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Thursday, November 5, 2020

Night Safari

Since traveling was strictly not allowed, life in the time of corona meant you gotta make do with what Singapore had to offer. Shortly after Phase Two began, we explored the country and visited the places I never thought I'd go before, from Jurong Lakeside Gardens, the Animal Resort to Admiralty Park. 

In the midst of all these visits, I suddenly thought of bringing my daughter to Night Safari. She had never been there before and it'd been a while since the two of us travelled together. Oh yes, the last time we did that, she was still chubby and short-haired. She was a lovely 5-year-old girl when we went to Hong Kong in early 2018. 

To the Night Safari!

Three birthdays had passed since then and my daughter was now eight years old. She was very much aware of this world than before, but yet more interested in YouTube and all sorts of things that one could find on a mobile phone. In a short period of time, she had changed a lot, so it'd be good for me to spend time with my little girl again. 

So off we went to Night Safari. Apparently there was a bus to Khatib MRT station that went via highway and we could also continued with a shuttle bus from there, hence the journey was rather smooth. We reached there right on time for dinner, therefore we went to KFC as planned.

The tram ride. 
 
Our zoo time began with a tram ride. I remember when I first had a ride in 2006. The thing with Night Safari for the first timer is, you won't know what to expect. The darkness will make you wonder, will the animals roam freely and suddenly appear next to you? I stared at my daughter as she observed her surroundings curiously. 

By the way, to answer the question above, the tapir did appear out of nowhere. It was both a nice surprise and a humbling experience. There was this feeling that we were really out of our depth when we passed by the woodland at night. The animals were in their element while we had to look high and low to find them. 

Exploring the Wallaby Trail. 

The second leg of the Night Safari was exploring the trails on foot. We started with Wallaby Trail and then East Lodge Trail, where we took a break for a while. My daughter was excited as we talked about nocturnal animals. Oh yes, she knows the term nocturnal, something that she learnt after she kept hamsters as pets.

For those of you who didn't get it, nortunal means active at night. If you ever thought of why the lions were just lying on the ground when you saw them at the zoo, that's because they are nocturnal. We saw both Asiatic and African lions while we were there, but her favorite animal was the sugar gliders, haha.

Ice cream time!

While we were at East Lodge, we had ice creams. I guess, in a way, a father's role is to spoil his daughter like the princess she is. Yes, a father is to instill manners and bring the best behavior out of her, but in a good day, it's anything she wants. Can't help it, really. How to say no? So, yeah, no mother would buy her daughter an ice cream at 8pm, but a Dad surely would!

And the journey continued from East Lodge to Leopard Trail and Fishing Cat Trail. There was still some energy left in her when we stepped into Mangrove Walk enclosure as she'd like to see the bats, the animal known to her as the carrier of coronavirus. But the bats flew past us swiftly. In the dark of the night, we could have a glimpse of something flying from one end to another, but we never had a clear look of the creatures.

Sharing a cup of slushy at Ulu Ulu Restaurant. 

My daughter lost her interest after that. It had been quite a long walk for her, so she felt tired and wanted to go home instead. Not even a pangolin or a gharial could save the night, so we headed to the exit.

Before going home, we had a cup of slushy, the flavored ice that causes brain freeze if you drink it too fast, haha. It was around 9pm at night. What was forbidden by Mum, was overruled by Dad for this occasion, haha. It was good to hang out with my little girl again. She grows up so fast that I may not have many chances left!

The map of Night Safari.


Night Safari

Karena liburan ke luar negeri tidak diijinkan pada saat ini, hidup di masa korona berarti beradaptasi dengan wahana yang ada di Singapura. Tak lama setelah Fase Dua dimulai, saya dan keluarga berkunjung ke tempat-tempat yang tidak pernah saya ketahui sebelumnya, seperti Jurong Lakeside Gardens, Animal Resort dan Admiralty Park. 

Dari berbagai pilihan yang ada, lantas terpikir oleh saya untuk membawa putri saya ke Night Safari. Dia belum pernah ke sini dan dua tahun sudah berlalu terhitung sejak kita terakhir kali berlibur berdua. Linda berumur lima tahun,  masih tembem pipinya dan pendek rambutnya ketika kita berlibur ke Hong Kong di tahun 2018. 

Di bis dari Khatib menuju ke Night Safari. 

