Dashing Heights

Your ULTIMATE Guide

You Only Need 2 Hours in River Wonders, Here’s How:

  1. Overview
  2. The Itinerary
    1. The 7 Rivers
      1. Giant Fishes in Mekong River
      2. The ARMORED sturgeons from the Yangtze river
      3. and The Unlikely Friendship
    2. Panda Pen
    3. Once Upon a River
    4. Amazon River Quest
    5. Amazonia Encounter
    6. Flooded Forest
  3. References
  4. Pair this with…

This is a blog version of a video guide I made on YouTube:

Hello adventurers, welcome to River Wonders.

In this post I’ll share my 2 hours itinerary of RiverWonders that covers the best parts of river wonders. If you follow this route, you’ll save alot of time AND you won’t miss out on ANYTHING.

Don’t miss out on the 5% off when you use code DASHINGHEIGHTSKLOOK when booking on KLOOK!

Let’s begin!

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Overview

The whole ”zoo” can be divided to these 6 regions, from bottom left, clockwise:

  1. The 7 rivers
  2. The Panda pen
  3. Once Upon a River show
  4. The Amazon river quest
  5. Amazonia encounter
  6. Flooded forest

You can start this itinerary ANYTIME after it opens at 10am and before 4pm because at 6 pm most of the attractions start to close. We will be going clockwise because the signboards and entrances makes more sense in this direction.

The Itinerary

After passing the ticket gantry, take a left turn

The 7 Rivers

In the 7 rivers, you’ll find MANY big fish tanks filled with beautiful fishes from the famous rivers around the world:

  1. River Gems
  2. Congo River
  3. Nile River
  4. Mary River
  5. Ganges River
  6. Mekong River
  7. Yangtze River

My personal favorite in this zone are the

Giant Fishes in Mekong River

It was such an awesome sight to witness them swimming over me.

The ARMORED sturgeons from the Yangtze river

was also very impressive. You can see their distinctive bony plates that makes them look so badass.

and The Unlikely Friendship

I find this HILARIOUS.

I think they are best friends

You’ll likely spend about 30 fun minutes watching all the fishies in the rivers

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Panda Pen

Right after the yangtze river, we’ll meet the animal responsible for global wildlife conservation, the Giant Panda:

Seriously, if they’re not this cute half of wildlife would have gone extinct. Just look whos in the WWF logo.

Our local pandas, Jiajia and Kaikai lives in this luxuriously air conditioned pen beautifully furnished to mimic their natural bamboo forest habitat.

The super adorable red panda also calls this home. They are also known as the FIREFOX. They’re cute but I’m sticking to google chrome.

I love staying in the panda pen. I recommend staying here for at least 30 minutes to just take the time to adore the pandas and cool down from the heat. The air con here is really great.

Contrasting to the red panda, the giant pandas are EXTREMELY sedentary.

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Once Upon a River

After exiting the panda pen, follow the bridge to the Boat Plaza where the animal show “Once Upon a River” is at, which I have some problems with:

Poor lighting. and this bird kept trying to eat the mic.
Level seating area
The OWL went missing in this scene
The presenters tried to pull a joke that everyone missed
The Otter was showing us how to recycle
but he left prematurely
the presenter tried to call him back. Maybe it’s part of the show I’m not sure
  1. The stage is very poorly lit. It makes it very difficult to see the animals and the presenters because of the VERY strong backlight
  2. Many of the front seating area are on the same level so you’ll be seeing alot of other people’s heads. If you sit at the back, the view is limited.
  3. And… I didnt really like the chemistry in the presenters AND their synergy with the animals. The energy didnt feel right and the jokes didnt really land.
    • Some of the back and forth jokes felt odd. Especially when the keeper tries to pretend the bird is flying in from the “back” of the seats instead of the “back” of the stage
    • The “Hello” bird keeps trying to eat the microphone
    • The Owl prematurely enters, and exited when it’s actually his time
    • The Otter LEFT midway performing trash recycling trick

And for that reasons, IM OUT

Having been to ALL the shows in Mandai zoos multiple times; UNLESS you’re not visiting ANY of the other Mandai zoos, I recommend skipping this show while you’re in River Wonders.

Many of the animals you see in the show can also be found in the other zoos.

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For example: There are TONNES of Peliacans in Bird Paradise. Alot more snakes in the Reptopia in Singapore Zoo

And there’s even an almost identical Otter show in Rainforest Strikes Back @ Singapore Zoo. EXCEPT the otter actually finishes the job before leaving.

Moreover, I’ve been to ALL the shows in Mandai multiple times and I have to say, this is the most skippable. Rangers, I’m NOT sorry. It’s not coz you are bad, it’s because your peers are so good…

Splash Safari @ Singapore Zoo

Maybe this is subjective, so if you still want to check it out you need to book a seat via the booking portal which opens 2 hours BEFORE the show starts.

Book seats HERE

Amazon River Quest

JUST beside the Once Upon a River, you will find the Amazon River Quest.

For an additional $5, you can hop on a little boat down a stream and watch animals along the way like a little river safari.

HOWEVER, I also dont really recommend going for this.

I have another separate video about this so I don’t want to repeat too much. In short, The boat is too fast to enjoy watching the animals.

If you still want to go, you can buy the ticket online anytime before you queue for the boat.

Do note that the LAST boat departs at 6pm.

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Amazonia Encounter

Further down the boardwalk, the Amazonia Encounter will be on your left

Where you will be walking into the animals’ enclosure!

You get to meet animals like the

  • Azara Agouti
  • White Lipped Tamarin
  • Helmeted Curasow

I think they meant to simulate the amazon jungle, but I feel that the whole area is too small to feel a jungle vibe. I finished walking the whole place within 15 minutes.

And I need to let you in on a little secret… theres a whole area bigger than the Amazonia Encounter, and with MORE animals.

It’s in Bird Paradise, similarly named: Amazonian Jewel. So if you’re planning to Bird Paradise, you can also skip the Amazonia Encounter.

Flooded Forest

This next one you CANNOT skip. Enter the flooded forest, which puts the WONDERS in river wonders.

You’ll first pass under the giant otters’ tunnel. These playful otters love to show off their acrobatic moves in the water and this underwater tunnel is the perfect place to watch them frolic.

They’re also very interactive and will chase your hands when you wave at them. Children goes berserk when they interact w the otters like this

AND It gets better

Further in, you’ll find the biggest tank in RiverWonders housing the the manatees. The huge glass wall feels like a view into another world. It feels very impressive when they swim by. My favorite moment was when the crowd dies down and im left alone with these giants swimming overhead. So peaceful and calming to watch them.

Following the pathway upwards, Watch the manatees from the TOP view.

There are also very colorful manta rays in the shallow pools beside.

You will likely take about 30 minutes to finish watching the otters and the manatees.

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References

Pair this with…

And you’re done with River Wonders in LESS than 2 hours,

This itinerary is PERFECT to be paired with

I’ll see you there!

Tomy P

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