MacRitchie Tree Top Walk

The tree canopy was beckoning to me. Although I kept telling myself I wanted to go there and see for myself, somehow I procrastinated going there. Finding the appropriate company was one thing. Finding the time to go was another. I knew, even these sounded lame excuses to me.

Well, the two weeks break would be a good time to go. I had no reason to put it off further. Moreover, with a 2 weeks' break, I should have more than enough time to recover even if I suffered any muscle aches or any sort of injury. Not that I was being pessimistic but with some blurness, the tendency of some form of injury was not hard to imagine.

I did some research on how to get to the place and the trail. The shortest and less challenging route was via Venus Drive off Upper Thomson Road. However, as this route was not near the main entrance, I was concerned if I could even locate the trail in th first place. Hence, I decided that it might be easier for me to enter from the main entrance.

The trail from the main entrance was one of the longest where one way trip would take about 5km. A two-way journey tof 10km would take about 4 to 5 hours. I estimated that if I started at around 9am, I would finish at around 1pm, just nice for lunch. An alternative would be to enter from the main entrance and exit from Venus Drive if I could even locate it in the first place.

I never expected the trail to be so physically challenging with the up-and-down slope. The sunny weather also meant that it was very hot walking around searching rather diffidently for the Tree Top walk. Surprisingly, we took a shorter time than our estimate to reach the Tree Top Walk. We reached the Canopy in about 2 hours' time.

The Tree Top walk was slightly disappointing because it was the shortest walk among the trail with only about 250m. When we reached the Tree Top Walk, it was close to noon, so the strong sun made it difficult for us to leisurely admire the scenery. We were trying to complete the wobbly walk, both from our tired legs as well as the swaying bridge, in the shortest possible time.

(View from the top)

If you thought the adventure ended here, there was more. in fact, the greatest adventure happened when we were walking out along Venus Drive. We were surrounded by a group of monkeys which looked ferocious. Then we nearly missed our way in the narrow and rather secluded trail which got me abit worried because losing one's way in MacRitichie Nature Reserve was not unheard of. Along the endless walking, we came across a very large amphibian which nearly got us screaming. We hurried away quickly without taking a proper look if it was snake. At this time, we saw a jogger coming along and decided to follow him out of the trail.

(A small river on the way out from the Tree Top Walk to the Ranger Station)

Phew, we finally completed the trail. Despite it being slightly physically challenging, we were so proud of ourselves for completing the trail. However, it was indeed very tiring and I doubt we would want to attempt it a second time.

(A map of the trail)