River Safari

Finally, I've waited long enough for the soft opening of River Safari, Asia's first and only river theme wildlife park..it is just next to the Singapore Zoo, very convenient. Just take Mrt to Ang Mo Kio station, go to bus interchange to take bus 138 and it will send you to the doorstep in comfort.

I feel like I'm growing with the zoo, just that she is growing better and I'm growing older..haha..I fell in love with the zoo when I was 4 since the day my dad brought me to ride a white horse that was 3 times my height..now kids ride pony instead of horse in the zoo, and the last time I saw my white horse was 5-6 years ago in Children's World before they renovated..my white horse was sooo old and weak then, felt sad to part with him soon..why do I had to study so long to get to work and then could afford to go to zoo more often to see him?sigh...

Anyway, I'm glad that Singapore Zoo has delivered her new baby, River Safari. Although it was a soft launch and a lot of exhibits will not be ready, I went on the very first day it opened, 3rd of April 2013. I tried my best to reach there by 9am opening time but I overslept :p I read that River Safari gave 5 of those visitors who waited for the gate to open a River Safari membership..I was half hour late for it..so disappointed..I think I deserve the membership because I'm a true fan of Singapore Zoo! I visit the zoo at least 3 times a year! I can tour the zoo without a map at all!

River Safari consists of animals that live in and along the following rivers:

• Mississippi River
• Congo River
• River Nile
• Ganges River
• Murray River
• Mekong River
• Yangtze River

I was sooo excited to see the famous Mekong River where they have many legendary huge catfish! I always watch Jeremy Wade's River Monster in Animal Planet, he caught all giants of the rivers like tigerfish, alligator gar, catfish, piranha, sting ray....

So here we go! To the River Safari!

"Your journey starts here"

 There are fishes on the floor!

There are fishes on the ceiling!

Colourful map. Sad to say, the boat ride is not ready until later this year, which means most exhibitions on the top right are not opened :(

Alligator snapping turtle, my favourite fierce turtle..look like prehistorical creature..

Mississippi Paddlefish..it opens its mouth wide to suck up all the food like whale shark.

Ferocious tiger fish..this is like a baby, you should see the one Jeremy Wade caught..

Big right?! 

Alligator gar

Mekong fish tank! Nice and big, full of catfish!

Cute cute alligator..smiling face

Pandastic! I'm here again! But the cashier told me Jia Jia is abit stressed out and shy so she will not behave normally..

Who so fluffy playing behind the tree?

Red pandas! So cute!!!!!!!!!

They keep chasing each other around the woods..you see the tail, so fluffy I can die!!

Naughty face

Jia Jia sleeping..I hope she's ok..

Kai Kai as usual, not shy and loves to poise..the National Geographic channel will show the breeding project of Kai Kai and Jia Jia this Sunday at 9pm called "Panda's Wild Move"! Do catch if you are free.

One thing I love about the zoo is they never forget to let visitors to enjoy the scenery while walking around the place or when taking a rest..

Cute cute squirrel monkey..they used to be outside of Fragile Forest in the zoo. Love their yellow socks

Then there is another air-con place with tanks again! So exciting! What are there this time?!

Cute otter! I remember there is one called Pedro which used to be the mascot of zoo for awhile..

So this is the tank full of Dugong (Manetee) in Amazon flooded forest. There are actually also Piranha tank, electric eel etc but I hate to take pictures of fast swimmers in dark tank..

Finally, it's the end of the River Safari so far..not many things, I didn't get to see Beavers, Jaguar, Anteater, Tapir etc..I will come back again when they have "hard opening" :) I'm still loyal to the zoo one...please give me free membership leh....

Ok, it was sooooo warm and humid, I can't help but to spend a bit to drink in their River Safari Tea House just at the entrance/exit. What would be the theme of the tea house?

Chinese theme! 

When I entered, the place was playing chinese orchestra music from Wong Fei Hong's movie..so cute.

I ordered ice kopi at $4.80..super big cup and sweet...ohhhh..love it..

And we tried their Hainanese Curry Chicken at $11.90. Great taste too, we finished the gravy until the last drop...

Overall for this soft opening, I enjoyed the less crowded atmosphere, although there are school children visiting at the same time which was super noisy and annoying, they should be educated to love animals and protect the nature. I hope they did learn something there. 

