Singapore – The Last Day

We closed our trip to Singapore with adventures to the Night Safari Zoo and a visit to Sentosa Island.

The Night Safari is a highly recommended evening outing. Opened in 1994, this nocturnal zoo gives visitors a chance to see wildlife after hours in well presented natural settings. The 45 minute Disneyesque Tram Ride is the marquee attraction of the park. It has comfortable seating on a slow moving tram that plies a park road system, providing opportunities to see “endearing antics” of elephants, giraffes, tapirs, lions, tigers but no bears. Oh my! A well-rehearsed accompanying guide offers commentary in enthusiastic hushed tones.

We found the Park Walking Trails provided a more relaxed and revealing viewing of different nightlife. We watched tiny mouse deer amble about on their spindly legs, marveled at enormous bats hanging upside down noshing on fresh watermelon, spied pacing hyena, bearded pigs, heavily tusked babirusa, stalking fishing cats (above) and espied the unusually stripped East African bongo (right).

The 30 minute Creatures of the Night Show was also very well executed. Held in the outdoor amphitheatre, educated park rangers engaged their furry and slithering evening colleagues in animal shows that both entertained and educated. Our “educated park ranger” was from New York…go figure.

Sentosa Island, formerly called Blakang Mati, is a heavily built-out theme park and luxury resort on a island that was formerly part of Singapore’s coastal defensive system. At our hotel, we signed up for an island tour that included bus service and a grey-haired Singaporean guide. Our guide unknowingly offered a glimpse into the cultural attitudes of Singapore. He stressed our “personal responsibility” to be on time for each designated departure and indicated that if we failed to execute punctuality we would simply be left to fend for ourselves. Needless to say, all in our group were punctual.

The tour first took us to a large indoor exhibition called the Images of Singapore. Here, images of the Chinese, Indian, Malay and European culture were shown in lifelike displays complete with life-sized wax figures. It was a pleasant experience.

We then toured Fort Siloso on the western tip of the island. Fort Siloso contains modern displays and the remnants of the British “defensive positions” from World War II. The eight day Japanese campaign of Singapore in February 1942 demonstrated that even the best laid plans may not be adequate. Almost as bookends to this era in island’s history, the Surrender Chamber display depicted the surrender of the British to the Japanese in February 1942 shown here and the surrender of the Japanese to the British in September 1945. Our day at Sentosa Island ended with a ride on the highwire cable car back to the main island.

It was then back to the hotel and off to the airport for our trip back home to Bangalore.