Singapore Zoological Gardens

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80 Mandai Lake Road
Singapore, Singapore 729826
+65 6269-3411Website
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Rattie: First Reviewer

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On Trams, Owls and Ulu Ulu

March 11, 2009
Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel

Located next to the Zoological Gardens, the Singapore Night Safari was inaugurated more than twenty years after the first, in 1994. Occupying forty hectares, it displays 120 animal species, of which 29% are threatened.

Forty-one exhibits can be seen on foot, while the remaining eighteen demand the use of the tram. The park is divided into the East and West Loops and into eight geographical zones with a total length of 3.2km; the walkway length is 2.8km long and divided into three walking trails. A useful map featuring the different trails is giving with the entrance ticket.

Timing

The park opens from 7:30 PM to midnight daily; the show times in the amphitheatre are 7:30 PM, 8:30 PM, and 9:30 PM. Last admission is at 11 PM. The entrance fee is S$22.00 for adults and half that for children (the same applies for the other fees mentioned here).

The restaurants and souvenir shop open from 6 PM. I strongly recommend combining the visit with the one to the Zoological Gardens. The last closes at 6 PM, and thus a natural early-dinner break is created in between the visits. Otherwise traveling to the area twice is cumbersome.

Access

By Car

Take the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards Jurong, and leave it at Exit 7 of the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), afterward, follow the brown signs to the Singapore Zoo.

By Bus

Take bus 171 from the City to Mandai Road, alight there at the first stop and transfer to bus 927.

By MRT

Alight at Ang Mo Kio station (NS16) and take bus 138 or at Choa Chu Kang station (BP1/NS4) and take bus 927.

On Sundays and Public Holidays it is possible to take bus 926 from the MRT Woodlands (NS9) or Marsiling (NS8) stations.

By Special Service

BusHub Services offers a daily bus service from pick-up points below to Singapore Zoo, and back. A one-way trip costs $4 for adults and half that for children. Buses depart twice a day, roughly at 9 AM and 1 PM, and on holidays also at 10 AM. The detailed list of stops and times appears at www.bushub.com.sg. A similar service is offered by them for Jurong Park.

City Tours offers a similar service on a door to door hotel basis for $11.90 per person, reservations can be done at www.citytours.sg

Combined Tickets

Since Wildlife Reserves Singapore is the parent company of the zoo, the Night Safari and the Jurong Bird Park (all of them reviewed in this journal), special tickets valid for one month and combining the attractions exist:

3-in-1: S$40.00 for adults.
2-in-1: Any two of the three parks, S$30.00 for adults.

Night Safari Tour

The park can be toured with no specific order, though probably most visitors would pass through all the attractions mentioned below:

Thumbuakar Tribe

A Thumbuakar Tribe performance takes place at the Photomound at 7, 8 and 9 PM, and at the Ulu Ulu at 6:30 and 7:30 PM. Coming from Borneo, the display includes tribal dances, blowpipe demonstrations and fire eating displays.

Fishing Cat Trail

One of the most important features of this park is that the visitors have the illusion of sharing the same open space with the animals. Fences, moats and other separating devices are tastefully disguised. Nowhere is this more worrying than on the Fishing Cat Trail, where leopard cats, small-clawed otters, Indian Gharials and the largest bat in the world - the Malayan flying fox – can be enjoyed and feared.

Forest Giants Trail

This trail is a botanical display of rainforest giants, including over a hundred native plants; some of the trees are well over a hundred-years old. The last being living eco-systems, the display also offers sights of nocturnal animals like toads, frogs, bats, flying lemurs, nightjars, owls, squirrels, tree shrews and of many insects.

Creatures of the Night Show

The show demonstrates the behavior of some local residents: Puma, Barn Owls, Python, Raccoons and others.

Tram Journey I

The tram ride covers 3.2km, offers 18 displays and takes about 45 minutes to complete. It includes a live commentary and one stopover at the East Lodge. It begins from 7:30 PM. Tickets cost S$10.00.

The tram ride begins At the Himalayan Foothills display, where Himalayan Tahr, Bharal, and vultures can be seen, and then continues into the Nepalese River Valley which is home to the otter, wolf, Greater Asian Rhino, jackal and Sambar Deer. The Indian Subcontinent hosts the Striped Hyena, Gir Lion and the Sloth Bear. Due to the special lighting used, the animals are oblivious to the visitors (and most cameras to the animals!).

Leopard Trail

The Leopard Trail is near the East Lodge and is best seen during the tram stopover there. It features the clouded leopard, the binturong and the Malayan civet. Next to it is a dome featuring the giant flying squirrels; sized like house cats, the squirrels glide among the treetops in the dome. A similar display takes place at the Bat Mangrove Walk where Malayan Bats hunt for food amidst the visitors heads.

Tram Journey II

The second part of the tram trip is dedicated to Equatorial Africa and features giraffes, servals, spotted hyenas, bongos and hippos. Then the tram enters the Indo Malayan Region, which is home to the hog deer, the bearded pig and the Malayan tiger.

