My Most Awesome World Zoo Tour (MAWZT): Right, so the purpose of this (somewhat ostentatiously-titled ) thread is to get some advice on my trip around the world (OE), which will have a strong (or even ‘excessive’, according to my partner) zoo focus. My main aims zoo-wise are to see any species that are disappearing from captivity or likely to in the near future (e.g. Northern white rhinos), important historic zoos (London, Vienna, etc), and to see as many species as possible, especially of my favourite animal groups: ungulates and waterfowl. I would also really like to meet some fellow zoo enthusiasts who would be willing to spend a few hours showing me around their ‘home zoo’. We are leaving New Zealand at the end of November 2011, and will spend 5 days in Singapore, followed by a week in London. From here we fly to Sweden, where we will spend three months working and exploring, before heading off around Eastern Europe (2-3 months). After that we are going to the UK for another three months, again working and exploring, before travelling around Western Europe. We will also hopefully spend a few days in either Egypt or Morocco at some stage. After this we will fly to the USA, ideally spending a few days in New York and California, before heading back to New Zealand. So, I think I’m sorted with Singapore, going to visit Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and Underwater World. I see there are a couple of small animal attractions on Sentosa Island, which we may check out if we have time, but is there anything else I should consider? I would be keen to see any native wildlife on Singapore – but I don’t know if there is much readily visible anywhere? For the week in London, I am planning on visiting London Zoo (I realise it will be very cold and snowy) and the Natural History Museum. Are there any other zoos I could check out? I will be visiting the UK again in the middle of 2012, so I will be visiting many other zoos at that time. During my time in Sweden I hope to visit a number of Swedish zoos, as well as the Copenhagen Zoo (Denmark), and maybe a couple in Norway and Finland during short visits to those countries. I would appreciate any recommendations for good zoos to visit in Scandinavia. Anyway, I would really appreciate any information on the three places we are visiting first (Singapore, London & Scandinavia - I will ask further questions about other places later), and eagerly await your thoughts, thanks, zooboy28.
five days, 146 views, and no answers eh..... for Singapore you can do the zoo and night zoo on the same day obviously. I would give Jurong two days but that's just me. Don't bother with the other animal places on Sentosa, just go to the Underwater World (and the dolphin show if you like that sort of thing) then relax. There's free buses that go all round Sentosa and there's lots of beaches and bits of forest etc. There's also the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum which is a private collection open to the public which has a lot of species in mundane housing. I can't remember the address (send Zooish a pm and he can fill you in on more stuff). For Singapore wildlife, the Botanic Gardens are good (opening before dawn and closing after dark) - plantain squirrels are common and there are slender squirrels in the rainforested area; Pulau Ubin off the coast is reached by $2 boats and is a very excellent day-trip (loads of wildlife there including wild pigs, red junglefowl, pied hornbills, mudskippers, archer fish, etc etc) and at Changi Beach where the boats leave from are Goffin's cockatoos and moustached parrots; Sungai Buloh in the Kranji area (northwest-ish) is a wetland/mangrove reserve with loads of waders, and a good chance of smooth-coated otters; Bukit Timah in the centre of the island is primary rainforest on a very steep hill - lots of birds, crab-eating macaques, slender squirrels and greater tree-shrews; despite being basically a city covering an island, Singapore does have an extraordinary amount of wild areas and animals to see. Watch out for colugos in the zoo grounds as well!
I just saw this, can offer advice on London, just ask. It might be snowy then but might not, depends on when our now annual once in a decade snow fall happens!
Sob. Thanks for your detailed reply Chlidonias . I was planning on doing the zoo and night safari on the same day, but was wondering if I should do the 'breakfast with the orang utans' as well? Have you (or anyone else) done it? Is it just sitting down eating breakfast with the orangs eating nearby, or something more? I would also like to Jurong over two days, but I don't think that would be appreciated greatly by my partner. Will definitely do the turtle place though, I found their website, so thats sorted. The Botanic Gardens and Bukit Timah also sound good, so we will plan on visiting them, but I don't know if we will have time for the island or wetlands (got to do Universal Studios etc as well as the zoos). Does Singapore Zoo and the bird park have good representation of native species? Will definitely keep an eye out for colugos!
Thanks for your reply and offer Any advice on other zoos or similar places in the London area would be useful, and anything I should know about London Zoo before visiting?
It also depends on how you're travelling in the UK. If you're hiring a car then there are a few collections worthy of the drive outside London as the south-east is quite good for large animal collections. You have the Aspinall parks, Chessington, Colchester, Marwell and Whipsnade all within easy reach. Hope this helps.
