S'pore Night Safari features nocturnal animals in action

By Samsudin Berlian

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At the invitation of the Singapore Zoological Gardens,The Jakarta Post visited the Night Safari Park, the first of its kind in the world, last week, before its May 3 opening. _________________________________________________________________

SINGAPORE (JP): What would it feel like to roam -- under the moonlight -- the woods of Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and tropical Africa, and come face to face with wild and exotic animals such as mountain goats, single-horned rhinos, Asiatic lions, and even hyenas?

You don't even have to risk your life to do so. In fact, all you need is one evening of your time and S$15 (Rp 21,500) to enter the newly-opened Night Safari Park here.

The 40-hectare park is located alongside the Singapore Zoological Gardens, overlooking the Upper Seletar Reservoir on three sides. It will house -- when it is fully completed in the near future -- a total of 93 species and some 1,000 specimens. All of them are nocturnal and some are endangered species.

Indonesia is represented by anoa, the diminutive, dark-brown buffalo of Sulawesi, babirusa pig-deer, the wild swine of the same island, and a species of porcupine.

Visitors can view even bigger animals while sitting for 45 minutes in electric trams which weave through two loop roads in the tropical rainforest, and walk on a 2.8-kilometer trail to see smaller ones.

Some of the animals are so close you can reach out and kiss them; that is, if they don't object.

The East Loop features animals from the Himalayan foothills, Nepalese river valley, Indian subcontinent, Equatorial Africa and the Indo-Malayan region.

The West Loop displays those from the Asian riverine forest, South American pampas, and Myanmarese hillside.

One of the walking trails features not animals but trees, some of them rare.

One of the tallest trees in the park which will surely arouse nostalgic sentiment among Singaporeans is the Jelutong tree, also called the Chewing Gum tree.

Its gum was extracted for commercial use before gum chewing was outlawed in the city-state two years ago.

This trail has a calming influence after all the excitement of meeting those wild creatures.

But if other visitors seek out the solitude of this particular trail at the same time, then you may find yourself surrounded by the endless chattering of Homo sapiens.

Dreamlike

Cleverly placed spotlights -- set to just the right brightness -- create a shadowy dreamlike quality as the animals eat and play under the leaves while spectators watch from the darkness.

The nocturnal animals, unlike when they are placed in daytime zoos, are quite active.

Executive chairman of Singapore Zoological Gardens, Ong Swee Law, said the S$60 million (Rp 83 billion) Night Safari is not just an ordinary "daytime zoo lightened up at night."

The animals include fishing cats, leopard cats, Indian sloth bears and fish-eating ghavial crocodiles, golden jackals, painted stork, sacred ibis, purple coots, and blue Himalayan bharal sheep.

It also houses barking deer which actually bark like dogs, mousedeer no bigger than mice, and giant anteaters which consume up to 30,000 termites a night.

Since the animals are encouraged to breed, some of them had already produced babies to greet visitors at the opening night last Tuesday.

Eighteen of the 43 endangered species have newborns, according to Park officials. All in all more than three dozen baby animals have already been born in the park.

Touted as the world's first night safari, the park has the distinctive smell, or lack-of-smell, of Singapore. The air was so clean and devoid of any animal odors that one wonders whether the experience is real.

It might be advisable for the park caretakers to allow a little -- just the slightest -- of the animal's odors to enter the nostrils of park visitors, so as to make the safari a more complete experience.

The park spares no expense in providing visitors with a vivid sense of "wildness." Clever construction, supported by the subtle lighting, conceals the barriers -- either wires or moats -- erected to contain dangerous animals.

They even built semi-open toilets -- hybrids of dead stones and living trees -- to make you feel a little creepy while posing in the defenseless position.

As at other recreation parks, souvenir stands abound and a restaurant awaits diners for a moonlight meal -- that is, if it isn't raining.

The park opens half an hour before the sun sets at 6:30 p.m. and closes at midnight.