Yesterday evening, we went to the Night Safari, an attraction organized by the Singapore Zoo. A unique experience. There are three components to it
- Creatures of the Night show
- Tram Ride
- Walking Trails

I do not like zoos but this represents a fairly unique experience. So unique that it makes me want to share it with all of you.

Singapore makes business out of the impossible. A night safari is targeted at children, is offered in the dark, requires some walking, can be scary at times (if you do the Bats Walk), is all about putting people in close contact with dangerous wild animals, position customers in a prime spot for mosquito attack (my thigh has seen its volume double since last night) and must offer some sort of guarantee for catching good sights, when there are no cages for the zoo residents.

This would not work anywhere else in the world as it requires a lot of discipline both on part of the animals, and on part of the customers. In Europe, children would jump off the walking trail, reach out and touch the various animals, make a mess of the train, scream, take flash photography, etc...

The Show
This is no filmed show. It is a live stage show that features: wild civets running around and putting up a choreography with no one else on stage, some sort of half-monkey/half-bear egg eater that walk up and down a rope over the heads of a bedazzled audience, an owl that flies over the same scared heads a la Harry Potter, super cute otters that do a wonderful recycling job, the same civet that will nicely eat some candy out of a child's hand, a humongous python taht will wrap itself around the muscular body of a male representative of the scared assembly, hidious hyena starring on a podium and casting a lazy look around the seating members of the public, a fishing cat playing with a bird leurre and jumping as high as a good 6 times its height, some racoons fooling around with rubbish, etc...etc...all this with a nice running commentary by a fairly good acting staff, good light and sound support and a strong message: protect your environment. This is something taht YOU can do.

Tram Ride: the ride takes you around the zoo. Each spot is well lit. Animals are at liberty. You can see lions, tigers, stripped hyenas, giraffes, tropical deers, tapirs, ant eaters, hippos, crocodiles, rhinos, wolves, wild dogs, elephants, mouflons, otters etc....It is absolutely incredible to see how these animals show no sign of fright as the train moves up and down the food chain. the running commentary is geared at 11-yr olds and has a strong powerful recurring message around the 4 Rs:
- Reuse
- Recycle
- Reduce
- Replant
I like this very much: the rain forest is disappearing, 100 species a day disappear from the face of the Earth and this is a problem that YOU can solve. It is not happening a few light years away from you. Stop buying poached animals, recycle paper, plastic, etc...
Every spot is sponsored by somebody. I don't remember the name of every animal but I know taht Nokia is sponsoring the otters, Singapore Technology is sponsoring quite a few species up the food chain, Mobile One is sponsoring gazelle-like animals, etc...

Walking Trail
There are three trails, all with different animals: leopards and leopard cats, bats, micro or nano-monkey, dancing otter (I swear, one of them was just like Marilyn, SO cute!), sheep, bearded pigs, crocodiles, vulturs, scavenger storks, etc...etc...
They ask you to put a sticker on your chest. Probably to let the animals know taht you are no meat for them (I wish)
It really is a lot of fun and very very very well done. Everyone is polite, food and drinks are available at selected places, the tram can pick you up at several stations, teh staff is helpful and knowledgeable. We stayed from 9pm until closing time (midnight). They time this perfectly for you.

Remembers, this is an open zoo and it gives you a fake impression to be in the wild.

Before joining INSEAD, I travelled in Central and South America. I spent days in a row jumping around and camping in the hot sweaty and muddy jungle of cloud, dry and rain forests in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru and Ecuador (Amazon region) in the hope of catching good sights and of meeting a jaguar. I saw in 3 hours 20,000 times more than what I could see in the wild - although I must say taht there is something special about seeing somethng in the wild - with a lot less mosquito bites, and a lot more comfort. Although one experience cannot replace the other, this is a fantastic start.

and they have student prices if you bring an ISIC card.

Congrats