Every week when I make my way to Church, I pass by a display about the Nagasaki Bio Park. There are lots of nice photos of animals and more importantly, capybara plush toys which made me want to visit. And with my mom and brother in Japan, I finally had an excuse to go.
Nagasaki Bio Park was about a 40 minute drive from my place and if you want my conclusions first: it’s like a bigger, slightly more run down version of the Singapore Zoo. Obviously this is my favourite zoo that I’ve visisted in Japan because most of the animals were not in cages.
I also have over 40 photos that I want to share so YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
When we reached the zoo, we were immediately greeted by a lama
And a couple of beautiful parrots!
They totally made me really excited about all the animals!
The Nagasaki Bio Park also has this area called PAW (Pet Animal World) which is a petting zoo consisting of domestic pets. We decided to just visit the bio park area but you can get tickets for both areas too. You can find the ticket prices here (English link).
The first area is a “free area” but it’s really where the gift shop, a few food stalls and I think a couple of birds are (although I didn’t see any birds in the pond).
Of course, there were cute capybara plush toys!
This is the proper entrance where they take the tickets from you.
I really liked this sign because it felt like the park was the animal’s home and we were just visiting.
As soon as we were inside, we saw a swan swimming around a ledge where monkeys lived.
I don’t know why but I thought of the Lion King when I saw this. Although it’s missing the lion cub and I’m pretty sure Rafiki was a different species so I guess my brain just had The Lion King on its mind that day.
The first petting/feeding area we saw (and there were quiet a few of them) was for the Patagonian Cavy.
My brother looks calm here but these creatures were seriously aggressive!
I think they’ve learnt to associate humans with food so as soon as they see someone holding something in their hands (like my camera) they come bounding up.
It was pretty cool to be able to get so close to them!
Until they decided my camera was food and then I headed straight for the exit.
The next stop was the Flower Dome which instantly reminded me of Gardens by the Bay.
It is, however, a lot wilder than the Gardens by the Bay. There were tons of orchids and basically plants growing everywhere!
It was really beautiful!
We also saw a bat, which very pointedly had its back towards us. But when I was talking to my colleague, she mentioned that the bat waved to her and her family when they visited so I suppose this was an off day.
The next dome was the Amazon dome, which was a bit disappointing. I did like how the sun looked as it shone through the roof.
But it was generally rather run down. The glass was extremely cloudy and I couldn’t see the animals clearly.
There was also (and here I am translating literally) a black fox squirrel but I couldn’t really get a look at it, even though someone else was holding out the feed. But my colleague mentions that it generally responds to food, so I guess it was just full.
This ball of fur was the best shot of it I could get.
Next up (after we passed by a few other animals) was the flamingo lake! You could go in and get real close to the flamingos, but I did see a couple head towards the humans and I much prefer to appreciate animals from a distance. This is why my camera can zoom. (And why I will never be a nature photographer)
My mom “take a picture while it’s flapping its wings! Quick!!!!”
By this time, my brother was getting a bit tired and so we decided to take a lunch break. I got the kakuni don which was really good! They also had homemade blueberry gelato (which we were sadly too full to eat) so I’d recommend checking the menu for seasonal items/stuff made from the plants grown in the biopark!
After lunch, we went fishing for crawfish! We had to give them back but it was a pretty interesting experience.
Turns out that my brother and I aren’t very good at fishing. My mom, on the other hand, managed to catch a few.
Here’s a random shot of the park.
We continued on the way and saw more monkeys
AND THE CAPYBARAS!! Doesn’t this one look like a model?
The capybaras actually get their own onsen in the winter, so you might want to consider visiting around that time (then again, the park is mostly out in the open so you might be very cold if you’re anything like me).
While the capybaras are also very friendly and mistook my camera for food, they were generally a lot more chill than the Patagonian Cavies.
And for my Malaysian friends – they have a Malaysian information hall! Apparently, Malaysia helped by providing a lot of animals. The posters are a few years old, though, so if you know any one in the tourism center you might want them to send updated stuff.
More feedings going on.
We also went into this monkey forest place and promptly left as soon as we got pictures because of all the poop warning signs.
I didn’t really take photos of the rest of the animals but I did want to capture this. A few exhibits are separated by fairly long treks and I like that they put a series of quizzes to help break the monotony.
We ended the treat by having a drink. I had this matcha cola which looked really pretty but basically tasted like coca cola/pepsi. There wasn’t really a matcha taste to me.
If you love animals, you’ll probably enjoy the Nagasaki Bio Park. It’s a good way to spend the day and I really did enjoy seeing the animals (somewhat) up close and personal.
Link to the English website: http://www.biopark.co.jp/en/