Your Zoo in the City: Ark Avilon Zoo

Whenever we need a quick fix for zoo activity, the first place that comes to mind is Ark Avilon, an indoor mini-zoo located in Frontera Verde (near Tiendesitas), 10 minutes away from the concrete jungle of Ortigas. Ark Avilon is operated by the Avilon Wildlife Conservation Foundation, the same group that operates Avilon Zoo in Rodriguez, Rizal.

As an early summer treat for my 2 year old son, my wife and I decided to take him to Ark Avilon last Saturday, March 18, 2017. We arrived around 10:30 am, and as expected, there's not much zoo visitors. This is one of the things I love about this place (but something they probably don't want :P). It doesn't get crowded, so you can comfortably walk around and view the animals at your own pace.

The 3 eagles that welcome Ark Avilon Zoo visitors

Inspired by "Noah's Ark", the zoo has 2 levels. The first level features in separate glass cages a white tiger, leopard, jaguar, and sun bear. They have an aquarium for penguins, but it seems that the cuties are on vacation.

White Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Jaguar (Panthera onca)

Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas)

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayamus)

Also in the first level, visitors can see meerkats, prairie dogs, crocodiles, and a variety of birds.

Meerkat

Crocodile

Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica)

The second floor features more bird varieties, as well as a couple of snake species.

Papuan Hornbill (Rhyteciros plicatus)

Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea)

Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor)

One of the snake species available

This is also where visitors can experience feeding rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, sheep, pigs, donkey, and tortoises. Feeds cost ₱50 for a piece of carrot or several stems of talbos ng kamote (sweet potato tops). I know it's a bit expensive, just treat it as donation to the zoo, and also as payment for the experience. :P

Rabbits

Guinea Pigs

Barbados Blackbelly Sheep (Ovis aries)

Pygmy Boer Goat

Barbados Blackbelly Sheep (Ovis aries)

Domestic Sheep (Ovis aris)

Bornean Pygmy Piglets (Sus salvanius)

African Spurred Tortoise (Geochelone sulcata)

Also in the second level, visitors can interact and get up close with the donkey, python, orangutan and variety of birds, and have pictures taken with them for ₱50 (per animal).

Photo op with colorful birds

If you don't want to shell out   ₱50, you can just take a quick selfie with them (it seems that the zoo keepers are not that strict after all).

Selfie with a donkey

For more pictures from our trip, click here.


Recommendation

The ₱500 entrance fee is a bit steep for something that you can easily finish in less than an hour. To save on costs and make the tickets more affordable, you can buy them online via www.avilonzoo.ph to get 50% discount (special promo).  Alternatively, you can buy tickets from MetroDeal for ₱259 per person, in case the special promo is not available in the Avilon website.

I'm satisfied with Ark Avilon and I'm glad that it's still around. I first visited it in 2009 with my then girlfriend (who is now my wife), and now, we're visiting it with our kid. For sure, we'll be back here pretty soon.