Reviews from Singapore - the Zoo Capital of the World

So, after many years of planning, me and my Mum decided to escape the cold and finally made it to Singapore where we spent a week of vacation right before the Easter holidays.
We had a great time, Singapore was an amazing and vibrant city with plenty of landmarks, great food and of course pleasant (but also very unpredictable) weather.

But what really brought us here was the many zoos and the wildlife, in my opinion Singapore really deserves the name ''Zoo Capital of the World''. I'm going to share some reviews from each park, starting with the main attraction:

Singapore Zoo - visited on 25th March
Due to the jetlag, I did wake up quite early in the morning, so I just couldn't wait going to the zoo.
The day started off with a huge and extensive breakfast buffet at our hotel, including a lot of fresh fruit. We decided to take a taxi to the zoo (which was actually quite cheap) and arrived about 30 minutes after opening. After getting our tickets scanned we finally entered and went directly to the Proboscis Monkeys, first time ever seeing these remarkable creatures. We could have stayed there for hours just watching them. Moving on, we passed by the Pygmy Hippos (very good enclosure) and also the Malayan Tapirs, Red River Hogs and Babirusas. All of these exhibits were a bit on the smaller side (especially the Babirusas) but we had the luck to see two very active tapirs having their breakfast.

After this, we came to another of the star attractions in Singapore; The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The group of Hamadryas Baboons are truly the stars here, sharing their exhibit with some quite impressive Nubian Ibex (too bad this species is not that common in Europe). Also saw two Saddle-billed Storks here, as well as Cape Hyrax and also two very sleepy but cute Black-backed Jackals.

After seeing the Australasia exhibit (with a very active Tree Kangaroo) as well as some of the free-ranging Orangutans resting high up in the trees, we found ourself at the Primate Kingdom. Here is where it got really exciting. I knew that one of my favourite animals was kept here; the Douc Langurs. I stood at their exhibit watching and watching, but didn't see any sign of them. What a dissapointment! So we decided to have a look at the other primate islands; lots of species to see, highlights for me were the group of Black Howler Monkeys, with a small baby included, the Patas Monkeys and the free-ranging Javan Langurs. Although, I just wouldn't give up on the Doucs, so I decided to have a look again and little did you know, they were sitting there having their lunch. A stunning experience to see these remarkable animals. Such a shame that many other visitors actually walked by them!

Next, we watched the Elephants and took a walk down to the Ah Meng Restaurant, where we also decided to have a small lunch consisting of the classic Singaporean dish; Chicken Rice. After our lunch, we passed by the exhibit for Bornean Orangutans which was shared with a group of noisy but crowd-pleasing Small-clawed Otters.

Passing by the Sun Bears (only saw one sleeping), we entered the Reptopia section. This is the newest exhibit in the Singapore Zoo, and I have to say that this is easily one of the most extensive reptile collections I have ever seen. Most main species are here such as Reticulated Python, Galapagos Tortoise and Komodo Dragon. Also quite many rarities can be seen; Elephant Trunk snake, three species of chameleon (Panther, Meller's and Veiled) and Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle. I especially liked the open aviary, housing Red-footed Tortoises, Green Iguanas and Dwarf Caimans. I also saw a Toucan there (not sure which species though).

And we moved on to another highly rated attraction; The Fragile Forest. This is a huge walk-through aviary with a quite big collection on show. We saw some very active Crowned Pigeons, as well as the always beautiful Eclectus Parrots, a group of Ring-tailed Lemurs, Malayan Flying Foxes (which could be seen eye-to-eye from a platform) and also a Toco Toucan to name a few. There are also supposed to be a sloth somewhere here to, but I couldn't find it this time. Nearby is also another enclosure for Proboscis Monkeys. In my opinion, the Fragile Forest is certainly one of the best enclosures in the Singapore Zoo.

Next up we passed the enclosures for Mandrills and the group of Chimpanzees. These enclosures were not our favourites, especially the Mandrill enclosure was really small (are they a phase-out species?). The chimps had an alright enclosure though, but nothing that stood out.

We then arrived to the Wild Africa complex. These exhibits are mostly of mixed quality, some are quite good and some are the opposite. The Leopard and Puma exhibits, I found too small for the species. Cheetahs were ok, as were Naked Mole-rats, Warthogs and Meerkats. Lions and African Wild Dogs had probably the best looking exhibits here, in my opinion. The savannah was a bit underwhelming, consisting of Giraffe, Plains Zebra, Ostrich, a Wildebeest (shame there is only one remaining). The White Rhinos were nice to watch, they had a quite large group with a small one too. I would love to see a remodeling of this area of the zoo someday, maybe adding some more antelope species which I really missed.

