Blame a childhood spent in front of the TV watching episode after episode of Steve Irwin in "The Crocodile Hunter," but I've always been fascinated by these huge reptiles.
I was probably 11 or 12 when I first set foot on a crocodile farm in Singapore, where I grew up. A few years later, in 2012, the farm that I visited — the Singapore Crocodile Farm, also known as the Tan Moh Hong Reptile Skin and Crocodile Farm — closed down.
There are no official figures on how many crocodile farms there were in Singapore in the past. However, the public fascination with crocodiles did lead to the opening of two popular reptile-centric attractions in the '80s.
The Singapore Crocodilarium at East Coast Parkway was opened in 1981, while the Jurong Reptile and Crocodile Paradise was opened in 1988, per Biblioasia, a publication produced by Singapore's National Library Board.
Both parks were involved in crocodile-breeding efforts but also held shows where performers "would wrestle with the reptiles as a form of entertainment," per Biblioasia. Unfortunately, both places closed down in the early 2000s due to falling visitorship.
That's it, I thought. I didn't think there were any more crocodile-related attractions left in the country — until last month when my editors sent me to the heart of Singapore's last remaining crocodile farm.