Singapore is a very beautiful city....ooops, a country! Though it is smaller than Delhi, it has a good blend of modern buildings and green area. It also has a natural reservoir of rain forests(which is totally untouched by humans) in the heart of the country (occupying around 30% of the area). Singapore and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (remember, the city with the huge JesusChrist statue selected as one of the wonders of the world called BRASIL Corcovado) are the only 2 cities in the world that have a sizeable primary rainforest within the city boundaries. On the norther tip of the green area lies the Singapore Zoo. Adjoining the Singapore Zoo, is the Night-Safari which is mainly a house for nocturnal animals.
In December 2008, I had visited the Banerghatta National Park in Bangalore, and I was quite amazed by the good collection of animals that were present there (including the king of bad times - KING Cobra). The collection of animals here too is much similar except that the environment in which they were housed was totally in a different world. Each animal was located in a different location of the Safari-area. The environment provided to the animals was much similar to their natural habitats. The safari-area was divided into different locations like the African grasslands, Tropical rainforests, Indian subcontinent, etc. So the animals will definitely feel at home. It just shows how these people love and care the animals and not just make money out of them.
I was taken in a battery operated tram through the jungles, and all the animals looked as if they were standing right next to us. The tram was fully open, so it gave a scary feeling as to whether the animal will pounce on us or not. But in truth, there was a huge trench running between the animals and the tram route (which was not visible to the visitor). Hence it gave a very real feeling to the visitor as if they are on a real safari through the jungle. But the harmless animals like the deer roamed freely throughout. So you can feel the deer standing close to you, next to the tram. I couldn't capture good moments in the safari, as flash photography is strictly prohibited (being nocturnal animals).
Apart from the tram route, there is a trek-route which is accessible only by walk. The walk was quite scary because it was exactly like a jungle safari through darkness. I just enjoyed every bit of the trek. The showdown of the safari experience is an animal show, where they showcase different animals like the wolf, hyena, puma, mongoose, otter, civet, racoon and python. These animals are trained properly and it was like a fashion parade with these animals. The experience of sitting very closely to these animals was mind-blowing. For example, the python came out from a box underneath a spectator`s seat :) The show was hosted by an Indian, who seemed to speak almost every language (English, Hindi, Tamil, Malay, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, French, etc) and entertained the crowd with her tricks and applaudable jokes (unlike my dry PJs :D).
The sight of animals emerging from different bushes located in different parts of the theatre area (where the show happened) added to the suspense and kept our hearts beating very fast :) The most exciting part was that during the show, A.R.Rahman`s music from Roja was being played in the background. Made me really proud of India, esp Rahman :) Two months back, there was a news that in Greater Noida also they plan to setup a night-safari like this in the near future. I really wonder if this is possible there. Greater Noida is already a very unsafe place in broad-daylight. Imagine what can happen in darkness in the safari (the safety of the visitors will be at risk). Most importantly, the animals need to be well maintained. The climate will play a key factor, apart from the people's attitude!
To conclude, my Valentine's day (first one without raji) with the animals proved to be a good experience :D
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