Singapore & nature

overview

the local story – what happened

I would like to briefly introduce three of the sights on the subject of nature in this article. The Botanical Garden, the Singapore Zoo and the Aquarium on Sentosa. All three attractions are, as everything in Singapore, perfectly realized and offer the visitors both quietness and excitement. Since I don’t necessarily want to bring only facts and statistics, I can’t tell much about these places except a series of photos.

The Botanical Garden, in the centre of the city close to Orchard Street, is mainly used by the Singaporis as a recreational area, especially at the weekends. Many of the domestic servants from the Philippines or Indonesia spend their free hours there. Beside several ponds where you can feed fish, turtles or swans, the orchid garden is one of the special things you should see. If you are lucky, you will also see one of the more than 1 meter long, free-ranging monitor lizards that are resident in this park.

A special feature is the Singapore Zoo. I have seen a few zoos in big cities, but this one is certainly the best of them all. The zoo is located a little outside, the journey is a little exhausting, but a pair of white tigers is something special and definitely worth the effort and the entrance fee. Normally I am not a fan of caged animals, but in this zoo you get the feeling that every species, for every inhabitant, a small but authentic habitat was created.

The city planners and arquitects have come up with something in order to make Singapore attractive for tourists. With the Bay Sands Hotel and the Marina Bay Garden they have succeeded in creating something special.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is probably the most famous and most expensive hotel in Singapore, and I would like to specially emphasize the swimming pool at the roof of the building with the probably most spectacular view of the city. Unfortunately, bathing is only allowed for guests from a certain price category / night. We sat in the adjacent pool bar and enjoyed the view from there. Like everywhere else in the city, every free space is used for shopping malls – as well as in the complex around the Marina Bay Sands.

First of all, one has to come up with the idea of creating artificial trees made of metal scaffolding and then letting them grow over little by little. I particularly liked it, especially because you can walk through this forest via a footbridge – the view is excellent and gives a completely different perspective. At night these trees are illuminated in a light and audio show.

Right next to it there are two huge, air-conditioned glass domes with botanical gardens. These two cover different themes. In one of them, rainforest and the corresponding climate are simulated, which the operators have once again succeeded in doing outstandingly. It really was impressive.