Singapore Zoo

01/28, Saturday
Nicky helped Sandy make scrambled eggs for breakfast. Emma can never get her fill of eggs.

Instead of busing to the zoo which requires a transfer and over 1-1/2 hours, we chose to splurge with a taxi both there and return. It takes less than 1/2 hour each way and wasn't that costly.

Inside the zoo, they claim 155 species of animals. We didn't see them all, but we saw a lot of them. Let me try to remember a few: a false gharial (related to the alligator), white tigers (very rare), white Hippos, pygmy hippos, babirusa aka pig-deer (looks like a warthog), blue tongued skink (a lizard), deer mouse (neither a deer nor a mouse, but resembles both). Do you know that the word kangaroo really means "I don't understand your question", but explorers thought the aborigines gave the animal that name? (Makes a good story!) The lions were up and roaming about on our first pass and napping on the second go around. Very good looking lions.

Thankfully, it was overcast and not very busy, making the day much more enjoyable. Also, we rode the tram a lot to rest our legs and feet, and catch some breeze. Had a relaxing picnic lunch that Dick carried in a backpack. We found a pretty secluded picnic table and it was shady !


Emma has been to the zoo 4 times before, so she acted as our guide. Because of her knowledge, we visit some interesting exhibits we might have otherwise missed. And, a show entitled "Rainforest Fights Back" featuring endangered species. It was lots of fun and laughs. We finally got to the penguins that Nicky wanted to see and on our way out we came across the flamingos that Emma said she has never seen.


We were all pretty tired after 6 hours, and ready to head home. All in all a very good day.