Fun and Flames at the Singapore Night Safari

As the sun began to set and Singapore Zoo closed its doors at the end of another day, a large crowd of people descended upon the Night Safari next door.

Featuring 51 exhibits and home to over 1000 animals, Singapore Night Safari is a unique and exciting way to see nocturnal creatures up-close and, more importantly, awake.

So many of my dreams as a child were destroyed when I would excitedly gallop towards the tiger and lion exhibits at London Zoo, only to see the animals napping out of view, or snoozing behind bushes. They were always asleep! 

At the Night Safari I could FINALLY get to see all of these nocturnal animals wide awake and on the prowl.

A word of warning, though. 95% of the photos you take will end up looking like this.

There are four main things to do at the Night Safari:

• See the tribal dance and fire eating show.
• Watch the Creatures of the Night show.
• Take a ride on the Night Safari tram.
• Explore the four walking trails.

I started off my evening with the fire eating show because I am a pyromaniac who likes to look at half-naked men.

By sipping at a mysterious liquid, ingesting a ball of fire, and then spitting it from their mouths, the guys were able to shoot flames several metres into the air. At one point, three guys managed to keep the same fireball in the air for five minutes straight!

As soon as the fire show ended, I rushed over to check out the Creatures of the Night show. Although clearly aimed more towards children, I still found the show to be very entertaining – especially when a 10 foot python was pulled out from underneath the audience’s seats!

The show aims to highlight the talents and survival skills of nocturnal animals and featured a raccoon, otters, leopards, hyenas and a barn owl.

My favourite part was the otter that had been trained to recycle – it was able to separate aluminium, plastic and glass and place them in the correct bin!

At the end of the show, I was still pretty shaken up by having had a python lurking under my seat for half an hour and desperately needed to calm my nerves. I decided to check out the tram ride so at least I would be able to hyperventilate with a cool breeze in my face.

On the tram, you get to see the majority of the attractions while being lazy and not having to move. There is a guide at the front of the tram car narrating our journey through each habitat and providing us with funny and interesting facts about the animals.

As flash photography is banned, it was impossible to get any focused shots of the animals and I actually enjoyed sitting back and enjoying the passing scenes without having to worry about taking photos.

As the tram ride drew to a close, I had been on my feet for over eight hours and I was absolutely exhausted so I decided to skip the walking trails this time. If you’re going to do the Zoo and Night Safari in the same day, like I did, then make sure to pace yourself!

Although my feet felt like they were about to fall off and I was nearly falling asleep, the Night Safari was completely worth the exhaustion! It was so much fun and I loved getting to see animals that are usually asleep in zoos wide awake and active.

I will definitely be returning next time I am in Singapore. 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ticket from Singapore Night Safari in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed, as always, are my own. 

Posted by Lauren.