Avilon Zoo in Montalban, Rizal

Avilon Zoo is probably the most well-maintained zoo in the metro that I've seen or maybe in the entire Philippine archipelago. Compare it with the current state of Manila Zoo and other zoos in the metro, I can say its worth  your time and money spent visiting it. With variety of animals - endemic or non-endemic, can only be seen there.

Entrance fee is 400pesos per person, children below counter is 300pesos, 20% discount for senior citizens and and infants 12mos and below is free.

How to get there by public transportation:

From Ever Gotesco Commonwealth, wait for jeepney heading to Montalban, Rizal (there are also jeepnney stationed at Jollibee - Philcoa heading the route). I forgot how much is it but more or less not more than 50pesos. Tell the driver to drop you off to Avilon Zoo and they know where to drop you off. I believe it's Eastwood residences. You will definitely know you're on the right spot, since there's a Mini Stop Convenience Store in the subdivision entrance.

We stop for a while to enjoy the scenery; you will definitely enjoy the view of the mountains and the fresh air. I cant believe its just 30mins away from the metro. Then we went to Mini stop to buy soft drinks to recharge our bodies. The tricycle is colored violet if my memory serves me right. We paid 80 pesos one way for 2 for the ride. The road condition  is not that good, so sedan type of vehicles wont be able to pass due to clearance, bring SUV instead. Its quite a bumpy ride going there, and since it rained, road is  not walker's friendly. If you;re planning to walk your way to the zoo (walking time approx. 20-30mins), make sure you wear rubber shoes and pray that it will not rain 'coz im pretty sure you'll be full of mud once you get to the zoo.

We got at the zoo entrance and there's an ongoing construction on the side, I asked the the security guard what's the construction for, he said that it's for a water park and hotel. Adjacent to the zoo there's also a low cost housing project being built. I was told by the tricycle driver that  informal settlers affected by demolition from various parts of the Metro Manila will be relocated there.

After paying 400pesos at the counter we went inside, and the first thing that caught my attention was the Arapaimas in the lagoon. And its humongous, its really very big. I think its diameter is as big as a full grown man's leg and 2 meters long. And its not just one but a group of arapaimas. More or less I've seen seven of them in the pond, and I believe there's a lot more lurking in there. I first saw arapaima at Cartimar Pet Market in Pasay but not as big as these. Geez, what do they feed those giants? Maybe a whole chicken or a maybe a young pig!

 this is just the head!

We headed towards the other side of the lagoon and there's several ponds for different kinds of wild ducks and geese. There's a Black Geese with red beaks, and free - roaming Egyptian wild ducks. I tried several times to touch them but they just ran, so I just tried to take photos of them and even from afar they wont stop walking, they wont hold still. Those ducks are playing hard to get; but with patience I was able to take a perfect shot. Silly ducks, I spent 15mins just to take photos of them. They wasted 15mins of my life!

the real BLACK SWAN

this is one of the silly ducks I'm talking about

We asked one of the zoo keepers there, where to start the tour and she told us that the park is quite huge and we need to get a tour guide. She advice us that some of the visitors get lost inside the park.  I believe its 200 or 300 pesos for a tour guide but we declined the offer. We just trusted our instincts. By the way, she advice us that it's best to visit in the morning since most of the animals can be seen; 'coz in the afternoon, most of the animals will go inside their shelters.

So we climb uphill heading towards the cages and a big Avilon Signage will greet you, below the signage there's a big aquarium type cage surrounding it and it's full of lizards. And lots of them. I think there's approximately less than 50 of them in there. One of the park attendants was feeding them with swamp cabbage (kangkong) and he told us that sometimes these lizards were able to escape the cage, and they will just find and catch them. If I was one of the zoo keepers, were on earth will I find these lizards? Measuring a foot long in a 12 hectare park full of trees that can probably camouflage  itself? Geez that is a difficult job. Maybe they can just ask me to feed them but not find them! From that day I promise myself not to be a zoo keeper even in my wildest imagination...

