All About Your Child

For me, among the 5 places I visited during my stay in Desaru, THIS IS THE PLACE I HAD THE MOST FUN!!!

Warning: I Had So Much Fun in The Ostrich Farm in Desaru, thus I have PLENTY To Talk About!!! *laugh* So you have been warned, its a Looooooooooong Post!

We were all ready for the Real Adventure when we woke up on 9th August 2012, our 2nd day in Desaru. We checked Google map and found out that Ostrich Farm was on the southern part of our resort. We thought, so long as we keep heading in that direction, it should bring us to the big birds. With that, we set off! Real Dare Devils! *eyes widen*

Once again, there were many moments during the drive we would ask ourselves, “We did not miss any ‘Ostrich Farm’ signs, did we?” *laugh*

Nope! We did not miss any indeed and after traveling at 90-100km/h for about 30mins, we finally saw ‘Ostrich Farm’ signs, they were too big to miss!

The moment we got out of the car, an EXTREMELY vocal lady started to signal us over and started to talk about the Ostrich Egg, before she suggested that we should buy admission tickets to enter the Ostrich Farm itself.

She called for the cashier and while waiting for the cashier to appear, the kids were totally mesmerized by the Cute ONE DAY OLD baby ostrich at the cashier counter.

In my view, Desaru is a great place to visit IF YOU DRIVE to these places of attractions on your own. Once again I want to show you the BIG difference in price between using the transport provided by the Lotus Desaru Beach Resort and when you drive yourself there.

Resort Transportation to Ostrich Farm : RM70/hr (Adult) and RM40/hr (Child)

Note, the charge is by ‘per hour‘. If your child is as crazy over the Ostriches as mine, then, one hour is definitely NOT enough!

So how much did we pay, since we drove there on our own?
Only RM15/hr (Adult) and RM10/hr (Child) and you can stay at the farm as long as you wish!

Can you see how MUCH you can SAVE??!!!

In short, now that I know the vast difference in price, I would NEVER go Desaru, unless we drive on our own.

In fact, we do not like to follow guided tour because if the tour guide says “C’mon we have to leave now.” You cannot say “No”.

When we go on a vacation, we like to take our own sweet time to fully enjoy every moment instead of having someone around to keep reminding us of the time, “We will meet here after 30mins.”, “We will spend only 15mins here.” etc…etc… *bleh* Not the kind of holiday experience for us for sure.

Of ‘cos without any doubt, there are also the pros for having a tour guide = you will never get lost! *wink* But we still prefer to go for Free and Easy type of holiday trips.

Alright, enough said, take a look at the whole Ostrich Farm in the video below :

This is one other bird not captured in the video above:

When we entered, there was already a tour group there feeding the Ostriches and kids were taking turns to ride on an Ostrich for RM30 with a professional photoshot. Keatkeat and Binbin were afraid that it might be too ticklish, so they were not interested to ride at all. What a waste!

If they had allowed adults to ride on them, I WOULD!!! *laugh*

The moment we stepped inside the farm, the uncle who works there started to gather the four of us with the other tourists and demonstrated how they would open an ostrich egg. They NEED AN ELECTRIC DRILL!!! *jaws dropped*

The explanation was very detailed and I loved it. The kids had a little issue understanding what was going on though, ‘cos the uncle only speaks in Mandarin.

After pouring out the egg, the nice uncle started to share the goodness of the placenta. He tore up the placenta into different pieces and passed them to some of us. Allan got a piece and I touched it too. Felt a little like those sheets of facial mask. Smooth, rubbery and a little slimy.

In fact, one of the tourists asked if it can be used as a facial mask and the uncle actually said It is Good For The Skin! So the answer was Yes! *jaws dropped*

Suddenly, another HUGE tour group came into the Ostrich farm together with another staff. Immediately, the nice uncle passed the ‘job‘ over to this other staff instead and moved away. We thought the demonstration was over and thus went over to buy a bunch of vegetables, ready to feed the ostriches.

