Mandai Wildlife Reserve Rainforest Wild Asia review

Nadchew_

Nadchew_

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Part 1

Decided to give my thoughts on Mandai's newest wildlife park on this thread instead of flooding the other already established thread. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the staff preview of the park on 15th February and I want to give my honest thoughts on the park without any biases.

The concept of the park itself is very interesting and the overall theming of the complex is nothing short of fantastic. It is described as a "zoo mixed with a nature reserve that focuses on chance encounters with animals" by other staff and I can confirm this is true due to the expansiveness of most of the exhibits and the introduction of flexi habitats. The park can be explored either via a raised boardwalk that provide a more aerial view of certain exhibits, or via 7 ground level treks that range in difficulty. The ground treks consists of gravel pathways, boulders, faux wood bridges and suspension bridges to traverse the park. The treks can take you through forest areas, across streams and right above certain exhibits (will explain more later). The treks allow you to view certain habitats at eye level which I am sure would be ideal for most photographers, with some habitats seeming to only be available for viewing via the treks. The raised boardwalk is very accessible to all and both the handles and flooring is made with wood, eliminating the static shock issues that plagues Bird Paradise. The walkway can be quite winding as it swerves around seceral already established trees. Besides the animals there are other "Adventure +" activties that are paid. This includes the Canopy Jump ( 13 or 20 metre free fall that costs $30 for 1 jump and $15 for a second), AIA Vitality bounce ( Bouncy net portion near watering hole that costs $15 for a 20 minute play session), and Critter Crawl ( a 60 metre crawl space that guests can explore using a headlamp. Madagascan hissing cockroaches are in the space in glass floor exhibits. It is $20 per person). To be frank, all of these experiences, especially for non-members of the park, are very much overpriced to me for what you are paying for, but since I am no expert on pricing rationale, I shall not make any more comments on this. Moving on will be a review of each section and exhibits of the park.

Upon entering the park, guests are greeted with a pretty spacious exhibit that is meant to house Southern river terrapin, Asian arowana, Vietnamese pond turtles and Black pond turtle. The exhibit has a very good amount of water space for swimming and a decent amount of land for the terrapins, which were the only ones on display as of my preview. I would say it's a good start.

The karst outpost only has one species, which is the François Langur. A wonderful addition to Mandai's collection and its exhibit is nothing short of fantastic in my eyes. The island habitat that the bachelor troop stays on is well themed and planted, with the langurs frequently sitting on the rockwork and foraging. The background is the rock climbing adventure course that is also modelled after the rock habitats that the langurs can be found in. Although not apart of the exhibit, from the trek level, it blends almost seamlessly with the exhibit at the front and the immersion is really there!

The forest floor is a deer walkthrough that houses 2 species of tortoises, 1 species of turtle, 2 species of deer and one species of chevrotain. It is a nice little exhibit with a decent species collection. The deers also have spaces to hide themselves from guests if need be. The Elongated tortoises and asian giant tortoises have seperated standalone exhibits within the walkthrough. They are decent looking and provide a fair amount of space but aesthetically they are not exactly groundbreaking.

The rock cascades portion of the park is where the flexi habitats come into play. These exhibits can house Bearded pig, babirusa and/or red dholes depending on the day. The flexi habitats are very lushly planted and surprisingly large. The red dholes that were on display utilised the whole stretch throughout the day. Overall I view the exhibits and the concept of flexible habitats in a positive light. Although I am not too fond personally of another babirusa space. Babirusa being present in 3 of the 4 current Mandai parks seems slightly overkill. The red dholes being available for daytime viewing is definitely a plus.

The rock cascades are also home to the Malayan tigers. The main tiger exhibit is around 4000 square metres, an absolutely stunning size for the tigers. The two male tiger brothers take up this expansive habitat. I have heard criticism stating that there is too much rockwork, and that I can somewhat agree/confirm. Almost the entire lower ground portion and climbing areas of this exhibit are mockrock, with only the top right portion and some small areas being planted. But it seems the tigers don't mind it and constantly use the water features. They are absolutely dwarfed by the exhibit and the different viewing angles really showcases the expansiveness of the habitat. There is also a secondary tiger habitat that is significantly smaller than the main one. Guests are able to see the runway towards this exhibit as it runs parallel with the boardwalk. If Sulong were to walk in the runway, he can be quite close to guests. His exhibit is very much smaller and it is entirely netted. Compared to the majesty that is Aarha and Sali's exhibit , this one is quite the downgrade at first glance. But at least Sulong gets to be on display.
 
Part 2

The Canopy is the main primate area of the park, and its vibes heavily remind me of Singapore Zoo's Treetops Trail. Right now there are some mature trees but the area as a whole is still not too lushly planted yet. We may need to wait a while till the area would look its best. But as a whole the space looks pretty good for the primates (Javan langur, siamang, red-shanked doucs). Howevee with the high elevation and thick vegetation below, I feel that it may be quite hard to spot the Philippine spotted deer, which would be my complaint. Although for deers that are quite shy, the foliage can act as a barrier for them to feel safer. The langur nets are fun though!


Sentinel foodhall is your typical zoo food establishment but with 2 exhibits. A tall aviary sits between one end of the foodhall and the raised boardwalk, and houses surplus female bali mynas, Vietnamese pheasant and prevost's squirrel. To be blunt, this is the weakest exhibit in the park in terms of exhibit design and maybe species collection for those that have been to the other Mandai's parks. I understand the bali mynas due to surplus and it is infact a very charismatic and Critically Endangered species. The pheasants are an okay addition but viewing it is quite hard as the bottom of the aviary is below the viewing level of both the foodhall window and the boardwalk, making general viewing and photography quite hard. The squirrel's addition is a whatever to me personally. With how tall the aviary was, I was expecting a raptor inside, perhaps Brahminy kites of Changeable hawk-eagle if I want to be fantastical, but what we got is meh to me. Inside Sentinel itself is a nice little exhibit meant to house Blood and Burmese pythons. The exhibit was not ready at the time of my visit but my first impression is that it is slightly small for both species together, especially given how big Burmese pythons can be.

