Things you MUST know before going to the Singapore Zoo

I went to the Zoo and also River Safari today. It was pretty fun but REALLY tiring. I've always been wanting to go to the zoo and when bro said he had free tickets, OFC i had to go LOL.

But going on a Public Holiday was a REALLY bad idea..... And this ONE trip had so much crazy shit going on that I came home with the resolve that i MUST make up a list of dos and don'ts and keep this in mind if I'm ever going back to the zoo again... No, actually, I want to.

So anyway, the entire list is made based on my own subjection and cheapo tendencies and should only be taken as a reference and not a solid guide (jk, i just wanted to include this sentence to make it sound srsbuzinezz)

Note to the Future Me: 

1. NEVER EVER GO ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY. 

Best mistake (fatal) that we made today. The crowd on public holiday is massive. Even the weekends are a clearly better choice, totally face-palming at myself right now.

2. Buy Your Tickets Online. 

G D I. I thought we were early, but apparently reaching the zoo at 1030am wasn't "early" enough (sobs) We had tickets to the zoo but not River Safari, and since my aunts wanted to see Jia Jia and Kai Kai, we ended up queueing for the tickets anyway...... Well, that took us an hour, or maybe more, to finally get our tickets even though they had 10 booths and avg. time spent per purchase is pretty short... But waiting for your turn was just crazy.

Get it online instead: http://www.zoo.com.sg/visitor-info/park-hopper-specials.html

Park Hopper Specials 

To be quite honest, anyone would recommend that you get the park hopper special since /discounts/. It's a pretty good plan to try to cover the parks in a single day, actually, at least the zoo and then the River Safari sounds decent. Since the River Safari is pretty small and can be covered in a good 2 hours max, minus the shows and boat ride - which isn't opened yet anyway.

Besides, you can keep the tickets for 30 days and visit one park one trip anyway. You don't have to use the tickets on the same day.

3. Planning Your Routes Ahead 

You'll be given a park guide/map when you enter, if you don't, ask for one. It's the most important thing for the whole trip imo. To save time (and energy), it's really good to check out what's going on in the park and plan the route you want to take before you start walking. There's main roads and some smaller roads here and there which makes it tiring if you miss an exhibit and end up going one round to see it again (happened to dumb me).

Check out the shows that is going on and plan your route according to that, the shows are pretty good and really fun so i think it's definitely worth it to include them in your itinerary! There's also specific feeding time for each exhibit and some even allow you to feed them too (with a price) and those can be considered too.

4. Bring Your Own Food and Drinks 

The zoo has quite a bit of place to dine at, but honestly speaking, the crowd and the queue (and price) is a really huge turn-off. You're so hungry you wanna die, you reach the place, BAM, no seats = GG. Other than their restaurants, there's only KFC and a lot of ice cream shop (Ben's & Jerry's to be exact) and honestly speaking, i like neither.

I think it'd be good if you would pack your own sandwiches and at least a bottle of drink with you when you visit the park. Not only will you assure that you won't go hungry, you save quite a bit on overpriced food and beverages.

5. UMBRELLA. 

Singapore's weather is pretty predictable, we only have 2 - Rain or Shine. And an umbrella is fit for both occasions ^^

Of course, they do sell umbrella at the souvenir shops but..... I think bringing your own sounds cheaper better, hehe.

6. COMFORT AS PRIORITY. 

The zoo is the zoo, it's not some shopping mall, tak glam is totally fine, comfort is the way to go. I wore uncomfy footwear although i wore comfy clothes and that was a BAD CHOICE.

Important: Wear COMFY shoes. Since the park would require you to walk a lot, it is reallyyyyyy important that you're in something comfortable that would last you for the whole day of walking and won't break your legs. Imagine if you go to the zoo in platforms or heels.... If you don't die at the end of the day then good for you.

7. Bring Your Camera, Phone is NEVER enough. 

Pretty sure the smart phones are quite inadequate for a zoo trip... Reason is (1) the animals might be far away from you, if you don't have proper camera, zooming might be a problem if your phone isn't good enough.. (2) if the animals aren't sleeping, they move and i'm pretty sure phones aren't that capable to capture moving objects while keeping good focus and quality of the outcome, or maybe your phone can and mine can't, idk?

But you should really bring a camera. There's so much to see, so much to take and everything is so cute you just wanna scream "CUTE!!!!!!" and then take a photo so you can show it to someone else later. If you don't bring a camera, I guess you might regret it (or at least i'll definitely regret it, thank god i brought mine today).

8. Book A Cab Home. (if you're cabbing)

 

Mandai IS really far from city and it's pretty far away if you don't drive. There's direct buses there and shuttle bus to Khatib MRT but I think cabbing probably sounds the most comfortable ^ ^

For someone who walked and stood 8 hours straight, cabbing home was the ONLY option we had (not really, but i'm serious). It was really tiring covering the full parks by foot and by the end of the whole adventure, we're almost dead, or at least our legs were.

The taxi queue is pretty crazy, and there's also bitches that would cut your queue - e.g. mums who carry their kid in one arm dashing towards a cab where someone just alighted and then never letting go of the door until the cab driver lets them on - dude, you're carrying a fREAKING child, please at least consider the safety of your child o m g.

Anyway, it's DEFINITELY WISE for you to make a call and book a cab. You can even call for one when you've decided that it's time to go home and then just make your way out of the parks, sounds like a pretty decent isn't it.



There's probably more I wanna add to this and modify, but I'm too tried to do anything right now omg. I hope the next time I visit the zoo, I better keep these in mind and don't end up dying again. Will blog with pictures and stuff about the zoo another day.

Also, I didn't get to see Jia Jia. Boo.