Night Safari

The tram is the obvious first move at the gate. That's the reason to make it your second.

Night Safari is best done on foot, with the tram as the second half of the evening rather than the first. Enter early, walk the Pangolin and Leopard trails, and ride once you've seen what the paths can show you. It suits a date that likes its wildlife with some mystery, and children old enough to stay up and stay quiet; the compromise is a late night and an entry timeslot booked in advance.

It opened on 26 May 1994 as the world's first nocturnal zoo; then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong called it "the only one of its kind in the world". The idea came out of the zoo's night tours in the 1980s, and chairman Ong Swee Law's premise was simple: most tropical animals are nocturnal, so why meet them asleep? Planners expected 400,000 visitors in the first year and got 760,000, which suggests the public had been wondering the same thing.

The trick is the light. British designer Simon Corder became involved “almost by chance” in 1988, while staging a performance at the zoo for the Singapore Arts Festival, and created the moonlight-style scheme that still defines the place: far brighter than an actual full moon, dim enough not to bother the residents. Revisiting in 2016, he found the original system “still working well, 20 years on”. Give your eyes ten minutes and the habitats slowly fill in.

Why your feet beat the tram

The tram takes about 30 minutes with English commentary and passes animals you won't see from the paths, so do ride it. But it keeps moving, and the trails let you stand in front of an animal for as long as it will put up with you. Start with the Pangolin Trail, formerly the Fishing Cat Trail: Night Safari was the first zoo anywhere to breed the critically endangered Sunda pangolin under human care. The Leopard Trail gained a walk-in civet exhibit in 2022, the year Tasmanian devils were shown in Singapore for the first time; they now have a trail of their own. Near the tram stop, look out for Chawang, an Asian bull elephant who is surprisingly easy to miss in the dark (a sentence that ought not to be possible about an elephant).

The rest of the evening

Creatures of the Night, the sheltered amphitheatre show, runs several times a night; seats are released on Mandai's booking portal two hours before each one, so book the moment they open. Paid extras include hand-feeding the Indian rhinos at East Lodge in the early evening. Flash photography is out: it startles the animals, and your fellow tram passengers will not thank you either. If it pours, the tram is roofed, so a wet night is not a lost one.

Eat before you come, wear proper shoes and plan the trip home before you set out: it closes at midnight, and the route back is the Mandai shuttle or bus to Khatib or Springleaf. Single-attraction ticket holders still need an entry timeslot, so book that first.

Good to know Mandai says single-attraction ticket holders still need to book an entry timeslot. It closes at midnight (last entry 11.15pm); check the official site for opening time on your date. Nearest MRT: Khatib or Springleaf, then the Mandai shuttle or bus. Public holidays: Mandai lists Night Safari as open daily, 6pm–midnight with last entry at 11.15pm, and lists no public-holiday closure.

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Night Safari | 80 Mandai Lake Road (Mandai Wildlife EAST), Singapore 729826 | Nearest MRT: Khatib or Springleaf