Tropical Paradise.
Well, I've been to Bali Bird Park several times and I was always impatient to go back there again. The people are calm and adapted to the world of birds, the buildings blend into the friendly park surroundings, and I was able to touch the tame parrots with their multi-colored plumage like the Macaws and the Eclectuses. The Black Palm Cockatoo, named Anna, was my favorite feathered pal.
The atmosphere, with all the various trilling and chipping calls and whistling songs of all the magnificent tropical birds, and the smell of the fresh moist soil and the breeze that made the tree leaves dance, made me feel I was in a wild forest, a special place where I could be free and experience the secrets and wonders of nature, a place I wished to live and fly through like a bird.
Last year when I was 14, I went to the park every morning at 7 pm in hopes of supporting the Bali Starling Foundation for collecting points for my schools Community Service. I wanted to clean the Starling cages, feed them and give them water, raise the starling chicks. But even if I talked to the chief assistants, they could not help me properly. For this reason I gave up on trying to help the starlings. Instead I hoped to at least assist the staff members in feeding the all birds, scooping up rubbish from the pond and watering gardens and aviaries. I would have been happy to do them. I loved keeping things clean, keeping the birds healthy. But I was only able to do each of the activities once.
However, at that time I could only speak English and everyone treated my like a student on a field trip, a simple little child who only wanted to see what the staff did. I went there with an important purpose but no one ever understood me or wished to help me more than they did. Then I realized my mistake. I was unclear and demure. Shy, quiet, only talked like a small delicate chick. I quitted going to the park in the early mornings. I studied Indonesian. Practiced. Wrote. Spoke. And now that I can speak the language fluently, and now that I am 15, confident, speaking up like a parrot, I will go back and state clearly what I wish to do.
It is without doubt that the Bali Bird Park is the best recreational area on the Island. It is where you can feel the tropical senses. It is where you learn about Birds. I guarantee you will go home talking in exuberance with your family and friends about the best and greatest things in the Park.
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Although not necessarily only for this Bali Bird Park, please dont forget, readers, that in Indonesia, many birds inside cages originally belonged to the wild to the forests, the mountains, the hills, the fields and the grasslands . . . the sky. Remember what their wings are for. Remember why they can fly. The birds in aviaries are fine, but those in the small cages are not. Wild things are wild they do not belong behind those metal bars. Think from their point of view, and please keep in mind - please be aware, that what we love may hate what we do to them.