Rainforest Lumina

Written by Donovan November 12, 2018 Category: Asia, Singapore Tags: , , , , , , , Comments

Ever wondered what happens in the rainforest at night?

Take a walk in the wild, and uncover the stories and sensory treasures of nature with Rainforest Lumina. The first such experience in Southeast Asia, Rainforest Lumina is presented by the Singapore Zoo as part of its 45th anniversary celebrations. The lush, luminous world of the rainforest at night opens to guests from 1 July 2018.

Visitors can expect to be enthralled by a mesmerising, audio-visual experience that occurs within Singapore Zoo with 10 interactive zones. Merging story and setting, Rainforest Lumina will feature a distinctive narrative where visitors will meet the Creature Crew, a quirky group of unlikely heroes who will take you through a magical adventure like no other. Pull the vines aside and meander along the path to where a lush and luminous universe awaits you.

The Creature Crew believes that every species has the power to give back to the rainforest: nature, animals, and humans too. Their motto, “We Are One,” means that everyone has a special role to play, even you! Come play, sing, and discover their enchanted world. For wherever the Creature Crew roams, the rainforest blooms with wonder.

Since the zoo is normally closed in the evening and its partner park the Night Safari has been drawing in the crowds, it was time that the Singapore Zoo innovated instead of resting on its laurels. Do take note that Lumina is a multimedia walk and for those expecting to see many animals in their habitats, they would be disappointed.

The Singapore Zoo came up with the idea of illuminating the zoo (only certain sections) while visitors could make a tour of the park and immerse themselves in the interactive displays. In my opinion, Lumina was just a ticketed version of the Singapore Night Festival. There are few animals to see because these exhibits involve mainly lights, sounds and movements, so these would scare the animals away and thus animals were not involved in this exhibition. Priced at $22 for adults and $16 for children, it is quite pricey because Lumina can be covered within an hour. It is quite a small area even though it boasts 10 checkpoints – Treetops, Garden of Virtues, Sing like an Animal, Call of the Wild, Light Huts, Shimmering Islands, Play Like an Animal, Water, Wall of Fame, Lantern Passage. Visitors can also choose to combine the Lumina ticket with Singapore Zoo or the Night Safari, so there are some savings. For example, you could visit the zoo during the day and wait until 7.30pm for the Lumina exhibit to start. Or you could do the Lumina and Night Safari together.

Even the food shop has animal-themed food! They look too cute to be eaten.
At the first stop, we were allowed to select one wristband as a souvenir from Lumina. There were several values based on the animals portrayed, such as playfulness, creativity, playfulness, resilience, generosity, courage, teamwork, passion and patience.
The Arch entrance
Next stop is Treetops: lots of laser lights laminated in the treetops as we walk through the pathway.
At the Sing like an Animal station, we had to sing into the microphone to make the display in front light up. The louder and longer we drag our voices, the more percentage of the display would be lighted up.
Walking past the light huts
Next: call of the wild. A multimedia show on the rock steps about some animals. It reminds me of those cartoons put up during the Night Festival, using the facade of the National Museum as a backdrop.
Shimmering islands. They look like real flowers but actually they are just pieces of plastic with UV light shining on the petals.
Play like an animal: This station was also fun because by jumping on those lily pads, we could see the animals projected on the screen jumping as well. Jumping two to three times on the same pad would transform the animal into something pretty.

One of the rare animals that we spotted at the park on that night. These pelicans were sleeping with their necks tucked in and their eyes open.
Last stop: Wall of Fame. We could take photos by scanning our wristbands with the QR code and after which we could go back to download the pictures. Quite hi-tech.
This is the map that sums up our adventure for the night.

Book your tickets online to enjoy 10% discount. So we paid $20 for each ticket. Overall, I was not too impressed with Lumina because we only took about an hour to complete. We went on a weekday so there were not many people. If going during weekends, be prepared to queue up to take photos and to interact at the exhibits. I wish the Lumina area could be larger and some parts of the park open so that people can enjoy seeing the animals in their habitats without going over to Night Safari.

Address: Singapore Zoo. 80 Mandai Lake Rd, Singapore 729826

Opening hours: 7.30pm – 12am

You might also like