Tapirs, Red Dholes, Asian Elephants and Bantengs occupy the Asian Riverine Forest and are followed by the South American Pampas where the maned wolf, the capybara and the giant anteater compete for the visitors’ attention. The tour ends with the Burmese Hillside, which features guars and thamins.

A Worthy Adventure

By far, the Night Safari display is the most interesting one among the parks reviewed in this journal. None of the others compares in its richness or in the sense of reality created here; the fear of being attacked by a tiger while walking along the trails is almost valid.

Unfortunately, I found two difficulties with photographing. The first was unavoidable: it is dark and taking pictures demand a tripod and long exposure times. The second was unnecessary. I had spent the afternoon at the zoo and took a few hundred pictures, supposing that I would be able to recharge the camera’s battery at one of the restaurants while dining and waiting for the Night Safari to open; unluckily, there were no electricity outlets available for the customers.

From journal Singapore's Singas

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On White Tigers, Pygmy Hippos and Komodo Dragons

March 10, 2009
Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel

Inaugurated in 1973, the Singapore Zoological Gardens offers one of the best experience of its kind in Southeast Asia, comparable to the one of the Dusit Zoo in Bangkok. Occupying an area of 28 hectares, it hosts 315 animals, of which 16% are threatened species.

Concept

The zoo is of the open type, with the animals being kept in landscaped enclosures simulating their natural habitats. Those are separated from the visitors by dry or wet moats concealed with vegetation or below the line of vision; in the case of dangerous animals, glass-fronted enclosures separate the visitors from them.

Moreover, instead of just observing the animals, there is also an extensive educational content offered in most areas of the zoo. Several projects aimed at the conservation of threatened species take place within it, as happens with the oriental pied hornbill, the pangolin and the orangutan.

Awards

Not only I enjoyed the visit; Michelin awarded the zoo a 3-star rating in 2008 and Forbes Traveler recognized it in 2007 as one of the World’s Best Zoos.

Timing and Fees

The zoo is open every day of the year, from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The entrance fees are S$18.00 for adults, while children between 3 and 12 years pay half of this fee (and of any other fee mentioned below). Additional charges exist for the tram and the boat (S$5.00).

Since Wildlife Reserves Singapore is the parent company of the zoo, the Night Safari and the Jurong Bird Park (the last two being also reviewed in this journal), special tickets valid for one month and combining the attractions exist:

3-in-1: S$40.00 for adults.
2-in-1: Any two of the three parks, S$30.00 for adults.

Access

By Car

Take the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards Jurong, and leave it at Exit 7 of the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), afterward, follow the brown signs to the Singapore Zoo.

By Bus

Take bus 171 from the City to Mandai Road, alight there at the first stop and transfer to bus 927.

By MRT

Alight at Ang Mo Kio station (NS16) and take bus 138 or at Choa Chu Kang station (BP1/NS4) and take bus 927.

On Sundays and Public Holidays it is possible to take bus 926 from the MRT Woodlands (NS9) or Marsiling (NS8) stations.

By Special Service

BusHub Services offers a daily bus service from pick-up points below to Singapore Zoo, and back. A one-way trip costs $4 for adults and half that for children. Buses depart twice a day, roughly at 9 AM and 1 PM, and on holidays also at 10 AM. The detailed list of stops and times appears at www.bushub.com.sg. A similar service is offered by them for Jurong Park.

City Tours offers a similar service on a door to door hotel basis for $11.90 per person, reservations can be done at www.citytours.sg

Food and Souvenirs

By the entrance are the Zoo Shop and three restaurants, Ah Meng Kopi specializing on local food, Pizzafari serving pizza and an outlet of Ben & Jerry’s.

Visiting the Zoo

I strongly recommend avoiding the zoo during the morning and reaching it in the early afternoon, so that the visit can be comfortably combined with the adjacent Night Safari. Since the zoo is relatively far from the city, that simplifies the traveling patterns.

Pick up a map by the entrance as they include details of the daily events, feeding sessions, keeper talks, rides and photography opportunities of the day.

Next to the entrance is the Rainforest Walk where Asian small-clawed otters, Malayan tapirs, babirusas and white tigers can be seen. The last are not albino, but feature white and black stripes instead of orange and black ones. A similar colony exists in the Dusit Zoo of Bangkok.

Next to the white tiger exhibit is the Upper Seletar Reservoir, where the visitor can enjoy a twenty-minute cruise on the Boat Safari. Stork-billed kingfishers and the white-bellied sea eagle - Singapore’s largest bird – can be seen there.

The Rainforest Kidzworld offers activities for children including the Wild Animal Carousel and the Water Play, where swimming is possible. Horse carriages take the visitors around this area.

The Fragile Forest zone is home to free ranging mousedeer, lemurs, tree kangaroos and butterflies, all of them moving free amidst rainforest trees, ferns and cascades. Soundscaping and a misting effect add reality to the exhibition; the visitors walk through a path tactfully separated from the animals’ environment.

