Meeting Cute Animals at Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm in Yilan

November 19, 2024

Two kids kneeling down with a capybara between them with an orange on its head

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Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm (張美阿嬤農場) is a small but extremely popular leisure farm in Yilan county. I’ve been to the “farm” twice – once on my own (in the rain, it was still fine) and once with my kids.

My kids and I had a fun day at the attraction, interacting with exotic animals (mostly from South America and Australia), making traditional Taiwanese foods, and harvesting vegetables – all part of the DIY package available on the ticket page (Klook / KKday).

In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about visiting this farm, including how to get there from Taipei, what to expect when you arrive, how to sign up for the DIY activity package, and some less touristy alternatives to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm.

You may also want to read about my kids’ other favorite places in Taiwan, the best DIY activities in Taipei and other places to see capybaras in Taiwan.

Table of Contents

Welcome to Zhang Mei Ama’s!

Close up of a cute baby sheep with some people and other farm animals behind it and a red Japanese torii gate — Meeting cute animals at Yilan’s most famous leisure farm

Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm is not unique in Taiwan – there are dozens of other very similar ones in Yilan (which I call the “family friendly county”) and across Taiwan.

Somehow, though, this one had jumped out as the most popular one for visiting tourists. At any given time, even weekdays, you may find busloads of tourists here, while the other ones tend to only be really busy on weekends, when most locals go.

FYI: “Ama” means grandmother in Taiwanese.

Crowds of people mostly with umbrellas in a leisure farm with some sheep walking among them — Typical crowds, even on a rainy day

Zhang Mei Ama’s is not really a farm. In my country, we would call this a “petting zoo”. It’s just an animal enclosure with gravel floor, and it’s quite small (only 400 m²).

There’s no mention on the official site about whether it is run by a real farm or not. The animals are clearly there just for the tourists, but the vegetable harvesting experience takes place on a real farm just down the street from it.

A young boy wearing rubber boots, farmer's hat, and gloves, standing on a farm, holding up a pepper than he just picked with scissors in the other hand — Vegetable picking at Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm

Like so many similar “farms” in Taiwan, they’ve gone with a Japanese theme, so there are a few torii (red gates) and Japanese decorations.

It’s also possible to rent kinomos on site (read about other places to rent kimonos or qipaos in Taiwan).

Three Asian women in kimonos feeding some sheep in a leisure farm — Visitors in rental kimonos

Besides the animal area and veggie harvesting, the center also includes a few food stalls and some rooms where kids can do DIY baking activities.

Overall, expect to spend 30 minutes to 1 hour here if only visiting the animals, or 2 to 2.5 hours for the full DIY package.

How to Buy Tickets to the Farm

Close up of a pair of hands wearing gloves, holding scissors, and cutting a purple pepper from its stem, with that's person's farmer's hat visible — Harvesting peppers at Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm

It’s possible to just show up and buy tickets at the door. Entrance for seeing the animals only is TWD 200 for age 5+ (including adults), 50 for kids age 2-4, and free under 2. The DIY package is TWD 350 for 5+, 50 for 2-4, and free under 2.

Tickets on Klook are the same price, but I found we got in faster because we had them.

Another benefit of Klook is that you can gain Klook cash with your bookings and take advantage of promo codes to get discounts.

Two kids rolling balls of dough and placing them on red trays on the table in front of them — Cooking class, part of the DIY package

The Klook page has the option for regular entrance or DIY package. The DIY package is called “Admission Ticket + Cooking Class + Dessert”.

This means you get to meet the animals as long as you want, do a cooking class, get a free dessert, and (not even mentioned in the title) you also get to do a vegetable harvesting experience.

On KKday, there are separate pages for tickets to see animals only or the DIY package.

Getting to the Farm

There are many ways to get to the farm, depending largely on your budget and other places you’d like to include.

By Tour or Private Car

The easiest way to get to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm is to book a day tour from Taipei (Klook / KKday).

You could also hire a private driver for the day from Taipei (Klook / Klook / KKday) or from anywhere in Yilan county (Klook / KKday) and visit several other spots besides Zhang Mei Ama’s.

If you do that, some things you could include are green onion picking and green onion cake making near Zhang Mei Ama’s (Klook), the National Center for Traditional Arts (Klook / KKday), Jiaoxi hot springs (see my guide), or Kavalan Distillery. See my Yilan guide for many more ideas.

