Thursday 4 July 2024

River Wonders and Night Safari

 

We navigated the hour transit on the Metro & bus, to the northern part of the island and the zoo complex. The area has four separate "zoo experiences". The first experience on the agenda was the River Wonders which is pretty well done with modern enclosures and lots of variety. The are different zones for different rivers of the world.


The maps show a clockwise circuit of the park, but for some reason we decided to be rebels. This meant that the Amazon was the first area we visited. I suspect that this is supposed to be one of the main highlights and to leave a lasting impression as you leave the park. The manatees were eating their lunch.




Unfortunately, the giant otters were sound asleep.
 

There were fish of all sizes, from giant catfish to tiny cardinal tetras.



The Amazon River Quest is an optional extra for a fee. Essentially, it's a flume ride with some animals beside the flume. Harry decided that we should ride in the 'Splash Zone', which he almost instantly regretted.

The main draw card for the Amazone River Quest is the three magnificent jaguars doing what cats, big and small, do best...
 


The Yangsi River zone is home to the pandas. The Panda connection to the Yangzi River is a stretch at best. But who doesn't love pandas? There was a lone red panda going about her business.



The star attractions were mother and son giant pandas. Although, that's a matter of personal preference depending on which panda species you think is the best.



There were more enormous catfish in the Mekong River section.


With the River Wonders well and truly covered, we had plenty of time to walk over to the Night Safari and find ourselves some dinner.


Despite some difficulties in sourcing food on this trip, some foreward research found us with some delicious food at the Ulu Ulu Restaurant within the Night Safari Zoo.


Our first move was to do a loop of the zoo on the "Tram" which is a glorified golf cart of sorts.


Most of the animals were up and about, with a couple of exceptions like the white tiger above. We don't have amny photos from the Night Safari because the light was terrible.


Above, a fishing cat is at the water's edge toward the top of picture. The school of koi are, rightly, keeping their distance.


I feel like we rushed the Night Safari but it has been a very long day and Harry was on the limit. There was an option to catch an express coach back to the city which ended up saving us nearly an hour in travel time and was much more comfortable than the way we had arrived.


The coach driver kindly dropped us within a couple of blocks of the hotel. Bed was a very welcome sight. We are planning to go to the water park on Sentosa tomorrow.