So I have been spending a lot of my time with my coworkers, trying to get out of the hostel as much as possible as to not be driven crazy or get too homesick. When not with the coworkers, I spend my time now with fellow ducks Prashant and Rachel. We all know Master P from back at school, and Rachel is an undergrad from Oregon who just came over to Singapore this week. We were all deciding what to do, when all of the sudden the idea of a "night safari" offered by the Singapore Zoo seemed exciting. So, we packed up and made the trek across the island to the Zoo and got there around 9 pm, prime time for night safaris.
We were all pretty amped up about this night safari because we had visions of being in a tiny jeep, driving across the serengeti with animals roaming freely and almost being attacked by lions. In reality, the night safari is the Zoo... at night. You can take a tram around the Zoo, you can walk around the zoo and you can purchase from the gift shop. And it all takes place... at night. We walked into the Zoo and jumped onto the tram. The trams were painted with different animal prints such as : leopard, giraffe and cow. They were equipped with an emergency buzzer above your seat just in case you were in some sort of emergency, my guess is dying of boredom. There were also signs that warned against flash photography as it would "blind the animals permanently." Our tram tour guide came on the PA system and welcomed us all to the train, while making sure to point out that there is no flash photography. As we finished saying his speech about why there is no flash photography, someone decided to take a picture of him with full flash causing him to stop and repeat his speech. Apparently I was the only one who found this hilarious because I was laughing so loud everyone on the train was staring. Anyways, the tram made its way around the park and showed us all the animals that were still awake at 10pm. We saw a couple lions, a tiger, elephants that were alseep, hippos that were asleep, and some giraffes. Our tour guide had scripted material about each animal whether they were out or not, including jokes to keep it light. It was very similar to the jungle cruise ride at Disneyland, filled with puns about the animals except he didnt speak english very well so he emphasized the wrong words and the only one laughing like an idiot was again... me. (Also the speech was repeated with every flash that went off, making it funnier each time.
Trying to take pictures in a Zoo at night with little lighting and no flash was just as easy as it sounds. I have included a shot that I took just outside of the lion cage. I think if you look hard enough you can see that he was grinning at me. I would blame blackberry, but even Rachel's "not cheap at all" camera could not get a picture of things if you were moving faster than half a mile an hour. We do have some blurry completely black photos though. Our walking tour afforded us the opportunity to walk through the park we just saw on the tram to the animals we deemed worthy. We decided to go back to see the lions, as we had limited time before the park was closing. Prashant and Rachel decided to take the walking tour as an opporunity to break every Zoo rule. When we reached each glass enclosure, Prashant made a point to tap on the glass of each animal that was obviously trying to sleep. Most of these taps occured next to signs that said "Please do not tap on glass." Rachel decided that the camera flash regulations did not apply to her, and proceeded to purposefully blind every animal that was stupid enough to turn and look at her when she called it. This included a crocodile, who I am pretty sure was about to jump onto land and attack. There was also the slow moving loris, that despite its name was still too fast to catch without blurring on her "not cheap at all" camera.
Being at the Zoo at night is pretty creepy. There are lots of noises, and you see things moving around you that can scare extremely normal and still very masculine men no matter how loud they scream. There might have been a few instances that I jumped... but they were all legitimate! Like at the lion area when some little Asian lady with a camera was behind a pole taking a picture, and moved towards me so fast out of the corner of my eye that I may have screamed. It was really dark, and I did not see her there, she was right next to the enclosure. She could have been a lion trying to attack. Either way my cat-like reflexes saved me from the lady and her camera. We also entered an area of the Zoo where bats, yes bats, are just allowed to fly around freely. Why am I the only person bothered by this??? Bats were whizzing past my head, naturally because I was the tallest, and I am pretty sure they had a taste for my blood. I may have also screamed a few times due to bat attacks. This seemed to provide passersby entertainment because no one else on this island is scared of bats. Although according to my two companions, "I just saw Batman, so I shouldn't be afraid of bats anymore." Sound logic, and now you know what I deal with on a daily basis. The night ended with Prashant walking into a flying squirrel exhibit when we were all pretty sure the door said employees only. He disappeared for a while, so we left him in there and headed toward the exit. He eventually caught up with us with tales of the flying squirrel, while stopping to tap on the glass of every enclosure on the way out.
All in all, it was a pretty entertaining time at the Zoo even if it was for awkward reasons. I would not go again at night, but might be persuaded to see it in the day to maybe get a real picture this time. Maybe with a better camera.