Little did we know that the demonstration was not completed, the nice uncle merely asked the staff to pick up where he left off.

So with a bunch of vegetables in my hand, we went back to hear the 2nd half of the ‘show and tell’. This time, it was in English. The kids enjoyed it more because they can understand what was said.

It was only then that my children understood that ostrich eggs must be kept away from the rain, or else the eggs will not be able to hatch into baby ostriches. The numbers written on the ostrich eggs is a way of recording how many eggs had been laid ever since this ostrich farm started.

Ostriches in this farm lay 2 eggs every 4 days on the average. Those eggs which had been showered by the rain will be used as delicacies in their mini restaurant, right beside the cashier counter. The empty shells are then used to create table lamps.

I wanted to try their ostrich egg omelette for RM8, and the ostrich meat too, but our breakfast from the resort have not been digested yet; so we were too full to eat anything. What a waste! I would want to try, if I ever get a chance to go there again.

The jovial staff talked about how their ostrich essence (yes, just like chicken essence) must be taken in the morning or else you will start roaming around like a tiger at night. *laugh*

So does ostriches hide their heads underground when they are being attacked? NOPE, its a myth. They either run away or attack the attacker.

The ostrich’s skin is used to make bags. This ostrich farm do sell their ostriches away as well. Different prices for different ages. Anyone wants an ostrich for a pet? *wink*

My fingers were aching from clenching the bunch of vegetables after many minutes and decided to put the bunch behind me, so that I can give my full attention to the staff. But it was a WRONG MOVE!!!

Two ostriches approached me from behind almost immediately and wanted to eat my bunch of vegetables behind my butt. I was so afraid they would peck my butt! *laugh* Binbin who was sitting beside me sprung to his feet like a coiled spring and that made Keatkeat and I jumped out of our chairs too!

It was scary and hilarious at the same time and the other tourists started clicking on their cameras for a nice close up while the three of us sweat under our socks. *laugh*

I took the bunch and hand it over to the staff who sold the vegetables to me earlier, who also promised to return it to me without charging me for the second time again. *phew* And I went back to my seat.

In the beginning, I find them intimidating. But after feeding them over and over again, they are really friendly birds. We became so ‘fearless‘ that we flipped their feathers, touched the skin under their feathers, stroke them on their neck and stood really close to them for awesome photo shoot.

We, especially the kids, just did not have enough fun! We just kept buying the bunches of vegetables for RM2 each time a bunch has gone down the long necks of the ostriches, AT LEAST 5 times or more! SORRY we lost count! *laugh*

We just kept on feeding and feeding and feeding……

Some of you may ask, “Is it dangerous? Won’t the ostriches peck your hand during feeding?”

Well, this was Keatkeat’s experience…..

There were too many people feeding the FEW (4, I think) freely roaming ostriches and my boys, just like Allan and I, do not like crowds, so they held on to their bunches of leaves and went to feed those that were fenced up.

And when you decide to do that, you must be prepared to hold as close to the end of the stem as possible, because there will be more than ONE ostrich coming at you AT THE SAME TIME!

With 4 ostriches aiming at Keatkeat’s bunch of leaves and him not holding close the the end of the stem after being told several times already, the ostriches aimed wrongly and mistook his hand for food!

“OUCH!” Keatkeat yelled and squeezed his hands between his thighs.

The ostriches’ beaks are not blades, so no blood shed. The above incident was witnessed by Allan. According to Papa, Keatkeat’s facial expression was hilarious! Damn! I missed it!

So what was I doing? I was busy chasing smaller birds : A mother Hen and her chicks. They were SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!

Because we had planned to go to two other places of interest in Desaru, and remember? we had no clear idea how to get there, so we need to give ourselves ample time to explore. Therefore, reluctantly we had to end the fun here earlier than we wished to.

