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Where is the 5000 animals sourced from? The wild or from other zoos?

 

Hello kitty

by Ginnie Teo

 

 

 

DINING with 500 animals is the latest serving on Sentosa's $7-billion makeover

menu.

 

By the middle of next year, it will unveil a $15-million attraction helmed by

Mr Bernard Harrison, former chief executive officer of the Singapore Zoo.

 

It is the latest carrot that the resort island is dangling to attract more

visitors there.

 

This project involves a permanent dining-with-animals attraction called Rimba,

which will open on a 4 ha site - the size of eight football fields - behind the

visitors' arrival centre.

 

Diners will get to eat in the company of lions, cheetahs, bats, snakes and

monkeys. Most will be roaming freely within their enclosures behind glass

partitions. Others will fly overhead.

 

'We are a three-in-one attraction,' said Mr Harrison, 52. 'We are a wildlife

attraction, a restaurant and a lifestyle retail store. We'll have 500 animals,

2,000 trees and we can seat 1,000 guests.'

 

The venture was announced at a press conference at Sentosa yesterday.

 

Mr Darrell Metzger, Sentosa's chief executive, said: 'It will be a

one-of-a-kind attraction that we can market regionally and internationally.'

 

Rimba, which means deep forest in Malay, will have a 405sq-m air-conditioned

restaurant, an al fresco dining area, three private function rooms, an event

hall, a garden lawn for private parties and a lakeside bar.

 

Food, such as barbecued meat, seafood and vegetarian dishes, will be priced

between $15 and $50. There will also be a 650sq-m retail outlet styled like an

Asian home. It will sell items like tribal collectibles, traditional art pieces

and cushions.

 

Mr Harrison was with the Singapore Zoo from 1973 until last year when he

resigned suddenly.

 

He said the idea of setting up a concept like Rimba came to him three years ago

when he was helping a client of the zoo's consultancy unit come up with a

concept for a boutique zoo.

 

'I was wondering how to make a concept zoo viable. It struck me that the key to

that was to put in a strong F & B concept,' he said.

 

Armed with the idea and a business plan, he pitched for funding with four

potential investors, one of which was Sentosa, in September last year.

 

Seven months and numerous business meetings later, Sentosa came on board and a

memorandum of understanding was inked three months ago.

 

The island has committed $15 million to the project and he will be its CEO.

 

Mr Harrison, who has been doing consultancy work since he left the zoo, does

not seem fazed by the poor economy.

 

'I'm confident that this concept is a knock-out. We should be profitable within

the second year,' he said.

 

In fact, he said he expects 500,000 guests in Rimba's first year of operation.

 

VISITORS UP

 

THE attraction is the 19th project that Sentosa has embarked on under its

masterplan to remake the island and attract eight million people each year by

2012.

 

The ambitious plan was launched last June and it has been 'non-stop work'

since, Sentosa's chief executive officer Darrell Metzger said yesterday.

 

'One year into the creation of our masterplan and we're seeing 19 different

projects. Some are still in the works, others are up and running,' said Mr

Metzger, who became CEO in February last year.

 

Among other things, Sentosa has cut entry rates and is adding a $140-million

Sentosa Express rail system by 2006.

 

New attractions like resort spa Spa Botanica and a new musical fountain show

appear to be successes.

 

Visitor figures to Sentosa have increased steadily, with 4.1 million from April

last year to March this year. About 3.8 million visitors were recorded for the

same period the year before.

 

ADDING BUZZ

 

SENTOSA believes Rimba will succeed where other theme ventures on the island

have failed.

 

Recent failures include themed attraction Asian Village, which ran from 1993 to

2000, and water park Fantasy Island, which closed in 2001 after seven years.

 

Mr Metzger said some attractions and outlets which were not performing were

told to make way for new ones.

 

One of these was the former Maritime Museum, owned by the then Port of

Singapore Authority. It used to sit on the land where Rimba will be built.

 

The idea of people eating in the company of animals is not new as the Singapore

Zoo, Night Safari and the BirdPark have similar programmes.

 

In fact, the concept started 25 years ago when Mr Harrison mooted the zoo's

Breakfast With Ah Meng programme, a big draw with tourists.

 

Another example is the Night Safari's Gourmet Safari, launched in April 2001.

Participants hop onto a tram and have dinner while viewing the animals.

 

Asked to comment on Sentosa's new attraction, zoo chief Asad Shiraz, who

succeeded Mr Harrison, said: 'Sentosa is free to duplicate an original concept

pioneered elsewhere.

 

'It seems that the similarity between what we do ends at the fact that both

have dining facilities with wildlife as the backdrop.'

 

He added: 'We are not in the restaurant business per se but are providing the

dining option to enhance our visitors' experience.'

 

Industry players and inbound tour operators interviewed believe Rimba will add

a buzz to Sentosa's tourism scene.

