Night Safari Singapore Presents Rainforest Lumina
Rainforest Lumina is home to Southeast Asia’s first multimedia night-walk experience, aiming to trigger an awareness and empathy for nature and wildlife. This multi-sensory night-walk joins technology with the natural rainforest world in an immersive storytelling experience where elements of light, scenography, sound and videos combine to create a compelling landscape at Singapore Zoo. Wandering through the vines, guests are led by a team from the zoo known as the Creature Crew who reveals this enchanted world. The programme is planned to run from 1 July 2018 – 19 February 2019.
Following a one kilometer-long trail, guests will explore Singapore Zoo at night and be treated to a mesmerizing multimedia experience. The night walk consists of more than 10 zones, including interactive features that are bound to excite guests of all ages. Rainforest Lumina is the collaboration between Wildlife Reserves Singapore and the multimedia studio, Moment Factory.
Giant Lizards in Bangkok City Center
Need a break from the hectic rush and pace of life at the center of the Big Mango? Then take some time out to explore the capital’s first and most popular public park ‘Lumpini’. This 142 acre park allows for multiple outdoor leisure activities such as jogging, Tai Chi, badminton or try a local game of takraw. One of our favorite activities is to stroll around the paths while trying to spot the goliath Asian water monitor lizards. They can be seen swimming or sunning themselves on the banks of the park’s lakes.
Growing up to two meters long, they are one of the largest lizards in the world (if you haven’t seen one, image a cross between a crocodile and snake!). The Asian water monitor is a protected species in Thailand and while they can still be seen in the wild across many areas of Bangkok, one of the largest gatherings is right in the heart of the city. Our morning program combines looking for these awesome animals with some Tai Chi exercises and a typical Thai style breakfast before stopping for the national anthem at 8.00 am sharp when the entire park comes to a standstill.
Hong Kong’s Water Buffalo
Did you know that on Lantau Island cattle and water buffalo are free to roam the land as they please. It’s been a long existing ecosystem structure; between these mammals, humans and a whole host of wildlife found on the island. There is an important relationship that exists between many of the birds and the buffalo/cattle. During periods of extreme weather, birds including Red-breasted Flycatchers, Daurian Redstarts and Red-Flanked Bluetails that have struggled to find their natural source of food, have been sustained through feeding on buffalo dung.
Yellow cattle were once a very important part of village life on Lantau. As recently as 30 years ago, cattle were needed to plough the upland paddy fields for rice cultivation on Lantau Island. These days the cattle are no longer used and rice cultivation has been replaced by small vegetable plots. Their droppings (dung) were the most important fertilizer for gardens – and can still be used for this purpose today. At the Trappist Monastery, cows were kept for providing fresh milk. Today’s herds at Cheung Sha, Tong Fuk, Shui Hau, Shek Pik and Discovery Bay are a small remnant (some 70 animals) of the once numerous herds that roamed these pastures. Destination Asia Hong Kong can take visitors back to this period on a walk through the pastoral history of Lantau Island. We uncover the history of working animals on the island and learn how its needs have changed over recent years.