Singapore Zoo

Orangutan in the Singapore zoo - all my photos in this post

Normally, I do not really like Zoos very much. Animals locked up in cages is really not my thing. My earliest childhood memory was the old polar bear cage at the Johannesburg zoo. A tiny cage with a pool of water in and two of these magnificent animals in this tiny cage. I was only about 3 years old, but the image of these polar bears in the tiny cage still haunts me. So, I don't like zoos.

Singapore zoo is a bit different. Because of the location of Singapore, right in the tropics, the island would be a magnificent jungle if man did not build the city there. So lush vegetation is not a problem in the Singapore zoo. They have made the most of the vegetation and the enclosures are really quite big and beautiful. The orangutans have a wonderful cage. It is a large enclosure and then there are ropes leading out of the cage to other big trees. So, you could be walking along a path in the zoo and there could be an orangutans in the trees above your head. We visited the zoo with my sister Cynthia and son Hardy. Had a great time. You could pose for a photo with the orangutans, and Cynthia's hair was pretty much the same colour as the orangutans. This caused a bit of excitement with the orangutans and while she was posing for her photo, the one orangtan gently had a closer look at her hair!

There was always two parts to the zoo. There was the normal zoo, and then a night safari. I have been to the zoo a few times, but I still have not done the night safari. Must always leave something for the next time.

Enterence to the Zoo

Now there is a third part. This is dedicated to the river systems of the world. This is basically an aquarium. It has been very well done. All the major river systems of the world are well represented. The Amazon (just like the river) is the best. This is a boat ride through dense vegetation past enclosures with the main Amazon animals in. Really great. There are jaguars, tapirs, capybara and lots of monkeys. There is also a giant anteater and the animal which is still high on my wish list, the ocelot. Like always, I did not get to see my ocelot. What are the chances of getting this animal in the wild.

Must admit, my photo of a photo

Piranha!

Spot the fish

I did the River system with the people from my lab when we attended the IUMS congress in Singapore. They also have a panda enclosure and there was much excitement to see a panda. These iconic animals must be the most beautiful animal on the planet and everyone wants to see a panda. These two just spent the time we were there sleeping! Still nice to see.

Pandas

Sleeping panda

The Singapore zoo always had a great polar bear exhibition. They have put in another glass wall in the polar bear pool, so you can also see into the polar bear exhibition. When we were there, the polar bear spent most of his time in the water. I guess that is what you get when you put a polar bear into the tropics.

Giant otters at play

There is a great pool for the giant otters. They play their hearts out. Incredible animals. I have been lucky enough to see them in the wild a few time, but it was really great to see them close up in the zoo. There is a walk through in their pool, so yo are under the area where they are playing. Just loved it. There were two otters playing a special game. The one, on the bank would take a stone and drop it into the water. The one in the water would dive down, get the stone on his nose and deliver it to the one on the bank, who would drop the stone in again. This they would do over and over again. Reminded me of my late dad who would stand by the swimming pool and throw money into the deep end where his grandson (Grant) would dive down to get the money!

Note stone on the head

There is also a beautiful very large tank for dugongs. These are basically like a cross between a dolphin and a hippo! Much "fatter" than a dolphin and more like a hippo, but with the shape of the body more like a dolphin. It was amazing to see these beautiful animals as well.

A dugong

The zoo in Singapore is really well worth the visit. At one stage, I used to fly often on Singapore airlines. It is a great hub for the east, but not so much for the rest of the world. When I was flying on Singapore airlines, you could get a Singapore stay package which included free access to most of the Singapore attractions. This makes Singapore a great stop-over if you are going to Thailand or Bali. Singapore airlines also have a hop on- hop off bus which travels all around Singapore. You just need to present you Singapore airlines boarding pass, and you get free access to the hop on- hop off bus. Another great way to see Singapore. 

A pod of Dugongs