Singapore Zoo and River Safari 2016

It seems like a yearly affair to visit Singapore Zoo and River Safari. Singapore Zoo is one of the best rainforest zoo in the world. I was here last year in July and this year I'm back again.

I took a train down to Choa Chu Kang. After which, cut through Lot 1 to their bus stop and wait for bus 927. It will take you to Singapore Zoo. Learning lesson from my last visit, we went to 7 eleven at Lot 1 to purchase mineral water before heading to zoo. The stuffs sell at zoo is overpriced. We reached the zoo at 1 plus in the afternoon.

Malyan Tapir.

They are one of the 5 species of Tapir and Malayan Tapir can be easily identified by their black and white body.They are closely related to rhinos and horses. In fact, they are the only tapir species in Asia.

White Tiger.

Everytime I visit, the white tigers were usually sleeping. I guess afternoon is their nap time.
The white tiger habitat is landscaped to resemble a dense jungle clearing.

Caught these birds stood root on the ground and staring at us. So I did a naughty thing, I banged on the fence to test the reaction of them. Woot, they did jerk a bit.

Reached Great Rift Valley.

Treated to a view of the majestic mountains, rugged terrain and waterfalls of the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia.

The lonely polar bear swimming in the pool.

It just kept swimming round and round, the same old spot, doing same old routine.

White rhinoceros.

They are the second largest land mammal after the elephant. They usually feed on short grasses.

Cheetah.

The big cats all love to sleep in the afternoon, just like the white tiger.

They are always sleeping whenever we visit.

Zebras.

Zebras are closely related to horses and donkeys.

Their black and white stripes work like camouflage, making it appear unattractive to smaller predators.

Giraffe.

We arrived at the Giraffe feeding time and saw some visitors feeding the Giraffe. They do have long tongue that will leave saliva on the visitor's hand.

One lonely Giraffe that didn't join the feeding.

Being tall and able to reach out to the leaves on the trees, Giraffe spends most of the day eating.

Even the leopard was sleeping too.

Leopard and cheetah looks so alike, I always have a hard time differentiating them.

How I differentiate is that Cheetah's spots is solid black.

The view from tropical crops.

It brought serene and peace to me. Taking a break from our busy lives and admiring such a view makes us appreciate the nature beauty more.

I love visiting the goats at Rainforest Kidzworld.

They are so many of them and they will come look for you when you feed them with leaves.

We went back to the polar bear habitat on our way out to enjoy the aircon.

And we discover the bear has come up from the pool for some sun tanning. A nice of the polar bear.

Since it's only 4pm and time was early, we headed over to River Safari since my friend has never been to River Safari.

The Mekong giant freshwater stingray and giant catfish, the world’s largest freshwater animal species.

Kai Kai just loved eating.

He seemed to be very happy eating the leaves.

With the pandas, so adorable.

They are one of the world’s most adored and protected rare animals. With only 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild, there is a need for wildlife protection and conservation.

Dropped by Mama Panda Kitchen for Panda Pau.

That's so called my lunch. The pau wasn't very fantastic but good for photo-taking.

It was a picturesque sight that I couldn't resist not taking photos when we passed by. 

Since I have took before the River Safari Cruise, decided not to take this time as there wasn't much things to see except for the green scenery.

Brought the birthday boy to River Safari because he has not visit before. 

We took the Amazon River Quest.

This wet and wild journey gave us an unique perspective on life along the mighty river.

Ended our River Safari tour and call it a day.

Happy birthday in advance to my buddy, hope you have an enjoyable day out to Zoo and River Safari. Hope you like this birthday outing.

A Trip to Singapore Zoo

Finally met up with my childhood friend, Jessie, again after a long time (about 9 months I guessed). Jessie had just finished her exam and is having her school holiday now. So envy lor, I want long holiday also!!!

We met up with each other on a Sunday noon for zoo. The last time I went to zoo was like nearly 10 years ago and zoo is one of places of attraction that I really want to visit.

The 2 of us made our trip down to Singapore Zoo located at Mandai Lake Road. It took us nearly one of the half hour to reach the destination. Though the journey time may seemed long, but both of us didn't feel it as we had way to much things to catch up and update on.

Yes, we finally reached Singapore Zoo.

The ticket to zoo costs $22 per person. The ticket is exclusive of admission to River Safari, Jia Jia and Kai Kai, I will come visit you again some other days.

Do you know?

Singapore Zoo is one of the best zoos in the world.

Singapore Zoo has been known for having among the most beautiful wildlife park settings in the world, where animals roam freely in open and naturalistic habitats. It creates a more interactive and upclose experience for the visitors. It brings the animals and visitors together in one space for incredibly intimate encounters.

You will see what I mean later. Super excited to start exploring the zoo. We walked through a forest canopy that brought us closer to the nature and its wildlife.

Cotton-top Tamarin was found swinging around the tree trunk. Hmm, what did the cute monkey found?

With my childhood bff - Jessie.

Though we have not meet for a long time, we still have endless things to talk about. Love meeting up with old friends.

