Devilfish's Asian Adventure

Master zoo

Master is another rest station on the Alexandria-Cairo desert road, this time on the northbound side, a few kilometres from Omar Oasis. It's a higher quality service station with a supermarket and fast food complex. I haven't visited the zoo there for many years. Many of the staff at the station aren't even aware of the zoo's existence.
A few cages and enclosures are spread over a large series of gardens. At least two cages house grivet monkeys, one houses lovebirds, another peacocks, and domestic geese fill any other space. A central pond under construction, glass vivaria, and new plants in the gardens suggest growth in the near future, but I'd like to see better facilities for the monkeys first.
A pair of grottoes which now house geese look like they were once home to something much bigger (maybe like bears?), but I can't remember what that might be.
 
Enjoying these little updates Devilfish, very interesting reading.

I think little updates where possible would be great, like Chlidonias said, don't worry about photos, you will probably be too busy anyway.
 
Alexandria Zoo

I visited Alexandria Zoo earlier this week along with one of the 'friends', a group who work to improve conditions at the zoo. Overall it was nice to see a large number of small improvements, though there is a very long way to go. New improvements include upgraded signs with an effort to make them educational, and good levels of enrichment in a number of enclosures/cages. I'll write more when I get back, but the work the friends do is great, and the zoo's new management team are friendly and keen to see improvement.
The main limiting factor is financial support, but with decent funding they'll do an immense amount of good. If you're interested in getting involved in any way, or donating/offering advice, please let me know via PM.
 
zooboy28 said:
Enjoying these little updates Devilfish, very interesting reading.

I think little updates where possible would be great, like Chlidonias said, don't worry about photos, you will probably be too busy anyway.
Click to expand...

Thanks. We'll see how feasible it'll be as the trip continues. :)
 
Alexandria Aquarium

I visited Alexandria Aquarium this week. Still very similar to my last visit, but perhaps the biggest change is the transfer of the loggerhead turtle from the small ceramic pool outside the entrance, to a tank within the aquarium. Still not really large enough or deep enough but an improvement nonetheless.
Initially I was a bit disappointed by the lack of rare/obscure fish which I usually find (although the turtles, octopus and remora were decent), but on my second circuit I paid more attention to the smaller fish - some of which were very interesting juveniles.
Again I think it's a shame the aquarium has downsized, but it's led to improvements in the animals' housing.
 
I was hoping that by now I could be a bit more specific about the rest of the trip but big changes are still taking place; Laos was dropped from the itinerary just yesterday. Will outline plans once regional flights and my first night of accommodation have been booked.
 
I'm currently in Cairo airport waiting for my flight to Singapore. As plans stand, I'll be spending around 4 days in Singapore, a further 4 days in Malaysia (based in KL), and then fly onwards to Vietnam - but I've yet to book that flight.
 
woo-hoo! Nothing against Egypt of course, but I've been waiting impatiently for the southeast Asian leg to begin :D
 
In the last few days, a trip down the desert road to Africa Safari Park and the lion's village was unfortunately cancelled. Instead, I revisited Alexandria Zoo and a nearby branch of the lion's village which had recently opened. Brief reports to follow.
 
Alexandria Zoo - 2

On revisiting Alexandria zoo, there wasn't much to report. I was surprised that one of the cobras in the reptile house was in exactly the same agitated position, and I got to see the black leopard, who is in better living conditions than before (in the former chimpanzee house - there are no more chimps at the zoo) but the leopard seems in relatively poor condition.
A few of the animals I saw last week were locked away, and those I hadn't seen first time round were also hidden.
 
Lion's village - Alexandria

The lion's village on the Alex-Cairo desert road gained international infamy when the owner, Capt. Ahmed El-Temsah [lit. Ahmed the crocodile] boasted that he wanted to fight a lion, potentially to the death. The place has a number of other draws, acting as a zoo, a restaurant, a circus, and a number of business ventures, selling honey, exotic meats, animal encounters and traditional pastries.

I came across the newly opened branch in Alexandria, next to the zoo, by chance. Apparently branches are also open/under construction at three other locations.

There were a number of ridiculous cages/enclosures, but not much of note in the collection except that the 5 lions are only displayed during circus-style shows. Also a large number of taxidermied specimens and sea turtle shells on display. I was surprised by the prolific use of garlic in theming. Photos to follow.
 
