Singapore’s birds have officially upgraded from Jurong to Mandai—and judging by their new home, they may be living better than some of us.
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For more than 50 years, Jurong Bird Park was the place where families met colourful parrots, watched flamingos pose like fashion models and tried not to look nervous when large birds flew overhead. The famous attraction closed on 3 January 2023 after 52 years of operation.
Its feathered residents then moved to Bird Paradise at Mandai Wildlife Reserve, which began welcoming visitors on 8 May 2023. The attraction officially opened later that year on 15 November 2023.
Located beside Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and River Wonders, Bird Paradise is now part of Singapore’s growing wildlife hub at Mandai. In other words, visitors can now spend an entire day meeting animals—and possibly walk more steps than the animals themselves.
Bird Paradise covers approximately 17 hectares, making it slightly smaller than the former Jurong Bird Park, which occupied around 20.2 hectares. However, do not let the smaller size fool you.
The newer park has eight large walk-through aviaries, compared with four at Jurong Bird Park. Instead of simply observing birds from outside their enclosures, visitors can walk directly into beautifully designed habitats while birds fly freely above and around them.
Just remember to look up occasionally—but perhaps not with your mouth open.
Bird Paradise is home to more than 3,500 birds from over 400 species. This is quite similar to the number housed at Jurong Bird Park during its final years. The biggest difference is not the total bird population, but how close visitors can get to them.
The park’s themed aviaries recreate environments inspired by different parts of the world, including African rainforests, South American wetlands, Southeast Asian paddy fields and Australian eucalyptus forests. It is almost like travelling across several continents, except there are no passports, delayed flights or missing luggage.
The exact construction cost of Bird Paradise alone has not been officially revealed. However, the first phase of the wider Mandai redevelopment was reportedly estimated at around S$1 billion. This amount covered other attractions, roads, infrastructure and public spaces, so the full billion-dollar price tag was not spent entirely on the birds’ new apartments.
Plans for the Mandai wildlife transformation were first announced in 2014, with more detailed designs for the bird park revealed in 2016. This means Bird Paradise took around seven years of detailed planning and construction, or roughly nine years when counted from the earliest announcement.
Although it is smaller than Jurong Bird Park, Bird Paradise feels more modern, immersive and connected to nature. With birds flying overhead, colourful habitats around every corner and plenty of photo opportunities, this is one attraction where visitors may spend just as much time watching the sky as looking at the path.
Address: 20 Mandai Lake Road, Singapore 729825
Opening hours: Daily, 9am to 6pm
Last admission: 5pm
