Singapore: Night Safari

When we told people we were visiting Singapore, the first thing most said (at least those who had been there) was "you have to visit the Night Safari." According to their website, the Night Safari offers guests the chance to explore wildlife in a tropical jungle at night. The park opens at 7 pm, which is right around the time the sun sets every night in Singapore. Since they are located so close to the Equator, there is not much change in the sunset time. You can explore numerous paths & trails or take a trolley ride around the entire park to view the animals. They also have some shows and as we discovered when we visited, a pretty awesome food court.

Towards the end of our first full day in Singapore, we boarded a bus in the center of the city and they drove us out to the Night Safari. Since the park is only open for a few hours of the day, the attractions fill up pretty quickly. As soon as we arrived, we raced to the Trolley to take the park tour. Then we saw lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my! Just kidding. Although we did see two out of the three.

It was difficult to get pictures because of the dark but we were able to capture some great video clips. We were able to take a cool shot of the porcupines after their quills flared out. And if you look really closely in the second picture, you may see a rhino.

While some of the animals were behind a stone wall or a small stream to prevent them from walking up to the trolley, many were not. We had deer walking right next to us. Oh and this guy...

Just kidding. He was in a cage. And it a good thing because I would have run screaming from the park otherwise. After the trolley tour, we intended to see the animal show but the current showing was sold out. So we checked out the delicious food court I mentioned. We had yummy Cantonese & Indian cuisine and I decided to try a Singapore Sling. It ended up being the first of many. This is probably one of the best drinks ever! They were invented at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the recipe is below:

30 ml Gin
15 ml Cherry Brandy
120 ml Pineapple Juice
15 ml Lime Juice
7.5 ml Cointreau
7.5 ml Dom Benedictine
10 ml Grenadine

A Dash of Angostura BittersGarnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry

Not sure where I will pick up Angostura BittersGarnish in Hong Kong or New York, but I will certainly try.

After finishing our meal, we suddenly had a burst of energy and decided to check out the trails. That of course led to us wrestling a couple boars. Naturally we won. Then we made our way back to the bus and called it a night.

Our first day in Singapore was a blast and we couldn't wait to explore more the next day!