There was school field trip that day, and there's tons of children. We decided that since they have a designated tour guide we can just go with them. But after a while in the kinder zoo, we got bored and since all of the children were very noisy I can't hear the tour guide's lecture so we just headed again on our own. We first visited the young orangutan in the kinder zoo, wherein you can have a photograph with him for 50pesos and since we are on a budget we declined the offer we just take a picture of him alone.

We also checked the donkeys, wild boars, and different types of goats and deer. And since I've seen I lot of them in different zoos before so I didn't bother to check thoroughly.

We headed to the pygmy hippopotamus, smaller version of such species. My friend was able to see it and was calling me to check it. Since I wasn't paying attention 'coz I'm checking the Capybaras, the moment I glanced back it's already gone. The hippopotamus hid itself underwater. I waited for 10 mins and making silly noises to catch its attention but still, it wont surface so I just went to the Capybaras. This is the largest rodent in the world ( they are as big as a dog). It came from the Amazon rainforest. This is the main appetite for anacondas, maybe this is the reason why anacondas can grow monstrous.

Then we headed to the lemurs and monkeys. They are encaged in a large man-made island. There's water surrounding it and a electrical fence surrounding the island itself.  I only saw one lemur. I remember the advice of the zoo keeper we met at the ducks' lagoon that it's better to visit early in the morning since animals show itself around that time.  So we headed to the orangutan's island - this will be the first time I will see an alpha male orangutan and he is so furry and big. Of course the color is fusion of brown and orange. His name is Joey, I knew that since one of the tour guide keeps calling him Joey. Because of that, a lot of visitors kept on calling his name aloud and it bothered me, since my nickname is Joey as well...

We went to the Black Bears cage, and I was so excited since the last time I saw a bear was when I was a child. And I was not disappointed since the bear looks so huggable,  It's as big as the biggest stuffed teddy bears you can buy for 5k at SM but the difference is this one is alive. Its just a turn off for this bears since I can smell their urine but still tolerable. On the other side is the Malaysian Sun Bear. It is smaller compared to their cousins the Black bear and they have a sun-like spot on their chest. Maybe that's why it's called Sun Bear.

Then we proceed to the Big cats cage and I'm so thrilled to check what cats do they have there. They have Siberian and Sumatran tigers, but what thrilled me the most is the White tigers. They are so big compared to their cousins the Siberian and Sumatran. And they are not really white, they are somehow like beige in color. But their size really surprised me. Their heads are as big as a basket ball and their paws as big my 2 feet combined. They are really big. But what I noticed is that compared to their cousins, they seem very gentle. I even touch one of them, since it its near the cage, and it didn't mind.

There are Hyena as well. My research says that they are the same family with the canines. This is also the first time I ever saw one in my life. Based on my observation they look like dogs, acts and behaves like dogs . Who can forget the hyenas from lion king? I don't like them that much because they conspired in killing Mufasa (Simba's father in Lion King). That was a very heart-breaking event in every toddler's life..hahaha...

There are also Leopards and Jaguars. All of the animals there especially the big cats, were caged in pairs, maybe for mating purposes. I wasn't able to see the King of the Jungle which saddened me a lot. I asked one of the zoo keepers why and was told that they are currently renovating the Lions den. So I checked the lions den (even there's a sign saying NO ENTRY), and its really under renovation. I was just hoping that maybe they just hid them near the den, but no lion found. I wasn't able to see Simba.. huhuhu...

The Jaguars

The Leopards

Asian Leopard

So we just proceed to check the ostrich, emu and the kangaroo. We saw two types of kangaroo - the tree kangaroo and the pygmy kangaroo.

Pygmy Kangaroo

Tree kangaroo

There were different types of bats and small primates as well. They have this cave like structure which houses bats, monkey and small primates. It's so dark inside that I cant see anything and because it's already getting late maybe that's why all of them hid somewhere inside the cages.

