Places to visit in Singapore – Night Safari

The Night Safari tour takes you to a  fascinating world of nocturnal creatures. The Zoo is one of its kind and is the world’s first wildlife park built specifically for night viewing. This night zoo houses over 900 animals of 135 exotic species in eight zones recreated to simulate various geographic zones.

For detailed itinerary of my Singapore trip read my following blog

We had heard a lot about the “Night safari” from our friends who had already visited this place and were looking forward to this visit. Most of our guided tours had been pre-booked through our travel agent and we had the “Night safari” scheduled for the evening on Day 1 of our visit. People are very punctual in Singapore and our tour operator picked us from our hotel lobby at around 6:00 PM.

• Night Safari Timings: 7:15 PM to 12:00 AM
• Ticket Prices:
  • Adult – $45
  • Children (3-12 yrs) – $30
  • Senior Citizen – $18

It took us around 45 minutes to reach the Night safari complex. One thing that quickly stuck us was – everything was planned and very well laid out in the complex. The tour operators park their buses in the parking lot and everything around was so very well organized.

 

One disadvantage of taking these guided tour operators are that the buses usually reach at around 7:00 PM, just before the park opens. You would thus miss out on the “Thumbuakar Performance” ( pyro warriors showcasing their amazing fire-eating skills). This show is scheduled everyday between 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM.

We were pretty disappointed that we missed out this show. Later we got to know that the show was cancelled that day as there was a steady drizzle. Felt a bit better that even if we had been on time, there would have been no show 🙂

The entire complex was very well planned. They have ensured that the complex has the wild life theme exhibited all around the park. It would be a good idea to have your dinner early and then head out to the park. 

 

The food court had a good variety of cuisine available, but we went for some traditional food. The entire food complex is dimly lit and retains the wild life theme. You will encounter good amount of crowd here as everyone would try to grab a quick bite before heading to the park.

We ended up ordering Asian Chicken Curry, Soup and some rice to go with it.

 

 

 

Our plan was to select one of the trails that they had called out and walk for an hour or so (from 8:00 PM to 9:15 PM)and be back reach the amphitheatre for the “Creatures of the night show” – had heard a lot about this show and we were looking forward to it.  The show was scheduled for 9:30 PM to 10:00 PM. We had to face yet another disappointment when this show was also cancelled due to the rain :(. I guess we chose the wrong day, cant fight mother nature. The drizzle did not help us take the walking trails also. We ended up returning to the tram station

Following are the walking trails that you can select from:

Wallaby Trail
An Australasian-inspired trail featuring the few free-ranging nocturnal Wallaby walk-through habitats in Asia. Head to “Naracoorte Cave” to have creepy encounters with cave critters.

East Lodge Trail
This trail will take you face to face with the majestic Malayan tiger and the cunning spotted hyena through wild Africa and Asia.

Leopard Trail
This trail has a huge glass fronted exhibit through which you can spot the beautiful leopard. If you continue walking on this trail you will reach the Mangrove Walk and Giant Flying Squirrel Aviary.

Fishing Cat Trail
This trail will showcase the the deft hunting skills of the fishing cat.

 

The area around the tram station was very well organized. You can show your ticket and stand in a line and wait for your turn to get into the tram. Since it was drizzling, we had to go through a long queue.

 

 

The entire trip around the park was one heck of an experience. The entire lighting has been designed to mimic a full moon night, so that the animals are at home. The lighting though is bright enough for us to see the animals. The unique aspect of the night safari is, you will not find any fencing behind which the animals are restricted.

The naturalistic enclosures try to simulate the animals native habitat. The tourists are separated from the animals by using natural barriers. Cattle grids are laid all over the park to prevent the hoofed animals from moving from one habitat to another. They have also designed the moats to look like streams and rivers for the fishing cats to put a show.

It is practically impossible to get a good photo of animals due to the poor lighting and the constant movement of the animals. I could not get any decent photo as neither did I have a high end camera and the dim lighting combined with the drizzle and the moving tram made it impossible to get any good photo.The best that I could do was the one that I have below –  a rather shameful photo 😦

The tram ride was around 45 minutes and the trams drop you at the same tram station where they pick you. You can get also get your customized photograph printed  and buy for $25 as a memorabilia. 

 

We had a great one of a kind experience. Though in a simulated environment, this has been the closest that I have got to a night safari. If you are travelling with your young one’s, the night safari should be high on your priority.

 

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