So as the last exhibit, we went through the Frozen Tundra. Coming from Sweden, it was quite heartbreaking seeing a Wolverine completely indoors.. Felt a bit sorry for him. The Raccoon Dogs were really cute and active, and then we saw the famous Polar Bear; Inuka. I actually didn't think the enclosure was that bad, yes it might be a bit odd having an animal like that in the Rainforest but I've seen much worse enclosures in Europe for Polar Bears. It will be exciting to see what will replace Inuka when he passes away.

All in all, we really liked the Singapore Zoo. Yes, there were some exhibits that needs some renovation here (Red River Hog, Puma, Mandrill, Babirusa etc) but there's also many exhibits of very high class here. The Rift Valley, Primate Kingdom, Fragile Forest, the Proboscis Monkeys and Reptopia are some real highlights that every zoo-fan should see at least once in their lifetime.

Coming up, the zoo next door; River Safari!

Until next time /
Swedish Zoo Fan

 

So, we continue with the next zoo..

Singapore River Safari - visited on 25th March
After the very nice day we had so far in the Singapore Zoo, we went next door to the newest institution here; the River Safari. Before going, I had read quite mixed reviews about this place here on Zoochat, so honestly my expectations were not that high.

We started off with the ''Rivers of the World'' section. The first section here was the Mississippi River, which was quite good with Alligator Snapping Turtles and Alligator Gars. From what I understand, this is where they used to have the American Beavers, which are unfortunately off-show nowadays.

Passing by the Congo River and the Nile River we saw one quite active Dwarf Crocodile and some impressive Tiger Fish (first time for me seeing these species). The rest of the collection here was mostly based on smaller fish species such as Congo Tetra, Pufferfish and African Arowana to name a few.

Next was the Ganges River, where I unfortunately only saw one Gharial in the back of its enclosure (which was very good). Passing the Mary River and the touchpool area (with Archerfish, Mudskippers etc), we came to the Mekong River section. The main tank here is a big aquarium for Mekong Giant Catfish (they really are enourmous!) and Giant Freshwater Stingrays. Also presented is a group of Crab-Eating Macaques which are always a crowd favourite. I thought their enclosure was rather good, but nothing extraordinary. The Lesser Adjutant Storks that we saw on the map was not present at our visit, instead we could see some Milky Storks in their enclosure.

So, we went through the Yangtze River with one pretty big Chinese Giant Salamander, Chinese Alligators as well as some impressive Sturgeons. By the time we reached here, it started drizzling so lucky enough the next exhibit was indoors.

The Giant Panda Forest was next, where two Giant Pandas are on show. These adorable bamboo-eaters are always crowd pleasers, here was no exception. Their enclosure is completely indoors, and therefore air-conditioned and freezing. However, it was quite nice to escape the humidity for a while. The two pandas were really active on my visit, climbing the trees and waiting for their afternoon meal. I found the enclosures to be pretty good, there were also Red Pandas (sleeping) here in a smaller enclosure. As we came outside again, the rain had stopped for the moment.

Since we had the two boat rides included in our tickets, we went straight from the pandas to the Reservoir Cruise dock to board. As we boarded the rain started again (did I mention the Singapore weather was unpredictable?). So, what did we think about the boat cruise then? It was alright, quite relaxing cruising around trying to see some wild species. We could also spot the rhinos and the giraffes in the zoo, but that was about it. It would be nice if they arranged so you could see more animals from the zoo or the nearby Night Safari.

Next up was the Amazon River Quest. Just as we sat ourselves in the boat, the sun came back. After reading here beforehand, I was expecting a really bad experience with no animals. But, I have to say (I will probably be lynched from now ), that I actually enjoyed it! We could spot all the animals except the Bearded Saki Monkeys and the Maned Wolf (although we could smell it...). The Spider Monkeys were very active and curious about us cruising by their exhibit. I do however agree, that the boat ride is way to fast.. If they skipped the roller-coastery drops and slowed down the speed I would enjoy it even more. One small negative was the Jaguar exhibits, they looked pretty small..

From the boat ride, we passed by the Squirrel Monkey Forest. We decided not to enter, but could see the enclosure quite good from the outside. We even spotted a small Agouti on the ground that didn't seem to get that much attention. And then we arrived at the last section of this zoo; the Amazon Flooded Forest! This was an exhibit I looked forward of seeing, especially after seeing the pictures of the big manatee tank. And wow, I rarely gets speechless about exhibits in zoos but this was one of those moments. Starting off with the underwater tunnel for the Giant Otters which had a really nice exhibit (maybe to little sand and land area though). We stood there watching them for quite a while. The main attraction here is although the huge tank for Manatees, Arapaimas, Red-tail Catfish, Pacus and plenty of smaller fish species too. Also here, we were watching the manatees for a long while, as they were getting feeded. This is surely the best and biggest manatee exhibit that we've ever seen. This turned out beeing one of the best memories for us on the whole trip in Singapore.