The watering hole currently houses 3 species, the Malayan sun bear, Malayan tapir and Saltwater Crocodile. The sun bear exhibits are extremely spacious especially. The sun bears have 2 exhibits, one more visible from the boardwalk and one more visible from the treks. The boardwalk exhibit is extremely spacious and absolutely dwarfs the bear. It is quite lushly planted but there were not too many climbing structures for it. The trek exhibit is a long stretch which can be seen from 2 different angles. Size-wise I like the exhibit but theres quite alot of mockrock that does not look very good personally. U are able to be at the same level as the bear in this exhibit more often though.

The malayan tapir have 2 exhibits at its disposal, one only seen from the lower stream trek and one that can be viewed from the same trek, the boardwalk and the watering hole cafe all at once. The exhibit exclusive to the lower stream trek is appallingly small. The amount of land space in this exhibit is smaller than Miata's (outdoor pygmy hippo) exhibit at Singapore Zoo. The water space is alright but the exhibit as a whole feel like a nice-looking diorama instead of a suitable habitat. The second exhibit is quite a bit better, but still small in my opinion. I tend to compare this particular exhibit to the Tapir's old home in Singapore zoo, the now-bearded pig exhibit. This RF asia exhibit has slightly less land space than that.... its water space admittedly is quite good I would say. It is just a shame that the park's second largest animal and one of its icons I might say gets the smallest spaces. It looks pretty i guess..

Panjang the saltwater crocodile has his own exhibit to himself and what an upgrade this is compared to his previous home at Singapore Zoo. Panjang gets two land spaces at both ends of his exhibit that I am sure is bigger than his old sungei buaya exhibit and maybe around the same if not slightly less than his reptile kingdom home. The water in his exhibit looks very clean and almost clear but he is able to be submerged enough in the water that he is almost completely unseen. The addition of the bridge over his exhibit accessed from the treks is a very nice touch as seeing Panjang in the water beneath me was quite an experience.
 
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Part 3:

The Cavern is the last section that guests can explore before exiting the park and what a spectacle it is. I sound like a broken record but the cavern was modelled after the Mulu Caves in Sarawak, and the effort put really shows. Almost every detail in the cavern, both the exterior and interior is done extremely well and you really feel immersed when you venture through it. The Madagascar Hissing Cockaroach exhibit is the first animal you see to your left and it is both a wall-mounted and ground cross-section exhibit. It is meant to represent what you can see during the paid crawl space activity in a sense, but the cockroach itself is not exactly exciting, though the floor exhibit for them may be quite exciting for younger guests. Guests then enter one of two quiet zones of the cavern. These quiet zones are air-conditioned interrior spaces with 2 species each, and very intricately detailed. In terms of immersion, these spaces are absolutely fantastic and I was honestly awed at the space. The lighting compliments the rock features well. The first quiet zone had signages for blind cave fish and Soro Brook Carp. The two ponds for the two fishes are right where you enter. The pond for the blind cave fish is a decent size and well lit. But the larger pind for the carps (at the time) was completely dark. I hope when the park opens, there will be better lighting fixtures for better viewing of the carps. The rest of quiet zone 1 a strech along the man made cave, and it educates guests about how caves are formed and some of their known features. Although cool, I honestly felt that there were a lot of empty space that perhaps could be used for exhibits for other small critters. After exiting from the first quiet zone, you are brought back into the outdoors for a short while. You are able to overlook Panjang's exhibit from another angle before entering quiet zone 2. This zone has more stalactites and stalagmites and they look incredible, and the vibes are more or less the same as quiet zone 1. The exhibit present here are Malayan cave racers, which are housed in two open-air exhibits, and one for Asian forest scorpions. The cave racer exhibits are tall and looked good for the snakes to climb. The scorpion exhibit is also open-air with a railing seperating the guests. It is large for the scorpions if you ask me. After the scorpion exhibit, you exit the cavern and you are greeted by the Oculus spot. It is very beautiful but it seems that you would need to pay the Digiphoto staff for your picture, which is quite annoying as it is definitely a social media worthy photospot. As a whole the cavern is absolutely fantastic in terms of design and the effort put into recreating the mulu caves, but the species list definitely has more to be desired.

One very big complaint of mine in general is the heat. Unfortunately the mature trees are not large enough to provide ample shade, and the built-up shelters along the raised boardwalk are few and fat between. On the day of my preview, it was unbearably hot and that dampened the overall experience. The treks are much more shaded and definitely feels better when walking through. There are only a few air-conditioned areas of the park, which are the eateries as well as the two cavern quiet zones. Bare in mind to definitely wear sunscreen of any sun protection clothing when visiting.

Overall I rate the park a 8.5/10. I really really enjoyed the atmosphere, exhibits for the most part, the treks and the cavern, but the other paid experiences don't do ir for me personally. Additionally the Tapir's small habitat and slightly disappointing species list does dampen the score slightly but I do appreciate what the park is doing. As a local that know the other Mandai parks more, I would say the park is more suited for teenagers and other adventurous people who want to dip their toes into type of activities offered. For other Mandai enjoyers, it may be slightly disappointing due to the lack of new species. But for other people who are new to mandai, it is a good recommendation from me!
 
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