At the end of your day, finish at Luodong Night Market (read my guide), the best night market in Yilan.

You could even visit Zhang Mei Ama’s at the end of a day trip to Taipingshan, but you’d have to start your day very early to make it to Zhang Mei Ama’s before closing time. See my Taipingshan guide.

Rent a Car or Scooter

Two kids on the back of a scooter parked beside some rice fields and an irrigation canal — Riding past rice paddies on our way to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm

Yilan is one of the easiest places in Taiwan to drive. Take a train from Taipei to Yilan city or Luodong and rent a car (Klook) from there. You’ll need an IDP and credit card under the same name. Here’s my guide to renting a car in Taiwan.

Renting a scooter (Klook) is a little more difficult in Taiwan. You’ll need a Taiwanese scooter license or an IDP and it must have a stamp in the A box (motorcycle endorsement), which means you are licensed to drive motorcycles in your country.

Zhang Mei Ama’s farm is about 30 minutes’ drive from Yilan city or Luodong. Only rent a car if you plan to explore many stops in one day (see my ideas in the last section).

As for a scooter, they are so cheap (cheaper than a taxi!) that you may consider doing this even if Zhang Mei Ama’s is your only stop.

By Public Transportation + Taxi

A statue of a rabbit playing a trumpet shot from behind, with a fake train riding above it in the sky and mosaic window ceiling above — Jimmy Park at Yilan station

By public transportation, take a bus (1 hour 15 min, Klook) from Taipei Bus Station or Taipei City Hall Bus Station to Luodong.

You could also get off at Yilan station (one stop before Luodong) and see Jimmy Park, but Luodong is a little closer to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm, so the taxi ride from Yilan will cost a little more than from Luodong.

The bus is very comfortable and has guaranteed seat. However, buses can take longer (up to 2 hours) at peak traffic times. There’s no toilet on the bus.

An empty local train with benches on the sides — A slow local train

A second option is to take a train (1 hr 15 min to 2 hr 45 min) from Taipei Main Station or Songshan Station to Luodong. The fastest one needs to be reserved in advance, while for the slower ones, you can just swipe EasyCard. Learn how to reserve in my guide to booking trains in Taiwan.

From Luodong Station, there are some buses (30 min) which will get you close(ish) to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm, but you’ll need to walk about 18 minutes after getting off. Use GoogleMaps direction to find these.

It’s easier but more expensive to just hop in a taxi or Uber to the farm. Expect to pay around 400 for the ride. When leaving the farm, visitors report that they are usually able to order an Uber from there.

After Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm consider walking to this green onion picking and green onion cake making farm (Klook), which is 30 minutes away from the farm on foot.

At the Farm: Meeting the Animals

When we arrived at Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm, things were a little chaotic because a couple busloads of tourists had just arrived before us.

Basically we lined up, a staff member went up the line asking who had tickets already (from Klook or KKday), then pointed us to the shorter line.

A young girl looking at the camera, with her hand on a table that is full of bunches of long green grass — Getting grass to feed the animals

Because we had the DIY package, we could choose if we wanted to do the cooking class or meet the animals first.

They suggested to do the cooking first, because the food needs some time to cook after you make it. We took their advice and did the cooking first (see next section) then came back to eat it after we saw the animals.

Before entering the animal enclosure, they asked us to wash our hands, then they gave us some long leaves to feed the animals.

Warning: For visitors with young kids, the animals inside can be a little aggressive trying to grab the leaves from you. Watch your kids carefully or just don’t let them hold any leaves. Hold the leaves up high so the animals can’t steal them.

One (adult) visitor even complained in my Facebook group that one of the animals stepped on his foot and hurt him. When I visited, one animal kept biting my pants and I had to ask a staff member to get it away from me.

A young girl holding a long piece of grass up for a sika deer, which is lifting its head up to get it — My daughter feeding a sika deer

The animal area has three fenced enclosures. In the first one, animals we saw included sika deer (梅花鹿), alpacas (羊駝), and Valais blacknose sheep (黑鼻羊).

A collage of four farm animals: alpaca and three different kinds of baby sheep — Some of the animals in the first enclosure

Funny note: Taiwanese jokingly call Valais blacknose sheep 笑笑羊, after the cartoon character Shaun the Sheep, and alpacas 草泥馬 (literally “grass mud horse”), which sounds the same as the Mandarin words “f*** your mother”.

