An Abandoned Safari Park

Along our 'off-the-beaten path' route one of our Saturdays in Bali, chapter two of our motorcycle adventures (undertaken in the search for the ultimate waves for Martin to surf): encountering an eerie and somewhat disturbing area.

Rotting crocodiles stink. I don't think anything stinks worse than a crocodile carcass in a state of decay!

Abandoned and left to their own devices when the 'Safari Park' went bankrupt, the crocodile population exploded! Check out this 'pile of dile':



But even though they are not being fed chunks of raw meat by park wardens as before, they have not adopted a canabalistic lifestyle... Apparently monkeys used to be the main attraction at this park, but we didn't see any signs of them swinging from the trees... in fact, we heard none of the usual bird song that is usually part of life in Bali either! I guess it's no wonder they are no more!



I hate to start into something that we undoubtedly become a rant, but stumbling upon this abandoned area, other than raising my sensibilities about the inhumane treatment of these poor, caged creatures, left to rot, also brought back a thought that I have seen over and over again, here in Indonesia, as well as at home; I am absolutely disgusted at this consumptive, unsustainable attitude and way of life... instead of repairing what's broken (not to mention taking care of things so they don't break in the first place, for that matter!), buy or build a new one; a bigger, better one! Throw the old away... don't think about the impact, or the fact that our poor planet can't TAKE any more of the pressure we're putting it under; can't take any more of our garbage! I can't believe the amount of garbage everywhere... even on the most remote beaches of Raja Ampat, and most recently, Bali, broken sandals, empty plastic containers of various shapes and sizes... We're claiming it all for ourselves, and our garbage... covering over natural areas with cement, introducing things that don't belong there into the mix! Sorry, I don't want this to turn into a tirade!

As we were leaving this dilapidated area, by means of another road, we see a big billboard sign for "Bali Safari Park... new, opening in October 2007"; only 5 kms from this one! Hope the stench from rotting crocodiles doesn't make them decide to move it another 5k down the road... I wonder if it, too, will look like this in another 5-10 years or so?





Funny... I am just going through posting a few old posts (this one was originally written while in Bali, Feb 18th)... some of the thoughts expressed above are more concisely discussed in "The Story of Stuff".