Pata Zoo It took me four tries again to find an honest taxi driver to take me to Pata Zoo. The cabby was sure that the zoo had closed down but as I'd been in there the night before I made him take me anyway. And lo and behold this time it was open. I paid the 200 Baht entry fee (incl. a gift-voucher for a drink) and had the zoo almost to myself. I saw maybe three other guests (feeding the apes and monkeys juice-boxes or sth.). I went in planning to compile a species list but gave up on that rather quickly. Half the enclosures were empty, others had animals in them that were clearly not the ones on the respective signs, and the signs were full of spelling errors and missing words. The zoo stretches over two levels: one inside and a rooftop terrace above. The premises (while pretty run-down) are actually not bad and would have the potential for a pretty cool zoo if handled correctly. Sadly they mostly aren't. They have a lot of exhibits that would work well with different inhabitants but are not that great for their current owners (f.e. the vertical aviaries that would be better suited for climbing species like squirrels etc.) and a lot of them are lacking any kind of enrichment. Some are too small (pig-nosed turtle, monitors, etc) and the ape/monkey bit needs to be scratched completely. It's atrocious. Of course all the main animals I'd come for were not there anymore (at least they had the Great Argus (none in Singapore) otherwise it would have been a total bust). I saw no sign of Hoopoes, the tank with the sign for Caecilian looked empty and so dry that I doubt there was still anything alive in there, the exhibit-sign for ferret-badger was unlit and the enclosure itself was occupied by a civet (too dark to identify properly). The sign for the Linsang was still lit but it was nowhere to be seen and the exhibit wasn't large enough for it to hide. I tried to ask for information again but didn't get very far. They didn't speak any English and also didn't seem to know the difference between a linsang and a civet. I showed them a picture and they took me to the civet. Then I tried to use google translate to ask if it had died, which got me smiles and hand-gestures in response. Bottom line: I have no idea whether or not it's still there, but I didn't see it that day. No slow-lorises or hog-badgers either. Seems like everything interesting is gone, together with half of the other zoo inhabitants and what is left is just a lot of wasted potential. Animals checked off my list: Great Argus Tentacled Snake Black Giant Squirrel Golden Jackal Clown Featherback Animals I didn't get to check off my list: Banded Linsang Burmese Ferret Badger Koh Tao Caecilian Hoopoe I took the Skytrain back to the airport. This time I was flying Tigerair and while I don't remember if we were on time I do remember the check-in procedures taking foreeeever. I arrived in Singapore late at night (no train service) so had to take a shuttle which was still comparatively cheap ($9 compared to $30-something here in Auckland). This time I was staying in a hostel (Bunc) in Little India which (with the exception of for Sentosa) was the better location (and they gave out free SIM-cards). Next up: Singapore Zoo
You hadn't been to Jurong yet at this point, had you? I'm hoping you got to see hoopoe there at least. What would your recommendation for Pata be? I have no intention of ever going there, but (for anybody else) would you say it's worth visiting or a place to avoid? Some of the aviaries in particular look fairly decent in terms of height, but then there are the horrific cages for likes of the gorilla and I have never got the impression that there is any care towards the animals other than having them as show objects.
Nope, not yet. As it is now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. On the other hand maybe if they had more money they could do more with the place. Concerning the care : I don't know how many people are working there (didn't seem like a lot). So I don't know if they have the time to care for the animals any more than they already do. Parts of the zoo were really bad but other parts were ok. (To an extent some of the "problems" might also be country/area-specific as Dusit had some similar not-so-great parts too.)
