The city's name
Shark and crocodile.
Surabaya's best-known emblem after the Heroes Monument, a statue of a shark and a crocodile twisting in combat, standing near the zoo entrance. The city's name comes from it: sura means shark and baya means crocodile in Javanese, and the folk tale says the two fought at the border of sea and river until neither could win. Some read the tale as a symbol of the city's place between sea and river, or of its people's fighting spirit. The statue is coloured blue and green, with a walkway and small garden around it, and its image appears on the city's crest and everywhere in town. There are other statues of the emblem in the city, the newest a large one on the Kalimas riverbank. It is free and always open, and a quarter of an hour is enough for a souvenir photo. Pair it with the zoo in the morning or nearby Bungkul Park in the evening; it is a short stop, but a must-have photo in Surabaya.
Shark and crocodile.
The fight of sea and river.
An emblem everywhere.
Near the entrance of Surabaya Zoo
It joins two Javanese words: sura, shark, and baya, crocodile, from the folk tale of their fight at the river mouth.
