Ark of the Avilon Zoo

 

For a quick city edu-entertainment with you child, you might want to check out the Ark of the Avilon Zoo.

 

 

 

 

 ARK AVILON ZOO is the only indoor interactive zoo in the country.  It is two storey building resembling the biblical Noah's Ark.

I was there recently, as a chaperon to my son's school fieldtrip. It was nothing like the zoos we have visited in Singapore (you can check out our Singapore Zoo trips here: Singapore Zoo).


The Ark is quite small and you can easily tour the entire zoo in a an hour or less.  But I do appreciate that it is indoor (away from the scorching heat of the sun or otherwise monsoon weather).

 

 

The Ark Avilon's offers:

 

1. Photo opportunities with the zoo's star attractions like JENNY the Bornean Orangutan, AYLA the Palawan Bearcat, NARDO and ALEX the Cockatoos, TYSON the Burmese Python and  BUSTY the Pony;
2. Farm animals feeding at FARMLAND Fun Feeding Station;
3. Arts and crafts making using recycled materials, and
4. Venue for celebrating birthday parties and other corporate events. 

 

 

 

TIPS:

1. Bring lots of loose 20s for the animal feeding.
2. Bring insect repellant.
3. Don't expect too much from the place.  It is a bit old and requires an upkeep.
4. You can bring your own food inside the Ark, subject to P25 corkage fee per person.

 

 

Ark Avilon Zoo is located at Frontera Verde, Ortigas Avenue corner C-5, Pasig City, Philippines

(+632) 706 2992 / arkavilonzoo@gmail.com This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Entrance Fee is P400 (Below 3feet is P300)

20% discount for Senior Citizen and PWD (with Senior Citizen ID / PWD ID card)

Operating Hours: 9am to 6pm

 

Jurong Bird Park ~ Asia's Largest Bird Paradise

 Singapore has so much to offer children and kids at heart ~ and Jurong Bird Park is one of them

Jurong Bird Park is Asia's largest birds paradise. It is home to almost 5,000 birds across 400 species (yes that many!). 

Here you can find different species of birds fly, swim and roam freely.

The park's major attractions include:

1. Penguin Coast - houses nearly 500 penguins across 5 species.

2. Lory Loft - a 9 storey high enclosure (the structure is so huge, it's hard too tell, you are in a bird cage) that offers close encounters with colorful lories that you can feed.

3. Waterfall Aviary - a 30 meter high man-made waterfalls, the largest walk-in aviary in the world.  We did not see much birds though and this attraction was in need of a little up-keeping.

4. Bird Shows - Jurong Bird Zoo also runs numerous shows:

• High Flyers Show (Pools Amphitheater; shows at 11am and 3pm) - is a showcase of birds' skills. My boys love the low flying birds as they did exhibition flights across the arena.  Very colorful and entertaining. 
• King of the Skies (Hawk Arena; shows at 10am and 4pm) - is a display of hunting birds' skills. It was educational to learn about hawks, falcons, vultures as they parade around.
• Lunch with Parrots (Songbird Terrace; show at 1pm) We gave this one a miss, over Breakfast with the Orangutan at the Singapore Zoo) 

  

5. Birds of Play - is a water playground (yehey)!  Remember to bring trunks and swimwear for your little ones.

 

Located near the water playground is Safari Scoops.  A perfect cool down and last stop at the bird park.


 TIPS:

1. If you intend to do numerous zoo parks suggest you get the park hopper tickets via their website: PARK HOPPER TICKET for discounts.
2. The park is huge.  Get the ticket with tram access.  You can hop on and hop off anytime.  I suggest you do a full ride first to familiarize yourself with the area before touring the park on foot.
3. The park opens at 830am. Come early to get the most out of the park. Any later would probably be too hot to enjoy your tour.
4. Wear comfortable shoes and bring lots of water. Don't forget your umbrella or cap and insect repellant.
5. Jurong is about 30-40 minutes away the city center.  There are various transportation options:

• MRT via the East West Green Line alight at Boon Lay (EW27) then transfer to a connecting bus at the bus interchange, bus no. 194 or 251 OR
• Direct bus via Singapore Attraction Express (SAEx). Check SAEx website for their schedule OR
• Like what we did take a taxi cab.

SINGAPORE DAY 5 (Singapore Zoo)

Warning:  This place is huge.  It is so expansive, a day is not enough to get the most out of Singapore Zoo.