Tiga ulang tahun sudah berlalu semenjak itu dan kini dia berusia delapan tahun. Wawasannya tentang dunia kian luas, tapi ketertarikannya pada YouTube dan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan handphone semakin menjadi-jadi pula. Dalam waktu singkat, dia sudah berubah banyak, jadi saya ingin menghabiskan waktu berdua bersamanya lagi sebagai seorang ayah dan putrinya. 

Jadi kita pun berangkat ke Night Safari. Dari belakang rumah, ada bis yang langsung menuju stasiun MRT Khatib melalui jalan tol. Dari Khatib, ada bis jurusan kebun binatang sehingga perjalanan ke sana pun menjadi praktis dan tepat waktu. Kita tiba di sana tepat pada jam makan dan kita pun bersantap malam di KFC seperti yang telah direncanakan.  

Naik trem keliling kebun binatang.

Petualangan di Night Safari dimulai dengan keliling naik kereta. Sambil menatap putri saya mengamati sekelilingnya dengan penuh rasa ingin tahu, saya jadi teringat dengan pengalaman pertama saya di tahun 2006. Dalam kegelapan malam, saya jadi menduga-duga, apakah binatang-binatang itu dibiarkan berkeliaran dan bisa tiba-tiba muncul di samping kita? 

Bila anda ingin tahu jawabannya, di malam itu ada tapir yang mendadak terlihat di samping kiri kereta. Suatu kejutan dan juga pengalaman yang bersahaja. Terasa bahwa manusia itu tidak berdaya di tengah gelapnya malam dan lebatnya pepohonan. Hewan-hewan ini berada di elemen mereka sementara kita harus celingukan dan mencari di mana sebenarnya mereka berada. 

Menjelajahi Wallaby Trail.

Bagian kedua dari Night Safari adalah menjelajahi kebun binatang dengan berjalan kaki. Setelah kereta berhenti di tempat semula, kita mulai menyusuri Wallaby Trail dan East Lodge Trail. Putri saya bercakap-cakap dengan riang tentang hewan nokturnal. Oh ya, dia tahu arti nokturnal. Ini adalah kata yang baru dia pelajari setelah memelihara hamster.

Bagi anda yang tidak tahu, nokturnal artinya aktif di malam hari. Jadi kalau anda pernah merasa heran kenapa singa biasanya hanya berbaring saja saat anda lihat di kebun binatang, itu karena singa adalah hewan nokturnal. Di Night Safari, kita melihat singa Asia dan Afrika, tapi coba tebak apa binatang favorit Linda? Wupih sirsik alias sugar glider, haha.

Menikmati es krim di East Lodge.

Sewaktu kita tiba di East Lodge, Kita menikmati es krim sejenak. Saya jadi berpikir bahwa peran seorang ayah itu adalah memanjakan putrinya seperti seorang putri raja. Ya, seorang ayah berkewajiban untuk memastikan putrinya memiliki perilaku yang baik dan sopan, tapi di saat santai, sang ayah akan memberikan apa saja yang putrinya mau. Susah untuk menolak, haha. Sepertinya tidak ada ibu yang akan membelikan putrinya es krim jam delapan malam, tapi ayah akan mengabulkannya!

Dari East Lodge, Kita lanjut ke Leopard Trail dan Fishing Cat Trail. Linda masih terlihat cukup antusias saat kita melangkah masuk ke Mangrove Walk. Dia ingin melihat kelelawar, hewan yang diyakininya sebagai penyebar korona. Akan tetapi kelelawar melintas dengan cepat di kiri-kanan kita. Di bawah cahaya lampu di malam hari, kita hanya bisa melihat sesuatu yang melayang melewati kita, tapi tidak terlihat jelas bentuknya. 

Berbagi slushy di Ulu Ulu Restaurant. 

Putri saya pun lelah setelah lama berjalan. Rute yang kita tempuh tergolong cukup panjang dan dia merasa cape. Bahkan trenggiling dan buaya gharial tidak lagi menarik perhatiannya, jadi kita pun berjalan ke arah pinti keluar. 

Sebelum pulang, kita sempat beristirahat sejenak sambil menikmati segelas slushy, es parut rasa anggur yang dinginnya akan terasa sampai di otak bila kita minum terlalu cepat, haha. Saat itu jam sudah menunjukkan lebih dari pukul sembilan malam. Apa yang biasanya dilarang Mama, diijinkan oleh Papa di malam ini. Senang rasanya bisa bertualang berdua bersama putri saya lagi. Dia tumbuh begitu cepat sehingga mungkin tidak banyak lagi kesempatan yang tersisa buat saya! 

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