 

A spokesman for the Singapore Tourism Board said: 'We recognise the potential

attractiveness of Rimba and will definitely promote this as a unique experience

for tourists.'

 

Ms Wendy Leong, regional sales and marketing manager with SH Tours, said that

it now promotes Sentosa's Underwater World and Images of Singapore exhibition

when selling tours to the island.

 

'From 1992 until now, our itinerary has not changed. The new attraction will

make it easier for us to push Singapore to the overseas market,' she said.

 

She noted that Australian and European tourists readily sign up for the

dining-with-animals programmes at the zoo, and felt these tourists would find

Rimba attractive, too.

 

Mr Alex Yip, director of business development (inbound) at local travel agency

Vacation Singapore, believed that it would also appeal to tourists from Asia,

who are 'usually more accepting of anything dealing with non-static things, like

animals'.

 

As for Mr Harrison, he said he is looking forward to working closely with

animals again. 'With Rimba, I have ownership. It's a dream come true to do

whatever I want.'

 

Send your comments to stlife

 

 

 

 

 

OTHER EATS IN THE WILD

 

 

 

 

 

YOU OTTER HAVE BREAKFAST:

 

The Singapore Zoo's Jungle Breakfast experience ($15.60 for adults; $11.45 for

children) includes watching elephants take their morning bath and an American

breakfast in the company of Pedro the otter, a giant python, an orang utan and

her offspring. This programme sees 80 to 100 people a day, says Mr Aaron Hung,

marketing director of the zoo.

 

WILD TEA PARTY:

 

 

 

Visitors can wrap up a day's visit to the zoo by having tea with a giant

python and an orang utan and her offspring. It costs $13.10 for adults and

$10.30 for children.

 

THE MANE COURSE:

 

 

 

The zoo's Lunch With Lions programme costs $100 a person, which includes

admission, a tram ride and a guided tour.

 

Participants dine in an air-conditioned room with a clear view of the lion

enclosure through full-height glass panels. The programme is set up subject to

group order.

 

LATE-RIDE SUPPER:

 

 

 

The Gourmet Safari at the Night Safari starts with cocktails at the

suspension bridge.

 

Diners then hop onto a dining tram which travels through the tropical

rainforest of the safari park. A three-course dinner, with a choice of lamb,

chicken, beef, prawn or salmon, is served on board.

 

It is popular with corporate groups and costs $150++ a person, which includes

entry and a guided tram ride.

 

The Cocktail Safari Express is a reduced version of the Gourmet Safari. Here,

bite-sized gourmet snacks are served on board. It costs $45 per adult and $30

per child.

 

PRATA AND PARROTS:

 

 

 

Each month, about 800 to 1,000 patrons sign up for the Jurong BirdPark's

breakfast programme called 'Pelicans, Parrots And Prata - Breakfast With The

Birds'. Of these, 70 per cent are tourists.

 

The pull is its signature dish - freshly-made prata - and, of course, the bird

show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MANE ATTRACTION

 

 

 

THE 500 animals at Rimba, Sentosa's new theme venture, will be sourced from

all over the world and will include lions, cheetahs, jaguars, tamarins, gibbons,

storks, swans, bats and birds.

 

While some of the animals will be on loan from wildlife parks and zoos, others

will be 'breeding surpluses' bought from parks in countries like Malaysia and

Indonesia.

 

Breeding surpluses are extra animals that have been bred in captivity by

wildlife parks.

 

'No animal at Rimba will be caught from the wild,' said Rimba's chief executive

officer Bernard Harrison.

 

He has not started sourcing for the animals yet, but a budget of $500,000 has

been set aside for this.

 

Some of the animals will be free to roam within their enclosures as diners view

them through glass partitions.

 

Others, such as the primates, will be housed on islands on man-made lakes.

Stocks, cranes and herons will be free to wander among the visitors.

 

Glass barriers will keep the big cats at bay, while wet and dry moats will act

as barriers between humans and animals and also to prevent the animals from

escaping. This is also the concept adopted by the Singapore Zoo.

 

Should the venture fail, the animals will be donated to other wildlife parks in

the region, said Mr Harrison.

 

To spread the conservation message, signs on the animals' habits and

conservation status will be posted. Employees will also be trained on the

animals' needs.

 

About 15 zookeepers will be recruited in the next few months.

 

He said the three Rs - reuse, reduce and recycle - will be practised. All

takeaway food, for example, will be wrapped in banana leaves harvested in

Rimba's backyard.

 

Rimba will set up a fund, to be called Conservation Asia, and the money

collected will be used to protect endangered animals and their habitats in

South-east Asia.

 

Service charge at Rimba will be waived, but guests will be encouraged to

contribute to the fund.

 

As to how he will answer animal activists up in arms about using animals as

attractions, he said: 'If people say we are using animals as props, if you are

anti-zoo, there's not much we can do.

 

'But we will ensure that these animals will survive and have a great life.'

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