Zooday was Zoo Day

A few weeks back a I went to the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. According to the ticket it is the first and only attraction of its kind. I have better things to research right now (midterm papers, ahem), so I'll take their word for it. Anyway, I had a really good time there doing all the usual tourist things: watched the fire dancers/breathers/eaters, watched a scripted animal show, and took the tram around to see the nocturnal animals doing, well, nocturnal animal stuff. Favourite animal? BEARCAT. It smells like popcorn. Again, taking their word for it.

When we went we made sure to buy a combo ticket, so we could come back another day and visit the actual zoo part of the Singapore Zoo. That's where I spent most of my day on Sunday. I was a little worried because I had been to the same zoo nine years ago on a prior trip to Singapore, and I shouldn't have forgotten too much from when I was 13, right? I was so incredibly wrong. Only once did I have deja vu, and that was with the orangutans, which I don't think I've ever seen in any other zoo.

Also different this time around was the fact that I had a camera, and a brand new fancy camera at that. Yes, last week I finally broke and purchased a replacement for my six-year-old Fuji (which I still love and will likely keep, just 'cause). It's a Sony HX7v, 16mp and 10x zoom. It's also incredibly slim for the power it packs, which is why I love it so much. The feature set alongside the superb hardware made this camera an obvious choice even before I saw the low price. The moment I saw a deal in Singapore I jumped, knowing I would be kicking myself late if I didn't.

All of these photos are a result of that first real day out (I played around with it a bit at a concert event to see how well it performs at night). I took almost 150 photos at the zoo, 95 of which I deemed of good enough quality to post onto my Flickr. Oh, and remember I mentioned the feature set? Two words: intelligent auto. I didn't have to adjust any of the levels in my post-production suite of choice, Picasa, for the majority of my photos. What you see is what the camera produced!

So back to the zoo. I had a tonne of fun there following the feeding schedule around the park, which allowed for some really great glimpses at some otherwise shy animals. The zebras and rhinos all came right up to the edge of the exhibit where the food troughs are, and the tigers poised atop rock outcroppings to snap at pieces of chicken that were thrown to the by the zookeepers. The lemurs needed no such coaxing, though. I even petted a few of them! Probably wasn't supposed to, though...

Uhm, just one more thing to say: this zoo was built for photo ops. The majority of the exhibits are fence-less, opting for moats instead in most cases, and the zoo really feels more like a park with exotic animals (and a few not-so-exotic ones, like ducks) in it. Some of the smaller primate species have been conditioned to stick around a certain area and just roam freely without any barriers, which is sometimes an inconvenience when a lemur decides to take a nap on the stairs. But hey, how often do you get to say that?

all photos by me