Located next to Singapore Zoo & Night Safari | Open Daily | Under 3 Years Free
River Safari, located right next to Singapore Zoo and the NightSafari, is a cross between an aquarium and a zoo. It features a variety offreshwater animals from around the world, including animals from the Amazonflooded forest, Yangtze river, Ganges River and more. It is also home to thelargest freshwater aquarium in the world and a very impressive Panda enclosure.
The layout of River Safari is one large loop, with each exhibitleading into the next there’s no chance of missing anything (unless you wantto). I found the design of River Safari to be a major positive. We were able totake a much more relaxed pace and we weren’t running off to the next showtimeor backtracking half the zoo to get to an exhibit we hadn’t seen yet, which wefound we did a lot at Singapore Zoo.
After we entered River Safari we headed to the left (clockwise)to begin our journey through the different river environments. We walkedthrough the Mississippi, Congo, Nile, Ganges, and Mary River exhibits, and sawturtles, crocodiles and lots of giant fish.
Next, we had a go at the touch pool. Even thoughit was fairly quiet, only one family was allowed in at a time, which meant weended up waiting over 10 minutes to have our turn. Before we entered we had towash our hands, and then we were only allowed to touch 2 of the creatures. Ithought it was quite average, and the kids weren’t too excited about it either.
The next section took us through the animals of the Mekong andYangtze River, with lots more fish in amazingly large fish tanks.
We then reached the Panda enclosure. The Panda enclosure ismassive! It is completely indoors and is very well air conditioned to keep thePanda’s at their ideal temperature. There are 2 Giant Pandas that call RiverSafari their home plus a few red pandas.
At this point we were about half way through the zoo anddecided to have a break at the Panda cafe. The cafe is decorated in a pandatheme with some very cute panda chairs. We were even able to get steamed buns,filled with either red bean or chocolate, that looked like Pandas! (and veryreasonably priced at $2.50 each).
After our pitstop, we crossed the bridge over the river to thearea that runs the boat rides. There are two different boat rides available:the Reservoir cruise (which is included in the entry price) and the AmazonRiver Quest (Additional $5/Adults and $3/child).
The Amazon River Quest is a flume/log type boat ride. There isa minimum height requirement of 106cm, which meant I had to miss out on thisride and look after the toddler, while Hubby and the two older girls had a go.According to them it was lots of fun and the highlight of their day. The ridetook them through lots of different animal exhibits including tapirs, a jaguar,monkeys and flamingos. These animals are not accessible any other way than viathe Amazon Quest Ride.
There are no height restrictions for the Reservoir cruise so we were all able to go. I’m not going to lie, this cruise was rather boring, and the kids had no hesitation in loudly proclaiming so. The 10 minute cruise took us on a loop around the Reservoir, in which we were able to see some of the animals over at Singapore Zoo, along with being provided some commentary on the area we were cruising in.
The final part of River Safari is the flooded Amazon forest where you can find Dugongs in the world’s largest freshwater aquarium in the world. There’s amphitheatre type seating here, so you can stay awhile and watch the Manatee and fish swimming around.
All up we spent approximately 3.5 hours at River Safari, so setaside half a day when planning your trip. We combined our visit with SingaporeZoo , which we did in the morning, and River Safari in the afternoon. While itwas definitely doable to do both in the one day, we were a bit “animaled” outby the end of it (and we did Night Safari as well – it was a very long day! Night Safari review to come)
All of the family loved River Safari, and I think it’s almostbetter than the Singapore Zoo (if you can believe it?!). River Safari offers amuch different experience to Singapore Zoo and is definitely worth a visit.
More information : www.wrs.com.sg
How To Get There:
Review by Kids Around Perth Reporter Candice 2nd May ,2018
Candice Kocken – Kids Around Perth South of the River, Hills & Events Reporter / Mum of 3 kids.
Candice is a Mum of 3 who loves cooking, sewing and taking her kids out to explore our beautiful state of WA. Follow Candice and her adventures @uncannymum on Instagram.
Back to Singapore with Kids
We make every effort to ensure all this information is up to date but should be used as a guide only. Events do get cancelled or changed and venues can close without notice. Always follow the links provided for up to date information on an event or activity. If you know of a change or cancellation we’ve missed then please contact us to let us know.
