After visiting thoughts

Motivators of demand of a River Safari visitor

  

Historic significance and nature reserve

Amongst the collection of marine animals in the park lies a collection of marine animals that has been around since prehistoric times, such as the Alligator snapping turtle, and the alligator gar which has been around for 100 million years. Visitors who are curious of creatures that were in the same era, or even before the dinosaurs' era looked like and what their diet consists of could come down to the park to see the marine creatures themselves and learn more about them. 

Many of these prehistoric animals are endangered or threatened of extinction, hence visitors may be motivated to come to the park and learn about the creatures and see them before it is too late.

Also, as the park is a nature reserve, nature or wildlife lovers who are keen to know more of the conserving efforts of the park could come down to the park and learn about the park. 

New experiences and sensations

The park offers a range of new experiences that visitors could experience, besides seeing the animals up close from their exhibit area. There are sessions held to allow visitors to see the animals up close and personal, with the sessions ranging from free to a price tag attached to it.
 At the boat entrance, free meet and greet sessions with some of the animals such as the hedgehog and hornbill occurs almost everyday, with the exemption to weather and health of the animal. 
On the other hand, premium priced sessions with the Giant Pandas in the morning allows visitors to come up close and personal with the well-loved bears and prepare their breakfast. 
Hence, the park offers a range of new experiences for the needs of different visitors, be it whether they are just seeking to know more about the animals, meeting their favorite animal or learning facts of animals they never knew exists. 
New sensations the park offers includes a Touch Pool which has a collection of sea stars, horseshoe crabs and sea cucumbers, and even baby stingrays. Visitors are allowed to touch the creatures at the Touch Pool, and this allows visitors, especially children to satisfy their curiosity of how a starfish or stingray feels like. 
Such experiences and sensations do not occur everyday unless one is staying or working at the park themselves, hence the opportunity to do so may motivate visitors to make a trip to River Safari. 

Opportunity to buy particular types of food and souvenirs 

The park carries a range of souvenirs from T-shirts to stuffed toys and even stationary made after the image of the animals in the park. Enthusiasts who are keen to collect or own the souvenirs may be motivated to go to the park to satisfy their wants. 

Also, food that is unique and only available at the park such as the panda paus at Mama Panda Kitchen, too may be a motivator to visitors to visit the park. 

Education

Enriched with information about the various marine animals, their habits, eating and behavioural patterns makes the park a conducive and educational environment for both students and anyone else to learn more about the animals. Situated in the outdoors with fauna and transparent exhibition areas, children will be interested to see the animals and both parents and teachers would be able to teach the children more about the marine animals. Students and other visitors who are keen and interested to know more about the collection of animals or are in the midst of research could also visit the park to satisfy their curiosity or collect more of the data and information they need. 

Three Challenges facing River Safari

1. Long-term sustainability 

As River Safari is only partially funded by the local government for certain activities, most of the activities and operating costs is to be sourced by the park themselves. As such, ticketing prices are used to cover operating costs, with most of the other sources of revenue such as through the sale of food and merchandise in the food and retail outlets. The park also relies on sponsorships and donations made by both individuals and organisations. As such, if the park is unable to manage their finances well and plan for long-term financial inputs, the park may face a problem of sustainability in the future. Besides the costs in running the park daily, other costs such as maintenance of the parks and conservation efforts too requires money and time to be spent. 

2. Appeal to local visitors and returning visitors

Compared to other attractions, for example the butterfly park in Sentosa which also involves wildlife, River Safari is located in a further distance and visitors, especially locals may find no value in visiting the park. Most locals have already visited the park once and have the thought that the park is still the same and will hence not want to return to visit again, or feel that the park does not appeal to them compared to Singapore Zoo or Night Safari as River Safari is the youngest amongst the 4 wildlife parks too. 
As such, the park may have to constantly come up with new events and introduce new programmes that will keep locals, a large percentage of the visitor numbers returning or visiting the park. 
That said, if the park is unable to constantly upgrade and increase its appeal to local visitors, the park may be forgotten after awhile, or tagged as a place for learning journeys for students. 

