Day 15 - Singapore's (a) Zoo

After semi-resolving my Indian issue I ate at one of the mall food courts.  I have discovered at least 10 malls and I am sure there are many more.  Each one has a monster food court covering an entire floor or more.  My meal was nothing remarkable, so we'll skip to my activities for the day.

I decided to splurge and do a (relatively) expensive activity.  I went to the Singapore Zoo!  It's supposed to be one of, if not the best zoo in the world.  It cost me $20SD for the basic admission.  I think everyone else bought the tram combo, but I didn't know why at the time.

The zoo has the advantage of being in a natural tropical rain forest.  I guess this makes the animals happy, although I found it muggy as always.

The Singapore Zoo does one thing really well, but it's a huge thing.  The zoo has very few glass or plastic walls.  Instead, the zoo uses elevation changes, water, or angled fences to act as barriers.  This way, you can see the animals with crystal clarity.  It also seems much nicer for the animals to have wide open space instead of cages.  It also means the public can feed the animals pretty easily, which is a lot of fun.  In some areas, you are able to go into the "cage".  The safe animals are allowed to just roam free in the area and are happy to come up and stare at you curiously.

I can say after visiting that even if some other zoos are bigger or have more rare animals, the Singapore zoo was certainly the most memorable for me.  There is something more engaging about having a lemur hanging from the tree one foot in front of your face with just air between you.

Two white tigers!  Very cool.



Mouse deer.  No barrier.



Lemur right above my head!

 

Baby kangaroo having lunch.  No barrier!

 

Mohawk birds that followed me around.

 

Pretty cute isn't he?

I took a ton of pictures, but these represent a cool sample.  I have a few good videos too.  If you ever go to Singapore, go to the zoo for sure.  American zoos just won't seem as exciting from now on.  Although in the US, we have idiots who provoke the animals, climb into the cages, and die.  In Singapore, people actually do what the signs say.  Even though they could run up and try to pet the kangaroo, they see the sign about kangaroos killing people with one kick, and they stay back.  How logical.