Mar 14 – Jake – Singapore
Kendall and I love animals. We both grew up with animals as part of our families. She had bunny rabbits, mice, hamsters, a ferret, cats, a dog, a baby chicken and probably more. I had several dogs, cats and three horses. So, we seek them out wherever we go, and especially enjoy seeing a new species for the first time. During our world trip, we have been lucky enough to see lots of fascinating animals at some of the best parks around. The highlight of our short stay in Singapore was the visit to three fantastic animal parks: Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoo, and Singapore Night Safari. Asia has a bad rap concerning zoos and wildlife parks, and this is generally an apt label. The money is just not available to properly take care of exotic animals, and most places should probably not have public animal parks and instead should focus on conservation and expanding their national parks while they develop an infrastructure and strong economy. Singapore is an anomaly in Asia with a very powerful economy, thus the excellent animal parks.
As you would imagine, the parks are actually a bit spread out on the island. Luckily, Singapore has a wonderful public bus and rail system. If you are planning a trip, you can check out the network map here. The zoo and the night safari park are co-located, with the zoo open during the day and the night safari opening at night. For both the bird and zoo locations, you take the rail most of the way there and then hop on a bus the rest of the way. I would definitely recommend writing down the bus numbers since the signs and bus stops are not as obvious as you would like. We ended up getting the 3-day unlimited rail/bus pass from the rail station. It was a bit pricey and somewhat overwhelming to choose which pass, but well worth the ease of using the system. You put down a deposit for the card and then just hop on and off whatever trains/buses you need. Plus, the airport is on the rail lines, with no extra charge. Like most places with a few tourist attractions, they have a Park Hopper 3-in-1 pass that you can get to save some cash if you plan to visit all three parks like we did.
We decided to go to the Jurong Bird Park first. Our first bird park adventure at the Bali Bird Park in Indonesia was a blast, so we were excited to see what Singapore had to offer. It turns out that they had plenty. It is the largest bird park in the world with a “20.2-hectare hillside haven for 8,000 birds representing 600 species.” As it so often does in Singapore, it rained on and off as we wondered around the gigantic park. The African Waterfall Aviary was spectacular, with the high waterfall actually in the aviary. It is definitely not too shabby a place to call home for those birds.
Another highlight of the park was the Hornbill and Toucan exhibit. After seeing all the Hornbills flying around South Africa and Botswana, I can’t get enough of these guys. Kendall loves the Toucans and took a million pictures of them on our honeymoon to Honduras.
The Windows on Paradise exhibit had some excellent Birds of Paradise, but they were pretty tricky to get good photos of. These are the birds where the males have extravagant feather colors and designs. Think of the birds in the Planet Earth
The Lory Loft Aviary was another mind-blowing exhibit. The scale of the loft is just astounding: three thousand square meters, nine stories high and over one thousand birds. Huge suspension bridges take you across the lush treetops filled with the squawking, deep red, green and rainbow-colored Lory and Lorikeet parrots.
They also have a Southeast Asia regional birds exhibit with some awesome kingfishers. They are my favorite type of bird, and I had never seen so many varieties. In a majority of the United States, we can only see the Belted Kingfisher, but here they have several different sized species with striking colors and beaks.
The birds of prey show also did not disappoint. We got to see the Secretarybird that we struggled unsuccessfully to find in Africa. This bird of prey is quite odd, with a crested head and pantaloon-like leg feathers. It is pretty large and runs around on the ground stabbing its beak at little animals, hoping for dinner.
The strange-looking African Vulture also made an appearance during the show.
What else? The bright red Scarlet Ibis with its long curved beak is always a treat to admire. The Penguin Expedition was fun and surprising to see in this humid climate. The World of Darkness featured some interesting owls and other nocturnal birds. We enjoyed watching the Pelicans jab their large snouts under water in Pelican Cove.
The large group of pink American Flamingos did not smell as much as usual.
The Shoebill Stork, aka Whalehead, is a very ugly bird with a broad bill.
Then there were the cranes. If you have ever seen the Sandhill Cranes in the States before, you can appreciate the beauty of these large wetland birds. Seven of the fifteen species of crane in the world are endangered: the Whooping Crane from North America, Black-necked Crane, Red-crowned Crane, Siberian Crane, White-naped Crane, Wattled Crane, and Hooded Crane. So, the park has a crane breeding program. We saw a lot of courting going on with what they call the crane dance. The cranes start by bobbing their heads up and down a bunch of times next to each other.
Then they bow to each other. Then they spread their large wings wide and jump high in the air, sometimes picking up and launching objects as they do.
The open-winged dancing crane surrounds the hopeful mate with the display. They take turns showering each other with romance.
There were so many fun pictures that it was impossible for me to decide what to include. Alas, I had to narrow it down some. Here are a few other favorites:
Cute and curios Emu saying hello.
As you can tell, the Jurong Bird Park was a ton of fun for us aspiring birders. We took lots more photos and spent the whole day with these feathery friends. Next birding park stop, the huge Welt Vogel Bird Park in Germany.
Tune in to the next installment for some fun pictures of the Singapore Zoo and Singapore Night Safari.