Flamingos next.

Wow, look at their super long stick legs! They can even balance themselves while standing on one leg. 

We passed by the free-ranging area for the Orang Utans.

The absence of walls and the inclusion of the raised boardwalk allow us to have a good angle looking at what the orang utans are doing. It allows them to move and swing around freely too.

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So sad, when I passed by the Frozen Tundra, the exhibit for polar bear was empty. Aww, where did the polar bears go????

4 white rhinoceros eating grass together.

The white rhinoceros have a huge body but a short neck.

The zebra was walking close to us.

They belonged to the horse family and their distinctive black and white stripe makes them unique.

Each of them has their own unique stripe patterns if you look closely.

Looking at the zebras reminded me of a documentary video that I watched recently.

The video was actually about a zebra crossing the river and was bitten by a crocodile. It was a very gruesome video because when the zebra came out of the water, you could see its bloody organ about to detach from its body. Gosh!

A lonely warthog loitering in the grassland. It is a member of wild pig.

It reminded me of 2NE1's song:

"Baby I'm so lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely"

We met the tallest living animal  - giraffe.

The first thing that came to my mind was: "Kwang Soo, you are here!!!!"

Wow, giraffe really had a long neck. Not only that, it also had a long tongue where it can reach its nose.

Their patch pattern is to allow them to camouflage and blend in to the woods and bushes.

We crossed over to the cat country and invaded the lion's territory. See, it was roaring. 

Wow, the lion on the left seemed so skinny. But don't be little them, they can kill their preys within seconds.

Lion is also known as the king of jungle, they position themselves as the best predator.

Er, is the other lion looking at me and about to get up? Okay, I better move on before it walked towards me.

Located far in the north of Singapore is the beautiful Seletar Reservoir. 

The scene is so captivating. Our fresh water is surrounded by the adjacent greenery.

A day out with my childhood friend is a day well spent.

We knew each other when we were 4 years old. Waaa, how many years had passed already?

Now I am so old already -_-

Mandrills on the tree trunk.

So many different types of Monkey in the zoo, so hard to differentiate them.

Regretted bringing a small water bottle, I finished it within the first hour. I had to spend $2 to bring a bottle of mineral water. So expensive la.

The weather was super duper hot. Lucky I brought a cap along.

At least my face was not exposed to the blazing sun. 

 Spotted 2 chimpanzees. 

Chimpanzees are actually highly intelligent animals. A multi-tiered timber platform structure with planted fallen tree trucks and a series of overhanging forest vines create a lofty playland for the chimpanzees to exercise and enjoy.

Wow, within an hour, we had already finished half of our journey.

Next, we arrived at Rainforest Kidzworld.

Wow, it was the kids' heaven where they had a splashing good time in a watery playground, spend time with farmyard animals.

At the pony stable.

They looked so poor thing, they had to be separated one in a cubicle.

The cute little goat came close to us. 

There were actually so many little goats.

The zookeeper treated them really good. He hugged the little goats and patted them.

The little boy was feeding the goat with some grasses.

I wanted a shot with the goats too. 

The weather was blazing hot. I need to seek some shelter.

Finally we found a shelter, we were now at the African Penguin zone.

Surprisingly, the African Penguins like warm weather. All of them were up sun-tanning. 

Both of us had a great time visiting the animals. 

Missing the old good time when we hang out together.

The place offered a magnificent view of Seletar Reservoir.

Living in a fast paced society, we always have to quicken our pace in order to catch up with everybody. But sometimes in life, we need to take a break too and take a look at the beautiful surrounding around us. 

We were now at Elepants of Asia waiting for the animal show.

Despite being there 20 minutes earlier than the showtime, we could not found any seat left. So we stood all the way - hot and tiring.

Catch the elephants in action.

Providing unobstructed views of the elephant’s playground, this exhibit is equipped with a number of enrichment devices such as play logs to challenge our elephants physically and to stimulate them mentally.

All of them were moving into the water and came close to the audience.

The residential elephants were all female. They came from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The elephants were all trained in Sri Lankan language.

I just saw the zookeeper threw the whole papaya into the elephant's mouth. Wow, that was how big their mouth is.

The front few rows were warned as it was the splashing zone.

The area was fronted by a generous water pool where the audience might find the elephants taking a dip or playfully showering each other, even between shows!

Look, the audience came prepared. Umbrella defence.

Time to see the elephants at work. 

See how it balanced walking on a log.

The elephants were all tired and they went to sleep except for the last one.

And when the other three elephants woke up, she went to sleep.

So funny.

On our way down, we met the grey kangaroo.

It could hop around with great speed. 

The kangaroo was happily eating the grass and ignored us.

The last animal, Babirusa.

The word "Babi" suggests, it belongs to the pig family. Babirusa is actually a Malay word, it means pig-deer.

We had completed our zoo trail. We left Singapore Zoo with aching legs and sweat all over.

Nevertheless, it was still a fulfilling trip. I love weekend like this where I spent quality time with my friend.