Singapore Zoo

Singapore Zoo is an open-concept zoo on Mandai Lake Road in Mandai, northern Singapore, officially opened on 27 June 1973 by Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee. The idea was driven by Dr Ong Swee Law, then chairman of the Public Utilities Board, who formed a steering committee in late 1968 to build a zoo in the forested reservoir catchment. The zoo covers 28 hectares on the edge of Upper Seletar Reservoir and is run by Mandai Wildlife Group, which counts more than 4,200 animals in its collection.

The open concept means naturalistic, planted enclosures rather than rows of cages, and it is what lets visitors walk beneath free-ranging orangutans and feed a giraffe by hand. Keeper talks, elephant and giraffe feeding sessions and KidzWorld, with its Splish Splash wet play maze, are the main activities. The zoo opens daily from 8.30am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm.

Singapore Zoo shares the Mandai Wildlife EAST entrance at 80 Mandai Lake Road with River Wonders and Night Safari, which makes it easy to combine with one of them. The M2 Mandai Khatib bus from Khatib MRT station takes about 20 minutes, and public buses 138 and 927 run from Ang Mo Kio and Choa Chu Kang MRT stations.