Miri Crocodile Farm 3March2011

On the way to the crocodile farm, we passed a few road side stalls selling piles of tiny, pink shrimps at about RM8/kg.
The shrimps, known as 'bubuk', are in season during the months of March to May and is eaten fresh with some assam, lime juice, shallots...sounded like preparing kerabu to me. The leftovers are used in preparing cincaluk and belacan. Nothing goes to waste. We were told that the shrimp can also be caught in Melaka.


Map of the crocodile farm

Lounging crocs.

Being a weekday, we had the place to ourselves and the caretaker told us we had his undivided attention. He asked us if we wanted to feed the crocodiles for RM10.

He came back after a while with a bucketful of chicken pieces. Hooked the chicken onto a hook and line and told my hubby to lower the rod into the pit filled with young crocodiles.

The moment the crocodiles caught a whiff of the raw chicken, they began leaping into the air and splashing water as they landed.

After feeding the whole bucket to the crocs, the caretaker asked if we wanted to feed the bigger crocs for RM10.

He came back after a few minutes with 4 frozen chicken carcasses.

He hooked one chicken onto a hook and reeled the chicken to the middle of the enclosure.

One of the big crocodiles leaping out of the water.

They missed most of the time and were exhausted after 3 or 4 jumps and had to rest a while before attempting another jump.

The kids shrieked at the sight of the ferocious power shown by the crocodiles.

Fai and Han studying animal behavior.
The boys were entertained by the antics of the pig tailed macaque.

There were 3 young macaques and each of them exhibited mannerisms that were similar to one of the boys.

The breastfeeding macaque was clingy and never left the mother's side,

the middle one was mischievious and tried to evoke one of the bigger ones to play with him and was the most active,

the biggest of the three was thoughtful and was trying out different tactics to excape the cage - first by trying to squeeze his toes out from under the cage then by biting at the wire netting.

We bought a bunch of bananas for RM1 to feed the animals.

Ean insisted the civet cats needed their bananas peeled. The civet cats looking on impatiently as the 2 year old carefully prepared its meal.

The Malayan flying fox, similar to the ones we saw at Zoo Negara, climbed down the wire mesh to feed on the bananas. The kids could have a good look at the bats' anatomy.