Paradizoo is a farm theme park in Tagaytay which we learned is the property of owners of Zoobic in Zambales. The 10 hectares property is the home of various farm animals, such as goats (there’s hundreds of them), one-humped camels, miniature horses (perfect for toddler who wants to experience their first horse-back riding, some ostriches (though not as pretty as those found in Zoobic and Avilon Zoo, native carabaos, wild pigs, bees, ducks, and one-colored peacocks.

To get around Paradizoo, you may opt to take the golf cart. But if you’re looking for a little exercise, touring the property by foot is also a breeze. Just make sure it did not rain the previous night since the road may get muddy when it rained.

One attraction of Paradizoo is the Infinity Pond of Positivism where a mini-pavilion lies on the center. I didn’t get to take a good shot of the pond because during that time, there were two guests who were having fun fishing. (duh!)

Another attraction of Paradizoo is the miniature horses (not ponies), where toddlers can enjoy a ride for P25. If your kids are scared you may pay P10 to have their pictures taken.

Over all, Paradizoo is a good and more accessible alternative to Zoobic. But if you don’t mind traveling to Zoobic, I would suggest you visit Zoobic instead. It’s a good thing Paradizoo is just near Metro Manila, so you can check anytime during weekends.

To get to Paradizoo, just take the main road from Tagaytay Rotonda going to Batangas. After passing Mendez market, watch out for the Paradiso sign on the right. From that corner, it’s a 10 minute drive on a dirt road which will lead you all the way to Paradizoo.

Entrance Fee to Paradizoo is P199/person. Golf Cart rental is P100, horse back riding cost P25.

By the way, before reaching the street that leads to Paradizoo, you might want to check out a coffee shop and bakery called Bag of Beans, just right after the market. I highly recommend taking your breakfast there. Find out why at Pinoy Urban Blog.

I went to Avilon Zoo in Montalban. It’s awesome! I felt so at home with my animal relatives, I didn’t want to go back to the city!

I can compare Avilon Zoo to Sydney Aquarium and Featherdale Wildlife Park in Australia, compare it to Underwater World in Singapore. I can say Avilon Zoo is a world-class zoo and the best in the Philippines! (if you know of a better one in the Philippines, do share!)

Avilon is a 7.5 hectare zoo that hosts hundreds of exotic animals in a clean environment that kids and adults will enjoy.

They have a wide collection of exotic animals from big cats (leopards, pumas, lions, tigers), big fish (huuuuge ARAPAIMAS!), nocturnal animals, primates, birds (ostriches, Kalaw, eagles), tapirs, hyenas, kangaroos (soooo small, the smallest in the world, I hear) and animals endemic to the Philippines (Palawan mouse deer, bearcat (?), tarsier and others).

It takes around two and a half hours to explore the entire zoo. After the tour, there are activities you can do like go fishing, boating, eating, sleeping, snoring before you head back to the urban jungle. You can also feed the arapaimas! I felt kind of queezy seeing such big fish eating chicken! There’s also a bird show, some pets for sale, chance to touch a python (photo op! have you got the balls?). By the way, don’t miss chatting with the super kwela talking Mynah (see Mynah video)!

Avilon zoo continues to develop the property. I see some exciting structures behind the cordoned section. Are they building a cage for King Kong? Expect more animals and activities in the coming months.

Read: More Avilon stories on Pinoy Travel Blog. Suki na ang Avilon sa PTraBlog!

Contact Avilon Zoo:
Bo. San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal
Tel. Nos.: (632) 941-8393 * (632) 948-9866 (63917) 899-5126
Fax: (632) 941-8530 * Email: info@avilonzoo.com.ph
web: www.avilonzoo.com.ph
Entrance Fee: Php208.00 or $5.00/person

Also Contact Sarah of El Trinidad Tours: 09178804722 (tell her you got her number from ka edong of Pinoy Travel Blog).

ka edong
me, myself and mynah

Spent two days at Subic, Zambales to visit the much talked about Zoobic Safari and at the same time checked out Ocean Adventure. My expectations for Zoobic was high considering that I just visited Avilon Zoo in Montalban, Rizal. Zoobic Safari is a 25 hectare land which is part of Subic Freeport Zone’s jungle forest attraction. Zoobic safari has several completed attractions and additional under construction attractions that were recently opened to attract more visitors. Among these attractions is the Zoobic Park, a petting area where several animals are located. However, due to the recent typhoon Milenio, the park was badly damaged. A number of big trees were uprooted and several animals escaped from captivity and are nowhere to be found within the Zoobic vicinity.

The park is a good 20-30 minutes walk with an assigned  tour guide explaining the different species that still can be found inside the park. Most of the animals left inside the zoo after the typhoon were the same animals that I saw in Avilon Zoo.

Aside from the park there was also the Serpentarium (snakes and reptiles), Savannah (freely roaming ostriches and pot bellied pigs), Croco-Loco (100 plus crocodiles from Palawan) Close encounters with Cowhead-milk-fed tigers in captivity and the Animal Bone museum.

Of course, a visit to Zoobic would not be complete without going to the Tiger Safari area where a number of tigers are freely roaming around. However, the tigers did not pay attention to our arrival since I did not bring them some dressed chicken for snack. The closest I could get from the tigers was a few feet away. I took some pictures, the tigers stared at me blankly then continued resting. Good enough for me, since I don’t want to spare a few hundred bucks for some over-priced chicken just for the thrill of getting an inch-away encounter with those snob tigers.

