Night Safari

Tuesday was a public holiday here in Singapore due to Vesak Day. It is the day that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and nirvana of Buddha and is celebrated by Buddhists around the world. On this day Buddhists will usually visit their temples for ceremonies which will include prayers and offerings of candles and flowers. Other common rituals include bathing a Buddha statue, sharing in vegetarian meals etc.

Luckily Matthew was off both Monday and Tuesday which allowed us to treat the kids with a special outing to the Night Safari. Matthew has been working lots over the weekends recently so it was very nice for us to do something as a family. And Oliver has been asking almost everyday for the last 3 months or so if we could go to there - so the boys were extremely happy!

We made sure all the kids had decent naps in the afternoon (and us adults did too!) and got to the Zoo around 6:00pm. It was already so exciting even before we entered the Park. We were greeted by some cool animals. A binturong which is known as a bearcat (but is neither a bear nor a cat). It nearest relative is the civet.

And a snake! The boys were very very scared but they both ended up touching it a bit :)

We planned to have dinner at a cafe at the entrance so that we could see the Thumbuakar performance before the park opens. There were so many people! Somehow we got the best seats :) :) :)

We were so close we could even feel the heat! Oliver was so impressed he wanted to go back and see the show again later.

We are getting better at taking family shots. "Night Safari!"

We started off watching the Creatures of the Night show. The boys enjoyed this the most when we visited last time. They were so excited! It was again a great show for the boys and they talked about it all night long.

Then we wandered around the Wallaby Trail to see some Australian animals. We walked on to see a Malayan tiger,  Babirusas, Spotted Hyenas and Servals from there. It got dark pretty quickly.

Then we hopped onto a tram which took us around the Park for 30min or so. It was a beautiful night with a full moon and a great cool breeze. We couldn't have picked a better night to go there.

From the tram we could see quite a range of animals. Giraffes, Buffaloes, Hippos, Tapirs, Elephants and lots of different kinds of deer. We thought all the animals in the Night Safari were active at night but some of them were completely asleep. Luca spotted a big male lion and called him "lazy lion!".

We also did a big walk along the Fishing cat trail where we saw some porcupines, bats, otters, civets, pelicans, gharials and more. Sorry the photos are all too dark as we couldn't use flashes..

We found an interesting reading about civets in the Siglap area (which is 10min walk from our condo). They say there are still wild civets in this area!

It was all so exciting for Ashley as well but she fell asleep halfway through.

We had a little break in the Zebra Cafe then went on a tram ride one more time. It was a great way to get us back to the entrance and the boys knew which animals to look for and what comes next. 

By the time we came out of it was already 10:30! Our little ones did so well and still had lots of energy. Here is one last photo - "Night Safari!"

The last time we visited the Night Safari was when the Watsons were here and we had some drinks in Clarke Quay. I can tell you Boel, it was much easier this time! Still we were so glad the next day was a day off. We all slept in a bit and enjoyed a slow morning together. Oliver was already getting himself ready to go back to the River Safari in the afternoon tho :) Great family day out - So nice!