MacRitchie and the TreeTop Walk

In the middle of Singapore, surrounded by expressways and housing estates, sits the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, and the way to see it properly is the walk to the TreeTop Walk: a free-standing suspension bridge, some 250 metres long, slung between two of the highest points in the reserve, twenty-odd metres above the forest floor. You cannot drive to it. The bridge is reached only by a walk of several kilometres through secondary rainforest from MacRitchie Reservoir, and it is one-way, so the loop back is longer still. On the way there are boardwalks along the reservoir edge, long-tailed macaques who have learned exactly what a plastic bag means, and if you are lucky a colugo gliding between trunks. The full circuit runs around ten kilometres and takes most of a morning.

What you actually see

• The TreeTop Walk - the canopy suspension bridge, one-way, mid-route on the loop.
• The reservoir boardwalks - the flat, shaded sections along the water at the start.
• Long-tailed macaques - abundant along the trails, best given space and no food.
• Jelutong Tower - a separate viewing platform above the canopy on the western side.

When to go

Start early, both for the heat and because the TreeTop Walk closes in the early afternoon and does not open every day of the week, so check the current schedule before you commit to the walk out. Trails close in heavy rain and after storms.

Honest expectations

This is a real walk of around ten kilometres in tropical heat and humidity, with no shops and limited water points, and people regularly set off underestimating it. The bridge is one-way and closed on at least one day each week, so an unchecked visit can mean walking several kilometres to a locked gate. Do not feed or approach the macaques, and keep food out of sight entirely.

Nearby

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Rail Corridor are both part of the same green belt.