We heard the Singapore Zoo was one of the best zoos in the world and we decided to go and have a look see for ourselves and what a zoo it is . Normally I don’t have any time for zoo’s, I find them sad and depressing most of the time. Animals out of their natural environment in enclosures too small or unsuitable in other ways but this zoo was a revelation. You are practically walking amongst the beasts. The first things we say were the crocodiles and they had walkways criss-crossing their enclosure so you could get up close and as personal as you might like to get with them. White tiger’s, proboscus monkeys, Elka loved them, big red arsed baboons, Axel loved them. A huge number of exhibits, the best of which for me and Lisa had to be the Orangutangs. They have a really big group of them here and their enclosure is huge. You walk below them as they move about over the pathways in the trees and on ropes above and you can walk higher into the trees onto platforms to view them. They can’t get down from the trees outside their enclosure as they are gently electrified but they can climb down the ones inside.
The zoo train which goes on a regular route around the zoo is a god send as the city is hot and sticky and when you see the animals cooling off in the rivers and lakes the only thing you want to do is strip off and jump in . A few stops for drinks , lunch with decent food and some Ben and Jerrys ice cream allowed us some reprive from the heat . We had planned to go back to the hotel for a wash and head to Raffles for a Singapore Sling but the leg would’nt move and one look at the tired faces of the kids we decided to give it a miss .
I know Singapore is not the most democratic of democracies, they have laws against everything but as a place to spend a long weekend in south east asia it takes a lot of beating.