Singapore Zoo

It had been ages since I last stepped into the Singapore Zoo. Located in Mandai forest, it had been around since my school days. Here am I going back to revisit the animals, which were once bigger than me. Heading to the zoo had always been an happy outing for me. Well, you get to see many animals and some might even be waiting for you. I was looking forward to welcome the Koalas to Singapore, hoping that they could adapt well here. In order to avoid the afternoon crowd, I headed straight to the Australian Zone. Queue was not that long and I was in the compound within 15 minutes. The koalas were so cute. I was starring and looking at the way they slept and ate the eucalyptus leaves.

I moved on and headed back to my initial starting point near the entrance. It was a big place and I did not want to lose my way nor repeat my walks round. The first exhibit that attracted a crowd near the entrance was the Small Clawed Otter. Another cute scene. And I was so attracted to it. It made my day pretty well to start off with.

As I walked on, I saw lots of monkeys. I think I am walking into the Primate Kingdom. So might as well venture in. I could vividly hear the sounds of the monkeys. They seemed to be communicating noisily with one another. There were quite a number of different species of Primates in the Zoo. Some of which I had never seen or heard before. It was like an educational excursion for me.

The Probosis monkey was a pretty rare monkey here. It was also known as the "long-nosed monkey", and were medium in size. And of course the bigger ones were the Chimpanzee and our Ah Meng, the orang utan. The Singapore Zoo had quite a large family of Baboons too. From what I had read, there were more than 90 of them in their colony. 

That was a lot from a Primate Kingdom of Singapore Zoo. Savanna animals were next in my list. And there were quite a number of them found here. It was rather shady even though the sun was high up. Singapore Zoo was a rainforest zoo where most areas were covered by big tall trees. If you looked up into the trees, you could find some habitat of birds too. 

Most of the animals shots taken here successfully were after numerous and multiple attempts. And that really tested off my patience with these animals. I could not finish all these in a day of course. I returned again to complete my walk. But however, there were still some which had gone into hiding when I was here. To cool myself off from the heat, I went into the Frozen Tundra to visit the Polar Bear. The enclosure was huge and capturing the shot of it would be a problem through the magnified glass. The Raccoon Dogs and Wolverine were sleeping on both my visits. Sad. It looked like I would need to return again. 

I visited the Fragile Forest. The glass exhibits comprised of toads, frogs and snakes. It was a test for your eyes because spotting them in the glass tank were not easy. I loved the area where there was a section for animal interaction. It was so up close and  I managed to touch one of them, the Ring Tailed Lemur. It was a fluffy and furry touch. 

It was indeed a wonderful experience having able to look at these beautiful animals of nature. I had signed up with Friends of Zoo to allow myself to have unlimited entries into the Zoo all year round. You would not know what to expect during each visit. Up next would be the Meerkats. Judging by the name, most of us had no idea what were they. But one look at the picture, you would be able to recall what they were especially when they were keeping a lookout for enemies.

There were lots more of animals in the zoo. I was pretty overwhelmed with the number of animals species that our Singapore Zoo could inhibit. It was an eye opener for me in my adult years as I had always thought that Zoo was boring, and what you see were animals. But upon visiting and exploring it, their little actions were those that you would not get to see everyday. How often do you see ducks standing like a flamingo on one leg? I have many more animals to share, so enjoy the beautiful pictures taken by me.

Upon exiting the Zoo, there were a small exhibit of the Cotton-Top Tamarin if you ever noticed located outside the souvenir shop. They were actually cute little monkeys running around on the trees, and what attracted the crowd was its miniature size. They were tiny. There was another similar exhibit near the Ah Meng enclosure within the Zoo, called the Red-Bellied Tamarin. 

Finally, lets look at floras and insects of Singapore Zoo. We had been viewing lots of animals, and not realizing it, the Zoo had breeded numerous insects to develop its ecology. Dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, spiders and some other insects which I had no idea what they were.

Visiting the Zoo was not boring at all. There were many discoveries awaiting us to explore, widening our knowledge of mother nature. It was indeed very educational not only for the kids but adults too. I believed that not all adults had seen these animals before and the mentality that Zoos were for kids were totally wrong. Learning is an everyday process. Before I end, I present the lazy squirrel and the little bat colony of the Singapore Zoo.

Nearest Station: Ang Mo Kio (take bus 138 from bus interchange)

                          Chua Chu Kang (take bus 927 from bus interchange)