3. Competition

With the creation of more wildlife parks both locally and internationally, River Safari faces the threat of competition. Even though competition will always exist, but River Safari will be challenged as compared to the parks surrounding it such as Night Safari and the Singapore Zoo, River Safari is smaller in size and not much changes can be made to its amenities and design due to the limited space. The creation of more similar exhibits, for example SEA aquarium in Singapore also has a huge observatory tank of marine animals will further increase the competition with River Safari. Unable to change much of its amentities or introduce new exhibition zones, River Safari will be challenged to combat the problem besides coming up with themed exhibitions and new programmes. 

A day, My day- at River Safari Singapore

Photos my friends and I took

My thoughts: 

Overall appeal of the place

   

Overall, I feel that the Park on a whole is well maintained and looked after. Rubbish bins were easily accessible and the cleaners also made it a point to ensure that the toilets remained fresh-smelling.

As the Park is mostly surrounded by marine exhibits, i expected the place to smell fishy or dirty. In contrast, the Park was clean and I could hardly spot litter around. 
The exhibition glasses were also well cleaned and there were no murky dirty waters, hence as visitors we could see the animals inside the exhibits clearly. The staff at the Park were also enthusiastic and ready to help if needed. 
Also, even though there were pushcarts and food outlets that sold water, water dispensing machines could be found in the park too.
The food sold were also priced quite reasonably, for example the huge panda pau sold at Mama Panda Kitchen was $2.90, and the tumbler with a choice of drink was $5. 

Areas/services/features that have been well presented

  

There were many signage and information boards that were colourful and easy to read. This made it easier for visitors, both young and old to read the boards to know more about the animals. Most of the boards, especially those that were facing exhibit tanks were made at a neutrally low slanted height with more pictures. 

The interactive features and information boards makes it easier for parents or teachers to explain to the children, or for them to read the information themselves easily.  The low slanted height makes it easy for the children to read the boards themselves while considering the comfort of the adults as a slanted angle helps adults to see the boards easily without needing to strain their neck. 

There were also many interactive features such as buttons that we could press to hear the cry of the animal. The trails around the park also have been carefully planned and i thought it was really smooth. As a visitor, i had no trouble navigating from one zone to the next, from an exhibit to another even without the use or referring to the map that was given to me. 

How engaging has the attraction been

        

   
 Engagement between visitors is low at the park. Most visitors travel with their family and friends and even guided tours are mostly private ones. This was what i had observed during the time i was at the park with my friends, the only guided tour we witnessed was one led by a guide for a class of secondary school students. The informative mood boards displayed along the trails also made interaction between visitors minimal. Unless there is a problem of language barrier, everyone have no reason to talk to another stranger. There was also a petting tank where visitors could try touching a baby freshwater stingray or starfish. Majority of the people who went to the petting tank were mothers with their kids so most of them left after taking a picture and trying to touch the animals.
Even so, there were some exhibits that encouraged interaction between visitors. Examples includes photo backdrops such as empty dinosaur eggs where visitors could "enter" into to take a picture. The meet and greet sessions of the animals also allowed visitors to interact as curious visitors exchanged comments with one another whenever the keeper said something about the animal. My friends and I witnessed the meet-and-greet of a hornbill and iguana too.

What most excited and  disappointed me

              

I was excited to see the Giant Pandas and even though when I met one of them, Kai Kai was out for exercise so only shy Jia Jia was present. Being a shy panda, she was quite intimidated by the sound as the place was quite noisy as some tourists were over excited by Jia Jia's presence. She was originally taking a walk around her home, because of the noise she retreated and started walking in circles. As much as that was also cute, i was still quite disappointed for the overall experience as there were no guides present to hush the noisy tourists down.

The guides at the entrance only help to do crowd control if the noise was getting out-of-hand or easily heard from the entrance.

I was also excited to take the Amazon River Quest, with the cruising speed and sudden accelerations whenever there were slopes and bumps. My friends and I could not guess what we were expecting. It was also interesting to see the animals up close, with most of them either giving us curious looks or just carrying on with their daily tasks and ignoring our presence.
It was also breath-taking to see the jaguars up close as they were less than a metre away from us, with the exhibit glass being the barrier between us.

