Exploria (Mandai Wildlife Reserve)

Exploria is an indoor nature attraction at Mandai Wildlife East, the newest entrance to the Mandai Wildlife Reserve. Instead of live animals, it has five themed worlds built from screens, sound and simulators, and all of it is air-conditioned.

You start at the Biopool, under a four-metre LED globe that puts on a light and sound show every two hours, and set up an avatar on an RFID wristband. You then tap it at stations through every world to earn points, which you trade for collectible pins. Realm of the Giants brings dinosaurs to life through AR windows and has an eight-minute show on a 360-degree motion platform. Extreme Frontiers has simulators that swing from 4°C Arctic cold to 40°C desert heat. Micro Worlds magnifies slime mould and tardigrades inside glowing glass orbs, Infinite Wonderland runs from rainforest to coral reef with a staged monsoon, and World of Darkness is a maze of dim caves full of glowing deep-sea creatures.

It is well made, and children get hooked on the points race. Book the Giants show on the Mandai app as soon as you arrive, because it is included in the ticket but needs a slot a couple of hours ahead. Weekdays are far quieter, and at weekends you queue behind other kids at the busiest stations. Walking straight through takes about an hour and a half, and chasing every point can take the whole afternoon. The Mandai Khatib shuttle bus runs there from Khatib MRT.

Discounted Exploria tickets are available on Klook, via the pink button on this page.