. Jadi kita bisa sarapan sambil lihat si cheetah atau hewan lain melakukan rutinitas pagi mereka. Bahkan ada sebagian lantai restoran yang bisa berputar lho, jadi sambil kita makan lantainya berputar mengelilingi restoran, berputarnya pelaaaaan banget (supaya kita nggak pusing) dan kita pun bisa menikmati pemandangan yang ganti-ganti: suapan pertama sambil liat kandang tupai di sebelah kita, nanti suapan ke sepuluh di sebelah kita udah ganti jadi kandang macan, ngerti kan maksud saya?

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We are an animal lovers family, all of my family member loves animals and I'm so lucky to have a husband whose just as craze with the animals as we do, so we all really enjoyed this trip so much! We love being that close with the animals. We are excited to see a cheetah from our room terrace, and we are literally jumping for joy when we head downstairs to the restaurant to have our breakfast and then we saw that there are no walls, only giant glass walls that housed wild animals such as a group of squirrels, and the cheetah that we saw from our terrace!

Yes, the cheetah's cage that we saw on our terrace is just behind the glass wall in the restaurant. So we can see the cheetah and other animals doing their morning routines while eating our own breakfast. There's even a rotating floor in the restaurant that lets you enjoy your meal while the floor rotate itself reeeaaaallly slowly (so you don't get headaches) that enables you to have a changing view: watching the squirrel cage as you sip your morning coffee, and then 5 minutes later you found your table facing the cheetah's cage when you eat your fried rice breakfast, you get what I mean, right?

Mom n Dad di kursi zebra ;)

the view behind the thick glass wall that we can see from our table

Dekorasi restoran nya juga bagus banget, tema-nya hutan alias jungle, lengkap dengan dinding kaca berisi kandang hewan. Makanannya biasa aja sih, pilihan menu sarapan nya juga terbatas, tapi dari dekorasi dan pemandangannya sendiri sih udah dua jempol buat saya ;)

The decoration of the restaurant is fabulous too. It's a jungle themed restaurant, complete with glass cages of the animals. The food is not so great though, limited choice of breakfast menu, but the decor and view itself satisfy me like.. a lot ;)

Setelah sarapan kami pergi ke arah bawah, keluar dari area Jatim Park 2 untuk mengunjungi tempat Agrowisata yang dulu pernah saya dan ibu saya kunjungi. Anggota keluarga yang lain belum pernah kesini jadi kita memutuskan untuk mengunjungi Agrowisata ini untuk menghabiskan waktu sebelum kebun binatang dan museum buka jam 10.

Agrowisata itu semacam perkebunan kecil di mana kita bisa metik stroberi dan jeruk langsung dari pohonnya untuk kemudian dibawa pulang. Pas nyampe sana terus terang rada kecewa karena dulu terakhir kali ibu saya dan saya kesini tiketnya masih murah, sekitar Rp 12.000 kalau ngga salah, dan sekarang dicharge Rp 32.000 (atau 35 ribu ya, saya lupa?). Menurut saya itu mahal banget karena dulu dengan harga 12 ribu saya dikasi keranjang rotan kecil untuk metik dan ngumpulin stroberi sampai keranjangnya penuh, tapi sekarang dengan harga semahal itu kita cuma dikasi plastik kecil dan kita cuma bisa ngambil empat, percaya nggak? EMPAT buah stroberi doang! Dan 2 jeruk! Cuma segitu. Apa-apaan?

Terakhirnya kita dikasi gratis minuman es stroberi dan puding stroberi, sama empat buah tomat organik, tapi dulu juga saya dapet minum dan puding yang sama kok (plus sekeranjang kecil stroberi) dengan harga 12 ribu (atau 15 ribu?) aja. Nggak 32 ribu?!?!

Oh ya dengan tiket tersebut kita juga dapat free pass ke daerah perkebunan yang lebih luas yang ada di sebelahnya, tapi nggak ada metik gratis di sana, jadi cuma lihat-lihat perkebunan besar-nya aja, so menurut saya harga 32 ribu itu masih nggak sebanding sama yang kita dapat alias kemahalan bok. Tapi itu cuma pendapat saya lohh ;)

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After breakfast we went out from the Jatim park 2 area to downhill where there's this Agroturism that my mom and I once visited but the rest of the family have not yet visited. We thought it would be perfect to spend some time before the zoo and the museum open at 10.00 am.