At the squirrel monkey forest, my friends and i were not expecting much, but the visit made me a little scared as the monkeys were as near as less than 30 centimetres away from me. The keepers present warned us to keep our hands off the sides as they were "territories" of the monkeys. My friends and I even spot a spider monkey using a flower as a tissue to rub its nose before proceeding to discard the "tissue".
I did not need to zoom in my camera or take a step closer to take pictures of the monkeys as they come closer to me themselves and just minding their own business.

I was impressed by the large tank at the Amazon Flooded Forest. The tank was so huge and i felt as though I was really up close with the animals. The place was also very tranquil, probably because my friends and I visited the exhibit slightly later than 5, there were not many families present but mostly individuals and couples.
Hence the noise level was low and the slightly cold area with the many spaces to sit on the long benches facing the tank made the experience therapeutic and we even felt sleepy watching the manatees and other marine animals swim in the tank.

 I do not recall seeing any guides or keepers near the area of the large tank, but I thought that during peak days or hours, it would be great if there were keepers present to help keep the overall noise level down.

On a whole, i expected to see more animals and exhibits as we were told that the park has over 6,000 species, but some of the animals were retreated or sleeping.

   

  

What is River Safari Singapore?

Overview of River Safari Singapore

Source: Zainturizm

Located between The Singapore Zoo and Night Safari Singapore, River Safari Singapore is also a park managed under the wings of Wildlife Reserves Singapore. 

Officially opened on 28 February 2014, the $160-million attraction houses over 6,000 animals including 40 threatened species. Among the animal residents includes Singapore's resident giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia. 

The attraction holds the title of the World's largest Freshwater Aquarium, featuring state-of-the-art exhibit design and houses one of the world's largest collection of freshwater fauna. 

Offerings, Promotions and Special Events 

Offerings 

The river-themed wildlife park is divided into different river zones, River of the World and Wild Amazonia, showcasing animals representing the zones. 

In the zones, such as River of the World, exhibits includes animals from the Mississippi River, Congo River, River Nile, Ganges River, Mekong River as well as the Yangtze River which also features the Giant Panda Forest.
 Wild Amazonia features three main exhibits, which is the Amazon River Quest, Squirrel Monkey Forest and the Amazon Flooded Forest. Located just a stone's throw from the Amazon River Quest is the River Safari Cruise.

Pictured: Stufftoys for sale at 
House of Kai Kai and Jia Jia

The park offers a range of amenities from retail outlets such as The River Shop and House of Kai Kai and Jia Jia and Food & Beverage outlets such as Mama Panda Kitchen and River Safari Tea House.

There are also picnic areas where visitors with special dietary needs could bring their own food, such as Entrance Plaza, Boat Plaza as well as various locations within the Park where there are benches. There are even basic necessities such as strollers and wheelchairs avaialable for rent at the Visitor Services Centre, lockers, ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), prayer room as well as nursing and diaper rooms. 

Programmes

At River Safari, there are a range of programmes that one can experience such as the Amazon River Quest, River Safari Cruise,  River Trails, Meet the American Beavers and even Panda Rise and Shine.

Amazon River Quest is a boat ride which showcases wildlife species such as the Giant Anteater, Jaguar, Capybara and Brazilian Tapir. The 10 minutes boat ride costs an additional $3 for a child and $5 for an adult. 

Video: Time-Lapse taken of my journey on the Amazon River Quest

Source: River Safari Singapore

River Safari Cruise, a complimentary admission ride cruises down the perimeter of the River Safari, gives visitors the opportunity to rest while soaking in the scenery and sounds of nature during the 15 minutes ride. Lucky visitors may also stand a chance to take pictures of wild Storks, Herons or other wildlife.

 Unlike the Amazon River Quest which has a height requirement of minimum 1.06m and has a moderately fast speed, the Cruise has no height requirements and travels at a slower pace and is also wheel-chair friendly. 

Source: River Safari Singapore

River Trails is an interactive guide trail that offers visitors to see the animals up close and personal. The guided trail will be filled with stories and facts by the presenters on topics such as the behavior and habit of the animal as well as witness their mealtimes. 

Examples of some of the river trails includes at the Rivers of the World which takes place at 10.15am and 2pm and at the Manatee Exhibit at 12.15pm and 5.30 pm. There are also animal encounters such as the African Grey Parrot and Hedgehog at the Giant Panda Courtyard at 11.15am and 3.00pm. 

