Kuala Gandah - a must-have experience

An encounter with the animals in the zoo has always been fascinating for kids - at least for mine. However, if you want to experience something cooler than your normal visits to the zoo, go to Lanchang in the state of Pahang.

In a place called Kuala Gandah, there's an elephant conservation centre. It is run by Jabatan Perhilitan and is opened to the public for free. Our journey from Bangi to Kuala Gandah took us only about 2.5 hours using the PLUS and MRR highway.

The car park area.

The entrance leading to the registration and info centre.

Go early to the place, for if you're lucky to be amongst the first hundred visitors of the day, you'll get the chance not to only see and touch the elephants, but you'll get to ride on and bathe with the elephants! Some special visitors (I don't know how did they get the privilege) even got to feed the elephants with peanuts!

Our sticky pass -
the result of coming late (at 2.30pm)!

There's no word to describe the excitement you'll feel while being here. Luckily I managed to capture tons of pictures and some videos for they would give you a much better picture of what to expect from this interesting place.

Learn something about elephants before you meet the gentle beasts at the information centre.


The kids with a baby elephant.

Babies' feeding time...

Was it people bathing the elephant,
or the other way round?

The lucky person who had the last ride on the giant elephant!

Your journey there wouldn't be complete if you don't make a stop at an animal park called “Deerland”, just a 3km away from the elephant's conservation centre. In fact, this place had made our visit to Lanchang more exciting and worthwhile. There's an entrance fee but not as expensive as the Zoo Negara – we paid a total of only RM16 for 2 adults and 2 children.

Deerland's humble entrance.

My elder son described this place as being much cooler than the infamous Zoo Negara. And why not? Can you go inside the area designated for the deer and feed them at Zoo Negara? Can you touch the hedgehog and feed the ostrich there? Or can you get a bear hug (a real bear's hug) there? My kids got to experience them all here. Again – the pictures would make a better speaker of our interesting experience.

Feeding the deer...

Oh my, they appeared to be so.... hungry, or were they just greedy?

Naufal and the hedgehog.

There were parrots...

a wild chicken...(more, actually)

wild chicks...

and a flying squirrel, too!


The kids with a baby phyton.

Feeding the ostrich was interesting...

and so was touching the bear!


Hugssss.......

Hope you'll find your way there and I assure you these places will make your day!