Changi airport butterfly garden

I've landed in Singapore and just visited the butterfly garden in the airport. A very nice touch. Fortunately it's open 24 hours, which meant I could visit it before 6am. It's still dark but I reckon I got a decent idea of the place. I was hoping to maybe come across birdwings but species on display are all common, as Zooish had warned. :)
 
devilfish said:
The lion's village on the Alex-Cairo desert road gained international infamy when the owner, Capt. Ahmed El-Temsah [lit. Ahmed the crocodile] boasted that he wanted to fight a lion, potentially to the death. The place has a number of other draws, acting as a zoo, a restaurant, a circus, and a number of business ventures, selling honey, exotic meats, animal encounters and traditional pastries.

I came across the newly opened branch in Alexandria, next to the zoo, by chance. Apparently branches are also open/under construction at three other locations.

There were a number of ridiculous cages/enclosures, but not much of note in the collection except that the 5 lions are only displayed during circus-style shows. Also a large number of taxidermied specimens and sea turtle shells on display. I was surprised by the prolific use of garlic in theming. Photos to follow.
Click to expand...

Do we want to know what sort of exotic meats?

I have to say I'm intrigued by "the prolific use of garlic in theming", and looking forward to those photos.
 
Jurong Bird Park

Yesterday I went straight from the airport to Jurong bird park. A great place. When I was told at reception that there were no lone enclosures along the paths between marked exhibits, and found the first few exhibits to be relatively small, I assumed it might not take too long to go round the park. I was wrong. I left at closing time, and even then I had a few things I'd have liked to review.

I was very impressed by the atmosphere in the park; the rainforest is teeming with wildlife. The waterfall in the African aviary was also surprisingly impressive - I first approached it from the highest outpost so I got to see its full power.

I was surprised by the frequently absent signage, but major birds were covered. Some very nice birds, a few not on display which I'd have liked to see but all in all, a great day out.
 
Transport in Singapore has been a bit of a pain for me recently. It looks organised and efficient, but almost every journey I've taken so far has lasted double the promised/expected time. Let's hope things improve.
 
S.E.A. Aquarium

This morning I went to SEA aquarium and was very very impressed. A very well-done aquarium which is one of my favourites. Not as busy as I had expected, but still quite crowded.

Open Ocean was brilliant. It was well-stocked, a nice array of creatures (I don't honestly think I'd have liked to see a whale shark in there), and I enjoyed the views from the dome. I feel that the windows at the back which caused much fuss have two main issues: 1. They distractingly break any illusion of being in the ocean; 2. They are curved and can reflect sunlight at awkward angles. I didn't expect to feel like I was underwater, and tried to take some photos with the sun's reflection backlighting subjects.
The shark tank is very engaging. A large number of sharks in a relatively deep tank was very impressive.
 
Underwaterworld Singapore

This afternoon I visited Underwaterworld Singapore (Sentosa). As it is much smaller than SEA, it felt much busier and a lot more crowded. A good sign, as I had expected the competition may have had a negative impact on visitor numbers. In reality, the two aquariums compliment each other beautifully collection-wise. Where SEA lacks reptiles or mammals apart from dolphins, underwater world houses 4 species of sea turtle, pink dolphins, fur seals, otters and reportedly a dugong off-show. (I've probably missed something too.)

Other odd highlights included two species of isopod, a mimic octopus, and a tank of 'sea angels' (Clione limacina).

Obviously this is the older aquarium, and the visit reminded me a little of a 'blue reef aquarium' in the UK, but it's good to see it still doing well.
 
Night Safari

What a day for new animals! I'm writing this on the bus back from Night Safari. A very interesting experience. I struggled a little bit to surrender to the fact that I wouldn't be able to take any photos. If I had accepted this earlier, it might have made a small difference to the experience at the time.

Ultimately I arrived very late (about 1.5h after opening) but got to see everything, even catching the last tram. Everything new to me showed quite well, which was good. I had planned to return tomorrow night, but given that my photography is limited, and that I've already seen everything I wanted to, I think I might just have an early night tomorrow and spend the money on something else instead, like the taxi I'm now riding because I missed the last train. :rolleyes:
 
I'm not writing very much in these mini-reports - do feel free to ask any questions you might have.
 
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