Source: River Safari Singapore

 Meet the American Beavers spans for 20 minutes and is available daily at 4.30pm and 5.40pm, with a price tag attached to it. 

The regular price of $20 per adult or $15 per child entitles the visitors to witness the two beavers during their playtime, step into their home, learn interesting facts from their caretakers and also get to feed the beavers. Bookings has to be done in advance, with limited spaces as each session can only accommodate up to 10 participants and advanced bookings are not allowed. 

Source: River Safari Singapore

Panda Rise and Shine, is an exclusive back-of-house tour that costs $350 per participant allows visitors to get up close with the giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia and watch as the keepers feed the pandas their pre-breakfast snack.

 They also get to witness the morning check-ups, help prepare breakfast for the two pandas, a souvenir photograph as remembrance and dine at the Mama Panda Kitchen.

 The tuesdays and fridays tour lasts from 8.40am to 10.30am and requires a minimum of 2 participants, with the maximum being 6 participants. A one month in advance reservation is advised, and the minimum age to participate is 7 years old. The price also includes a River Safari Admission, excluding Amazon River Quest and River Safari Cruise tickets. 

Special Events

Source: River Safari Singapore

Zoo-rassic Park consists of activities, contests and prizes as well as promotions. 

Activities includes meeting over 20 different dinosaurs at Singapore Zoo and River Safari , and interacting and learning more of the dinosaurs using an app called Blippar. 

Weekend activities includes a meet and greet with the T-rex and Velociraptor , fossil finding fun and two different trails offered at Singapore Zoo and River Safari. 
Juniors aged 10- 14 years have a chance to experience being a junior zookeeper or aquarist. There are also craft activities such as making dino clothes pegs and making your own dino finger puppet, dino scratch art or dino clay art keychain to bring home. 

There are also dino-themed souvenirs and treats such as dinosaur nuggets offered at selected cafes and restaurants in River Safari such as Ah Meng Restaurant and Inuka Cafe.  
Take an online quiz on River Safari's website about Dinosaurs to stand a chance to win a behind the scenes tour for two at River Safari and Singapore Zoo!
 Lastly, the Dino-mite admission combo, an offer exclusive to local residents, prices tickets for both Singapore Zoo and River Safari at $39 for adults and $25 for a child. 

Source: River Safari Singapore

Safari Run 2017 is an event organised to raise awareness for wildlife conservation. The race is scheduled to be held on 18 February, registering closing on 15 Jan 2017. 

The four teams of the race are Ah Meng the Orangutan, Chawang the Asian Elephant, Canola the Manatee and Sunny the Hornbill. 
The animal icons represents the species that the race would like to raise awareness for.For example, team Canola represents the freshwater turtles who are facing extinction. Hence, team Canola supports the conservation of turtles and marine ecosytem.  

Source: River Safari Singapore

Besides the price shown above, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) Members are able to enjoy 10% discount using the promotion code that will be provided for them.

Pricing and Pricing Structures 

Pictured: Admission ticket and Brochure given
to me upon purchase

At River Safari Singapore, ticket prices ranges,  based on the category the ticket falls under. 

The categories includes promotions, Single Park and Multi-Park (also commonly known as ParkHopper Specials), Membership, Birthday Special and VWO Rates. 
Online booking of tickets will entitle the visitor to an additional 10% off the ticket prices.

Currently, promotions that River Safari Singapore has includes the Dino-Mite admission which offers a bundled price of admission tickets to the Singapore Zoo and River Safari for a reduced price at $39 for adults and $25 for a child. The promotion will last from 26 November 2016 to 18 December 2016. Other promotions includes a 20% off admission tickets for adults and children for NTUC, Passion and SAFRA card members from 1 May 2016 to 31 March 2017 as well as 30% off senior admission tickets for Passion Silver card members from 1 December 2016 to 30 September 2017.

Single Park prices to River Safari Singapore is priced at $30 per adult and $20 per child and $14 per Senior Citizen. The prices includes a complimentary River Safari Cruise admission.


Multi-Park prices are further categorised into 2-Park Admission, 4-Park Admission and ParkHopper Plus. The 2-Park Admission bundles River Safari admission tickets along with one of the other parks, costing $49 per adult and $29 per child when bundled with either Singapore Zoo or Jurong Bird Park. The bundle with Night Safari costs $59 per adult and $39 per child. 

