Before Visit

PRE-VISIT RESEARCH

Overview

River Safari is a river-themed attraction under Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS). It is a zoo and aquarium that is dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity through meaningful experience. With 69 exhibits featuring 400 plant and 200 animal species, 85% of the park can be viewed on foot and the rest on boat rides.

Offerings, Programmes & Special Events

River Safari offers different programmes that provide opportunities to get up close and personal with various animals, such as Meet the American Beavers and Panda Rise and Shine. Visitors will get a chance to meet the animals in their ‘home’ and even play with them or prepare their meals. A photo taking session allows visitors to capture these special and unique moments to take home as memories. Prices are $20 for an adult ticket and $350 per participant respectively.

In addition, there are guided river trails whereby visitors can interact with the animals, learn interesting information of each creature and listen to the guides’ personal experiences. The River Safari Cruise allows visitors to enjoy a leisure, scenic boat ride and may spot wildlife such as storks and herons. With many photo opportunities, this relaxing activity is good for families to enjoy nature’s beauty and charm. Another boat ride would be the Amazon River Quest that showcases Amazon wildlife. With audios introducing the animals and sharing some interesting facts, this boat ride is both a fun and educational experience.

Pricing & Pricing Structures

The usual admission price for an adult, child and senior citizen is $30, $20 and $14 respectively. Visitors have to pay an additional fee for the Amazon River Quest at $5 for adults and $3 for children. The price is similar to the other attractions under WRS which makes the pricing seem reasonable. Other than the standard admission price, River Safari has some special promotions. For the NTUC, PAssion and SAFRA Card Members’ Promotion, visitors who are NTUC, PAssion and SAFRA Card members get 20% off Adult and Child admission tickets. For the PAssion Silver Card Members’ Promotion, visitors who are PAssion Silver Card members get 30% off Senior admission tickets. In addition, the birthday special gives visitors free admission and 10% off retail and F&B outlets, 7 days from date of visitor’s birthday.

Engaging During Pre-Visit Stage

During the pre-visit stage, River Safari has some details on what visitors can expect and tips on how to better prepare and enjoy their River Safari experience. Such tips include preparation for weather changes, suggested dressing and health concerns.

River Safari also provides details on their retail and F&B outlets. Visitors are able to better plan their trip such as when to have meals, what food they can expect at the F&B outlets and what gifts they would be able to purchase. With such knowledge, planning schedule, budget and necessities needed would be easier and more efficient. This would contribute to a more positive experience.

D-Day

MY FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCE

Before entering the Giant Panda Forest

Overall Appeal

River Safari is Asia’s only river themed wildlife park with more than 600 different species of plants and animals. Visitors will want to visit this attraction for its uniqueness as the only river themed attraction and view its large collection of freshwater animals. In addition, the Giant Pandas, Jia Jia and Kai Kai, are a must-see at River Safari. The gentle giants attract both international and local visitors, especially children.

The weather in Singapore can be very hot and people would rather stay at home or go somewhere that is air-conditioned. Therefore, as most attractions are outdoors, visitors may be deterred from visiting due to the hot weather. However, River Safari is almost fully sheltered with only the boat rides held outdoors.

Areas Well Featured

One of the areas that was well featured was the F&B facilities that were strategically placed. Firstly, the Mama Panda Kitchen which is located at the Giant Panda Forest. Visitors are excited after seeing the pandas and with this excitement, they will want to try the food there, especially the Panda Pau. Not only that, visitors are also tired after finishing half of the park so they would be inclined to taking a rest at food outlet and getting some food and drinks. Secondly, the River Safari Tea House which is located at the entrance of the park. With its convenient and easily accessible location, visitors can dine there after exiting. Boasting a wide variety of local Chinese dishes, it is a family-friendly food outlet to dine at after a long day at the park.

On top of that, strollers are available for rent for children and wheelchairs are available for elderlies, disabled visitors and visitors with special needs. This is convenient for visitors and they are able to fully enjoy the park.

Engagement

There were a few engaging activities at the River Safari such as a crocodile feeding show and interaction with water creatures. Visitors were able to view the park staff feeding the dwarf crocodiles. This is also a way to show how the animals are being taken care of and boast their training and professionalism. In addition, this would attract children as they would find it fascinating and cool.

At the Mary River, visitors have an opportunity to touch marine life such as starfish and horseshoe crab. This is an educational experience, especially for children through hands-on, sensory activities.

What I Like

I had been to the River Safari back in 2014 and I was excited as it was a new attraction with a different theme. For this trip, I was excited about seeing the Giant Panda Forest and the Squirrel Monkey Forest again.

As expected, the Giant Panda Forest did not disappoint. As I only saw one giant panda during the previous trip, I was very happy to see both the giant pandas this time. The red pandas were adorable as well. Although they were just sleeping, it was a nice experience to see them relaxing in their own habitat.

In the Giant Panda Forest

What I Dislike

During the previous trip, I did not take the River Safari Cruise so I decided to go for it this time. I was very disappointed with it as it was very exciting. Yes, it is supposed to be a relaxing cruise but it would have been slightly better with more animals to see other than the rhinoceros and giraffe. I did not manage to see the rhinoceros and the giraffe was hard to view from the boat ride. Also, there was very little else to see other than some wild birds flying around the lake. Therefore, with just the two animals and an audio guide (which no one really paid attention to either), I found the ride to be very uninteresting. Luckily, the boat was not too stuffy or warm so it was still tolerable.

Motivators

Some motivators to visit the River Safari would be the education and relaxation. The exhibitions were educational with interesting facts. I noticed that the visitors were mostly families with young children around 3 to 10 years old. The adults were able to take some time off from work for a family outing and the children could have fun and learn more about freshwater animals from around the world at the different exhibits. Family bonding can occur through having fun and learning together.

Another motivator would be for photography opportunities. There are often people who visit attractions for photography, either for professional or leisure purposes. There are many colourful flora and fauna and scenic views to take photos of.

Challenges

River Safari faces several challenges that would decrease their visitor arrivals over the years. These challenges include the River Safari Cruise, huge dependence on the few animals and its limited F&B facilities.

Firstly, the River Safari Cruise is not a popular ride as visitors find it boring with nothing much to see or do. If it was not free, will visitors still take the ride? I doubt so. From word-of-mouth, visitors will probably know that this boat ride is not very interesting. First-time visitors will probably take the ride if they have not heard about it but visitors who went before or know someone who went before would probably skip it in favour of the Amazon River Quest and other exhibits.

Secondly, one of the major reasons to visit the River Safari is to see the giant pandas. Without them, will there still be a lot of visitors? Other than the pandas, there are mainly marine life. However, some of these animals can also be found at other wildlife parks such as Underwater World Singapore and Singapore Zoo. Visitors will more likely visit these well-established attractions with similar animals at similar admission prices.

Thirdly, there are very few F&B facilities at River Safari – Mama Panda Kitchen and River Safari Tea House. This gives visitors very little selection of food. This could be viewed as inconvenient for visitors as they would have to make extra plans for their meals. In addition, the F&B outlets do not provide much Halal food which provides another inconvenience to Muslim visitors.