Singapore Night Safari

Been to the award-winning Night Safari before, but I distinctly remembering it was no fun. I and a colleague followed some walking trails. There were some signs indicating what animals were nearby, but we didn't see any. There were tigers and lions and leopards behind thick glass, but they're all nodding off. Since then, a lot of people have told me that it's great, so I decided to go again this time and try to change my impression.

The place opens at 7:30pm. I got there 8pm for an early start. First thing I noticed upon entering is this long queue of people waiting for the tram rides. The tram follows a 3.2-km trail that traverses the whole park. Now, why didn't I notice this before? Anyway, the 45-minute tram ride alone is worth the entrance fee of S$18. You get to see the nocturnal animals up close and personal in their natural environments. Passengers are advised not to use flash photography as this will disturb the animals. I had to switch my digital camera to night mode, which ups the ISO level, resulting in grainy, noisy pictures. If you look closely, you can still see the animals though.

I headed straight for the Creatures of the Night show after the tram ride. The show repeats every hour, but it's always jam-packed. A pair of binturongs opened the show by walking across a thick vine tightrope. They must be really hungry because they kept salivating. Next are the owls soaring above the heads of the crowd. A member of the audience was called onto the stage to play with the racoon. He (the racoon) was able to point out which closed fist is holding a grape. Quite neat. Best part of the show are these environmentalist otters. During the demonstration, they would pick up plastic bottles and cans with their two hands and drop then into the proper recycling bins. One of the small-clawed otter by the name of Pedro is actually "adopted" by Nokia. (A word from our sponsor.)

Spent the rest of the evening walking the leopard, forest giants, and fishing cat trails. Not much people around, so it wasn't that fun. And my digicam's no good in low-light conditions.