Courtesy of free wireless in McDonalds (that was initially as sluggish as trying to wade through a swimming pool full of their milkshake) I have uploaded a *ton* of pictures from the Zoo and the Bird Park.

All at the usual place.

As ever, if you’d like any larger, better quality images then please ask and I can email them to you.

 Now, I’m not as huge a fan of our feathered friends as I am of the rest of the animal kingdom. However, as it was so cheap to add this one extra park to yesterday’s ticket, it seemed daft not to include it in my itinerary so I paid up and made my way there today.

Again, public transport made the trip a (very cheap) doddle and I arrived at 10:40, missing the first Birds of Prey show of the day. The next was at 4pm and I wasn’t to make that one either as I left too early!

The Bird Park is larger than the Night Safari, but nowhere near as big as the Zoo. Still, I left just before 3pm and didn’t stop for lunch so it’s still a good half-day with my walking pace. Like the main zoo there are many places where you can walk in amongst the birds so there is no glass or wire between you and them. The prime example of this is probably the Lory Loft which is utterly huge and filled with the brightest-coloured Aussie birds you’ve ever seen. For a small fee (S$2 or S$5) you can collect a container of sugary liquid that sends these avians nuts and has then sat on your arm for feeding. Suspension bridges and half a forest complete this amazing attraction.

 Not too far away is the Waterfall Aviary which includes the world’s largest man-made waterfall which towers at 30m in height. The whole exhibit looks like someone’s lifted a chunk of rain forest and dumped it indoors. Like the Lory Loft, it’s utterly enthralling if for slightly different architectural reasons.

Sadly, such is the nature of birds that many of them have to be caged which lessened the number of photographs I could (or would) take. Where possible I’ll not take a picture that shows an animal to be caged. Don’t ask why. I just don’t like to.

Outdoors, however, it’s amazing how many birds are in completely open enclosures and don’t disappear. Pelican, flamingo and numerous others I can’t recall the names off all live happily outdoors – even some parrots and maccaws.

The bird show I did get to see was impressive with some great aerobatics from the feathered performers. One vulture wasn’t playing, though. It was his first performance and he seemed to get stage fright!

 Near the entrance are a few Mynah birds and parrots which can speak surprisingly well. All of them have a list of words and phrases that can say. Coaxing them to do so is suprisingly easy!

Though I didn’t stay long enough to see the Birds of Prey show, I did get to see the stars as they’re housed near the park used for the demonstrations. Part of me wishes I had stayed on, but I would have been sat around for over an hour. Maybe next time!

I do have one less happy thing to say, and this goes for all three attractions. It’s nothing to do with them directly, in fact they’re doing their best to raise awareness of this and help out. It’s the staggeringly upsetting number of times you look at the information board for an animal and see the word “Endangered” written on it. Worse still is “critically endangered”. And even worse is that in every single case it’s our fault in some way or another. Deforestation. Hunting (for trade, meat, safety of humans). Poisoning. Environmental destruction due to global warming and the like.

 This is where I’m glad we have zoos. It’s easy to tell people that these animals are struggling in countries far away. We can look at the TV and read books with pictures of them and go “aw”. But sit next to one, touch it, watch it perform feats that prove it’s not just a “dumb animal” and hopefully it’ll hit a little harder that we need to save every single one of these animals. The Zoo has two wonderful quotes on large boards as you exit the Fragile Forest exhibit:

If all the beasts were gone,
man would die from great loneliness of spirit,
For whatever happens to the beasts
also happend to man
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the Earth
befalls the sons of the Earth.
Chief Seattle of the Suquamish & Duwamish, 1855

The forest is a peculiar organism
of unlimited kindless and
benevolence, that makes no
demands for sustenance and
extends generously the products
of its activity; it affords
protection to all beings,
offering shade even to the
axeman who destroys it.
Lord Buddha, 500BC

Right, I’m off for a McDonald’s. Purely to see if they do indeed have free wireless as I’ve been told.

[update – sat outside McD’s and I have a 4-bar wireless connection. Wicked!] 

 Well, this was my main reason for stopping off in Singapore – the Zoo and it’s associated Night Safari. Both are located in the same area, and as the former closes, the latter opens its doors for the night.

Getting there was easy with the directions provided and the superb public transport system in Singapore. A short walk to the MRT station, about 50p for a ticket, arrive at interchange and swap to the bus for another 50p and I was there. In total, it took about an hour. Everywhere I had to stop and ask people, they were incredibly helpful. Schoolkids who needed to get past me said “excuse me”. Anyone I thanked said “you’re welcome”. I’m in the land of polite people and it’s such a refreshing change.

At the Zoo, I bought a 3-park “hopper” pass for the main zoo, the Night Safari and the Bird Park for tomorrow. The grand total was S$40 – around £12.50. This is an astoundingly good price considering Singapore’s reputation for it’s “touristy” attractions. And let me tell you, that reputation is well-deserved.

