Kids in Singapore: A Day at the Zoo

I love living in Singapore, it really is one of the greatest cities in the world. One of its best features is not unsung, but it deserves all of the credits it gets. Yes, the Singapore Zoo is high on my Top 10 things to do in Singapore list. Even better if you have kids.




Four Cousins at the Zoo













Open every day, from 9-6 the Singapore Zoo has to be one of the best zoo's in the whole world; free and open animal exhibits,creative use of space, ability to feed certain animals, interactive guides through out and oh yeah a totally kickin' water park on the back side. (If you still have strength you should check out the night safari!)








The water park

















Our strategy for the zoo is to get there early. Particularly on weekends… here’s a little secret about many Singaporean's; they sleep in on weekends. So, if you get to the Zoo around 9am you should find yourselves with the animals not crowds of people. Besides, by 2pm in the afternoon, it gets pretty darn hot even with the well designed zoo. So we try to get a big part of the zoo done early in the morning and hit the water park at the back side of the zoo in the afternoon to cool off.










White Tiger Exhibit























One of the great things about the zoo, other than the Polar Bear Exhibit (a long story), is most of the animals are native to SE Asia. The zoo has exhibits featuring the White Tiger which are totally amazing to see these creatures this close. The exhibit is also interactive with information about the Asian Tiger, its diminishing habitat and information on the white tiger (did you know that all white tigers are cousins to each other as they all have the same ancestor?). The zoo also has the Malaysian Tapir, a huge Orangutan exhibit, SE Asian Otters, Asian Elephants, Komodo Dragons, Proboscis Monkeys, Hornbills… in addition to the standard Lions, Zebras, Rhinos and the like.
















Feeding the tortoise










The kids love feeding time, in some places it is a talk by a keeper and in others for a small fee you can feed the animals. Some of the more popular animal talks/feedings are the pygmy hippos, the giraffes and rhinos, but we love the giant tortoise. Less crowded for Singapore $5 (about US$3.50) you get a bowl of fresh fruit and you get to walk around and interact with the tortoises while you feed them. My sister and her family visited us last summer and this was a highlight of the zoo for them.



















The whole zoo is a great place to hang out, you can have breakfast with the Orangutan, see a few shows, play in the water and head over to the night safari for dinner and a whole new zoo experience. I am torn between this or Sentosa being my number 1 for things to do in Singapore with the kids. What do you think?


Here are a few more fun pics from the zoo... click on them to see a larger size

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids