Our 261st entry in this blog is our first time trip to Singapore Zoo in Mandai, North Region, Singapore.

The Singapore Zoo, formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens or Mandai Zoo, is a 28 hectares zoo located on the margins of Upper Seletar Reservoir within Singapore’s heavily forested central catchment area.

It is operated by the Mandai Wildlife Group, which also manages the neighbouring Night Safari, River Wonders, Bird Paradise as well as the forthcoming Rainforest Wild Park.

Opened in 1973, there are about 315 species of animals, of which some 16 percent are considered to be a threatened species. The zoo attracts about 2 million visitors every year. -wiki

Singapore Zoo has always exhibited animals in naturalistic, ‘open’ exhibits with hidden barriers, moats, and glass between the animals and visitors.

It houses the largest captive colony of orangutans in the world. The Singapore Zoo has been highly ranked by various international metrics.

A quick lunch break from exploring the zoo. We tried on several kinds of dishes in there restaurant inside the area such as Chinese, Indian, and Western foods.

We rode the tram to go to different areas as the zoo is really wide.

The KidzWorld, located at the very north of the zoo. KidzWorld is home to many domestic animals like goats and rabbits and there are other attractions in it like a carousel and a splash pad.

Guests are allowed to closely interact with the animals and feed them.

Ate Rei and Sai are happy to spend time here as it is not crowded, very windy, relaxing, and the animals here are kind. hehe. You can even pet them.

We then proceed to the other areas where the wild ones are kept.

The Primate Kingdom consists of a large moat with several islands which house various monkeys and lemurs like black-and-gold howler monkeys, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, ring tailed lemurs, cotton-top tamarins, eastern black-and-white colobuses, De Brazza’s monkeys and some of the only red-shanked doucs in captivity.

Opened last 16 August 2017, RepTopia was a renovation of the 35 year old Snake House.

Several species of reptiles and amphibians are housed in four different regions, Deserts of the World, Indo-Pacific, Tropical Africa and Neotropical Rainforests; among them are crocodile monitors, electric blue geckos, Gaboon vipers, golden poison frogs, king cobras, Madagascar giant day geckos, plumed basilisks, reticulated pythons, veiled chameleons and western diamondback rattlesnakes. A behind-the-scenes facility is visible to the guests, allowing them to view the hatchery.

Tortoise Shell-ter. Formerly the Critters Longhouse, which housed small mammals, the building was transformed into the Tortoise Shell-ter in 2016, housing different species of tortoises such as Burmese star tortoises, Indian star tortoises, radiated tortoises and ploughshare tortoises, in seven enclosures, among other reptiles and birds. Each habitat is climate-controlled with special lighting, heating and humidity control.

Wild Africa. This area houses the zoo’s African savannah animals including white rhinos, Grévy’s zebras, Marabou storks, African painted dogs, cheetahs, red river hogs, meerkats, African lions, giraffes, and nyala antelopes.

We have been to several zoos in Japan but this one is Singapore is really amazing. We have never seen this many hyenas and cheetahs in one area.

And that was our half day (maybe 4 hours in total) exploration in Singapore Zoo. I don’t think we covered everything. We just got tired of walking and the heat is not much of a help. Hehe. But still, I can say this is the best zoo we have visited so far. 🙂