When visiting a city on vacation and you’re picking out things to do and places to see, you don’t normally include a zoo on that list. Unless you’re visiting Singapore, then a trip to the local zoo goes to the top of the list. The Singapore Zoo is like none other and once you have seen it, you know why people flock to it.
The Singapore zoo looks like a standard zoo in a lot of ways, except when you get closer to the animal exhibits. In most zoos the animals are kept inside cages and you end up looking through painted bars to see them or over a rail to look down on them. For the most part, the Singapore zoo has done away with the caged animal feel. Instead you are on level with most animals and natural barriers are separating you from the wild beasts. Theses natural barriers include moats with plants to make it seem like there is no barrier at all.
The zoo has a wide range of animals from many different parts of the world. In most cases, these animals were never alone and had other animals of the same species with them. This was definitely true for the massive hamadryas baboon troop. Not to worry though, the zoo has built them a large area which is similar to their natural habitat in Ethiopia. We did get to witness an unpleasant scene while watching the rowdy, brown, red-bumed monkeys though. A baby baboon had obviously died for one reason or another, but was being carried around in its mothers arms. She refused to let go of the baby even when other monkeys tried to take it from her.
After our time walking around the zoo and staring at the different animals, we grabbed some overpriced dinner and went on a night safari. The Night Safari is like visiting a separate zoo which only opens at night. This zoo has animals of the nocturnal variety. These animals spend their days in sleeping positions and come out to enjoy the darkness. The Night Safari shows you these animals under very soft lightning as you sit comfortably in a tram and listen to the tram guide excitedly introduce each animal to you. Just like in the main zoo, the animals are separated from you by natural barriers, which makes them seem even closer when you cannot see the moat. Other animals are free to roam as you drive through their habitats. We didn’t even see the very large tapir until he was right beside the vehicle.
You could get off the tram at different stations and walk on trails through the woods and see animals. One enclosure that I walked through was the bat enclosure. I did this alone, as my wife opted not to be scared. The bats were out and about and were flying around me and above my head. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time getting to know them and was out in less than 5 minutes.
Being that it was so dark, it was difficult to take pictures of the animals. Flash photography was out of the picture (pun intended) because it would startle the animals. I did manage to take a picture of these porcupines though.
The Singapore and Night Safari are must sees in Singapore. After you spend a day and an evening enjoying them both, you will see why this zoo is one of the best in the world.
Enjoy some more pictures below.
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