I already posted about seeing the giant pandas in Singapore, and about the rest of what the River Wonders park can offer – I visited all 4 of the Mandai Wildlife Reserve parks on my trip, now check out what I saw at Singapore Zoo!
Singapore Zoo opened in 1973 and grew quickly in the number of species they were showing, they even exhibited giant pandas back in 1990, so fitting for Singapore to again be home to pandas. Singapore Zoo is the second largest of the 4 Mandai Wildlife Reserve Parks but it has the most diverse range of species that you can see while the other parks are slightly more specialised. When I visited it definitely felt like the most popular park, however it was a Sunday. I had my multi-park ticket that I used (S$110), but a single ticket for entry would be S$49 for adults and S$34 for children. Opening hours are 8:30AM-6PM and I ended up being there from around 9AM until 3PM, and honestly it would have been easy to stay the whole day – but I had Bird Paradise to squeeze in as well! In that time I think I saw almost all the animals and even enjoyed the 3 animal presentations that are on offer.
The zoo has a pretty circular route you can follow, and in addition to walking there is also a tram route which can take you around which is especially handy for those with any mobility issues or if you want to go to the furthest part of the park first. I walked and after entering I headed to the left first. I did the left-hand loop first and think I saw most if not all the animals here – I especially liked seeing the tiger, he was loving swimming up and down the large pool at the front and everyone could get a great view of him. After that left loop I stopped to see the Splash Safari show in the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre, more on that later, then I headed onto the right loop. Here there were some areas being worked on and some that I just didn’t see the animals, so I didn’t see the orangutans which would really have been amazing to see them in their free-ranging space (I’ve seen some cool Youtube videos of them, it looks fantastic!). Over on the far right side I did catch some animal feedings – the painted hunting dogs were very cool, they lived in a huge pack and it was quite a sight watching the keeper throw in the food. And then I also caught the feeding at the lions as well. I had a quick stop for lunch, then headed to the Kidz World area to see the more petting-farm animals, I love seeing little donkies and ponies so I found this super cute and a nice addition. I watched the 2PM Animal Friends Presentation where you could see some dogs and a cat showing the skills they had learnt (particularly impressed with the cat, because my cat wouldn’t have been doing any of those things no matter how much training was involved!), and then I rushed back over to the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre for the Into The Wild show which I think ended up being my favourite of the 3. Then I headed for the exit with the last animal being the proboscis monkeys – sadly didn’t see much of these guys but I did manage to get a quick glimpse and then they were gone and all I could see were trees rustling! Kind of wish I hadn’t left them until the end and had tried to see them first thing, but the viewing window is quite small and I suspect it would have been a lot busier first thing in the morning.
Animal Presentations
The Singapore Zoo has 3 animal presentations to see, Splash Safari and Into the Wild are shown twice a day in the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre, while the Animal Friends Presentation is at the Animal Buddies Theatre in KidzWorld. I really enjoyed seeing all of them and I’m glad I took the time to do so.
I arrived around 15 minutes early for the Splash Safari and got a good spot a few rows behind the splash zone, I definitely didn’t want to get wet and the sea lion sure made some big waves out the pool! There was one sea lion showing the different skills and tricks he has learnt. I’ve seen quite a few sea lion demonstrations over the years so it was a little similar to some, but lasted longer and they also highlighted the importance of recycling, with the sea lion collecting a plastic bottle from the pool and then taking it over to a recycling bin – that was a nice touch, and the importance of protecting our environment for the animals was really highlighted throughout both presentations in the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre. For the Into The Wild show I arrived only a few minutes before the start but still managed to get a spot in the front third of the seating. This show featured many different animals and I really enjoyed seeing the variety – I loved the porcupines, the badger, the banded coati, and the masked palm civet (this little one was extra cute and a little hesitant to come out so the keeper had to put him out on the branch then he was happy to go get his treats!). Another highlight was definitely seeing the otters recycling as well! At the Animal Friends Presentation I think I was the only person there without kids, but hey, I still had a good time watching the super cute dogs working on their agility! The dogs were super sweet and so obedient, the cats were also cute, but I prefer my cats with long fur. I did think this show was quite loud from the audience, which I get with something more aimed at kids, and the animals didn’t seem to react negatively to the noise, but still I think the audience could have been encouraged to be a little quieter for the benefit of the animals.
