For the past 3 visits of voluntary work at Zoo Negara, I've never blog about it though hehe. Each time of our visit, I was assigned to different section. Well, there are simply quite a number of animal sections in zoo. Nop, I'm not planning to write a cumulative post of all the interesting experiences I had in previous visits. If you find what I'm writing for last Saturday to be interesting, I'm assuring you that all other previous visits were fantastic experiences as well ;)
Zoo Negara is very near to Wangsa Maju LRT station. So, I traveled via Putra LRT, all the way from Kelana Jaya station to Wang Maju station. We registered for the voluntary session of 9am to 1pm, and we're required to reach Zoo Negara by 8.30am.
Kelana Jaya LRT station always has a wonderful dawn and dusk. Last Saturday wasn't an exception as well. Check out this shot that I took at 7.09am.
I don't really count how many of us joined on last Saturday, but I'm sure there were at least 15 of us. Some of them were new faces brought by JS. For the first time, we were asked to be separated into 2 groups - a group of male and a group of female. Previously, we were formed into groups of 3 or 4 persons regardless of gender.
The girls were led to the Bird Park, while we all guys were first brought to the animal photography zone, to sweep the floor, to have it cleaned from fallen leafs. As zoo is surrounded by trees, fallen leafs become the main type of garbage.
Nothing much interesting going on at the animal photography zone, and we got the job done within an hour. Then, we proceeded to the Reptile World, basically doing the same sweeping task, but at an interesting place hehe. This time, we were asked to sweep at roof top! We were not only sweeping at a not-so-ordinary place, but given with a new photography angle as well.
Big smile. We had a short break and treated with watermelon.
Wonder whether the toddlers will ask their parents if my friend JS on the roof is a kind of animal hehe.
Not only the roof top, but sweeping floor as well. As mentioned, the bags of garbage is mainly comprises of fallen leafs.
This is another area, which will never be accessible if I entered the zoo as a normal visitor. At the Reptile World, snakes are kept in big cages specially designed with their habitat environment, and they are presented to visitors via a thick layer of sealed glass window.
As shown in the above picture, we were instead, standing on top of the snake cages ;) Not just for fun la, but to clean the cage-top, again from fallen leafs.
The scary life threatening reptiles underneath us were these pythons! What a nice colorful skin they are wearing. I will never get to photography these pythons from the top, should I just visiting them via the glass window.
Actually, with so many guys standing on the cage, the thought of broken metal joint actually came into our mind hehe. If that happened, we would potentially be their lunch :p
The iguana, another reptile I've photographed from the top.
Posing with python. This python has just taken his/her bath right before he/she is handed to my friends for posing. Nop, I'm not in the picture :)
Another life threatening creature in reptile family - crocodile. This is one of the many zoo shots, which is not possible without long zoom. Luckily I have a 12x/420mm (35mm equivalent) optical zoom.
Most of the time, we met with friendly zoo keepers who are willing to elaborate their job expertise to us. Frankly, if I had free time, I think I'll never search online or read information related to snakes; but, I learned some interesting knowledge from the keepers through our conversation. Besides, according to a diet chart pasted in the staff room, I was surprised that they actually feed the pythons with different diet throughout 7 days of a week. Most interesting, the snakes are fed with salt on Thursday. Yes, only salt for the day. As a matter of fact, based on what I've learned from a few sections in Zoo Negara, the animals are actually very well taken care of, especially their diet.
When we've got our assigned tasks done, it was almost 12pm, and we were released for free and easy at our own preference. So, I took the opportunity to go around taking some shots, while waiting to meet the group of girls at Bird Park.
King of the jungle - tiger. This is a Malayan Tiger. Another shot thanks to long zoom :)
The giraffes
The elephant trying to reach his/her trunk for bamboo.
Birds at Tasik Tunku Abdul Rahman.
The beautiful parrot at Bird Park.
Part of the Bird Park.
Interesting Practical Lessons
Each time joining voluntary work at Zoo Negara, is like attending an interesting practical lesson, which otherwise would be hard to be taught elsewhere. Besides, looking at the grace of various animals within their cage, is very much different from seeing them via fences and cage metal bars.
When I was at Bird Park, I learned something insightful about birds. Likewise when I was with the monkeys, I learned something interesting about their life style. At Reptile World, learning something new about the domain of snakes is no exception.
How to Volunteer?
Volunteering at Zoo Negara is easy. There's no barrier of entry, but of course you must be interested, and don't mind getting yourself dirty. You may visit Zoo Negara volunteer programmme for further information.
Another point to note, is that you must be punctual in time. Reaching there by 8.30am is the most basic disciplinary requirement. If you're late, you might be lectured hehe. Ya embarrassing to say but we experienced it once before hehe.