Singapore Zoo Night Safari

This is an absolute must. It would be worth it, for me, to do a special trip to Singapore just to see this. This is a zoo at its very best.

There are a number of ways to get there. Special buses run from some downtown hotels, the MRT drops you nearby or, like us, you can get a taxi. There are a number of ticketing options and we got the 'Entry and Tram Ride'. There are a couple of shows during the evening so, once you get in, find out the time of the one you want to go to.

We had a 45 minute wait for the last show and the, very helpful staff, told us that, if we went on the tram first we would miss it. They suggested that we went on one of the path walks through the exhibits.

Sadly, there are no pictures of the animals on this post - unless you count the one below - for a couple of reasons. It's night (you saw the title of this post, right) and the flash on most cameras, including both of mine, just don't cut it. Also, you are asked by the staff to not use flash photography or the spot on video cameras. Why? These are nocturnal animals and that stuff damages their eyes.

BTW, if you want, there are a few animals, with their handlers, where you can go and take photos near the entrance.

This is some of the thing we saw on the walk:

- Otters.
- Fishing Cats - Cats that fish. Really! They sit by the river and jump in after fish! At last, a cat with a purpose.
- Rhino.
- Hyenas.
- Wolfs - Our daschund would feel right at home with these guys. As dinner.
- Crocs.

We got back to the amphitheatre on time for the show which featured otters, hyenas, snakes, and a few good eco-messages.

The highlight, though, was the tram ride. This weaves its way right through the zoo and has nocturnal animals from every continent.

What's good about this is this; you know when you went to the zoo as a kid and you are looking at a bit of fur sticking out of the corner of a shed and everyone is saying, "Oh, look. There's the [name your exotic animal here]". Well, these guys are wandering around doing their thing. I saw aminals here I've read about all my life, and only ever seen grumpy bits of in zoos.

This trip is; reasonably priced, very well organised and, bloody briliant.

However...

There are actually a few problems here. It's night for half the day and elephants are dark-grey. Problem: you can never find the bloody things. Luckily, Singapore has the answer. In the footsteps of Dolly the sheep, they have genetically engineered a few of the blighters to glow in the dark. See...



As you can see, I got them to knock me up a woman, while they were at it.