Singapore Zoo

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This was a must for me. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Singapore in the first place. It's world renowned and is considered one of the best along with the San Diego Zoo.

So after a leisurely sleep in on my first morning I packed up my little backpack full of all the essentials and headed off to find the darn thing. Didn't quite realise how far away it was and after a 15min walk (to the nearest train station), two trains and a bus I finally made it to the zoo around 2pm. The other thing you need to understand about Singapore and this experience is the heat, its almost unbearable as a tourist. You have about 5 million people packed on a small island scampering around and the humidity is around 88%, and the actual temperature was about 33 degrees.

Now, as far as zoo's go it was pretty good overall but I must say I left somewhat underwhelmed personally. I couldn't quite work it out and initially I thought it was the heat but later on that evening I came to the conclusion that after my couple of trips to Africa (especially the last one) that zoo's just don't do it for me any more. Once you've seen the real thing in the wild unfortunately there’s no going back.

One thing that I thought was clever though was a night Safari that was on right next door. I think it was a separate business as you actually had to leave the zoo, pay again and go into another sanctuary next door that was totally different. They put you on this tram like thing with about four carriages attached to it and drove you around in the dark for about an hour or so with a lovely Singaporean lady speaking up front. It was like a little Jurassic Park and well worth checking out if your ever in the area. Couldn't for the life of me figure out how they got all the animals to be in the right spot at the right time either.... weird??

Lesson #2. Check how far away attractions are before setting out to see them!

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Comments

[anonymous]

I have passed on this blog address to Tracy so you should receive some comment from her soon. Niki and Mike called me from London today on their way to Ireland so Niki will only call you when back by 15th January. I note your comment about Africa. You will be back I can see!! You only have to visit other shores to realize how good your own is!!! Will keep in touch. Lilian send regards. Alec.

[David H]

Singapore Zoo Night Tour
Hi Nathan, I did that night tour a couple of years ago an I too was amazed how close we got to all these "dangerous" animals. Becos I'm a sceptical prick, I reckon they're all mechanical, like Disneyland. What do you think?

[fishwanda]

Night Zoo in Singapore
We were there a few years ago and we were also puzzled how do they get the animals to be in the right spots... We were explained that they are not "mechanical" (no worries, David H :) ), but they get fed at that spot!