Most Singaporeans know Punggol today as a waterfront town with cycling paths, Punggol Coast Mall, and the new Punggol Digital District. But long before any of that, the area was home to something truly extraordinary – Punggol Zoo, a full-scale zoo and bird park that attracted visitors from around the region, and even one very famous physicist.
Simply called Punggol Zoo, not to be confused with the modern Singapore Zoo at Mandai, it was founded by a wealthy Singaporean-Indian landowner, William Lawrence Soma Basapa.
Image credit: Singapore Basapa
Born in 1893, Basapa was an animal trader by profession and a genuine animal lover by nature. He was a wealthy man of Indian descent who had housed an extensive private collection of animals and birds on the grounds of a large family bungalow in Upper Serangoon Road in the 1920s.
His love for animals wasn’t just a hobby; it was practically a lifestyle. Basapa even earned the nickname “Animal Man.” He even donated a large portion of dead animal specimens to the then Raffles Museum, whose historical collections are today largely displayed at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Basapa’s Serangoon Road collection grew so popular that it became a problem.
Image credit: Singapore Basapa
The increasing number of visitors, as well as the noise and stench from the growing collection of wild animals, eventually led Basapa to purchase a 27-acre plot of seafront land for the relocation of his wildlife collection. The new site was located on Punggol Road, overlooking the Straits of Johor.
But it wasn’t exactly a ready-made zoo. He began relocating his animal collection in 1928, gradually developing the site into a full-fledged zoo over the following years. Wah, the man was seriously committed.
Quite shiok, actually. The collection included 200 animals, including a Bengal tiger named Apay. Accounts mention animals such as tigers, orangutans, zebras, and even more unusual species like seals, as well as 2,000 birds.
Image credit: Singapore Basapa
Basapa’s pet Bengal tiger, Apay, was practically the zoo’s mascot. Sir Roland Braddell mentioned Basapa’s magnificent collection of birds, his orangutans, and his pet tiger that could be led around by a chain, even though he was 4 years old.
The zoo charged a nominal entrance fee of $0.40, and at $35 a day to run, it was maintained privately by Basapa from 1928 until the start of World War II.
Possibly, and this one is a bit of a flex for Singapore history. According to contemporary newspaper articles, physicist Albert Einstein visited Singapore in November 1922 to raise funds for a proposed Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He mentioned visiting ‘zoological gardens’ in Singapore, and it is widely believed that this referred to Basapa’s private home zoo at Serangoon Road.
Sadly, World War II brought it all crashing down. In 1942, just before the Japanese invasion, the zoo was ordered by the British to close, and the authorities were given very short notice to clear the area of birds and animals. The British had identified Punggol as a potential Japanese landing site and needed the land.
Image credit: Singapore Basapa
The time frame was tight, so oral accounts suggest that many animals were killed or released due to wartime urgency, though details vary. Basapa’s grandson recalled, “It makes us very sad till today that the animals were slaughtered and sacrificed. My grandfather died a broken-hearted man.” Basapa passed away in 1943, a year after the zoo’s forced closure.
During the Japanese Occupation, the generators and steel cages were removed, and the land was reportedly converted into an ordnance storage site. By the end of the Japanese Occupation, the remaining structures were flattened and the grounds levelled by bulldozers. In 1948, the land was sold to a private investor.
The site is currently part of the Punggol Promenade. So the next time you’re cycling along the waterfront, know that you’re rolling through what was once one of the more unusual and talked-about attractions of pre-war Singapore.
The Punggol Zoo may have been erased from the landscape, but it represents something remarkable: a private citizen who turned his passion into one of pre-war Singapore’s most iconic destinations. Before Mandai, before Night Safari, there was Basapa, a man who walked his pet tiger on a chain and built a zoo by the sea, all on his own.
Next time you jalan-jalan at Punggol Promenade, maybe spare a thought for the zebras, orangutans, and a certain big cat called Apay who once called this stretch of coastline home.
More historical places in Singapore:
Also read: Guide To Punggol – 19 Things To Do Such As Prawning, Nature Trails & Wakeboarding
Cover image adapted from: Singapore Basapa
More details on dates and ticket prices will be released at a later date.
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