Just a suggestion, I hope River Safari can put more fans to cool down visitors and maybe more sitting areas and vending machines. It's getting really warm..

Can't wait for River Safari to open officially! Keep up the good work!

Check out their beautiful website at http://riversafari.com.sg/

I previously also blogged about Singapore Zoo with Panda, in case you have missed it.

Yours faithful fan who hope to get a free zoo/night safari/river safari membership.

xoxo

Singapore Zoo with Panda!

You may think that I'm crazy but I visit the zoo more than 3 times a year. I know some locals have not visited in many many years, but I tell you, Singapore Zoo is the best zoo that I've visited compared to other countries. The admission fee is only $20 and the panda viewing ticket costs an extra $5 on top of the zoo ticket. If you are an OCBC credit card holder, you will get 5% discount (which is $1 off). NTUC credit card holder has more discount. Call me auntie if you want, but I will always ask for discounts.

You can take bus 138 at Ang Mo Kio Mrt to reach the Zoo. When we were about to queue for the bus, we saw a board with panda on it, saying that the viewing of panda had been fully booked. I called up the number stated on the board to confirm and the person who picked up my call said it was true, by the time we reached there, we will never make it to see the panda. It is a first come first serve basis, so even if we go to the zoo early in the morning, we may or may not be able to see them.

Being a sturbborn Singaporean, I still went up the bus and head my way to the zoo. Fingercrossed. 

We headed straight to the ticket queue (super long!) and we saw that we still have chance to see the pandas! So moral of the story, do not give up. 

 Can you imagine I reached there at 12pm but the earliest slot to see the pandas was 4.40pm. Oh goodness...how do we spend the rest of the day when I've seen the animals upteen times already?

So we decided to walk around in the zoo like it's our first visit...

Finally! It's 4.20pm! I hurry my way to queue for the panda viewing with my tickets! Woohoo! The weather was so warm but it doesn't spoil our excitment. When it was our turn, we were released to walk through part of the River Safari (opening soon next year), we passed by alot of fish tanks and I can smell the new paint. Some tanks already have water in it, nice and clear...I will definitely visit River Safari once it is opened!

And then...we were brought to another place to queue again.....We were informed not to get too excited and make loud noises in the exhibition because it will make the panda very stressed up. And so we walked in.

The exhibition is built like a dome (something like Gardens by the Bay) and it is air conditioned. It was like we have walked into a cool little garden. We walked passed the lab and food making room where the keepers used to prepare the pandas' food. I thought they only eat bamboo shoots but apparently they are fed with some other food so that they get all the nutrients they need that bamboo shoots do not provide sufficiently. Alot of work right...

And then.....we met Jia Jia, the female panda. She was quite shy, always hid behind and wanted to go back to her room on top of the stairs. I think she knew she's going to knock off soon..

We walked on to see Kai Kai, the male panda. He was pacing around also, very restless but at some point, he poised to let everyone take his pictures. Very professional.

After about 10-15mins, we were asked to leave so that the next batch of visitors can come in. We walked passed the souvenior store (where I bought Kai Kai and Jia Jia glow in the dark keychains at $4.90 each) and then to Mama Panda Kitchen.

While my friend went to the toilet, I check the restaurant out. The place was decorated in china theme, red lanturns, and full of pandas' pictures..

Then something on the menu struck me...... Panda Bao! They are actually made of lotus paste and nicely steamed..so cute! I bought them but can't bear to eat them...each cost about $2.90.

Out of the restaurant, we saw nice scenery, abit kampong style. This will be part of the River Safari..so peaceful. we sat there for a moment to enjoy the breeze.

Finally, we decided to call it a day. It was really nice to see that the pandas are well taken care of. I hope they will bear some Singaporean panda babies so that Singapore can get to keep them forever and send the parents back to China.....for retirement...hehe..

So if you have not seen the pandas in your life, please go and see them, they are so adorable..but do remember to be prepared to stay until late afternoon as the tickets are sold out really fast. The last visiting slot for panda is 5pm, while the zoo closes at 6pm. Night Safari opens at 7pm, you can visit the night safari too after the day zoo.

Really enjoyed my zoo trip, once again. Bye bye for now.....

xoxo