 Now, I loved Auckland Zoo. Edinburgh’s not bad. Chester was wonderful – the first I’d been to in years at the time. Barcelona is eye-opening. But Singapore Zoo really is superb. I mean no disrespect to the others as Singapore has one major advantage over many others – the climate. Many of the animals here (and in other zoos) come from hot, humid climates: Africa, Asia and South America. Edinburgh can’t hope to keep, say, a tiger in the right conditions without some kind of environmental control whereas Singapore can keep them in the open air all year round.

This aside, the layout is superb. So much thought has gone into everything from the signposts to the names of the burgers at the attached restaurants. The range of animals is just wonderful, the conditions they are kept in just as good as you could hope for in most cases (sadly, cages are still necessary in some cases) and the place is spotless. Staff are also very knowledgable, enthusiastic and helpful.

Singapore Zoo has the largest primate collection in the world, and they know what to do with it. Orangutan roam freely in several areas and could, I’m sure, just clamber down from the trees should they wish. Two very small primates did, in fact, do just that. They were fed just off one of the pathways and took to running back and forth near the visitors.

There are several areas where tourists can walk around with no cages, bars or glass between them and the animals. The best by far (in my opinion) was the Fragile Forest exhibit with sloth, tree kangaroo, flying foxes, ring-tailed lemur and countless butterflies and parrots. Absolutely awe-inspiring. I can’t believe how close I was to some of these beautiful animals, and able to get some of the best photos I’ve ever taken.

 In addition, some shows are put on during the day at the amphitheatre, as well as many “feedings” where visitors can watch or participate (usually for a few dollars). I watch one of the shows and paid S$5 to have my photo taken with a sealion and a monitor lizard. Worth every penny as it goes towards the zoo’s own conservation drive.

What else? Blimey. Well, I saw my first ever Komodo Dragon in the flesh. It took some doing as he/she didn’t want to come out at midday and just poked his/her head up out of the burrow. Later in the afternoon, he/she finally went for a wander and I got some good pictures.

A bizarre one, but I saw two Giant Tortoises attempting to make baby Giant Tortoises. And who thought tortoises were quiet creatures? Without too much detail, the male makes a fair bit of a hollow gaspy grunt each time he … erm… thrusts. So now I know how to tell the difference between male and female tortoises. The male’s the one on top.

Singapore Zoo also has the only three white tigers in captivity. These stunning creatures are not albino – they have pink noses, blue eyes and pink pads on their feet. They’re also completely mesmerising.

I could go on.

I will.

It has the only “research and study” exhibit I’ve ever seen at a zoo. Nobody else seemed to either find it or care, but this small boxed room near the entrance has some interesting information on animal care and health. And… windows into the veterinary surgery where animals are taken for treatment. While I was there, I could see a small hooved animal having work done on one of its feet. I couldn’t see much more as there was someone (with a very nice bum) leaning over the table from the side I was looking from. That kind of thing would be pot luck, but the surgery seemed geared up for most of the “not huge” animals.

 The amount of educational material available at all the exhibits is top notch. There are mildly interactive things for kids to play with, a water fun park for them to splash in at lunchtime and no fewer than two KFCs. I admit to using both of them, but only as the burger joint that’s part of the Night Safari was so expensive, I had no other choice than to double back and have a KFC for dinner – it was less than half the price of a meal at Bongo Burger.

Onto the Night Safari and as the name suggests this attraction is geared at nocturnal creatures. As such, I have very few pictures as flash photography isn’t allowed in the park. This, of course, doesn’t stop some idiots. Bumping into them and making them drop their camera so it smashes, however, does.

The walkways and tram both open at 7pm, just as the sun’s starting to go below the horizon. Night falls within roughly 30 minutes of this time, and being on the equator this time doesn’t change year-round. Some of the animals they have here are just beautiful, and you’d simply not get the chance to see them in other zoos without keeping them indoors and messing with their body clocks.

Several of the animals are “repeats” from the main zoo – giraffes, lions, tigers and so on – but it’s worth seeing them in the near-dark. Their behaviour is different. For other animals, night-time is simply the only time they’ll move. Watching a leopard pace around through just a centimetre of glass maybe isn’t the closest I’ve been to a wild cat this year, but it’s still enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. The lesser bush-baby has the opposite effect and I just wanted to cuddle it and take it home.

The Night Safari is less than half the size of the main zoo, but is definitely worth a visit – especially for the Creatures of the Night show which was packed to the rafters for the performance I saw. On the way in there had been another show – again I’d paid S$5 to have some pictures taken with a serval, a python and an owl. There are also a place on the way round where you can have a snap with a corn snake.

Afterwards, I opted for the easier single bus back for $4. A whole 30p more than public transport, but less faff. I couldn’t believe that I got stuck in a traffic jam at 10:40pm. Only in Singapore, I guess – it really is a 24-hour city.

I’ve only been able to pick a small smattering of pics to post with this entry. The rest of the ones I like will go onto Fotopic when I get the chance.