Final thoughts on River Safari? Very good, but could use some improvements still. The Amazon boat ride was better than I expected but as I wrote before they should slow it down. Cruise ride was alright, but also here they could make it even better. The Flooded Forest is world class, and is without doubt a must-see here!

After having a small ice-cream and coffee break in the food court at the Zoo Entrance we took a taxi back to the city. This turned out to be a fantastic day with lots of fond zoo memories for both of us.

More to follow..

Until next time/
Swedish Zoo Fan

 

And we are back!

We woke up to a beautiful and sunny morning on our second day in Singapore. After having breakfast, we decided to take the ride out to Sentosa Island. We took the MRT to the Harbourfront station, where we switched to the famous cable car. The cable car ride was very peaceful and with a nice view over the city of Singapore.

When we came to the island we saw the enormous Merlion located here, which was an impressive sight indeed. In the same time as we bought the cable car tickets we also bought tickets to Universal Studios and the S.E.A. Aquarium (the two main things we wanted to see). Possibly the most expensive aquarium tickets we've bought so far!

Being also a true roller-coaster fan, Universal Studios wasn't really that exciting, with only two real coasters. But we really enjoyed Jurassic Park, Battlestar Galactica, Madagascar and the Mummy. Those were the only rides we could get on, as the lines and crowds went longer and longer and we also wanted to have some time over for the aquarium. So after four hours we decided to leave Universal.

So, the time had come for visiting the next zoo credit..

S.E.A. Aquarium - visited on 26th March
Once the largest aquarium in the world, the S.E.A. Aquarium was opened in November 2012. As we entered, we expected to see a huge crowd, and they were there but still not nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be.

We started with the Shark Seas, where they apparently keep more than 100 sharks and 12 species (according to the small map). I'm not sure there were that many sharks, but we could spot plenty of Hammerhead Sharks, a big Nurse Shark and both Blacktip and Whitetip Reef Sharks. The underwater tunnel that followed was pretty cramped with screaming children and people taking selfies with sharks (why are these selfiesticks allowed everywhere?) so we passed by pretty quick.

After the tunnel we saw the moray tank, including one of the biggest Moray Eels I've ever seen. We walked by the coral tanks which looked quite good, and we finally found ourselves at the Open Ocean tank. This is clearly the main attraction at the aquarium, and I can understand why! This is a huge aquarium, housing many different species. Among others we saw Barracudas, Zebra Shark, Giant Groupers, Eagle-Rays and the Giant Manta Rays! They were really amazing to see, really majestic creatures. We also saw the Ocean Dome, where we were lucky enough to see one of the Mantas swim just above our heads. The whole Open Ocean was just stunning, one of the absolute best tanks (if not the best) in the world! The only thing I really missed here, was Ocean Sunfish which would be a quite good addition..

We moved on, and walking by a nice collection of Jellyfish, Sea Dragons, a Giant Octopus (it was sleepy today) in a quite small tank and some Nautilus. Next was the enclosure for Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, which are always crowd-pleasers. Their enclosure was quite good, but we didn't see so much of them. Only 3 or 4 dolphins in the back of the enclosure, although I'm aware that they keep more dolphins, but you have to pay extra to see them, quite a shame!

Here was also a big cylinder tank featuring different coral reef fishes, a touch pool and a small mangrove section with Mudskippers among others and also the always popular Japanese Spider Crabs.

After watching the seahorses (my Mum loves these), we came to the Shipwreck Tank, where we could see a mixture of fishes as well as rays and sharks. What I understand, there is also a pair of Sea Turtles kept in this tank but unfortunately I couldn't find them this time. And so we were finished, and decided to go back to the city again. We were quite tired after a long day, and we had planned one of the big highlights for the day after.

Final thoughts on the S.E.A. Aquarium - even though it was pretty crowded, we liked the S.E.A. Aquarium. The Open Ocean tank was the clear highlight, but we also liked the Shipwreck Tank, the Shark Seas and the Seadragons. While it's not as good as the aquariums in Copenhagen or Lisbon this certainly is a must see for aquarium and zoo fans over the world.

