Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! - The Singapore Zoo and Night Safari

I don't like zoos, as a general rule.  I find it a bit depressing seeing animals pacing around in little cages with nowhere to go and not much to do and not really being where they are supposed to be.  And I guess it also has a bit to do with the animals being so familiar.  So I went to the Singapore Zoo with the idea that it would take 2 or 3 hours and I would move on to something.  By the end of the day, I was flagging a bit, but I had spent 7 hours there and found it very interesting.  It's not like a zoo that I think of.

There are not really cages.  They are habitat enclosures.  The animals have lots of room to roam.  Many times there are more than one animal in an enclosure.  There are barriers, water moats, fences, and the like, but overall, the seem to be far more natural barriers than metal bars.

There are also lots of opportunities to interact with animals.  They can sometimes pretty much reach out and touch visitors.

And there are animal feeding times, when instead of the handlers and zookeepers doing that duty, visitors are allowed to do it.










It was a very pleasant experience.

And there were other usual characters as well, like the chimpanzees.












Hmmm... I wonder what this one is doing.  There is no smoking in the zoo, but it looks like maybe someone saw something anyway.
















Another feature of the Singapore Zoo is the nearby night zoo.  Most tropical animals are nocturnal (humans being a notable exception, where instead of doing the smart thing that most other animals do, which is sleep and rest during the hottest part of the day, we continue working and tiring ourselves out), and are most active at night.  So the Night Safari gives people the chance to see animals in a nighttime setting.  Now, my camera isn't the best for night photography, so you will have to mostly take my word for it.  The enclosures are the same sort of arrangement, with animals able to come right up to the tram we rode in.  And there are plenty of animals to see.  There is even a show to see called Creatures of the Night, with animals performing some of their natural behaviours and being generally amazing.  Although, I preferred to zoo, just for being able to move about more, and for generally higher value for the money, the Night Safari was also very interesting.

This serval was a part of the show.

If you don't like zoos, I think you might like these ones in Singapore.  I sure did.