We went to the Aviary, and there's a lot of different species of parrots I've never seen before. There's one with alternating Blue and red colored parrot. Another one with pink colored head. I'm not really a bird guy, so I just take some photos of them but I'm sure bird fans will really be thrilled to check it out.

The parrot with alternating blue and red color

I didn't make the parrot eat the leaf, im just playing with her

i forgot what type of bird it is, but he is one of the characters in animation RIO

this bird is really fond of being with people

the real ANGRY BIRD! He seemed not pleased to see me.

There is also a group of flamingos, and seems like they are already sleeping.

Our last stop were the crocodiles and alligators. One type of alligator really caught my attention 'coz of it's faired colored. I thinks its a Leucistic alligator. Compared to albinism which is a total absence of dark pigmentation, Leucism is described as reduced colorization of the skin.

There is also  Gharial/Gavial; a type of croc were in thin jaws is the primary distinguishing factor. Fish is the primary diet of these crocs. It rarely attacks humans unless provoked - unlike their cousins which are notorious man-eaters.

On our way out we noticed that there are some parts of the park we haven't visited yet.  We also notice wild rats and squirrels in the park's trees. At first I thought maybe they just escaped from their cages, but tree after tree I can see mice and squirrels. Amazing...

The Jackals ( a type of wolf)

Racoon, it seems they just sleeps all day.

Pygmy Fox, they are as small as chihuahua.

Asian wild cat

A very large turtle. Check the picture below to have an idea of how big it is.

the comparison of my hand to its shell.

After making sure that we already visited every inch of the park we noticed that we can't find our way out, and it's already past 5pm then, it's already getting dark. I remember what the lady zoo keeper told us that some of the visitors get lost in the park premise. I got nervous 'coz I can't see any people around anymore. I don't want to stay the night here with all the crocodiles and Big cats everywhere and what if they escaped their cages..geeezz, I sweat for a while there. So what we did, we went back to the Big Cats section, then to the Lemurs then Capybaras to the kinder zoo, from there we found our way out; I felt great relief after that.

We went to toilet first to freshen up, then head towards exit. Outside the zoo, we looked for available tricycle but it seems that everybody already left since the parking was already empty - the buses for the field trip and private vehicles were all gone. From that moment I thought that we will walk our way out to the highway, which means that my shoes will be full of mud (I'm wearing white shoes then) but my friend told me that we can wait for awhile. Then after 15 mins of waiting we saw a passing tricycle and I instantly raise my hand waving to catch the driver's attention. We paid 80pesos for the ride.
On the highway we waited for jeepneys going to Philcoa and rode one. There are also FX going to SM North/Trinoma and Marikina-Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall.

Insights:
I can say that visiting Avilon Zoo was worth it.  Its is clean, well-maintained and spacious. It will give you a jungle feel once your inside with all the big trees and wild animals. Its seems your really embarking a safari-jungle tour. But deep inside I pity these animals, I still believe that they should be free in the wild and not in the zoos. But who am I to say what is best for these animals, with all the killing and poaching of wild animals around the world. Maybe here in Avilon Zoo they will have a chance to live a life free of worrying that somebody will kill them anytime for their fur, skin, shell, etc. Maybe here they can have a chance to bounce their numbers back since most the animals there are critically endangered. Hopefully, Avilon have plans to repopulate these animals then send them back to their natural habitat.

Tips:
- Pls make sure to visit the park in the morning since the animals hide themselves in the afternoon.
- If you have money hire a tour guide or buy a map.

total money spent: (excluding food expenses)
50 pesos (x2)- Jeep going to Montalban
80 pesos - tricycle going to Avilon
400 pesos (x2)- entrance fee
80pesos - tricycle from avilon to national highway
50 pesos (x2) - Jeep going to Commonwealth
TOTAL: 1160 pesos