Agrotourism is where you could visit small plantations of fruits and veggies and then you can harvest a small amount of strawberries and oranges right from the trees by yourself. We were a little disappointed though because the last time my mom and I there the ticket was still cheap, around IDR 12.000 or something, and this time it's overly priced at IDR 32.000 (or is it 35k? i forgot). And I'd say it's overpriced because unlike the old times where me n my mom were given a small rattan basket to collect our strawberries, this time they only gave us a small plastic bag and we can only collect four, can you believe it? FOUR strawberries!! And 2 oranges! And that's it. What??

We got a free strawberry iced drink, strawberry pudding and four organic tomatoes at the end, but I also got the drink and pudding the last time (with a tiny basket full of strawberries) for only IDR 12K (or 15k). Not IDR 32k ??!!

Oh we also got a free pass to a vast plantation area right next to the one we just visited, but there's no free harvesting there, we can only do some sightseeing on the bigger plantation area next door, so the IDR 32k price is still not worth it.But that's only my opinion ;)

Hubs in AREA 51. Not!

This is what's inside the white tent behind hubs on above pic: Hydroponic plants = planting without soil.

hubs in front of the gate to the overly priced agrotourism ;)

Ok, sekarang ceritanya udah jam 10 nih, saatnya kembali ke Jatim Park 2. Begitu nyampe langsung masuk Zoo. Namanya Batu Secret Zoo. Ini mata udah berbinar-binar duluan ngeliat kandang-kandang binatang yang ditata apik. Ini kebun binatang emang beda banget sama Ragunan, disini kandang tertata apik, bersih, keterangan hewan terpampang jelas, dan di tiap kandang pun disesuaikan dengan sifat dan kebiasaan binatang di dalamnya, misalnya binatang yang suka main pasti dikasi semacam bentuk mainan di kandangnya, yang suka tidur pasti dikasi pojok tidur biar dia bisa tidur tapi sambil diliatin pengunjung, modern banget deh ini museum, gue sukaaaaa banget disini. Harusnya semua kebun binatang di Indonesia tuh seperti ini. Karena bersih dan tertata rapi (plus pengunjung ga boleh bawa makanan berat kaya nasi alias ga boleh piknik) jadi nggak ada tuh yang kepikiran buang sampah sembarangan. Tempat sampah juga banyak. Bersih dan rapih banget deh pokonya, kalo kerapihan dan apik banget gini malah kaya ngerasa bukan di Indonesia haha karena kayanya aneh banget di Indonesia ada kebun binatang atau public place se-apik ini ;)

Ok, now it's already 10.00 am, it's time to return to Jatim Park 2. Once we're back at Jatim Park 2 we headed straight to the Zoo. It's called Batu Secret Zoo. My eyes were already sparkling when I first look at the cages of animals that were laid out nicely. It's a really different zoo compared to Ragunan, here the cages were arranged beautifully. It's clean, and the sign board that depicts the animal's info were on every cages. Each cage was adjusted to the nature and habits of each animals, for example: if the animal likes to play then we can see some kind of toy in his cage, if the animal likes to sleep then there's a sleeping nook where the animal can sleep while the visitors can still see it sleeping. This is such a modern zoo, I really loooove it here. I think all zoos in Indonesia should be like this. Because it's so clean and neat (plus visitors can not bring meals or picnic here) so everyone wouldn't want to litter and make it dirty, it was all so well-organized. There are many trash cans too. When a public place is this tidy and neat, I don't even feel we're in Indonesia because sometimes it's hard to imagine that there is a public place as neatly-organized as this in Indonesia haha ;)

The first animal we see in the zoo: Giant Rats! And they have an open cage too, complete with fake caves, waterfalls and mini pond with branches over it for their route. Such a pretty cage for a rat! ;)

Iguanas with hard big rocks and desert wall painting in their cage to picture their origin nature.