The 4-Park Admission bundles admissions to all 4 parks at a cost of $69 per adult and $49 per child. The ParkHopper Plus works similarly to the 4-Park Admission as the ticket entitles the visitors admission to all 4 parks, with the added complimentary tram rides and boat rides for the additional cost of $10 per ticket. Hence the ParkHopper Plus ticket costs $79 per adult and $59 per child.

Source: River Safari Singapore

Membership, such as Friends of River Safari or Friends of Wildlife entitles the visitors with unlimited visits to the respective parks for a year, with additional benefits such as 10% off selected Food and Beverage outlets within the parks and 10% off house-brand products at selected retail outlets at the parks.

Source: Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Friends of River Safari costs $39 per adult and $29 per child or a family bundle of 2 adults and one child for $99 with an additional $10 per child added , capping at 5 children. The bundle includes unlimited access to River Safari for a year except for some blackout periods such as New Year's Day.

Source: Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Friends of Wildlife allows visitors to have unlimited access to the 4 parks for a year, namely Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, the Singapore Zoo, River Safari and costs $119 per adult and $79 per child, caretaker or senior. A family rate of 2 adults and a child costs $259, with an additional $10 per child added, capping at 5 children. Similar to Friends of River Safari, the bundle does not include admission during blackout periods such as New Year's Day. 
Additional benefits includes complimentary tram rides at Jurong Bird Park and Singapore Zoo on weekdays, except on Public Holidays as well as complimentary English Language commentary tram rides at Night Safari on all nights.


Birthday Special, a newly introduced practice, gives individual visitors free admission to the Park 7 days before and on the day of their birthday itself if they are accompanied by a paying guest. The birthday visitor also gets to enjoy 10% off retail and food & beverage upon showing their admission ticket.


VWO Rates, which is further classified to two groups - Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and Holders of Development Disability Registry (DDR) Identity Card.
 The VWO Rates for welfare organisations is valid only for group visits, with complimentary admission on weekdays , excluding boat rides, weekends, public holidays, eve of public holidays and 16-31 December. Caregivers enjoy a 20% discount on admission.
The VWO Rates for Holders of Development Disability Registry Identity Card is valid for individuals only, in which the card has to be presented to enjoy the offer. Similar to Welfare Organisations, boat rides are chargeable. However, the holders of the DDR cards are able to enjoy complimentary admissions everyday including public holidays and 20% off admission tickets for a maximum of 2 caregivers per card presented.

Engagement with visitors/potential visitors during pre-visit stage

Screenshot of River Safari Website

River Safari has an informative website that has information about all the programmes, events and amenities offered and includes pictures as well as videos to support the descriptions of the exhibits. 
The website has updated and reliable ticket prices of which the visitors can order the tickets online, and also directions to getting to the park as well as information of shuttle buses available and buses that can be taken to get to the area. 
Visitors can also answer their burning questions either by reading the list of FAQs compiled, or contact the park directly with the contacting details provided. 

The park also makes effort in making sure that the website is up-to-date and that the information provided is relevant. Brochures on River Safari is also easily accessible at the three other parks in case potential visitors needs the information. The map of the Park is also on the website too. 

Sources:

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/special-experiences/amazon-river-quest.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/special-experiences/river-safari-cruise.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/special-experiences/river-trails.htm

River Safari Singapore,  http://www.riversafari.com.sg/special-experiences/american-beavers.html 

River Safari Singapore,  http://www.riversafari.com.sg/special-experiences/panda-rise-and-shine.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/events-promos/events.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/events-promos/promotions.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/visitor-info/riversafari-tickets.html

River Safari Singapore, http://members.wrs.com.sg/beAMemberFriendsofWildlife.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/visitor-info/birthday-special.html

River Safari Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/visitor-info/vwo-rates.html 

Wildlife Reserves Singapore, http://www.riversafari.com.sg/visitor-info/park-hopper-specials.html

Wildlife Reserves Singapore, http://members.wrs.com.sg/beAMemberFriendsofRiverSafari.html

Wildlife Reserves Singapore Group, http://www.wrs.com.sg/parks-info-facts.html , http://www.wrs.com.sg/parks-info-faq.html