Zooish has some photos in the gallery of a colugo taken in the zoo grounds and a friend of mine was just there last month and saw one, so definitely keep your eyes open (the Night Safari would also be a great place to look out for them, because colugos are nocturnal so will be flying around in the trees by night instead of sleeping). I haven't done the Breakfast With The Orangutans so can't comment. For Jurong, your partner might be surprised by it. I hear even people not really that into birds still spend an entire day there easily and still want more. Try to get in the Waterfall Aviary (or whatever its called now) at one of the scheduled feeding times because that's when all the starlings etc come out. At Bukit Timah you should definitely see the greater tree-shrews, slender squirrels and crab-eating macaques. All very common there. In the Botanic Gardens you'll definitely see plantain squirrels. The lakes in the Gardens are also full of red-eared turtles, snakeheads, gouramis etc. Loads of birds at both sites. Because the Gardens open so early and close after dark they're a good place to go at the start and end of the day (the signboards around the Gardens are lit so are a good place to see geckoes, attracted there to catch moths). Singapore Zoo doesn't display much in the way of native species. They have almost no birds (that's the domain of Jurong, owned by the same company), and as a country Singapore has relatively few native mammals left (and the civets etc are mostly shown at the Night Safari rather than the zoo). There are a number of native herptiles in the Reptile House though, including reticulated pythons caught locally. Jurong has a lot of Asian birds including many found naturally in Singapore, and there are a lot of wild birds in the grounds which will be very exotic for you (black-naped orioles for example)
Agreed. A car would help with these zoos but I have also managed to do Port Lympne, Howletts, Marwell, Whipsnade and Bristol as day trips from London using public transport. You can see all of London Zoo in one day without too much difficulty. The gorillas tend to be outside earlier in the day as do the tapirs on the Cotton Terraces according to reports on here but otherwise I can't think of any specific viewing tips or of anything that requires specific planning. The only thing is that it gets dark relatively early so I would be there at opening time to be sure of seeing everything you want to. Let me know if you have any more questions specifically or about London in general.
Very happy to render whatever assistance/advice I can help you with when you are ready to plan your California leg. Good luck with the first phases of your journey.
Its such a huge subject,or concept,that it is difficult to make comment without writing an essay,but i would say that re.Singapore the dolphins on Sentosa are worth checking out if only because they are the Indo-chinese Humpbacked taxon.As for your intentions on "eastern europe" if that included Berlin,Leipzig.Pilsen,Prague then you would be seeing some of the worlds great zoos.Moscow too,is very interesting.
Thanks to everyone so far for their help, or offers of help I am not planning on renting a car on that first week in London, and probably will not be able to travel far from London, so those listed will be difficult to visit. Although I will be returning to the UK later on and hope to visit many zoos at that time. Germany will not be part of the "Eastern Europe" leg, although the Czech Republic and Austria probably will be. The zoos I have thus far put on the to visit list (in this part of the trip) are: Vienna (Austria), Prague & Pilsen (CR), Wroclaw Zoo (Poland), and maybe the Nyiregyhaza Zoo (Hungary). As we are not visiting Russia, Moscow is not an option sadly (maybe next time). Please let me know of any other zoos worth a visit in this area, including Slovakia, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. Especially if they have any species not on display elsewhere. I am also interested in spotting native wildlife, so if there are any places I should especially visit for this purpose (during spring) please let me know. I am already planning to see the Olm in Slovenia. Thanks!
Sorry for joining the party late! Must have missed this thread. A bit more stuff in addition to what Chlidonias has already provided. Breakfast with orang utans is much like what you've described, where you eat your food and the orangs are a few metres away eating theirs. You can walk up close to the apes, but can't touch them. They'll also bring out snakes for petting. The food is decent (for zoo food that is). Even if you're not having breakfast, go early to enjoy the serenity of the zoo; the animals also tend to be more active. For native species, best bets would be Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (for macaques, tree shrews and forest birds) and Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve (huge water monitors, mangrove fauna, wading birds, otters and even a crocodile). The Night Safari has native mammals that are hard to spot in the wild - pangolin, mousedeer, slow loris, porcupines and civets. And as Chlidonias mentioned, there's a good chance of spotting colugos at the Zoo/Night Safari. The turtle museum is pretty near the bird park, so it may be worthwhile to do both on the same day if you intend to cover more ground. Sentosa island may require a couple of trips. Universal Studios will easily take up a day if you intend to do all the rides/shows. Underwater world will only require a few hours. I'd skip the butterfly park; there's a very good butterfly house at the Airport Terminal 3 transit that you can check out on your way in/out. And its free! I have to point out that end-November is when the local schools shut, so the attractions are likely to be busy even on weekdays. Don't hesitate to PM me if you need more info.
check out mammalwatching.com for a start. Also birdtours.co.uk for birds obviously, but mammals are far more interesting and there's a surprising diversity of easy species in Europe
Thanks to both Zooish and Chlidonias for your suggestions. I will book in for the orang-utan breakfast I think, sounds like it will be worth it. Not sure that I will have time to see the wetlands, might just visit Bukit Timah. Fingers crossed for the colugos! In terms of species, are there any held solely at the Singapore Zoos that I should really make sure I see? I know about the proboscis monkeys and pangolins, but any others? Barely a month before we leave now, very excited!
Not held solely, but species like the doug langur, spotted mousedeer, red and white giant flying squirrel, hog badger, tarsier and Malay civet are certainly uncommon in zoos. I'm sure you'll enjoy breakfast with the orangs. I'm typing this sitting at the Singapore zoo's breakfast terrace waiting out the rain
@ZooBoy28: I came across this book last night in a catalogue - you mentioned birds (waterfowl) as being a passion, and seeing wildlife in the wild. This book might help. Top birding sites of Europe. : Couzens, Dominic. - Andrew Isles Hix
