Zoo World in Caltex...it's ZOO unexpected!

We spent my sister's birthday weekend at Fontana in Clark and on our way home, we stopped over at one of the many gasoline stations along the North Luzon Expressway (Caltex station in San Fernando, Pampanga) for late lunch. We love spending time in this particular gasoline station because of the Nike, Adidas, and Fashion Rack Designer outlet stores here. The entire Tejada family goes bonkers here.

Usually, the kids and I would just wait for everyone else in the mini playground near the Jollibee branch here - I don't get to shop huhuhuhuhu - but last Sunday was different since we learned that there's an actual zoo in this gasoline station: Zoo World.

Zoo World isn't that big a zoo but it is pretty impressive for a zoo in a gasoline station. The entrance fee is also cheap. It's Php99 for anyone who's above 3 feet tall. Kids below 3 feet go in for free so in this case, I only had to pay for my cousin, Stacey's, yaya and myself.

(That girl on the window is so soft-spoken, I had to ask her to repeat everything she said twice before I fully understood her.)

Upon entering Zoo World, of course, we were greeted by the rules and regulations that they implement while inside their premisses:

In the middle of the entire area of the zoo, there's a stage:

I assume that this is where they conduct the zoo briefing for school tours as well as the performances of some of the animals. A whole class of 40 students will probably fit this area.

Their animal collection is pretty big for the size of the zoo, including a bear, 3 species of snakes, 2 species of tigers, a whole lot of birds, marsupials, and lizards. There were even 2 dogs; a German shepherd and a St. Bernard (I think) which I didn't get to see because Brianna didn't want to go near the "big dogs, Mommy, scary!"

When we arrived in this area of Zoo World, the overwhelming scent of the marsupials hit us so hard, my cousin almost puked everything she ate for lunch.

That little guy on the left attacked the glass when my daughter got a little too close - I mean, I should've seen it coming; look at that face! - to the cage so please follow that rule quite literally. You would think that the bear or the tigers will be the ones to attack people who got too close but no, the cute owl was the one who did. 

Aside from these animals, there are also small rabbits and guinea pigs that the kids can feed (a huge chunk of carrot on a stick) for Php 20:

Brianna was dancing non-stop because they started playing songs out loud.

Kids really have fun when they interact with the animals. Brianna couldn't get enough! She wanted to feed the rabbits and the guinea pigs even after we fed them 2 carrots.

We saw a pony upon entering the zoo. I actually forgot what his name is - I blame CS - but Brianna calls her Applejack, after that My Little Pony character.

And since Brianna can't get over the fact that they can feed some of the animals:

Overall, it was a fun experience although it's quite bitin. I enjoy zoos with more mammals than birds - that's why I enjoyed Zoobic Safari, Residence Inn, and Avilon Zoo in Rizal so much - but what matters most is Brianna's happy and suffice to say, she enjoyed herself so much. She didn't want to go home after visiting the zoo. She wanted to feed the rabbits more carrots! Haha!

Brianna misplaced the brochure for this zoo - huhuhuhu - and there aren't any information posted anywhere online so I can't publish any contact details for Zoo World right now but they are located at the Caltex station along NLEx in San Fernando, Pampanga. If you're on your way back to Manila from the North, give it a quick visit with your kids and see it for yourself