River Safari Singapore

River Safari Singapore is the newest addition to the Wildlife Reserve Singapore and has one of the largest collection of freshwater fauna.  The River Safari has three main areas, namely the Rivers exhibit with the largest freshwater aquarium, the Giant Panda Forest, and lastly the Wild Amazonia, which had the Amazon River Quest.

 

 

The Rivers

Mississippi, Congo, Nile, Ganges, Murray, Mekong and Yangtze – what do they have in common?   Well, they were all names of rivers found at the Rivers exhibit.  Each had aquariums in an outdoor sheltered setting.  I didn’t realise at that time that we were exploring the world’s largest freshwater aquarium!

 

Some of the interesting ones we saw at the Rivers exhibit include:

1. Alligator snapping turtle at the Mississippi River. Its claws reminded me of Freddy Krueger’s razor-sharp glove from the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street.

 

 

 

 

2. Tiger fish at the River Nile with its sharp predator teeth.

 

 

 

 

3. Giant Freshwater Stingray at Mekong River.

 

 

 

 

4. Chinese Alligator at the Yangtze River – it was small but it looked as though it was going to eat us.

 

 

Get discounted tickets to the River Safari online at Govoyagin.com.

 

Giant Panda Forest

At the end of the Rivers exhibits, there was a Giant Panda Forest which was home to the stars of the River Safari Singapore– the Giant Panda Bears from China – Kai Kai and Jia Jia.

Only one panda bear appeared though.  We were not sure whether it was Kai Kai or Jia Jia.  The photo below was the first thing it did after making its appearance.  I don’t think I’ve seen this in any of the River Safari marketing brochures.  Is it yawning or growling?  There was no sound though coming from the panda.

 

Immediately after that, the panda bear gave us its most endearing look. Isn’t it adorable?

 

Apart from the Giant Panda Bear, there was also a rare Red Panda (below left) at the entrance of the air-conditioned Giant Panda Forest. Poor little fella never got the same spotlight and attention as its giant cousins.

 

After we left the Giant Panda Forest, we had to cross a river (below) via a bridge to get to the Wild Amazonia.  This river flows out to one of Singapore’s reservoirs.

 

Wild Amazonia

The third and last area at River Safari Singapore was Wild Amazonia, which had the Amazon River Quest, the Squirrel Monkey Forest and the Amazon Flooded Forest.

The Squirrel Monkey Forest was in an Amazon Aviary in a tropical rainforest setting.  They were all monkeying around freely within the aviary. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon Flooded Forest

Having visited and being impressed by the largest aquarium tank in the world at the S.E.A. Aquarium not too long ago, I was equally impressed with the Amazon Flooded Forest that had an aquarium large enough for about 5 huge manatees to swim.

 

 

Amazon River Quest

Last, but not least, is the Amazon River Quest, a boat ride covering almost half of the park’s area.  At the ticketing booth, visitors who purchase the Amazon River Quest tickets are required to select the available timing for the boat ride. This is good as it shortens the waiting time.

Each boat at the Amazon River Quest could accommodate about 8 people.  Important lesson learnt was to avoid going in the afternoon after the animal’s meal because most of the animals were hiding in the shade and away from our view.

The only great shot we got was when a flock of Scarlet Ibis flew at the same time towards the tree branches in front of us.  It was as if they were frantically flying away from something or someone.   It was a split second moment, and I managed to get it on camera!

 

Even though we had been to quite a number of zoos, and animal parks in Singapore and beyond, we were pleasantly surprised to find a number of animals that we had not seen before.

 

Thinking of visiting?

The River Safari Singapore is opened daily from 9:00 am to 6:00pm.  The first boat ride departs at 10:00am.  Tickets can be purchased online at riversafari.com.sg or at the ticket counter.  You can also look for discounted tickets to the River Safari online at Govoyagin.com.

There are dates when the Amazon River Quest is closed due to maintenance, so do check out their website.