Note: If zoos are in your itinerary, I suggest getting park hopper tickets online via the Singapore Zoo website for purchase discounts. We saved the confirmation vouchers on our phone, which we used to enter the zoo.  The ticket came with unlimited tram ride.

• 8am -We left the hotel early via taxi (SGD25) for the 9am Breakfast with the Orangutans at Ah Meng Restaurant (Note: If you intend to avail of the Breakfast with the Orangutan, please reserve online. Payments are made direct at the restaurant prior to seating). 
• 9am - Arrived at the Singapore Zoo and hurried to Ah Meng.  (Note: It is still about 2-3 minutes walk from the main entrance, so please come early to avoid rushing).

We skipped lunch and instead had ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.

• 4pm - Left the zoo and went back to base to rest our tired feet.
• 6pm - Pizza Hut, Lucky Plaza for Christmas Dinner. Lucky Plaza is short 5-8 minutes walk from our hotel. 
• 7pm - The boys retired early and left me at Lucky Plaza for last minute "pasalubong" shopping at Lucky Plaza.  Our Day 6 to 8 will be at Sentosa and I doubt I would be able to get my shopping done from there.

Good buys at Lucky Plaza:

• nail cutter key chains - 6 pcs for SGD10
• t-shirt - from SGD12 per piece (very good material)
• paper fan - 3pcs for SGD10
• assorted pens - 3 sets (5 per set) for SGD10
• chocolates (Chocolates are surprisingly cheap here at Lucky Plaza. No they are not fake.). 

For Giordano items, the deals were best at the airport.  They have buy 1, take 1 promo, while we were there.

Missed due to traffic and difficulty of getting transfers:

• China Town was part of the original itinerary, but I had to drop due to difficulty in getting a taxi. We would have taken a bus or the MRT, but we did not bought EZlink / pass as we didn't consider MRT or public bus transportation (Maxwell Hawker Center, Buddah Tooth Relic, Sri Mariammam Temple, China Town Heritage Center). 

Promise to self:  

China Town will be part of my next visit to Singapore!

 

Day 5 - From Singapore Zoo to Orchard Urban Jungle!


Check out the rest of our Singapore-Malaysia journey here:

Day 1 - Singapore City
Day 2 and 3 - LEGOLAND Malaysia
Day 4 - Jurong Bird Park and Science Center
Day 5 - Singapore Zoo (with breakfast with the Orangutans)
Day 6 - Sentosa Island
Day 7 - Universal Studio Singapore 
Day 8 - SEA Aquarium and Vivo City

  

SINGAPORE DAY 4 (Jurong Bird Park and Science Center with side trip to the Transformers Exhibit)

Singapore has numerous zoo parks that vies for the title best zoo in Asia, if not of the world.  Their zoos mimic the animals original environment, that somehow creates an impression of freedom.  I was glad we had this in our itinerary. 

• 730am - Breakfast at the Carousel Restaurant, Royal Plaza on Scotts.
• 830am - Left for Jurong Bird Park via taxi (SGD30)
• 9am - Arrive at the Jurong Bird Park. 

• 12nn - Lunch at Birds at Play, Jurong Bird Park. Food was surprisingly very good and tasty. 
• 130pm - Left the zoo via a limousine taxi (SGD20). This was more expensive, but realized after that the difference was merely SGD3-4. It was very nice and the ride was so smooth.
• 2pm - Arrived at the Science Center. It is just a short distance away Jurong Bird Park. 

The Science Center is huge complex that houses numerous exhibits.  My boys love museums and if we have more time, we could easily spend an entire day touring this center.

• 430pm - Transferred to the Transformers' Exhibit. We just had to see the biggest touring Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime models.
• 6pm - Left the Science Center
• 630pm - Back to base to freshen up, before dinner
• 8pm - Hainanese Delight at Far East Plaza along Scotts Road (across Royal Plaza Hotel).  Delicious Hainanese chicken and very affordable as well.  Our entire meal costs less than SGD20.

Day 4 is Tiring.

More attraction packed days ahead!


Check out the rest of our Singapore-Malaysia escapade here:

Day 1 - Singapore City
Day 2 and 3 - LEGOLAND Malaysia
Day 4 - Jurong Bird Park and Science Center
Day 5 - Singapore Zoo (with breakfast with the Orangutans)
Day 6 - Sentosa Island
Day 7 - Universal Studio Singapore 
Day 8 - SEA Aquarium and Vivo City