Lazy Sunday

The usually intrepid Messrs. S. Gabriel and A. Sheppard had been laid low by our day of silliness amongst the orchids. So Sunday morning was slow. After waking up late, we feasted (not for the first or only time) on Swedish pancakes with various combinations of jam. The goal was to see an early afternoon showing of Great Expectations, the film version of a book we had read for our Calvin class whilst studying in England.

Plans, however, go awry. We were enjoying our slow morning so much that we missed the bus we needed to make it to the desired showing. Still, we threw caution to the wind and went to the theaters anyway.

Why, with such a slow day planned, did we need a specific time?

Well, we needed time to get to Night Safari!

Photo credit: singaporeguideonline.com

Night Safari is an offshoot of the Singapore Zoo. It opens around sunset, with animal shows, trolleys tours, and walking trails for an closer look at select habitats. The whole point is to give visitors the chance to see animals when they're naturally active.  I love going to zoos, and so I was really excited for this experience.

We decided to do the animal show first, while it was still a little light out. Packing into the small arena, we fanned ourselves with our hands underneath the weight of the humidity. The emcee did a good job engaging the audience, despite the representation of at least ten countries. One of the highlights was the announcement that the staff "lost" one of the animals...only to "find" the largest python I've ever seen in the storage underneath the third row of seats.

Everyone in that row chuckled nervously after that revelation and sat down a little more gingerly than before.

My favorite, however, was the demonstration of the ingenuity and adorability of otters. Calling out three brothers, the emcee showed us how the otters had learned to recycle. They each juggled their respective target--plastic bottle, soda can, and paper cup--into the appropriate bin.

I nearly keeled over from excitement. To demonstrate my point, here's a photo of a short-clawed otter, the breed kept in the Night Safari:

Squee! Photo credit: inotternews.com

After the show was over (and I indulged my inner child by buying a small otter stuffed animal), we sweated our way through the labyrinthine line for the trolleys. As promised, the animals were up and about, not the usual lolling lumps of fur sleepy animals deserve to be during the daytime. After that, Sanna and I strolled through the habitats. We spent most of our time listening to the hungry otters chirping at us for fish and admiring the fuzziest, cutest bottom we'd ever seen, courtesy of a slow loris.

Since my camera is incapable of taking a decent night photo, I don't have any of this particular experience (hence the need to Google photos). But I have the warm fuzzies in my heart's memory.