Jakarta Diaries : 6 : Ancol Dolphin and Sea Lion Shows

When I returned from the Thousand Islands to the dock in Jakarta, I still had an evening to spend. The dock is in the Ancol area, and there is one amusement park very close to the dock. I decided to go there.

Though the park is mainly designed for children and rides were tiny, I was more interested in various animal shows in park. When I reached there, only few shows were left till the closing time. The first one was the sea lion show.

I saw sea lions for the first time, and I was wondering why do they call him a sea lion? The animal resembled more with a dog. Sea dog was more suitable name according to me.

In India, due to restrictions circuses have stopped using animals for the shows. So, the last animal show I watched was long ago in my childhood.

The show had 3 sea lions, and one trainer for each of them. They did many acts like playing with a ball, catching a ball, holding it on the nose, a high jump. The trainers had to keep feeding them continuously to keep them engaged and motivated in the show.

Later one of the sea lion also danced with its trainer like a couple. They kissed too. :D To stay in show biz, those people need to do many bizarre things.

The sea lions were taught a lot of human gestures like to clap, salute, waving hands and some maths too. The trainer asked audience to tell him any two numbers, people were shouting different numbers, but he took the two numbers he wanted to. :D His trade secret. ;) He wrote 2X4 on a slate and read it to his sea lion. Answering him the sea lion ringed the bell in front of him 8 times.

Click here for all the pictures from the Sea Lion Show.

Immediately after Sea Lion Show, I went for a dolphin show. I found it more entertaining than the previous one. The arrangement for this show was nice. A big swimming pool, a platform for the trainers to stand, and a large screen.

Before the show, they started playing live streaming of the audience, like they do in cricket matches. So a person sitting in audience would appear on the screen, and others would clap, cheer and laugh, and that person's reaction to that would be even more fun. I also appeared on screen once. :D

The show started with a video about dolphins, giving a message to save dolphins. And the real dolphins appeared in sync with the dolphins in the video. It was an amazing timing. It surprised and thrilled everyone in the audience.

Then the dolphins also performed various acts like jumping through the ring, playing with a ball, swimming with the trainer, etc. Watching that trainer swimming so effortlessly with the dolphins, I was also feeling like playing with those dolphins. Dolphins are intelligent and human friendly. Few days later I came to know that in some parks, they have the facility for visitors to spend time with the dolphins. I would definitely try that if I get a chance.

Click here for all the pictures from the Dolphin Show.

The only show left after the dolphin show was a 4D movie. It was a waste of time. First of all the movie was a typical cowboy story in the local language, and the 4D effects, i.e. chair movements were not at all making sense with the scenes going on. The movements were arranged just for the sake of making it 4D.

The park closed after this, and I watched a laser show after that in the neighboring theater. It wasn't that great. The only innovative and new thing I saw was the images created in the water fountain with lasers. But apart from that the play was boring.

A trip to beautiful island, few entertaining shows, I had enough for the day. I had dinner in Indian Restaurant on the way. I was very tired when I reached my hotel room. I slept immediately to have enough rest before the Monday Morning Blues ahead.