Getting to Jurong Bird Park

Jurong Bird Park was not at all close to where I was staying off Geylang Road. The flyer I picked up my hotel, Fragrance Hotel Pearl gave rather simple 5 step directions via car which it said would take 30 minutes and MRT which would take 60 min.

I had basically given up the MRT by day 1 so I quickly hailed a cab outside of my hotel. I know it would probably cost at least 10x what the MRT would cost but my flight to Koh Samui was leaving later in the night so I didn’t want to waste any of my time. Little did I know that my taxi driver would do that for me.

Even though I gave my driver the bird park flyer with the map his driving was disastrous at best. He took the wrong turn at least 3 times, one almost to the Malaysian border checkpoint, stopped and asked for directions 4 separate occasions before getting me there. The fare on the meter was $36 Singapore but he only charged me $20 ($14 USD) because of his mishaps.

At Jurong Bird Park

As I expended, similar to the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari there was a little square with souvenirs and eateries right at the entrance to the bird park. There was a place selling Asian food and Ben & Jerry’s as well as a place called Bongo Burger. I had been eating Asian foods the entire time in Singapore to this point so I decided to eat at Bongo Burger.

Bongo burger was your typical cheesy theme fast food restaurant. The employees were wearing safari outfits and all the furniture and decorations were safari themed. The burger and fries were pretty good although cost around 15 Singapore dollars ($10 USD).  After 15 minutes in the fan cooled restaurant I was ready to explore Jurong Bird Park

Bongo Burger & Animal Chairs

Stained Glass Dome on way into Jurong Bird Park

Touring Jurong Bird Park

Jurong Bird Park was set up very similar to the Sinapore Zoo or all zoos for that matter.  There are wooden signs which tell which areas of the park have which kind of birds.  The different groups of birds ranged from penguins, to flightless birds to birds of prey. TAKE NOTE:  There are vending machines all over Jurong Bird Park but none of them take bills.  If you have a propensity to overheat, make sure you bring some $1 coins to get some chilling refreshments along the way or else you may be sweating buckets walking up the hills and steps throughout the park.

Just like the Singapore Zoo some of the bird exhibits were very camouflaged.  As you may imagine there was no shortage of birds in the park.
More than a couple exhibits had me wondering how the birds don’t escape as most of the park is open air.  This makes Jurong Bird Park a great place to take photos.

Everyone from professional photographers, to amateur photo enthusiasts, to kids with their cell phone cameras can enjoy taking photos of birds in Jurong Bird Park.  Consider that if you wanted to shoot photos of all the birds in the park you’d have to travel all over the world and get lucky in their natural habitat.  Below is a slide show with a small fraction of the birds at Jurong Bird Park.

Live Bird Show

Just as I was about to leave Jurong Bird Park to head straight to the Airport for my flight to Koh Samui, Thailand I heard a crowd of people buzzing.  I knew I had about an hour of leeway before my flight was to leave so I decided to check out and I’m glad I did.

The bird show featured some very, very trained birds.  To my surprise vultures were a main feature performing some pretty mind boggling feats of intelligence.  At one point I didn’t realize the handler was directly behind me and was buzzed by a giant vulture 6 inches above my head.  It caused me to miss the chance of some great shots with my Nikon D700 Digital SLR and monstrous Nikkor 70-200mm VR lens.  If you decide to visit Jurong Bird Park, make sure you check out the schedule so you won’t miss this fun and sometimes hair raising experience.

Everyone and their Mother Enjoying the Live Show at Jurong Bird Park in Singapore

Overall Impression

Balaniceps Rex aka Shoebill

Although the initial thoughts of visiting Jurong Bird Park didn’t really excite me and I essentially attended as a last minute time killer I had a great time.  I thought the presentation and content was excellent with a nice layout of the “bird zoo” along with a wide variety of birds from all over the world.

As well as the birds themselves there was a good amount of interesting information and exhibits all over the park which really interested me.  There were many locations that showed the close relationship which today’s birds have with the ancient dinosaurs and if you don’t believe me, check out the moment I caught the shoebill yawning (on the right).

I would highly recommend Jurong Bird park for anyone traveling with the family.  I saw numerous kids having a blast.  I was able to get much of the park in even though I had a flight all the way across Singapore in a couple hours.  I would guess at least 2, preferably 3-4 hours would be enough time to enjoy the park, have a bite to eat as well as check out the live show.

Again, I thought Jurong Bird Park was pretty cool and is included with the 3-for-1 pass you buy with admissions for the Singapore Zoo and night safari.  The $45 Singapore dollar ($32 USD) is good for up to 30 days so whether you love or hate birds, Jurong Bird Park should be on your Singapore:  Things to do list.

STRONGLY Suggests you Visit Jurong Bird Park in Singapore

Read about the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari

Last 5 posts by Mike Behnken

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