The myriad creatures of the animal kingdom make their homes in their respective natural habitats throughout the world. When nature’s finest are gathered together in a zoo, the global breadth of animal life and its various environs become accessible to visitors. Bearing witness to the whole of creation in a defined space, visitors encounter a microcosm of the world in a zoo. The result is a highly stimulating experience, especially with the rare chance for a close-up look at animals that are distant, endangered, or both.
Singapore Zoo - A unique experience
Against the common simplistic image of zoos as a mere arrangement of animals in cages, the Singapore Zoo stands out as a successful application of the “open zoo” concept. Ever since it opened on June 23, 1973 with a well-spent S$9M government grant, the Singapore Zoo has devoted its 28 hectares to not just showcase the world’s rich wildlife but also to recreate the concept of the menagerie by doing away with bars or cages. While some of the more feral predators may be found behind glass enclosures, most of the Singapore Zoo’s “residents” roam in simulated environments, carefully-designed landscapes reminiscent of their original habitats.
Trenches or moats separate the animals from the zoo visitors, but these are cleverly concealed, and it truly seems to both animal and human alike that they are “authentically there,” where the animals are truly meant to be.
The Ever-Growing Family
The Singapore Zoo first began with 270 animals in 72 species and has grown through the years to become home to 2,530 animals in 315 species, 16% of which are endangered. It is striking that this expansion has taken place without physically expanding beyond the original 28 hectares (not counting the 40 hectares of woodland that later became the site of the Night Safari, the neighboring attraction operated by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore, who also own the Jurong BirdPark).
Every year, around 1.4 million visitors end up experiencing the unforgettable delights of the Singapore Zoo, a staggering figure that is just as much an achievement as the eight times that the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s Leisure Attraction of the Year award has been bestowed upon the Singapore Zoo.
Other accolades, like the Best-Loved Pro-Family Business Award in 2006 the Best Place to Take the Kids from Where Singapore magazine in 1999 and 2001, are just as indicative of the key to the Singapore Zoo’s success: its being a family-oriented attraction is highly appropriate, too, given the way it celebrates the great family of life on Earth.
Breakfast in the Wild
In particular, the Jungle Breakfast at the Singapore Zoo has earned honors like the Best Breakfast award from 40 Jewels in ASEAN’s Crown as well as places in the 2007 Top Five Family Experiences from the Viator.com tourism Web site and STB’s 2006 list of Top Ten Best Family Experiences. This daily event from 9 to 10 am at Jungle Flavours, the largest of the five eateries in the Zoo, is so popular that bookings must be made at least a day in advance.
For S$18 per adult and S$12 per child, visitors not only have the chance to start their day with a good meal while looking at the wildlife around them, they can also feed fruits to the endangered Asian elephants and have their pictures taken with the orangutans.
Ah Meng: A Star Among Stars
Popularly known as “the stars of the Singapore Zoo,” the orangutans themselves had their own A-list celebrity: the celebrated Singapore Zoo icon Ah Meng, who passed away at the age of 48 in February 2008, leaving behind two sons, two daughters, and six grandchildren. Ah Meng’s reputation was such that she became the only non-human Special Tourism Ambassador when she was awarded with this distinction by the STB in 1992.
In her rich life, she has met celebrities like Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. She has also appeared in at least 30 travel films and been featured in more than 270 press articles.
A high profile attraction
The other stars of the Singapore Zoo also attract many other luminaries from outside for various reasons. Government officials like Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar and his family have visited the Zoo and its neighboring Night Safari for vacation, while Australian High Commissioner Miles Kupa opened the Zoo’s Australian Outback in 2006, together with the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.
A year before that saw a visit from the multi-awarded theatre actress and singer Elaine Paige, and in one heartwarming instance, Singapore-born musical diva Anita Sarawak arrived to name an orangutan who happened to be the daughter of the one she found on her doorstep and donated to the Singapore Zoo nearly two decades ago.
Essential Tourist Information
The Singapore Zoo is open every day of the year from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm. Entrance fees are S$16.50 for adults and S$8.50 for children from 3 to 12 years. Located at 80 Mandai Lake Road, it is within reach of public transportation services, including a special bus hub service that costs S$4 for a single trip to the zoo from various locations in Orchard Road and Little India.
In the Zoo itself, unlimited tram rides running for 2.2 kilometers with three stopovers are available for S$5.00 for adults and half that for children. Other options are horse-carriage rides from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm (S$8 per adult and S$4 per child) and actual animal rides. Elephant rides cost the same, running from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm and 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm, and children have the option of riding a pony from 11:00 am to 12:00 noon and 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
Wild Discoverer Tours are also available, two of which show what goes on to make the Singapore Zoo a rousing success as a nature haven in the middle of highly urban Singapore. These are the butterfly- and insect-centered Fragile Forest Behind-The-Scenes from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm, and the Reptile Garden Behind-The-Scenes from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
There is also the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia Feeding Tour where, for S$20 for adults and half that for children ages 3 to 12, visitors can actually participate in the feeding of hamadryas baboons—commonly referred to as “sacred baboons”—in a recreated Ethiopian landscape that also include jackals and mongoose.
Sample Itineraries and Attractions
A day or even more is required to fully enjoy the Singapore Zoo, but there are also options for those who can spend only half a day there. Morning visitors can start at the Rainforest Walk with its Asian small-clawed otters and Gibbon Island with its “ape gymnasts.” If they make it by 9:15 to the Elephant Bathing area, they can also opt to feed fruits to these large but gentle creatures before visitors can enjoy their own Jungle Breakfast. After that, they can take in the rare sight of feeding polar bears in a tropical country or go through the Fragile Forest with mousedeer, lemur, sloths and tree kangaroos, and maybe even pass by the Orchid Garden for a look at flora.
From there, they can head to the Reptile Garden, ending just in time to watch the Splash Safari show at the Splash Amphitheatre, with penguins, seals, manatees, and pelicans delivering spectacular performances or to see the Elephants of Asia exhibit. The Great Rift of Ethiopia Feeding Tour can follow, and after that the Australian Outback or the white tigers at Tiger Trek. All of this before lunch at eateries like Forest Fair, Jungle Flavours, Jungle Tandoor, and Pizzafari, and souvenirs from the Zoo Shop. Other attractions also include Wild Africa with its white rhinos, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, and lions, as well as the Treetops Trail with siamangs and greater mousedeer.
Taking the Zoo with You Even After You Leave
Take advantage of the schedules for photo opportunities with ponies, snakes, birds, orangutans, and elephants for personalized souvenirs that make an unforgettable visit even more so. You may also want to apply for the Friends of the Zoo program. For individual rates of S$70 and family rates of S$150 (two adults and three children below 12), you get a yearly pass granting free and unlimited entry, tram rides, and parking, as well as a few discounts and the quarterly Wildlife Wonders magazine. More privileges are available for Silver and Gold Memberships.
Even better would be for you to take your enjoyment to the next level the way the Singapore Zoo staff has done. The Zoo, after all, is not just a place for enjoyment but for education, too, as well as outreach and conservation. This critical work is done by the Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre, officially opened by President S. R. Nathan in March 2006. Its two-storey building houses laboratories for research and other facilities for animal healthcare, including surgical and X-ray units. You may help out, too, by choosing to sponsor and adopt animals, where they will be kept in the Singapore zoo for staff to care for, while you can visit them with ease through the privileges you earn as well as with the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have contributed to the preservation of the global family of creatures, human and animal.
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