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| The Official Map of the Mac Ritchie Trail |
Mac Ritchie Nature Reserve is definitely on the list of the "must see places" in Singapore, not only for nature lovers, sporty or less sporty people but for those as well, who want to meet some cute animals outside the zoo! Well, I belong to the latest group, the hard core animal fan, who can get easily motivated for a sweaty trail(over 10 km) by the possibility of meeting wild monkeys! Yaayyy!!!
How to get there:
Take the bus 157 from Toa Payoh Bus Interchange and get off at the Opp. Mac Ritchie Reservoir bus stop, so you can start the route at the A point (signed on the map).
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| The starting point |
Close to the entry there is an area which 'gives home' to kayak lovers (The Paddle Lodge).
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Let's have a look at the board..Tree Top Walk..5 km!! It definitely won't be a short walk..
Actually there is a shorter way to the tree top walk, if the journey starts at the B point at Venus Drive.
It was a huge excitement for me the first time I visited there to meet free and cheeky ("food snatching") macaques!! They appeared immediately when we entered the forested area!
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| Nope, I will not feed them, I just wanna see them! :) |
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| A small cuteness! |
They are happily roaming in the forest, and at the park areas too! In spite of the prohibition, I am sure some people feed them so that they are quite used to humans. Seemingly locals don't pay too much attention on them. It was huge experience to me ( and still it is :D ) being a European who has never had the chance to see wild monkeys freely.
I love to observe-, take tons of pictures of them whenever I go there.
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| Cuteeeee
They approach people who peacefully sitting on a bench, so be careful, they may try to steal something from your bag! hehe
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By the time we reached the "Trentang" shelter I was kinda tired and dehydrated. There you can refresh yourself, drink some water and go on to the next challenge
It is a challenge indeed, mainly for those who have fear of heights! I am not afraid of wild monkeys only of suspension bridges! It is a 250 meter long 'aerial free standing suspension bridge', where you can admire the beauty of the nature. One way walk, so you can not turn back just like that when your panty is full of fear! Only 30 people allowed at once to the bridge. For me it was scary. The bridge is swinging while you are walking through, and some people like to have fun by shaking it more, so that can be a nightmare. I was happy to reach the end!
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| Posing is a must, even in hard times :D |
Somebody suggested in a forum that if you have issues with heights it is better to take selfies and not looking down..Well, it definitely doesn't work for me!!
After the Tree Top Walk, the next level is, to climb up and down on stairs through the Petaling Trail and greet more monkeys!!
Next destination is Jelutong Tower and the Golf Link. Here we can walk beside a huge golf field (Singapore Island Country Club)and a nice park with fountain.
Monkeys are not the only inhabitants of the reserve, I have almost forgotten to mention my another favorite animal in Singapore -which can be spotted even outside these nature parks, at riverside- the "water monitor lizard". Cutely walking and eating grass, it did not mind at all that I went a little closer to take a pic.
Slowly we got back to the starting point to Mac Ritchie Reservoir Park. It was a looooong loooong walk, but definitely worth the sweat drops.
Many people use this route for running! Unbelievable (for the not so sporty lol)! There are shower facilities too, where you can change before/after the excursion.
good detailed post..it was very good roaming that day in mc.ritche
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