Michael & Yuhui – Our Life Journey

2007-04-28 Visit to Singapore Night Safari

We visited the Singapore Night Safari for the first time recently as an impromptu activity for a Saturday evening (Actually Yh has been there twice already as part of school and work in the past). We had gotten there a little earlier and managed to catch a quick show next to Bongo Burgers about how tribesman used their weapons to catch food and some tribal games. The crowd there caught us a little by surprise as the place was filled with tourists and locals alike. Guess everyone loves a little “wild” adventure at night.

Luckily, Eunice & Sean were both free so they joined us at Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant for some dinner before we started our night trekking.

There was a variety of local signature dishes to try out and we decided in the end to order BBQ Sambal Stingray, chicken wings as well as a plate of Fried mee goreng and Seafood fried rice.

Well, this being a tourist spot, the prices were definitely on the high side but we all agreed that the food was better than average without having too much of a waiting time.

After enjoying our dinner at the very nicely decorated restaurant, we got ourselves admission tickets (4 adults @ $20/each) without the tram ride since we wanted to have a nice walk. Luckily, our timing was perfect as the first “Creatures of the Night Show” at the Amphitheater was about to start at 2030. We soon found ourselves seated at the Amphitheater and got seats right at the back (it seems our timing was just nice as we were the last batch granted entry!). The place was packed and everyone waited eagerly for the show to start. The host came out soon after and reminded everyone to NOT use flash photography and to keep food safely away so as not to distract the animals.

The show started with some Fishing Cat’s coming out to play at the water and then later two Hyena’s came out atop the rock outcropping as part of the stage. There was a funny moment when the host mentioned that they had misplaced something and later found it (a HUGE python) right underneath a few audience’s bench. We also had a brief segment on the important of recycling taught by a racoon and a family of otters (which was quite funny as one of the otters kept throwing away a can and then having it appear magically in the paws again). 

After the show ended, we got started on our trek for the night as we headed towards the “Fishing Cat Trail”. Our first glimpse of the night wildlife was a very cute mousedeer and it foraged for food.

We also caught sight of the fishing cats that had made an appearance in the show earlier and also a pond filled with Indian Gharials. The girls were amusingly frightened of any tiny movements the gharials made . There was one point along the trail when we first came upon a huge “DO NOT CROSS” painted on the ground and a very misty area. We were quite puzzled as to what it was and stood around taking photos of the misty effect (Sean & Eunice hamming it up like ghosts). To our amusement, a tram suddenly drove up through the mist and headed towards us as we quickly stepped out of its way! That taught us a good lesson in reading what the warning signs says

The rest of the trail was pretty interesting also as we strained our eyes to catch glimpses of the creatures mentioned on the trail’s map. Unfortunately, my trust camera decided to give up on the batteries that I replaced the old ones with and so didn’t have any more photos after the leopard enclosure. We also caught sight of giraffe’s just past the East Lodge (Yh’s favorite) and some lions later on. After passing the “Bridge of Suspense” some 2 hours later, we found ourselves back at the entrance of the night safari as we took a group photo to remember the night by. Definitely an interesting place to visit if you haven’t done so but think our next trip there shall be when we have kids

Singapore Night Safari
80 Mandai Lake Rd
Singapore 729826