Nightlife

Singapore after dark isn't as tame as most of us have been led to believe. The nightclubs are stylish and thriving, and the usually staid government has even lifted its ban on bar-top dancing. But if you're looking for the real party animals, make for the Night Safari. Just a 15-minute taxi ride from the city center, this animal sanctuary, open daily from 7:30 p.m. to midnight, offers one of the best ways of viewing tropical fauna, since so many species are nocturnal.

You can see striped hyenas howling at the moon, greater

one-horned rhinos wallowing in the mud, sloth bears eyeing you suspiciously from overhead branches, and the newest feature, flying squirrels the size of cats, gliding among the treetops. Visitors can walk along paths that cut through the park's 16 lush hectares or take a 45-minute tram ride with a guide who will tell you about how, with one kick, a giraffe can disembowel a lion.

There's also a special 40-minute show that brings the animals right up close. And unlike their drunken human counterparts in the bars a short drive away, these creatures of the night don't need inebriants to make them wild. tel: (65) 6269 3411