One of the most wonderful ways of spending your night under the stars and moonlight when you are in Singapore is to visit its Night Safari. It is the world's premier night zoo where over 1200 animals of over 110 exotic species to watch out for. It is a separate attraction from the Singapore zoo, though adjacent it is, and occupies around 40 hectares of secondary rainforest, bigger than that of the zoo which is about 28 hectares.
When visiting this attraction, I suggest you to be there before seven, around six o'clock would the best time to hang around and dine al fresco at Ulu Ulu Restaurant or at Bongo Burgers and get yourself a comfy spot to witness the Bornean Tribal Show at 6.30, savoring your burger whilst you will be entertained by hot tribal fire performers eating not burgers but ball of fire. Oh yes it is! And I mean it really!
After a moment with the gorgeous performers, you can soak in the night - time by hopping on a tram ride or do a walking trail to explore the entire safari. I will recommend you to see the big cats first as the feeding time is at 7.30. Here, you will get the excitement of seeing those hungry beasts gobble up the chunks of meat right before your eyes in an instant. You should really not miss this because after these cats had their meal, they usually just curl in one corner and sleep; hence, watching them in that way will not be that fun so make the most of the opportunity during the feeding time.
Next, proceed with your planned route. If you decide on a walking agenda, move on to the leopard trail first where you can find clouded leopard as well as binturong and Malayan civet. The trails are well-lit, enough for you to see the animals, yet the lights are not bright enough to become a distraction to them. The viewing hides have floor to ceiling windows, so you will certainly get the best close-up views of the animals and their every move. In fact, you can sit there for minutes just watching them and if you are lucky enough to capture some of their best moments on camera or get snapshots of them, then that's worth the wait. On this trail, you can also find giant squirrels housed in a dome-shaped net which is 10 meters high in a specially designed walk-through exhibit. You can continue with the rest of the designated trails in the safari or hop onto the tram that will take you on a journey to eight zones in this safari which include the Southeast Asian Rainforest, African Savanna, Napalese River Valley, South American Pampas and Burmese Jungle, where you can get up close with the animals, smell nature at its best (though it can get really smelly at times), and hear the roars and howls in the midst of the jungle.
After exploring the safari, don't forget to watch the "Creatures of the Night Show", a 20-minute display of nocturnal animals in the safari including hyena, owl, beaver and many more. There are few shows each night so if you have missed it earlier, you can always watch it later in the night. The best highlight of this show is the unexpected revelation of a whopping size reticulated python which is actually hiding in one of the row seats in front of the stage in which the visitors have no clue at all. I was there witnessing it. When the host acted out a scene that a huge snake was on the loose, the entire people were in mix hullabaloo and the scene just looked so real you would really have your heart pumping, wondering if it was really true. I was sitting on the highest level of the sitting arena so I could just watch in awe and terribly frightened too. When the visitors were asked to clear out the front row so that they could inspect if it was there, and alas, there they pulled out a huge python helped out by four strong animal trainers, that had me really dumbstricken! Geez! It made my heart pumped fast and my eyes bulged in disbelief! How in the world they could do that thing! What if...? And you know I wonder a lot so my mind was loaded with various questions. I always got nightmares of animals in the show hurting their trainers so I was just so concerned about the people below who occupied those seats. We would never know when this animal would strike you know - we could never tell and we would never know. So precautions are always important and always remember not to play with fire.
The Night Safari is open till midnight so make the most of your time when you are there. I did and although as much as I wished to heartily enjoy my dinner which consisted of a chicken-rice set, one of the most famous Singapore cuisines, I was shattered by its price. It cost me S$17 for that set and a glass of drink worth S$4 - very touristy-priced I must say, which could have cost me merely a quarter of its price when I had them at a hawker center here in Singapore. Call me cheapskate but that's just me! Oh well, there's nothing I could do about it. Tourist places like this always cost you a bomb especially in Singapore.
That's all for my Night Safari adventure so hope if you are coming to Singapore, don't miss out on this attraction.
