Gentle Giants Wildlife Tour

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Wildlife Reserves Singapore offers a variety of guided tours across its parks that allows visitors to have a special behind-the-scene experience with the animals and their keepers. What I love about these tours is how strictly they stick to their policies regarding animal shows or contacts with humans. In short, the shows or tours are always about education and conservation, and not the usual "pay for photo with drugged / mouth-taped / domesticated / trained animals" that one often encounter while overseas.

The kiddos were asking about the whereabouts of the elephants in the photo.

The really lucky kiddos got to experience a preview of the latest Gentle Giants Wildlife Tour that will only be starting on 16 November, way before everybody else, and were treated to a very exclusive and intimate one-hour session with the keepers and the five Asian elephants in the Zoo. Let me share a little with you on what you can expect during the tour!

Hopped on the buggy to start the tour!

The first thing you get to do on the tour, would be meeting your guide at the entrance and getting onto the buggy to be ferried to the elephant show area. Along the way, you will pass by various animal exhibits and your friendly guide (in our case, Sean) would be glad to answer your burning questions on the animals you see. In fact, you need not ask, because he provided a very wonderful commentary and would ask you questions related to the animals instead. That surely entertained and educated the kiddos.

Louie had fun feeding the elephants!

The friendly keeper did an awesome job keeping the kiddos entertained and educated at the same time!

Feeding the elephants snacks will be the next order of the day. However it is not only about feeding the gentle giants, but learning more about the humongous residents from the keepers as well. Get to know their habits and hear a little more about the history of the individual animals from the keepers. There will of course be photo opportunities and the keeper would be more than happy to get the elephant to strike a pose for your group!

So how does an elephant eat a coconut?

This is how pills are washed down its mouth if medication is required.

A pedicure in progress!

Finally you get to the back-of-house of the elephants, which I had been told, was the first time the zoo is opening up the area to the public. There will not be tricks performed by the magnificent creatures, but instead, you will be get to see how the keepers communicate and train them to do what is required of them, so that medical procedures such as pill-feeding, temperature-taking and physical examinations can be performed safely and without stress to the animals.

Look at all those bananas! I was tempted to eat one too!

The jack fruit is meant for the elephants as well (but I would gladly eat too), probably as a treat!

The kiddos also got into the air-conditioned "food shed" where all the elephant food is stored, be it fresh fruits or dry rations and it is pretty amazing how much food the keepers need prepare for the animals daily. I tell you hor, the animals are really well taken care of, even getting exotic fruits such as jack fruits as well, and the fruits looked even better than those sold at some fruit stalls lor!

Some of the prehistoric creatures are already visible to the public!

That's because they are so big that they have nowhere to hide!

This paid tour ($98/adult & $65/child) is only one of the many activities happening at the Zoo when its "A Mammoth Adventure Back in Time" programming (16 Nov - 29 Dec) starts this school holidays. Get to know the giant prehistoric creatures that roamed the Earth following the extinction of the dinosaurs and earn limited edition pins when you complete the trails! Best thing is, local residents get 15% off admission fees when tickets are purchased online, while kids who dressed up as Cave Kid (think Flintstones) gets free entry on 23 and 24 Nov! Don't say never say!

Thank you to the WRS team for the swell time we had this morning!

So do not hesitate further, check out the Zoo's official website for more information to mark the dates and thank you Wildlife Reserves Singapore for the invitation for the family!