There's a room that was built like a class room complete with chalkboard and desks and chairs and a group of flying lemurs (flying means "likes to jump up high from place to place")! And this cage is right behind a giant glass wall.

Kebun Binatang nya dibagi jadi beberapa zona dan kita jalan dengan rute yang sangat teratur yang udah dibikin sedemikian rupa sehingga kita bisa liat semua kandang dan binatang, nggak kaya di Ragunan yang nggak ada rute nya jadi asal main jalan kemana kaki melangkah aja yang biasanya bikin nggak bisa liat semuanya (maap kalo sering bandingin sama Ragunan soalnya cuma kebun binatang itu doang yang pernah saya kunjungi. Eh pernah ke Taman Safari Puncak sama Night Safari di Singapore sih, sama Jurong bird park juga), tapi kan itu bukan kebun binatang, itu mah lebih ke safari, sama taman burung hehe.

The Zoo was divided into several zones and there's a clear route that we took so visitors can see all of the cages and don't have to go sporadically here and there like in Ragunan (sorry I keep comparing it to our national zoo, that's because I only been to one zoo which is Ragunan. Well, I did visit the Taman Safari (Safari Park) in Puncak and the Night Safari in Singapore (oh and Jurong Bird Park too! - in Singapore) but that's not a zoo, that's a mini safari, and a bird park hehe.

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Kebun Binatang ini gede banget nget nget, trus banyak zona nya jadi binatang nya banyak banget macam ragamnya. Pas liat ada pintu di ujung rute kirain itu pintu keluar eh taunya itu pintu masuk zona lain lagi. Beneran nggak abis-abis tuh rutenya. Ada penyewaan buggy juga, itu lho yang kaya mobil golf kecil itu. Cocok buat orang tua yang kakinya udah nggak sanggup. Jadi bersyukur masih punya kaki dua biji hehe

The Zoo is so huge it has several large animal zones, once I thought we have reached the end of the zoo only to found out that I was wrong, that's not the Exit gate, that's the gate to another zone! Wow, is this place reaaaly huge or what! They even has a buggy ride rental so the elders can ride the buggy on some parts of the zoo if their feet decided to fail on them. Oh how lucky we are to be young and have feet ;)

The "Birds That Can't Fly" zone :
(that's not the real zone's name, I just name it myself ;p)


I love flamingos, especially these little white and pink ones! Did you know that there are several types of flamingos with different colors? I think this one is the prettiest..

Her Majesty, The Peacock. And the courtiers or ladies-in-waiting at the back ;)

Feeding time! You can see in the back that there's only picket fences that separates the animals with the visitors, this is typical of a modern zoo. I love being that close with the animals.

The Black Swan. Just like in the movie where Natalie Portman dressed in black with red makeup and red eyes, exactly like this black swan. Yes, this majestic swan has red eyes!

Sekarang ke zona lain. Bisa dilihat kan seperti apa Batu Secret Zoo ini dari foto-foto yang ada. Sebagian besar kandang nya model terbuka atau cuma pagar pendek jadi sangat ramah buat pengunjung, seolah-olah kita benar-benar bisa menyentuh hewan- hewan itu karena rasanya mereka dekat banget sama kita. Dan entah apa karena orang Jawa Timur / Malang memang baik-baik atau apa, soalnya walaupun kandangnya jenis terbuka seperti itu nggak ada tuh pengunjung yang gangguin binatang, yang ngasi makan kacang atau sedotan ke binatang, atau yang buang plastik atau aqua kosong ke dalam kandang atau yang iseng nimpukin binatangnya. Saya jadi penasaran, kalo di Jakarta bisa kaya gini juga ngga ya?

And then we move on to another zone. As you can see from some of the pictures above, most of the cages are open cages or just a short picket fence so it's very visitor-friendly, it's as if we can really touch them because they're so close to us. And I don't know whether the local people are indeed a lot nicer than any big city people because even with that open cage style not one of the visitor try to bug the animal or give them human food or throw something to the cage or to the animals. I wonder if this type of zoo can be adapted in Jakarta?