One last thing - maybe this has been discussed before, but why did they sell glowing cotton-candy all over the place? I understand that the kids love these things, but they were quite annoying and resulted in very sticky touch screens, handrails, windows etc..

Next up: the Bird Park.. Stay tuned for more.

Until next time/
Swedish Zoo Fan

 

I enjoyed your reviews of Singapore's collections. One thing that I did find interesting is that you toured Singapore Zoo in the opposite direction to me. On both occasions I went right from the entrance past the proboscis monkeys, polar bears and then African animals and come past the Malayan tapirs, pygmy hippos and babirusa at the very end of the circuit. I don't know why but this seemed like the natural path to take.

 

After a little delay, the Singapore journey continues..

We waked up to the third day here, and this was undoubtedly one of the days I was really looking forward to . We went up early for breakfast, and took a taxi out to the world famous Jurong Bird Park. Our taxi driver told us that this was due to be the last year for the bird park, before moving to the Mandai Area (planned for opening in 2020). Even though I already knew this, our driver told us about many of the sights in the park, which was very nice of him! And so we arrived, ready for a new park..

Jurong Bird Park - visited on 27th March
The bird park was opened in 1971, and has since then been a favourite for zoo fans, much thanks to it's versatile collection and rare species. After entering we first saw the little colony of Jackass Penguins, the only penguin species here with an outdoor exhibit. I'm usually not a big fan of bird shows, but here we decided to give the Kings of the Skies show a chance. Together with hords of Chinese and Indian tourists and schoolchildren full of expectation we sat down in the amphitheater. So, what can I say about the show? Honestly, quite dissapointing. I'm not sure what kind of expectations I had, but it certainly didn't live up to them (after seeing the exceptional bird show in the Beauval Zoo, France, you are entitled having high expectations ) In the show we saw White-backed Vultures, Monk Vultures, a Barn Owl, a Buffy Fish Owl (the highlight for me) and a White-bellied Sea Eagle to name a few.

As the hords went on towards the other show, called the High Flyers Show, we decided to skip that and pass by the Breeding Centre which was nearby, although there wasn't too many birds to see there at this time. Then we went by a quite big group of Lesser Flamingos, the Riverine Exhibit (housing different duck and turtle species) and the huge Flamingo Lake, housing Greater Flamingos. This is also the place of the former Shoebill exhibit, unfortunately now empty.

Next was the Pelican Cove, where we could see at least four species: Great White Pelican, Pink-backed Pelican, Australian Pelican and Dalmatian Pelican. At this moment the weather started to change, and the Singapore sun became drizzling rain. However, we didn't want to stop just yet because we had arrived at the Parrot Paradise. One of the main attractions of the Bird Park is located here, the Spix's Macaws! Fascinating animals, first time for us seeing them, and we can just hope they will start breeding so we can see them outside of Singapore too. We could also see Palm Cockatoo, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Hyacinth Macaw, Lear's Macaw, Patagonian Conure, Galah Cockatoo, Great Green Macaw, Eclectus Parrot, Cockatiel, Senegal Parrot and Blue-eyed Cockatoo here among others. Not much to say, this is a great collection of parrots, must be one of the best and most extensive collections in the world. We really enjoyed it, especially the Spix's.

Next, we decided to board the tram going around the park, as the rain started to become heavier. We did forget umbrellas today (stupid mistake..), so we jumped off at the main entrance to seek shelter in the only indoor exhibition of the park; the Penguin Coast. We were not the only guests here... But nevertheless, this exhibit houses colonies of King, Gentoo, Macaroni and Rockhopper Penguins. According to signs, they also keep Little Blue Penguins but they were nowhere to be seen. In the same building is also an exhibit for Puffins and Inca Terns. We sat down and watching the penguins for quite a while, they were getting feeded so it was lots of action here. After about 20 minutes, the rain stopped so we went out again and jumped on a tram with direction Waterfall Stop.

After getting off, we set off for the biggest aviary in the park; the Waterfall Aviary. Built around the huge Jurong Falls, this is a aviary housing mostly rainforest birds. Some of the species we could see in this aviary were Taveta Golden Weavers, Crested and Helmeted Guineafowl, some beautiful Indian Peafowl, Golden-breasted Starlings, Superb Starlings, Crowned Pigeons, Sacred Ibis, Grey Parrot and Bearded Barbets. I really wanted to see the Great Blue Turacos, but couldn't find them (they certainly have quite a lot of room to hide here). Infact, I didn't see any of the many turaco species that are supposed to be living in the aviary. That was quite a let down, but all in all we enjoyed the Waterfall Aviary.

