- To skip the story and just buy skip-the-line Singapore Zoo tickets, head here. For tickets including a transfer, head here.
In many ways, aside from the notable addition of booze, I pretty much like what I’ve liked since I was a child. I like going on boats, I like cake, I like accumulating stuffed animals, and I like seeing real ones. Therefore, I really rather like going to the zoo.
I’m well aware that to get proper traveller points you’re supposed to get your wildlife-spotting kicks after spending six days trekking through Congolese jungle for a brief glimpse of a mountain gorilla or volunteering for four weeks as a turd-shoveller in a remote Chinese panda sanctuary. But I’m lazy, and think the idea of a quick fix spotting session with lots and lots of animals that aren’t going to be hiding is an excellent one.
I’ll leave the ethical arguments over zoos to others, but suffice to say that if there is a better one in the world than Singapore Zoo, then I’d love to see it.
Pioneering enclosures at Singapore Zoo
Singapore Zoo has long been a pioneer. It’s extremely well respected in terms of how the animals are treated, the breeding programmes of endangered species have seen impressive results, and the enclosures are imaginatively thought out.
It’s about as far removed from the bad old image of miserable creatures in rusty cages as you can get. Wherever possible, creatures are kept apart (and away from potential human targets) by the use of water. Deceptively deep moats run around most of the enclosures, whilst any walls and fences are cunningly concealed with billowing rainforest plants. Many of the enclosures seem to run into each other without perceptible joins, and some sprawl above the pathways. You can stroll through to find a baby orang-utan following its mum along an overhead branch. And, yes, baby orang-utans are as cute as they sound.
Elephant enclosure at Singapore Zoo
If you have to pick one place to hang out, it’s the elephant enclosure. It’s a playground with numerous viewing platforms. And there’s clearly an emphasis on keeping the heffalumps stimulated. Paintings by the big boys – the product of giving them a brush and easel to play with – can be found sporadically across the zoo. We turn up as one is getting Frisbee lessons. She stands in the water as the keeper throws it. She tries to catch it in her mouth, and when she drops it, she passes it back. If she catches it, she tosses it back towards the keeper with her trunk and then gets a food reward. It’s a privilege to watch the training in action – and it’s merely a variation on the training domesticated elephants have had for centuries.
Animal-feeding at Singapore Zoo
Where Singapore Zoo really wins, however, is on animal-feeding experiences. We succumb and buy a $5 basket of food for the manatees, which swim up to the edge of their pool and suck in bits of carrot and potato through their weirdly spiky mouths.
Baboons at Singapore Zoo
The great entertainers, though, are the baboons. There are seemingly hundreds of them in an enclosure that’s probably bigger than Monaco. Personally, I could watch them for hours as they squabble, annoy each other and run to mum for a cuddle. At feeding time, however, they turn into right show-offs. The moment they sense bananas are going to be thrown, they adopt different tactics. Some run to the shallows to make brazen appeals, others sit on rocks showing their backsides, doing handstands and jumping up with jazz hands. Others try nicking bananas from their colleagues then running away before they get a beating, but the standard of the catching is often Paul Collingwood-esque.
Around five hours after entering, we’ve seen hundreds of creatures, had a thoroughly enjoyable time and marvelled at the settings. You can keep your gorilla trekking, thank you.
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