At 3:30 PM there is an exhibition called Elephants at Work and Play at the Elephants of Asia exhibit, which shows a working elephant’s typical day at a logging camp.

The Australian Outback is home to grey kangaroos, wallabies, the cassowary, emus, bearded dragons, frilled-neck lizards, carpet pythons and of the inland taipan – the deadliest snake in the world.

The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia hosts over eighty Hamadryas baboons alongside Nubian ibexes, black-backed jackals, rock hyraxes and banded mongooses in a landscape of massive rocks.

The pygmy hippos are one of the main attractions of the zoo; strangely graceful despite their shape, they can be watched through a transparent aquarium. Originary from the forests and swamps of western Africa, they are a rare nocturnal forest creature. Their survival in captivity is more assured than in the wild, since in the last there are less than three thousand left.

The polar bear and the penguins are one of the most prestigious items in the zoo; these are probably the closest specimens of their types to the equator line.

Other items include giraffes, jaguars, white rhinos, African lions, the Primate Kingdom featuring orangutans, chimpanzees and others as well as Mandrills and Manatees.

The proboscis monkey is one of the rarest specimens in the zoo. It has a nose big enough to probably smell ripe fruits all the way to Africa; unluckily, taking its picture is rather difficult since it sits high on trees.

The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard originary from the island of Komodo (and adjacent ones) in Indonesia. It is a huge attraction because it is the largest living species of lizard, reaching a length of up to to 3 metres and a weight of 70 kilograms.

Feeding Times

Certain animals can be visited during their feeding times; the timings are available at the entrance of the zoo. I did manage to visit the zoo during the rare event of feeding the Komodo Dragons (on the first and third Sunday of every month), which probably is the most unusual display. A heavily protected man – within a thick rubber overall, since the dragons are poisonous – feed them with chicken and rats. The last are eaten whole, while the chickens (mercifully killed before the event) are attacked by several dragons at once and eaten in a few cruel bites.

If interested to witness feeding sessions, then Sunday is the best day for a visit, since beyond the abovementioned Komodo dragon, the polar bears, the King Cobra and the Sungei Buaya Crocodile are fed only during this day.

From journal Singapore's Singas

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Singapore Zoo

May 21, 2007
Rated 5 of 5 by Poole Party from everywhere, Virginia

This is one of the best zoos that I have seen. Rather than just caged animals, a great deal of effort has been placed to replicate the natural environment of the animal. Also the displays are varied – from open air cages and trees that seem to hang out over the cages (why don’t those monkeys jump out?) to walk through reptile and butterfly and bat exhibits (we did see a bat who managed to escape) and learning areas with displays and interactive features. There are also photography with animals stations where for a $5+ donation, you can pose with a monkey or ride an elephant.

The zoo also has a diverse food court that is surprisingly reasonably priced. Bathrooms are relatively clean and there are changing stations for parents with toddlers. There is a tram ride that goes around the zoo, available for an extra $5, but I would not recommend it. It uses the same path that everyone walks on, doesn’t give you any extra view, you have to be at a specific station in order to hop on or off and the train doesn’t make a full circle, so even if you get on towards the end, you have to walk around to get to the first station in order to ride around. I found it more inconvenient, especially when you have to fold and unfold a stroller to load onto the tram.

The zoo admission is $15 Singapore (about $10 US) and well worth the money to maintain the high quality of the animal’s living condition. It is very family and stroller friendly with ‘cooling stations’ (air-conditioned rooms) to help you cool off and manage the heat and humidity.

I would recommend either taking a taxi directly to the zoo. We took the MRT to a station close by, and then waited for a cab for about half an hour. Getting taxis in Singapore can be hard if you aren’t at a major hotel or if it is raining. The bus from the MRT station was packed – no standing room. Not a fun trip you if have a family and stroller with you.

On the way home, we stood in line for an hour before we got one (there was a festival going on that day), so be prepared to call a taxi to avoid the queue. There is a combined admission that includes the night safari. Although we have heard this is a great experience, we didn't think it was going to make an impression on our young toddler.

For more info, check the zoo's detailed website: www.zoo.com.sg. Have fun.

From journal Singapore Delights

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Singapore Zoo

June 18, 2006
Rated 4 of 5 by llhuynh from Sydney, Australia

We had a fantastic time at the zoo. We spent half a day here. There are trams that you can take. There are plenty of animals and shows that you can see and touch. My favourite were the elephants. We even had a chance to ride an elephant, which was guided by the trainer on a small track.

We also had a chance to see a few animals mate, such as the rhinos and the lions. It was something different, and something that we weren't expecting to see.

We had a great day at the zoo. This would be great for little kids. they would love the animals that are there.

Admission
SGD 15 adults, SGD 7.50 children (3 - 12 years)

Tram SGD 5 (adult) SGD 2.50(children)

Opening Hours
8.30am - 6.00pm daily

There are also packages with the night safari and the birdpark.

From journal Short Stay in Singapore

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