Singapore Zoo - Singapore

(clipped from Back of Bourke)

Rating:

Variety of animals: 10

Quality of exhibits: 10

Getting around: 9

Pet-factor: 10

Overall: 10

What to see: The golden standard by which all zoos should be measured, Fragile Forest exhibit just before the zoo closes, the Night Safari, monkeys chilling in the trees right above your head

What to miss: Elephant rides (neat, but repeated stress on the animal), the live show was fascinating, but not a must-do if you don't have the time.

* * *

At any rate, most of you know that any time I'm near a zoo, I absolutely have to go check it out. And wouldn't you know it, Singapore has a zoo. And a rather spectacular one at that. All in all, I spent 12 hours at the zoo. Yep, you read correctly. 12 hours. Not only do they have a phenomenal main zoo, but they have a unique night safari zoo, where you can observe animals at night. The latter was a rather interesting experience, as it started pouring, and most people ran to stand under the main paddock until the rain stopped. I, on the other hand, promptly ran to the gift shop and bought an umbrella. This meant that while everyone else was huddles in masses at the entrance, I was wandering the zoo all by myself. In spite of the rain, there were still quite a few animals out and about, especially when the rain started letting up. Here are some pictures from the main zoo:

10 seconds after I walked in, I knew this was

going to be a great day. Why? This little guy

was just sitting in an uncaged tree a few feet

above my head.

Proboscis monkey! Weirdness, but so cool.

These are Babirusa - they have horns growing

out of their nose, in addition to tusks.

A white tiger - I reallllly want one.

Reason number 2 why every zoo should be like

this one. Didn't stumble upon one of these,

sadly.

A baby pygmy hippo - smallness x2! Blorp.

The entire zoo was flanked by lakes and rivers.

Aww - just like being home! Apparently Steve

Irwin came and consulted with them personally

to build the outback exhibit.

Reason number 3.

The zoo just went on and on - it probably took

30 minutes or so to walk straight from one end

to the other. Also, here's an elephant.

More of the waterways surrounding the zoo.

Mongooses? Mongeese? Either way...

Awesome.

A baby Hamadryas baboon. He tried to walk

away and each time, his mom would grab him

by the tail like it was a leash.

Disposing of the body: you're doing it wrong.

Cheetahs. On a related note, I really wish

they sold Cheetos in Australia...

Photographic proof that, no matter the size, all

cats are exactly the same.

A jaguar - not to be confused with this one.

They had a fantastic orchid garden there as well,

with pretty much every color of orchid imaginable.

Chock full of iguana-y goodness.

Continuing with the trend of large lizards, I

present to you the komodo dragon.

Oh yeah - and I got to pet a giant tortoise. The

oldest recorded giant tortoise in captivity

lived to be 176.

Cringer became the mighty Battle Cat.

And I became the most powerful man in

the universe! Only 3 others share this

secret.

The orangutans were free to roam in the

treetops throughout the zoo.

There was one particular exhibit there called Fragile Forest, which showcased some threatened species in a rainforest environment. The cool part was that it was open, so there were animals roaming all over the place.

I got to pet a sloth. They really are as slow as

you think.

When I was taking this picture, the flying fox

crawled forward and grabbed my camera with

his little claws. Friendly little fella.

I was walking across the path, when suddenly

a ringtail lemur goes hopping across right

in front of me.

In addition to six ringtail lemurs roaming free,

there was one lonesome black and white ruffed

lemur wandering around.

Naptime.

Posing...warily. This baby lemur kept getting

closer and sniffing my ear.

As I was posing with this one, it grabbed hold

of my arm and started licking it. Maybe I

taste good? Maybe it's 8 hours of sweat?

Great - I'm a salt lick.

Lemurs being ridiculous toward the end of the

day when everyone else had gone home and

I had the Fragile Forest to myself.

Considering the heat, I wished I had brought

my swimsuit.

A small park and fountain looking out across

the lake.

They also had elephant rides! Sadly, I did not

partake.

They pulled this poor guy out of the audience

and made him take off his shirt and dance.

Thank God I sat in the back.

After a considerable amount of time at the regular, I made my way down the street to the Night Safari. If you have the time to make it to the normal zoo, your visit is not complete without a visit to the safari as well. It's one of the few zoos in the world that is open after dark.

I went in at around 6 and got in line for the 7 pm live show they were offering. As I was standing there amidst the throngs of eager visitors, dark clouds began to roll in. ~5 minutes before the show was scheduled to start, the first raindrop streaked down my cheek like a tear, accurately summarizing my attitude toward it being damp this evening (those were tears of anger, by the way, not sadness - just wanted to clarify). Within a matter of minutes, we were caught in a massive deluge, which sent me and other zoo-goers scrambling for shelter like an erratic group of ants when their ant trail is interrupted. I certainly didn't want to waste the opportunity, so I did what any sensible person would do: I went to the gift shop and purchased an umbrella with a handle shaped like the head of a proboscis monkey.

While 98% of people stayed huddled under overhangs, I set off into the zoo, and boy was it great. Certainly some of the animals were not as active as normal, but the tigers were right up close to the glass, as that's where the shelter was. The porcupines were out and about as well.

Every once in a while, I would stumble upon a stranded group of travelers, stuck beneath one of the sporadically-placed shelters without an umbrella in the middle of the zoo.

After an admittedly soggy 2 hours wandering through the night safari - 12 hours in total at the zoo that day - I decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

I had a spectacular time there, and am looking forward to visiting again sooner rather than later.