The official Zhang Mei Ama website invites visitors to “come meet Shaun the Sheep, f*** your mother sheep, and Suicune (水君, a Pokemon character, which I guess is supposed to look like Reeve’s Mutjac – see below).

Close up of a cute baby sheep with black nose and ears — Valais blacknose

The animals in the first area are the largest and bitey-est, so if they are bothering you, just move on to the next area.

A hand holding some long green grass and feeding one to a blacknose sheep — Feed me now!

Nick Kembel posing with a dark brown alpaca, who is looking at him — Which one of us is more handsome?

A young girl feeding a piece of grass to a blacknose sheep — The animals there are certainly well fed.

The second enclosure is the smallest and the most chill, with only a few capybaras (水豚) and giant tortoises.

Note that once you go to the second or third enclosures, you aren’t allowed to go back.

Close up of the face of a giant tortoise — Giant tortoise

A young girl reaching down to feed a piece of grass to a giant tortoise — Feeding a giant tortoise

A capybara resting on gravel on the right side, with a young boy kneeling down behind it to the left — Chilling with a capybara

Nick Kembel taking a selfie with a capybara — Me with capybara

The third enclosure is as large as the first one, but with smaller animals. My kids liked this area by far the most.

Animals we saw in the third area included Patagonian mara (兔豚鼠, which look like oversized rabbits with short ears), rare white (albino) kangaroos (袋鼠), and Reeve’s Mutjac (山羌, look like miniature deer).

A group of Patagonian maras, with the largest one chewing some green leaves — Patagonian maras

A young girl petting a Patagonian mara, which has its arms and legs stretched out on the gravel — They didn’t mind being petted

A white albino kangaroo resting on its own tail with its eyes closed — Albino kangaroo

Note that in this area, you aren’t supposed to step into the sectioned off area to one side, which is for the animals only if they want to some personal space.

This area also had some colorful parrots, which my kids absolutely loved holding and did multiple times. My daughter wanted to try holding each of them.

A young girl holding a stick with a large parrot on ot — She loved holding the parrots

A boy holding stick with a large colorful parrot on it — He was a little more suspicious of it…

Last but not least, we saw several more capybaras in the third area, with a little steaming pond for them to swim in (you’ll have to be lucky to see them actually in it) and some fake oranges meant for balancing on their heads.

Why balance oranges on them? Well, because you can! In many cartoons and signs for capybara places, they are pictured with oranges on their head, just it’s just a thing.

A young girl places two oranges on a capybaras back and head, as it stands beside a small staeaming pond — Trying to balance oranges on the capybaras

I have to say, capybaras are super popular in Taiwan these days, and there are dozens of places in Taiwan where you can see them, even though these oversized rodents are from South America.

They are surprisingly chill animals and like being pet, just like a dog. Of all the animals at Zhang Mei Ama’s, they are the easiest (and probably safest) to actually touch.

A young boy kneeling down on the left facing the camera and a capybara on the right with an orange balanced on its head — I’ve visited many capybara places, but this is the first one where we managed to do the orange thing.

There’s one more animal room which is easy to miss. Once you exit the main animal enclosure, you’ll find this room closer to the food area.

Inside it, we saw some sloths (樹懶), but honestly felt quite sorry for them being stuck indoors like that – even though they did look pretty relaxed…

Close up of a sloth resting upside down on a tree inside a room — There are some sloths inside

Make sure to wash your hands before leaving or returning to the cooking room!

Cooking Class and Free Snack

If you get the DIY package (Klook / KKday), it includes a simple cooking class and free snack. You can do the cooking class whenever you want, but it makes sense to do it first, before seeing the animals, then come back after to eat the foods you made.

Which item you cook varies throughout the year. When we went, my kids made sweet potato balls.

Two kids with metal mixing bowls using spoons to mash pieces of sweet potato in flour — Mashing sweet potatoes

This isn’t a group class with an instructor at the front. It’s more like a large room with many tables, and you can start at any time. There are some staff walking around and they gave us instructions as needed.

This was not a complicated cooking activity. My kids just mixed sweet potato and flour then rolled it into balls. They enjoyed making some of them into fun shapes, like cat heads.

For a more in depth cooking class, I recommend the pineapple cake making in Taipei.

Two kids making a dough of sweet potatoes and flour in metal bowls — Making the dough

The kids holding up orange bowls of dough that they just made to show the camera — The dough is ready

Two kids rolling dough into balls, with orange trays in front of them covered with the balls — Rolling the balls

Then, we went out to meet the animals while staff boiled their sweet potato balls.

