Singapore Zoo and a Strange Night at the Night Safari

With my second day in the city/state/country that is Singapore, I spent the day at the zoo, touted as one of the best in Asia, though that might not be saying all that much after hearing some horror stories about other travellers visiting zoos in China and Southeast Asia. Arriving in the midst of a tropical rainstorm, I grabbed my umbrella and braved the storm, which soon subsided as quickly as it had appeared. Apart from the typical, enjoyable zoo experience, I had two incredible encounters - the first being a chance to hand feed the four resident manatees, one of my favorite childhood animals. Surprisingly, this wasn't a popular attraction, as the rest of the audience seemed drawn to one of the shows being held at the same time, in another corner of the zoo. So, nearly alone, I paid my small fee/donation and was supplied with the feed basket. As I held out the pieces of carrot and some sort of vegetable pellets, the manatees wrapped their prickly upper lips around my fingers, pulsing methodically, moving in like a Shiatsu massager until finding the piece of food and taking it from my hand, obviously using their sense of smell instead of their poor eyesight. It was a little strange at first, but I got used to it, and I was even able to pet their thick, leathery hides while I fed them.

Second, in a random rainforest enclosure, I entered a series of door designed to keep the animals in, not knowing what I'd even see inside. Just past the door, I was greeted by a red-orange tree kangaroo - a small, wallaby sized kangaroo with a very long tail, hopping right in front of me, basically oblivious to my presence, which is probably a good thing, as I actually had a very strange nightmare about one of these while sleeping in my car in Australia a few years ago. Moving along, I saw an adorable ring-tailed lemur lurking through the trees. Excited to have spotted it, I moved on to a wooden viewing platform near the top of the hilly enclosure, and soon I was surrounded by a group of four lemurs, running along the railing, jumping in and out of the tourists, chasing each other around and even grabbing someone's red umbrella to see if it was food. I have many shows and even some zoo exhibits about these guys, but I never thought I'd be within touching distance of one, let alone have a baby one literally hop across my feet. The little grey lemurs bounded up and down the stairs, bouncing through the trees, and I even got to touch the long black and white striped tails of a few of them as they passed by. I didn't want to go as far as petting them (as some people did), since they are still supposed to be wild, but it was hard to resist.

More bouts of rain followed throughout the day, and I finished up, waiting around the entrance to the Night Safari, a separate attraction next door that opens an hour after the zoo closes. One of a kind, this place is designed to let you see some of the nocturnal animals in what is supposed to be a more natural viewing environment. A few small animals are free to move around the forested park, but most animals are enclosed in natural settings with strategic lighting, allowing you to get a somewhat dark glimpse of the animal while it goes about its natural routine. A few dark trails wind through the darkness, coming upon dimly lit habitats for lions, tigers, hyenas, and much more. It is a pretty interesting idea, and I had heard good things about it, so I figured I'd take a look while I was already in the area. As it was still raining off and on, I was one of the very few people who opted to walk the trails myself, instead of choosing a covered safari tram and huge lines of people. Content to move about the dark forest, I was having a pretty good time...for a while. All of a sudden, as I was walking along, squinting to try to pick out some sort of animal in the next opening in the forest, I barely noticed something just underfoot as I stepped down into the darkness, winding around bend after bend. Thinking it would be a small ridge in the concrete path based on the brief glimpse of my peripheral vision, that was certainly not what I felt.

I stepped down and immediately jumped away. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," I said as I looked down to see a young guy lying on the trail. I had seen this guy a few minutes earlier, far ahead of me, apparently one of the park rangers, judging by his uniform. I didn't know what he was doing on the ground, hiding from someone or something, but I definitely stepped right on his upper leg. As I continued to apologize, I realized that something was odd. Not only was he not responding, he didn't even move. Not even a little bit when I stepped on him. Given that he was a worker there and the whole atmosphere that makes things a little scary, I first thought he was playing a trick on me. So, hesitant, I bent down and asked a few times if he was ok, louder and louder each time, looking around for some friends to pop out of the woods and try to scare me. Then I shook his arms and legs, and there was absolutely no response. At this point, I started to get pretty worried, not knowing what to do next. The 20-something man was laying motionless, face down, sprawled out on the wet path, his umbrella sitting open by his side. I checked for a pulse, thinking that I did feel one, though not feeling too confident at this point, still not sure what to make of the whole scenario. I checked for any blood or signs of what may have happened, but there was nothing around. My only thought is that he must have slipped on the wet pavement and hit his head, as there is really no other explanation. I looked around for anyone else, but there was no one around. Panicking, I ran up the trail until I found another visitor, told them to go check on him/not trip on him like I did, and I ran to the entrance to get help. Luckily, within a few minutes, I got to the front of the park and found two more workers who grabbed a first aid kid and radios and ran with me back to the scene. By now, three or four other visitors were gathered around, trying to hold him up, though he was still not moving or showing any signs of life. We carried him back to the trail head where they called a rescue vehicle to take him to the park's medical center. One of the other guests kept speculating that it was an "animal strike," but the workers said that things like that "rarely happen" - not too assuring, though not my hypothesis - I still think he must have slipped on the wet path, hit his head and got knocked out by the impact.

Quietly, we put him in the back of the cart, none of us really knowing what to say about the whole situation. Then, just as they were about to pull away in their cart, there was some coughing, and the young man finally showed a tiny bit of movement and consciousness. He was coughing, slightly foaming at the mouth as he cleared his airway, still not fully conscious, but this was a welcome sign to all of us. At the same time, they sped off to take him for treatment, so I have no idea what happened to him, but it was a great relief to see him do something just before we left him. I honestly thought for a while that he might be dead. We asked around at the front of the park about his whereabouts and condition, but no one knew anything about it, so we eventually had to leave without knowing the outcome. One family assured me that he would be ok, that I did everything I could to help him and not to worry, but it's not something that's easy to get out of your mind. The bus and subway ride home were both quite somber for me, still in a bit of shock over the whole situation and wondering if I could have done anything differently.

(White tiger at the Singapore Zoo. Ironically, that was one of my nicknames in high school. No, not White Tiger. Singapore Zoo. Don't ask me why.)

(Everyone comes to see the infamous Indian in a Cage. Poor guy can't even move in there.)


(Check out the whiskers on the manatee. There is my bowl of veggie pellets and carrots in the foreground.)

(The incredible feeding only lasted about five minutes, but it was certainly a highlight for me. I wasn't allowed to touch the baby one that you see in the center.)

(Two of the crazy ring-tailed lemurs inspecting the camera and tripod. They are obviously not afraid of humans anymore.)

(Another of the lemurs, getting ready to pounce.)

(The massive Komodo dragon. I may get a chance to see these in their natural habitat in Komodo island in Indonesia, but it's hard to get there, so we'll see. If you look closely, you can see the drool coming from his mouth, filled with bacteria that often kills the prey, though it was also just discovered that the beasts also have venom glands. This guy was about seven feet long.)