I should have known we’d get wet. To be fair, we didn’t get as wet as we might have. We had arranged to walk from MacRitchie Reservoir to Bukit Timah, and the fact that it was grey and damp when the time came to leave didn’t put us off. There are not too many options in Singapore for escaping the city and walking. The adjacent areas of MacRitchie Reservoir to Bukit Timah are the easiest to get to, while the Sungei Buloh nature reserve is another good bet.
MacRitchie has a 10.5km track running around it. It’s mostly shaded by trees and a popular destination at the weekend for walkers and runners. There’s a good chance you’ll see Long-tailed Macaques or a Monitor lizard and there are plentiful butterflies. The birds are more difficult to spot—you can hear them but you often don’t see more than a glimpse as they move through the trees.
The canopy walk at the northern end of the reservoir takes you through the tree tops, high above the path below. It’s worth a visit, although I’ve never seen any wildlife from it.
At 163m in height, Bukit Timah is the highest point in Singapore but don’t go there for the view, as there isn’t one. The main track up the hill can be very busy at the weekends, but there are several different paths around the hill that are much more rewarding. I still don’t understand why so many people walk down the hill backwards and I’ve not been tempted to try.