I kept this diary of things we have done in Singapore for 2 years. I have now moved some of it to other travel pages but you can still find links to many of our activities here. I have also created a reading list of books we have read about the region.

Western Japan

Birds in Singapore

Kuala Lumpur stopover

Thai Diving

Singapore Liveaboard

Local Residents

Beijing Summer

Diving with Sharks

Shanghai Heatwave

Taiwan Tourists

An Indian week

Where U bin?

Island hideaway

Steamy running

A Trip to the Zoo

Gardens by the Bay

Jakarta

Singapore walks

Mind the bus

Flower power

Melaka

Early weeks

 

Vicky's Blog

 

One of my team at work told me that he had been to the bird park in Jurong on the west side of Singapore last week. "What did you think?" I asked thinking that it was really an attraction for the kids. "Really good" was the reply. I should have guessed that being Singapore everything would be done really well so this Sunday we went there to see for ourselves.

Like zoos we don't really like looking at animals or birds, particularly big ones, in cages. At Jurong there are birdcages for the larger birds but generally they are pretty big allowing them to fly around a bit. I still felt sorry for the fish eagles having seen them in the wild many times. However there are also some great aviaries built around the tropical forest where there is much more freedom for the birds to fly about. Some, like the 'Lory Loft' (above) are super friendly for kids and we saw many families laughing as a lory sat on dad's head or ate seeds out of a cup.

Another aviary includes a large waterfall (above) where turacos, parrots, hoopoes and rollers fly about while crested guinea fowl root about in the undergrowth. Highlights for me included the turacos, some fabulous hornbills, the crowned pigeons and those crazy lories entertaining the children.

The park was busy but not too packed on a Sunday morning and we spent a jolly 3 hours wandering round and then eating a Singapore laksa before getting a cab back home. Locals and tourists alike seemed to be enjoying themselves. Big Indian families holding small children up close to the birds and Chinese tourists posing next to a mocked up African hut. The entry was SNG 28 but for this you can join for a year so we are now members if any of our guests would like to go with us?

See the slideshow below for more ...