Thus we said goodbye to the ostriches’ strong legs,

rubbery skin

and super long feathers

Goodbye! Thank you for the truly an unforgettable experience for my family, especially me! *wave*

Ostrich Farm in Desaru

Right from the beginning, 3 posts back, I mentioned that THIS trip to Desaru was an adventure to us because we were traveling without any guide of any form, other than a vague map printed from Google.

However, one thing is always on our mind: ‘Never take a risk that we cannot afford’, especially when we have two young children with us.

No one can watch FireFlies in action in bright daylight, right? So traveling at night, with some bumpy roads which are totally pitch dark, we have zero confidence that we would NOT get lost if we drove ourselves to explore where the FireFlies Cruise in Desaru was.

So we dropped the idea of self-drive and felt the pinch by taking the expensive transport provided by Lotus Desaru Beach Resort to the FireFlies Tour.

It only cost RM10+ per adult (if you go there on your own) but look at the price stated by the resort: ~ *heartpain*

They only provide the transport to and fro and it costs RM40 for adult and RM25 for child. Ouch!

Allan even wanted to drop the idea of going to watch the Fireflies altogether at first… but after much discussion, we went ahead because it would be a great experience, since none of us has seen WILD fireflies before.

The journey there was indeed unnerving. There was this long stretch of road which was, winding, narrow, bumpy and without any street lamps at all. The driver had to drive with his high beam on the whole time!

It was scary, especially when there were a few occasions of oncoming vehicles as well; lack of concentration would have resulted in an accident.

The place was called ‘Floating Seafood Restaurant‘. It was an extra service to provide a separate boat ride (which was made of planks of wood only), to cruise out into the very dark river to watch the wild fireflies in action.

The crew used several of THIS (below), putting them at different parts of the boat, to ward off the mosquitoes. Looks like egg holder, right? Maybe it IS! *shrugged* He simply burned one corner of it with a lighter and that’s it. The smoke lasted the entire tour.

Some of the life jackets were in bad condition. It was disappointing. Instead of ‘locking‘ the life jacket across our chests, we had to tie it and hope it does not come loose.

Still, the Big Grins from the boys tell me that all these were worth it. Often, adults are too concern over mundane things, but my children are always around to remind me of the Real Purpose of coming to this place : To Watch Fireflies!

Yes! It was amazing!!!!
Every other thing did not matter anymore the moment we saw the trees lit up like Christmas Trees!

Everyone sat at the perimeter of the wooden boat. The guide, who stood right beside me the whole time, kept scooping water with a long stick and a spout at the end, and kept splashing water to the trees to agitate the sleeping fireflies; to make them glow.

They glowed, they flew and he catches them and PUT ON MY HANDS!!!! Over and over again, this continued, simply because I was sitting right next to him. So lucky!!!

Then the other tourists started to crowd behind me so that they could also receive a firefly or two from the guide. When the fireflies flew out of their hands and onto the floor of the boat, they rushed to it like children rushing to catch a free ball. It always makes me happy to watch adults putting aside stress and play to their heart’s content.

Remember? It was pitch dark everywhere, even the lights of the boat was switched off! Thank goodness no one had head collision as a result of chasing after fireflies on the boat. *phew*

As I had no issue with getting supply of fireflies, Allan, Keatkeat and Binbin had plenty of chances to hold the super tiny insect in their hands too. So we need not chase after them when they flew away.

So tip of the day : Sit near the guide if you want to go for fireflies tour. *wink*

There were a couple of times, the fireflies landed on Keatkeat’s pants and it freaked him out because he was afraid that it would go UNDER HIS PANTS! *laugh*

Just before we made a u-turn back to the Floating Seafood Restaurant, the guide told the captain of the boat to stop very near to the trees. It was so near, the branch full of leaves was RIGHT ON TOP OF MY HEAD! The fireflies were everywhere on that branch and I felt like my head was glowing! *laugh*

Seriously, it was good fun. Everyone should experience having a firefly or two on your palm in your lifetime. They are so cute!

Next Post : Ostrich Farm in Desaru

FireFlies Cruise in Desaru