We had our first Trick or Treat Halloween fun ever. And guess where we went to see friendly ghost, mummy, frankenstein, witch and even wizard? RIVER SAFARI!! And you can’t believe that River Safari can be as amazing as Night Safari at night! No, there is no scary ghost that appears out of nowhere. There is no zombie to catch the kids. All you see are friendly mermaid, Hogwart School student, little animals, insects, fairy, barn owl, raccoon, tarantella spider, and lots of sweets, chocs, and Safari fun!
We were greeted with thoughtful Halloween decorations and tongue-in-cheek posters everywhere we went.
At the reception, we received Halloween headbands and also gift packs that we forgot about while putting on the bands! We were too excited to rush in especially when we were the last to arrive after work. From the little guests that we saw along the way, they were wearing a cloak with spider web, pumpkin designs. Each had a Trick or Treat bag that became full quickly as the little ones collected sweets every few metres from a friendly fairy or wizard giving out treats. The kids were ecstatic!
As we walked towards the River Talk: Myths and Legends Animal Presentation stage, we stopped to admire the Halloween decorations as well as River Safari’s Amazon River life and fishes. This, being our first trip to the River Safari, was indeed a unique one since it was in the evening. I like how there were many information boards that engage the kids in knowing the River life well.
Oh, we missed the sleeping Pandas, JiaJia and KaiKai but we’ll be back for them very soon!
We managed to get a picture with mascots though.
When we finally reached the stage performance, the entire stage was full! Not surprising since the animal show with the Halloween theme is one of the highlights of the night.
I was certainly impressed by the performance which combines some eerie music mixed with light-hearted performance by the hosts together with the parade of animals to the little ones. As promised to be a non-scary event, the Frankenstein, the witch, the mummy and the skeleton look so friendly, one may wonder how a supposedly spooky character can be so approachable.
After the show, we proceed on to the next area where kids get to interact with learning exhibits.
The kids slid their hands into unknown boxes to feel and guess what was inside.
They took a magnifying glass to scrutinize vampire bat skeleton.
They learnt about scaly creatures and reptiles.
They learnt that horse shoe crabs have blue blood and insects have transparent blood!
They had fun with Sherlock bones! That’s the antelope skull and some animals’ skeletons.
Each of these stations had treats for the little ones too!
Next, they walked to the big aquarium and on the way, they had lots of trick or treats again! It was like Children’s Day!
At the aquarium, the Hogwart school’s best student gave an interesting lesson on manatees, dinosaur age fishes, and more. Do you know that manatees are mammals and they need to breathe air out of water every few minutes?
The children all went home happily!
I really think the Safari Boo event was very well-planned and organized. If you have young children, I am sure this would be a suitable Halloween event to bring them for some fun Trick or Treat 🙂
More information on Safari Boo:
Rain or Shine event – Don’t worry, there are plenty of shelters and in fact the whole place is sheltered except probably for the stage.
Dates: 22, 25, 26 October & 01, 02 November
Time: 6 to 9pm (last admission 8pm)
Admission – Free for all children age 12 and below after 6pm! River Safari tickets apply for adults
All River Safari admission ticket holders & Friends of River Safari members can participate in Safari Boo activities for FREE.
Note: The Giant Panda Forest, Squirrel Monkey Forest and boat rides will be closed as per normal opening times and will not be open for Safari Boo. The animals need their bedtime too 🙂
Website: click here
Disclaimer: We were invited to the media preview of Safari Boo. All opinions here are my very own. I think it is a truly different kind of experience in River Safari at night 🙂
Sounds like a place I’d love to take our kids, love that the characters are made friendly!
It’s a friendly Halloween event 🙂 I wouldn’t want to go if it is a spooky one :p
Me neither, and I think my son would be scarred for life if he’d go to a spooky Halloween event 😉 (he is just so afraid of darkness and everything new now. Must be his sense of space and differences developing…). Lucky for him Halloween isn’t a huge thing here.
OMG! As usual, my Science knowledge requires our children and you for correction 😛 Have edited! Thanks dear 🙂
Wow! That is soooo cool!! I love how interactive they made it, and it looked very kid friendly, those happy pumpkins kept making me smile!