Day 13 Singapore Zoo My first day back in Singapore I decided to go back to Mandai. This time I visited the Zoo proper. There was pretty much only one captive species I knew I wanted to see there: Proboscis Monkey. They had a group of males right at the start and a group of females further in. Both were feeding at the time I was there which made for some good photo-opportunities. I didn't have Horned Lizard on my list of things to look out for so that one was a pleasant surprise (they were tiny). I did have a look at the rest of the park but I was probably more focussed on checking all the trees for Colugos I did walk the zoo counter-clockwise as a map of sightings I'd found on the internet suggested that the right-hand side was a good spot. Of course I didn't see any there, but I did see a Gliding Lizard in a tree opposite kidzworld. As I was close by I decided to have a look at the Rainforest Fights Back show. Total waste of time. It pretty much consisted of a few different animals running from stage-left to stage-right or vice versa (with a bit of super-light commentary) and a way too long warm-up in the beginning. (If you spend half your time on "Are you having a good time? Make some noise" you know your show is, to put it nicely, not doing much.) I moved on to finish my round and as I was already thinking about admitting defeat I found my first Colugo (close to a hut at the Elephant enclosure). Now I've seen at least one species of every Placentalia order! I took a lot of photos (had to photograph through my binoculars) and then went on to finish my round. When I was done I went back and watched the Colugo for about two hours (saw some head movement and grooming) before I had to head out (I think it was already past closing time) for my second visit to Night Safari. I think the zoo is ok, but out of all the bigger Singaporean animal attractions my least favourite. I mean, I pretty much went there for the wild animals more so than for the captive ones. Animals checked off my list: Proboscis Monkey Regal Horned Lizard Malayan Colugo Sumatran(?) Gliding Lizard Attacus Atlas Flat-backed Spider Tortoise New Caledonia Giant Gecko Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle Night Safari (2nd visit) I got to skip past the hordes of people waiting in line again (for that alone the year-pass was worth it). This time the Creatures of the Night show wasn't cancelled and while it wasn't as bad as Rainforest fights back it comes close. Same warm-up and same running from left to right routines, but at least there were like two actual tricks (jumping Serval, that didn't want to jump that day and Binturong smell test). After the show I headed directly for the Tarsiers and Flying Squirrels and got lucky as they were both being fed and so were quite visible for a while. Sadly not in good spots for pictures. The protruding eyes of the squirrel make it look like it's looking into two totally different directions and always slightly past you at all times. I was a bit disappointed with the Tarsier because I'd expected it to be more different in looks and movement (reminded me very much of Galago). I also saw three more Colugos at Night Safari (one close to the porcupines, one next to the tarsier enclosure, and the third one I don't remember). They were easy to find, even in the dark, because they make a quite distinctive noise when landing. Never saw them glide though. (Come to think of it I didn't see any gliding action from any gliding-mammal my whole trip.) I did see 'em climb and defecate (the membrane inside looks a bit weird, I have to say). And as I was using my torch to look at them this time there were actually some other people who stopped for a look as well. Most people at the zoo had walked right past without even noticing that there was anything there (even though me standing there with my binos could have been a clue...). On my way out I checked back with the Pangolin, which was rolled up in a ball in the same spot as last time, and had a look at the Parma Wallaby. A keeper who was doing some training with the Bennetts pointed it out to me (only one left). My visit this time was definitely more enjoyable with more sightings and better weather. Animals checked off my list: Spectral Tarsier Giant Flying Squirrel Parma Wallaby (Malayan Colugo) (Hog Badger) Animals I (still) didn't get to check off my list: Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat Crab-eating Raccoon Next up: Jurong Bird Park
there are three Draco species in Singapore - Sumatran sumatranus, Black-bearded melanopogon, and Five-striped quinqefasciatus. The Black-bearded is very distinctive, while the other two look reasonably similar but easy to tell apart if you get a good look. The gular pouch and the wing pattern are important.
Definitely not melanopogon. I'm reasonably sure it was sumatranus because of the gular skin shape. Didn't see the wings. No gliding from any gliding-reptiles for me either
Day 14 Jurong Bird Park On day number two I made the long way out to Jurong Bird Park. First by train then bus. I went round clockwise starting with the nocturnal house which was a bit of a disappointment. There were only a handful of (common) owls in there (why not get some other nocturnal birds to get more variety?). Helicornia Walk got my hopes back up. There wasn't anything in there for my list but at least there was variety and some stuff that I didn't mind seeing again. Hornbills & Toucans was good, but I'd seen most, if not all, of them before. Royal Ramble was pretty empty and so was the left BoP aviary. The right had Red- and the middle one Lesser BoPs, which were a first for me. Using my binoculars I also saw Twelve-wired- (seen before) and King BoP (pretty bad view even with binos) in the back. After that it went downhill for me: Birds of Prey, Lory Loft, Jungle Jewels, Dinosaur Descendants and Waterfall Aviary were all extremely mediocre. Parrot Paradise picked it back up but I'd seen everything there before and I am not really into parrots. After that came a long stretch of nothing a.k.a various pools. Wings of Asia was the best mixed-aviary (Green Junglefowl was something I hadn't expected to be this fascinated by) and it was still only mildly interesting. Penguin Coast was closed. I also went to the High Flyers show, which had the same problems