The Dinosaur Descedants section was next, where we could see Emus, Southern Cassowaries, Sarus Cranes and a mixed exhibit for Crowned Cranes (both Black and Grey subspecies) and Marabou Storks. Then we came to the Jungle Jewels aviary, where the only mammal species in the park can be seen, namely a pair of Black-tufted Marmosets and Cotton-top Tamarins. The aviary itself was fine, we saw many Sun Conures in here, as well as Red-crested Cardinals, Carolina Wood Duck, White-faced Whistling Duck and Mandarin Duck. They also keep Hawk-headed Parrots in here according to signs however no sight of it this time.

If the Waterfall and Jungle Jewels aviaries were great, the ones for Birds of Prey were dissapointing. While the collection was alright, the aviaries looked a bit old. The species that was on show were; Andean Condor, King Vulture, Turkey Vulture, African Fish Eagle, Palmnut Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Brahminy Kite and Changeable Hawk-eagle. More species are kept off-show and only to be seen in the Kings of the Skies show.

Next, we entered the Lory Loft which was great. Without doubt, the biggest lory aviary we've ever seen. They also had a nice collection, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red Lory, Red-collared Lorikeet and Purple-naped Lory were some of the species we could see. We also saw an Eclectus Parrot in here. We decided to skip out on the feeding, but we saw plenty of kids that looked very thrilled of having a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets landing on their arms. After the Lory Loft, we moved on to the next big highlight for us; the Window on Paradise. We had never seen Birds-of-Paradise before, so this was due to be an exciting moment. We saw Red Bird-of-paradise and Lesser Bird-of-paradise, but I know there are more species behind the scenes. Although, we were happy to see only these two species. We could also see some aviaries in the back, with a Pesquet's Parrot and some Crowned Pigeons.

One highlight was followed by another highlight, as we came to the Hornbills and Toucans section. I've never seen so many different species of Hornbills ever before. The highlights for us were the White-Crested Hornbills, Javan Rhinoceros Hornbills and a very active family of Trumpeter Hornbills. The nearby Royal Ramble aviary was quite good, nothing standout but still worth seeing. Some of the species we could see here were Javan Green Peafowl, Crowned Pigeons (many of them!), Green Turaco and Red-billed Blue Magpie.

The Wetlands were next, housing a very big group of Scarlet Ibis, as well as many other shorebirds. Some of the birds we saw were Hamerkop, Roseate Spoonbill, Peruvian Pelican, Northern Bald Ibis, White Ibis and Nene Goose. In another aviary that could only be seen from distance, we also saw Saddlebill Storks and what looked like Yellow-billed Storks. We passed by the Heliconia Walk with it's inhabitants. Many smaller bird species are kept here, some of them are Blue-Crowned Motmots, Northern Lapwing, Green Broadbills (my favourite!), Blue-winged Kookaburras, Red-and-yellow Barbets, Java Sparrow, Crested Tinamou, Tambourine Dove and many more.

As we were heading towards the entrance area, it started raining again, not drizzling but more like pouring this time. At this time we actually decided to leave, as many other visitors. However, when we sat in the cab towards the centre, I looked at the map realizing we actually missed the Wings of Asia, which is obviously one of the biggest highlights in the park.. That is possibly one of the biggest gut-punches I've encountered during my many years of visiting zoos over the world..

Well well, even though the day didn't end as good as we hoped for, we were still pleased about our day in the Bird Park. The clear highlights for us were seeing the Hornbills, the Birds-of-paradise and the Waterfall Aviary. Shame about the weather being unpredictable and missing out on the Asian birds, but I guess I have to go back when the new park opens and hopefully many of the popular species are still there at that time.

Next up, the Night Safari..

Until next time/
Swedish Zoo Fan

 

Luckily Wings of Asia is all about the inhabitants, not the architecture. If you had missed Lory Loft it would be more of a disaster in my opinion, as that'll be gone soon, whereas the Asian collection should be the centre-piece of the new park.

Did you go into the bird museum? Also missable, but nice enough.

 

I thought I read here that Jurong had closed or was closing. Am I wrong? Or did it reopen at a new location and that is the one you visited?

 

The park has not yet closed, and won't be moving until 2020 as far as I'm aware.

 

Having visited Jurong just over a week ago, my views are similar to SZF's review. We did see the High Flyer's Show, but missed the Bird of Prey show. It was okay, a bit cheesy, but able to see macaws and toucans flying close to us. I did visit the Wings of Asia which was very good. Well established aviary with smaller aviaries within and alot of birds. We also had a huge deluge during the middle of the day, which made getting around difficult! Parrot aviaries and Lory Loft were highlights too.