So, that not-so-exciting Tiger Safari visit ends my trip to Zoobic. If not for the real-jungle-feel setting of Zoobic, I would prefer Avilon Zoo for Zoobic. But then, the jungle-like-forest athmosphere of Zoobic adds excitement to the trip. If you don’t mind sparing a few hundreds worth of gasoline, then go visit Zoobic. Otherwise, you can visit Avilon Zoo to save a few hundreds worth of expenses.

But to maximize your travel time and gas money, you might as well visit Ocean Adventure which is 15 minutes away from Zoobic. While in Ocean Adventure make sure to watch the sea lion, dolphin and false killer whale show. These creatures are more intelligent than the ones featured in Hong Kong (a friend confirmed this fact). Want proof? Watch Thalia, the intelligent sea lion!

Technorati Tags: zoobic, sbma, ocean adventure, tiger safari

Finally, after planning for a couple of times, I was finally able to visit Avilon Zoo in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal. Avilon Zoo is a perfect educational place for children as well as their parents to learn and appreciate the beauty of nature’s flora and fauna.

Avilon Zoo is almost a 7.5 hectare property man-made habitat for various species of mammals, birds, reptiles and other animals with luscious greeneries and artificial structures. Entrance is currently pegged at P208/pax ($4). Guests can opt to hire an in-house tour guide which is highly recommended for first time visitors. This would ensure that they would be able to visit the whole place at the least time possible. The tour guides of Avilon Zoo are very professional and well informed about the species in the zoo. Very educational for visiting chidren. Touring the whole of Avilon Zoo would take around 2-3 hours depending on the phase of the group. There is a break in the middle of the tour where guests can fill up their stomach and rest their tired feet.

Avilon Zoo hosts various species of wild animals such as tigers, lion and lioness, leopards, wild boars, and a pair of bears. Since Avilon was originally planned as an aviary, there are many species of birds in Avilon. From the Philippine eagle, hawks, owls, parrots, to mynas and other kinds of birds.

If snakes and other reptiles are your type of animals, then you would be glad to know that Avilon Zoo has various species of snakes, tortoise, tarantulas and lizards. And yes, Avilon Zoo has an anaconda, although not as big as the computerized anaconda in a famous movie.
Avilon Zoo also houses various monkeys from the Philippines as well as from other countries. There is also an orangutan although not as big as Mighty Joe Young.

Hmmm, let’s see, what did I miss? Oh yes, there are also non-flying birds such as Ostriches and Peacocks.

But wait, where are the elephants and giraffees? According to the Avilon Zoo staff, they are already an on-going negotiations between the owners and some authorities to host some elephants and giraffees by 2007. They are alerady constructing the place for those two animals.

If you plan to visit Avilon Zoo, heed sepikmom’s advice on not to bring strollers for your young kids. But if you can bring a baby carrier that you can sling on to your body, do so. The more than two hours walk would be bearable for you if you are bringing your babies with you.

To view more pictures, visit my photoblog.

Apart from Zoobic in Subic, Avilon Zoo is probably the most travelled zoo and a must see destination here in the country especially for children since it opened a year or so ago.

My husband and I took our children to Avilon last May and boy my children ages 4 and 2 respectively had a blast! Because the zoo is only in Montalban, Rizal, travel time from Quezon City is only 45 minutes maximum. Driving there is pretty straight forward and commuting easy.

We left the hustle and bustle of Quezon City at around 8:30 am and we arrived in Montalban an hour later. As expected, the place was already packed with buses with Japanese and Korean tourists. There were also groups of parents with their children in tow. Entrance fee was P240 each and we were informed that our tour would last 2 hours . The visitors are divided into 20 and tour guides were assigned on each group.

The organized tour took 2 hours and to my surprise, it wasn’t at all boring and the pacing was good considering there are children walking with their parents. In between tours, there is a 15 minute pit stop in a breezy pavillion with refreshment stands selling water, hotdogs, sandwiches, icecream, sodas and souvenirs which will tempt you and your children!

I have been to the Australia Zoo in Brisbane and to me, except for the vast size of the empire built by Steve and Terri Irwin, the Avilon Zoo looked like the Aussie Zoo in the making. The owners of Avilon must have spent millions and millions of pesos just by the structures alone! The zoo is suprisingly vast and full of full grown trees. The cages and species of animals are arranged artistically, creatively and not at all crowded. The Avilon Zoo is still 80% complete. It has no giraffes and elephants yet. But the zoo have Bengal Tigers, jaguars, leopards and quite a number of birds. One of the most memorable part of the tour was the bird show, wherein we were allowed to pet the owls and eagles! The Avilon Zoo have a good selection of serpents too.

For all of you who intend to go to Avilon Zoo, please bear in mind the following: If travelling with children bring, iced juice drinks . The bottled water in Avilon cost 25 pesos a pop, so I was quite pleased that I bought my own iced bottled water and juice for the kids. Wearing hats and umbrellas would be nice since some parts of Avilon have not so fully grown trees. Also, Avilon is not stroller and wheel chair friendly, since one have to take some stairs and steps to go around the zoo.

For more information about Avilon Zoo, click here or you may contact Stef at
Telefax# 634-5550 or 0917-8995126.