One Uniquely Singaporean thing we do is that every zoo we visit gets compared to the island’s Singapore Zoological Gardens. Truth to tell, the Singapore Zoo’s open concept was very novel for its time when that concept first came into public consciousness from the late 1970s I think, and the Singapore park won rave reviews, awards and the like and served as a model for many other zoos around the world to emulate. The open concept park though has become less special over the years, since just about every other decent zoo of some standing now follows the same idea, where animal enclosures are constructed with as little obvious barriers are possible, preferring instead to let natural barriers do the necessary thing of separating dangerous humans from vulnerable animals.
One of the key factors that made me favor Sydney as my preferred choice of June holiday destination lied in that the common feeling among visitors between both cities zoo is that the Sydney Zoo is simply a lot better. That probably adjusted my expectations of the Melbourne Zoo significantly. Still, we spent almost four hours on Day 3 exploring the Zoo, and here are our comments on the experience:
The Melbourne Zoo is just outside the city center, and I reckon walking is manageable if you are traveling without kids. Trams were an option, but we decided to pay a little extra for a 10 minute cab ride from the hotel to the park (fare was AUD14). The journey there was quite scenic as it cuts through one of the country’s oldest Universities – the University of Melbourne – and the street is lined with old early 19th century houses that serve as the University’s various facilities.
Kids enter into the park for free every weekend. Unfortunately, we already had other plans lined up for the two weekend days, and we didn’t want to waste the gloriously sunny day for anything not outdoors either. The tickets for 2 adults and 1 child – Peter entered for free as he was under 4 – was AUD79. Almost as expensive as Singapore Zoo’s (though locals get some nice discounts) – until one considers that entrance fees to the Melbourne Aquarium that we’ve lined up for the itinerary will cost even more at AUD99. Ugh.
The Melbourne zoo is smaller than the Singapore Zoo – 55 compared to 69 acres – and a lot of space is also put to common areas for families to hang-out, including a very large carousel. The exhibits are also fewer, and the Singapore Zoo simply has more exhibits, species and themed enclosures. In Melbourne Zoo’s favor though, a couple of enclosures we felt were not only significantly different but also better done-up. They included the Lemur Island which featured free-roaming lemurs that run around the enclosure and are brave enough to come pretty close to humans (though the very watchful keepers will keep asking the enthusiastic kids from coming into physical contact with them), the Butterfly House – which was a heated enclosure that enabled the hundreds of butterflies to really come alive and flutter about and occasionally even land on humans – and the Reptile House, which Ling quipped featured scaly animals that look far more alive than their tropical counterparts, and three magnificent adult male lions in a glass enclosure which permitted visitors a very up close and personal encounter with them.
We saw a couple of the feedings and also animal shows, including the 90 year pair of tortoises (very informative commentaries from the attending Indian keeper), and – funnily as this might sound – the Seal the Loop animal demonstration felt far less gimmicky than the seal animal shows at the Singapore Zoo which felt at times like a circus.
The most memorable experience for the kids though was lunch at the open family lawn near the Giraffe enclosure. Dozens of gulls were about, and snitched food from families whenever they could. We practically had to sit in an Red Indian circle to guard our lunch, and when we were done, the kids took their revenge by chasing the birds round and round the lawn.:)
All in; well worth a visit if you have kids, and don’t miss the morning feeding at the Lemur House. About 4 hours will nicely cover the Zoo, and longer if you want to take your time.:)
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