Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

The bird park occupies a wooded valley inside the Perdana Botanical Gardens, with netting stretched high over existing trees so that two of its four zones are free-flight: you walk on paths while storks, ibises, peafowl and hornbills move around you at ground level and overhead. The other zones hold species that cannot be mixed, including hornbill and raptor enclosures. It is among the largest covered aviaries anywhere, and because the trees were already there it reads more like a wooded ravine than a zoo. Feeding sessions and a bird show run at set times through the day, and the milky storks wandering the main lawn are usually the first thing visitors meet.

What you actually see

• The free-flight zones - two netted sections where birds move freely around the paths.
• The hornbill collection - a run of enclosures covering most Malaysian species.
• Feeding sessions - scheduled feeds at the lake and raptor areas.
• The Lake Gardens setting - mature trees and a stream running through the aviary.

When to go

Open daily from mid-morning. Go early: birds are more active before the heat, and the free-flight paths are quieter before tour groups arrive. Scheduled feeds and the bird show are posted at the entrance and cluster in the late morning and mid-afternoon. Rain makes the paths slippery and pushes the birds into cover.

Honest expectations

Foreign visitors pay several times the Malaysian rate, and the ticket is expensive by local standards. Some enclosures outside the free-flight zones are small and dated. The bird show is a fairly standard performance rather than anything educational. There is a lot of climbing on stepped paths, and shade is inconsistent despite the trees.

Nearby

The Perdana Botanical Gardens surround it; the Islamic Arts Museum is a short walk away.