as its cousins at Zoo and Night Safari (s.a.). At least it's more interesting to see birds fly from left to right... The signage was horrible (of the big ones second only to AQWA). If a general information sign tells me that there is xx-species (don't remember the exact number) in the free-flight aviary and there's only species-signs for not even a quarter of those you're doing it wrong. Judging from what I saw (and the signs didn't tell me any different) it also seemed like the free-flight aviaries all contained largely the same handful of species. I have no idea how anyone can even mention Jurong in the same breath as Walsrode. When I went I missed out on Kiwis and BoPs (except Twelve-wired) and even without those Walsrode still jumped straight to second place of my favourite zoos. Jurong (even taking into account the birds I would have been more excited about if I hadn't seen them at Walsrode before) doesn't even make it close to top ten. I only stayed for about three hours which is super short for me (I stayed longer at Otorohanga Kiwi House). If they actually do loose part of their collection in the move it won't even be a competition anymore. Conclusion: Crap signage and the most interesting bird is a chicken! Animals checked off my list: Red Bird-of-paradise. Lesser Bird-of-paradise King Bird-of-paradise Green Junglefowl Broad-billed Roller Chinese Bamboo Partridge Coleto (Green Broadbill) Animals I didn't get to check off my list: Hoopoe The Live Tortoise and Turtle Museum Since I had the time and it was "close" by I decided to go for some testudines (another group I'm not that invested in). Entry was cheap at $5 and the surrounding Japanese and Chinese Gardens are nice. The Live Tortoise and Turtle Museum itself less so. It consists of three parts: 1.) a lawn area with free roaming turtles and a few cement-pit enclosures (you were allowed to feed them and seems like they are starving as I've never seen tortoises run that fast), 2.) a few rows of shelves with terrariums/aquariums on them containing the animals and nothing else (some had water, but there were quite a few aquatic ones (more than half of those Pig-nosed Turtles) without water or even shade) and 3.) the "museum". I think this was the worst place I've ever been to. I didn't stay long and half of that time only to put myself between the turtles and the sun to give them at least a few minutes of shade. Animals checked off my list: - Next up: River Safari
well... I haven't been to Walsrode so I can't compare them, but I've never met anyone or heard about anyone of a Zoochatterish nature who considered Jurong to be "a disappointment" and "mediocre". That's just totally out of left-field.
I haven't visit walsrode and have little memory visiting Jurong, but I would say walsrode have some better species, but Jurong is still a very good bird park with ~400 species. Jurong also have one of the biggest aviary and that is good. Walsrode have lots of rare species, and I fully understand why you will enjoy walsrode than jurong.But Jurong is definitely also a good zoo too and is not as bad as you have say.
@Chlidonias "a disappointment" and "mediocre" in regards to the collection not in regards to animal welfare or enclosure space etc. Someone in another thread commented that they liked Jurong better a few years back. So maybe it's also the timing. @aardvark250 I didn't call Jurong bad.
That someone was me. I've visited Jurong multiple times ~10 years ago, and then once a year ago, and have to say that there is a very big difference between the two. What is now a rather uninspired outdoor penguin exhibit was then an African fishing village with shoebills, pelicans, storks and cranes. The collection of the waterfall aviary back then was a lot bigger and almost exclusively African, whereas now it seems to just be a mix of everything. The monorail was still riding around then, and the experience of seeing the giant flamingo group from it or entering the waterfall aviary in it was a very unique one. However, I still wouldn't ever be able to use the words "mediocre" and "disappointing" when describing any aspect of Jurong: even though the collection is smaller than it used to be, it's still a very comprehensive avian collection in one of the most beautiful parks I've been to. I was honestly shocked when reading your review! Whereas Walsrode does have the "better" collection, exhibit-wise I'm fairly sure Jurong beats it in almost every aspect but owls.
the Waterfall Aviary was originally a general mixed aviary - certainly when I first went there in 2004. Then they turned it into an African theme, expending a lot of time and effort in catching out all the non-African birds (this must have been around when the Lory Loft opened, because the Waterfall Aviary had had lots of lories in it). And then some years later had another turn-around and reverted back to a general mix. I don't really have an opinion on that, although I think I probably prefer the general collection. The African wetland area was amazing, I loved that. The replacement African Penguin enclosure was actually something I would refer to as "disappointing". The Nocturnal House also has always been horrible - definitely worthy of being "a disappointment".
I thought it was largely common to uncommon species of the most common bird groups held in zoos. So a very comprehensive collection of mediocrity In regards to aardvark250's quote "walsrode have some better species": They don't just have some better species; they're so far ahead of Jurong in that regard, if it was a race, Walsrode would have already won before Jurong passed the half-way mark... (Just of the top of my head: cuckoo-rollers, vangas, trogons, cassowaries, hummingbirds, umbrellabirds, kiwis, horned screamers, kagus, etc) Does Jurong still have Shoebills, Cock-of-the-rock or Woodhoopoes? I didn't see them during my visit. Looks like they are getting Spix’s (and Lear’s) macaws soon, which is nice... I'm not contesting that Waterfall Aviary or Lory Loft have no match in Walsrode size-wise (although f.e. Parrot Paradise or Wings of Asia do). But especially in an enclosure that size you need to make sure that your signage is on point. Most of the signs were just pictures with names anyway (another thing Walsrode does better) so there really is no excuse for that.
