I had heard mixed reviews from other backpackers, but I quite enjoyed it, as you get to see animals that are normally sleeping in the day and active at night. I give the Night Safari 2 thumbs up.
Unlike the zoo, these animals are in enclosures
Take the included tram for a good overview, and some ecological/environmental appeals (yeah), and then do the long loop walk to get up close and personal (includes some areas not covered by the tram)
Tip: go early, plan on enough time, and take the SAExp bus (at least back – much faster and it runs later; only S$4.50/US$3.60 each way; my trip back to Little India was only 25 minutes, as opposed to an hour and almost as much via MRT plus bus from Ang Mo Kio MRT station)
Tip: you can almost forget about photos, as no flash allowed (unless you have some serous camera equipment)
Besides the usual African animals there were also of interest:
- An artificial cave with critters
- Red & Brown Giant Flying Squirrel – it actually looked like a huge squirrel sitting on a tree branch (the size of a small-to-medium dog!). He didn’t fly while I was there, but still…
- Asian Small Clawed Otter – 3 of them, all obviously looking at me, making quite the whining sounds
- Mouse Deer – super tiny deer-like things (the size of a cat)
- Malaysian Flying Fox (bats) – in a walk-in aviary where they hang 2m away from you and fly right by you, feasting on fruit (strung up by the staff) – do they really eat watermelon in the wild? (the bats are harmless but they warn people afraid of bats to maybe not enter)
- Several species of civet (a type of wild cat) – their scent is used in perfumes (in diluted form)
- Slow Loris – small mammal that produces venom! (because it’s so slow?)
- Asian golden cat – sleeping on a tree branch, with legs hanging off either side (much like Susan’s cats do on her arm!)
- Striped Hyena (spotted ones as well)
- Lesser Mousedeer – the smallest hoofed animal
- Barking Deer (sound like dogs) – though they didn’t bark while I was there
- Pangolin – looks like an albino armadillo, but unrelated. They were sleeping though
Aside: I still think that the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay building looks more like pangolins than durians - Various rhinos – unlike the ones I saw in Africa, these ones looked like they were wearing 4 pieces of plate mail armour
- Fishing Cat – I saw them standing by the water staring intently, but unfortunately did not see them jump in to catch fish. Although one of them did walk belly-deep in water a few times!
- fyi: Lions and tigers can interbreed but the offspring are sterile. The hybrid of a male tiger and female lion is called a tigon, and the reverse is known as a liger
- Also, they have a cool lit bursting fountain in the courtyard off to the side
Remember you can click on photos to see the full-size version:
