Bird Paradise in Mandai to open on May 8 with discounted tickets
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SINGAPORE – Bird Paradise in Mandai Wildlife Reserve will welcome its first guests on May 8, and visitors will be able to get discounted tickets until May 26.
Admission will cost $38 for an adult and $23 for a child aged three to 12, while seniors 60 years old and above will pay $20, Mandai Wildlife Group said on Thursday.
Visitors will pay the full price of $48 for an adult and $33 for a child from May 27, following a run-in period that allows the park to tweak operations if needed, as the birds continue to adjust to their new environment. The ticket price for seniors will remain at $20.
In-park food operations will also be ramped up progressively during the run-in period.
Bird Paradise will have eight walk-through aviaries and will feature two new bird programmes – Predators On Wings and Wings Of The World – which will be presented at the park’s Sky Amphitheatre.
The park will open daily from 9am to 6pm, with last admission at 5pm.
Mandai Wildlife Group, which runs the park, said that visitors can see the world’s largest population of hornbills under human care, with many of them flying free in the walk-through aviaries, which have been designed to mimic habitats from around the globe.
“Bird Paradise is a celebration of birds and their stories, and will be home to some of the world’s most threatened species – from Philippine eagles and Negros bleeding-heart doves, to straw-headed bulbuls, black-winged mynas and blue-throated macaws,” said the group.
It added that one species in the park’s collection, the Socorro dove, is extinct in the wild, with its survival now dependent on conservation efforts of Mandai Wildlife Group and other institutions.
For an extra fee, guests will also get opportunities to go behind the scenes with keeper-led programmes. These include exclusive access to the park’s Avian Healthcare and Research Centre, where visitors can watch veterinarians in action.
Guests can watch vets in action at the park’s Avian Healthcare and Research Centre.
PHOTO: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
At the Avian Breeding and Research Centre, they can learn more about conservation breeding programmes, including those for Asian songbirds and threatened parrot species.
Visits to these centres are part of the hour-long Backstage Pass: Avian Healthcare tour, which takes place once daily. The tour costs $118.40 per person on weekdays, and $148 on weekends.
Meanwhile, the 2½ hour-long Bird Discovery Tour, which includes a personal guide and an up-close experience with birds and runs twice daily, costs $400 per group of up to eight on weekdays, and $500 on weekends.
The opening of the 17ha new park closure of Jurong Bird Park on Jan 3
Feeding sessions – a highlight at Jurong Bird Park – will also feature at Bird Paradise at $8 per session, with new varieties of birds, said Mandai Wildlife Group.
Bird Paradise will have eight walk-through aviaries, and feature two new bird programmes – Predators on Wings and Wings of the World.
PHOTO: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
These include feeding sessions with starlings, African hornbills and barbets at the Heart of Africa section, pelicans at Kuok Group Wings of Asia and lories at Lory Loft.
Proceeds from these sessions will go towards the Mandai Wildlife Group’s conservation efforts.
The group said that a free-to-visit guest area comprising children’s play areas and dining options, called Mandai Wildlife West, will also open from May 8.
The new public node will serve as the arrival area for Bird Paradise and the upcoming Rainforest Wild park.
A free-to-visit guest area comprising children’s play areas and dining options, called Mandai Wildlife West, will also open from May.
PHOTO: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
Food and beverage options at the node include Luke’s Lobster, Leckerbaer and Mr Holmes Bakehouse – housed together in a “flagship multi-concept store”.
Fast-food chain A&W, Western restaurant Collin’s, Han’s, Indian restaurant Pavilion Banana Leaf, Coffee House by Old Chang Kee, Starbucks, Cheers and ice-cream parlour Birds of Paradise are among the other options. There is also Unpackt, a zero-waste grocery and lifestyle store.
A 10m-tall waterfall in Mandai Wildlife West greets visitors as they arrive. It was sculpted after Indonesia’s Madakaripura waterfall.
PHOTO: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
Mandai Wildlife Group said that two main play areas in the public node were inspired by the native Sunda pangolin.
These areas – Pangolin Adventure and Pangolin Hideout – “encourage junior guests and the young at heart to mimic the behaviour of the mammal with movements like climbing, burrowing and sliding”, said the group.
On the translocation of about 3,500 birds from Jurong to Mandai, the group’s chief executive Mike Barclay said: “This ‘great migration’ was a first-time experience for both our birds and employees, and I am glad to share that they are all settling in well in their new home.”
Members of the public can pre-book their admission tickets and any add-on programmes from April 24 at www.mandai.com
