Meander along the lakeside
boardwalks of MacRitchie
Reservoir, or hike through the forest
on a cross-country trail. Routes vary
from one to five hours. A highlight is the
HSBC TreeTop Walk – a 250-metre aerial
suspension bridge where the city becomes a
distance memory.The National Parks Board (NParks)
looks after Singapore’s green spaces,
managing over 300 parks and four
nature reserves. Check out the
comprehensive website (nparks.gov.sg) with
info on all of these, and on the excellent Park
Connector Network that links major parks,
nature areas and residential estates.Open for business! April 2017 saw
the ribbon cut at Windsor Nature
Park, one of several new green zones
that have been planned around the
various reservoirs that occupy the centre of
the island; others include Springleaf and
Chestnut Nature Parks.On Singapore’s northeast coast, 71-hectare Pasir
Ris Park (close to Changi Airport) is popular for
pond-fishing and bike rental and has a six-hectare
mangrove forest with boardwalks.Quick quiz: where do you go to see a crocodile
in the wild in Singapore? At Sungei Buloh
Wetland Reserve (sbwr.org.sg), you can walk
on mangrove forest boardwalks, watching the
birdlife and, if you’re lucky (some might say
unlucky!), spot a croc in the mud.Due to open in 2020, Rifle Range Nature
Park will cover 67 hectares at the southern
end of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
Among the plans for the park are hiking trails
with various degrees of difficulty and a sky
garden with an elevated walkway.The Singapore Botanic Gardens (sbg.org.sg)
is an impressive oasis of greenery, with terrain
varying from rolling lawns to jungle, and plant
life from orchids to cacti. In 2015, it was
inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first
and only tropical botanic garden on the list.Pasir Ris
Park230 CITY GUIDE 2018
RECHARGE & UNWIND