When we came back, the balls had been cooked. My kids got to put them into small paper cups then add a sweet soup to them.

Two kids at a table, with a metal bowl of sweet potato balls in front of them, and the boy is holding up some in a large spoon — Cooked sweet potato balls

At this point, the staff also offered us our free snack (included in the DIY package). Each of us got to pick one item from a menu that included green onion cakes, animal shaped egg cakes, and wheel cakes.

Even if you don’t do the DIY package, you can also purchase these items on site.

A boy holding up a wheel cake pastry over a paper bowl of sweet potato balls — Enjoying a wheel cake and the snack he made

Harvesting Experience

The DIY package also includes a vegetable harvesting experience at the end, which is weather-dependent (they won’t offer it if it’s pouring rain).

When we finished eating our snacks, the staff in the cooking room showed us where to go. Right at the entrance to the farm, there’s a room where we were instructed to put on tall rain boots and Taiwanese farmers’ hats.

With her farmer’s hat

From there, they basically pointed us down the street and we weren’t super clear where to go. We even felt a little embarrassed walking pass a busload of arriving guests in our giant boots and farmer hats. But we just kept walking.

At the end of the street, we turned left, walking for several minutes past the large car parking lot. My kids were convinced we were going the wrong way, and I almost thought so too.

Nick Kembel with his two kids, standing beside a rice farm, all wearing circular rice farmer's hats — Walking down the street trying to find the farmer’s field

But then we spotted a farmer’s truck in the adjacent field (this spot exactly, but it could change!) and I knew that was it. I suggest you get clear instructions from the staff before heading out!

When we arrived at the truck, the farmer gave us gloves, shears, and instructions for how to choose and pick the vegetables. We got to pick peppers in a variety of colors, but the vegetable you will harvest varies by season.

A Taiwanese farmer standing on the left beside a field, teaching two kids how to pick some vegetables — The farmer telling my kids how to pick the vegetables

A young girl wearing boots and farmers hat reaching to harvest a vegetable on a farm, with scissors and plastic bag in her hands — Harvesting the veggies

Nick Kembel standing with his two kids in front of a farm, with all three wearing farmer hats and holding up peppers they just picked — Some peppers we picked (the farmer took the photo for us!)

The boots came in handy, as the field was indeed very muddy. My kids did enjoy this experience (also read about our experience picking strawberries in Miaoli).

Each of us got to pick several peppers, with plastic bags to take them home. My kids’ a-gong (grandfather) in New Taipei City was very happy to receive them and cook them for dinner that night!

Alternatives to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm

A young girl holding a round tray of bird food with around a dozen green birds eating from it and the bottom half of an adult standing beside her holding a large blue bird, and some pink flamingoes in the background — My daughter holding birds at Leofoo Village in Hsinchu

As I mentioned in the article, Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm is by no means unique in Taiwan. There are so many other similar ones, especially in Yilan but also in other parts of the country.

Here’s a list of just a few of the more popular ones.

In Taipei, there’s a meerkat cafe, snake cafe, and many cat cafes. There’s also a capybara cafe in New Taipei City.
In Yilan, Bambi Land (Klook) offers a similar experience to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm.
Dancewoods (Klook / KKday) is another one nearby which focuses less on animals and more on the Japanese landscape.
Xingbao (Klook) is yet another in Yilan that has a few animals plus green onion picking and green onion cake making.
Shangri-La Leisure Farm (Agoda) and Toucheng Leisure Farm (Booking) are ones where you can spend the night.
In Taoyuan, Pushin Ranch (Klook / KKday) is a popular leisure farm with animals.
In Hsinchu, Greenworld Ecological Park (Klook / KKday) is larger and more like a zoo, with more space for most of the animals.
Also in Hsinchu, Leofoo Village (Klook / KKday) is a theme park with “safari” section and an overnight safari-style hotel. See my Leofoo Village guide.
In Hualien, Zhang Family Garden (here) has various animals and Japanese-theme with kimono wearing with small restaurant/cafe and indoor cat room.
High in the mountains of Nantou, Cingjing Farm is leisure farm with beautiful scenery, sheep shearing shows, and horsemanship shows. See my Cingjing Farm guide.
In Kaohsiung, Senya Village (Klook) focuses heavily on the Japanese theme but only has a few animals.