It may be better known for its tower blocks and malls, but the city-state of Singapore also boasts rich wildlife and rainforest. Mark Rowe reports.
Mark Rowe, The Telegraph 12 Sep 08;
Breaking out from the cover of rainforest, we found ourselves exposed to the withering equatorial sun. But the heat was mitigated by the view from the bridge above the treetops. Giant hardwood trees punched up through the canopy, while a white-bellied eagle circled and bounced on the thermals. At my feet, a scorpion smaller than a fingernail nudged past - its mandibles raised in Lilliputian defiance.
Were you to guess which South-East Asian country I was exploring, you could suggest maybe seven wrong answers before arriving, correctly, at Singapore. We can all be forgiven for overlooking the wildlife merits of this city-state; after all, the tourist industry has historically pointed visitors towards Orchard Road rather than wild orchids.
The scorpion scuttled onwards on its epic journey across the 250-yard-long bridge that is the highlight of the 1.2-mile MacRitchie Tree Top Walk at the heart of Singapore’s Central Nature Reserve. Inevitably, perhaps, for such a corporate-driven city, the walk is sponsored by a major international banking group but, in environmental terms, Singapore is part of a tropical forest that once stretched from Thailand; through Malaysia and south to Indonesia.
While development and logging has accounted for 97 per cent of the country’s original jungle, Singapore is thought to be one of just two cities (the other is Rio de Janeiro) that still boast primary rainforest - that is, rainforest undisturbed by man. For the past 150 years or so, the jungle has served as a water catchment buffer for four major reservoirs and covers 2,000 hectares.
My walk began at Venus Drive, 1½ miles - about a 45-minute walk - from the start of the tree-top walk. Here I met Sharon Chan, assistant director of the nature reserve. It was a surprise to discover that Singapore, whose government appears to have a default position of reclaiming land for new shopping centres, not only has a National Parks Board but that, rather then being run by urban planners, it is staffed by expert, extremely enthusiastic rangers and biologists.
“This area has not been disturbed or exploited, so this is the core area where most native birds return to,” explained Sharon. “This is their natural habitat and that is the big draw for me. But we have to get the public to come here, then they will want to protect it.”
We had walked for only a few minutes before the noise of Singapore’s rush-hour traffic was muffled by the dense canopy of strangling figs with their dangling aerial roots, tapioca trees, banana trees and nascent ginger and cinnamon plants. The spidery tendrils of vanilla orchids hung in the air too, their anchor in the surrounding trees impossible to trace, while the forest floor echoed with cicadas.
Another joy is that you will almost certainly have much of the catchment area to yourself, perhaps encountering the occasional expat sent jogging on doctor’s orders. Your companions tend to be of the avian kind; the most charismatic is the racket-tailed drongo, named for its long, forked tail “wires” that expand into circular shapes, and which you have an excellent chance of spotting, feasting on insects on tree trunks. Other birds include the beautiful, whistling bulbul, the black-naped oriole, the banded woodpecker whose call disconcertingly resembles that of a cat whose tail has been stepped on, and, more familiar to European eyes, kingfishers and bitterns.
Long-tailed macaque monkeys jabber on the lower branches, and are less aggressive than elsewhere in South-East Asia. Given Singapore’s predilection for imposing penalties for the slightest infringement, I wondered if the monkeys, too, had been served notice to behave. Instead, their docility is proof that Singapore’s policy of hitting miscreants with hugely disproportionate fines can pay dividends: 18 people have been nabbed for feeding the monkeys - a practice that encourages them to pester humans - and fined up to £1,500. Press reports of those convicted are pinned to a noticeboard at the park rangers’ HQ. It’s an idea that deserves to catch on.
The bridge that links two of MacRitchie’s modest hills is just part of the treet-op walk. Farther along, the path mainly comprises boardwalk, and I encountered many lizards, including the common flying dragon, with an eye-catching yellow skin flap under its throat, while a praying mantis sat on a decomposing leaf, quietly biding its time until its next dinner. I was too late to see the nocturnal pangolin, which roots around at dawn, but on this path you may also spot the flying lemur, a creature that, a little unexpectedly, neither flies nor is a lemur. Its proper name is the colugo but it happens to look like a lemur, and glides - in a mixture of hope and expectation of a soft landing - from one tree to another, using skin flaps between its limbs.
Though you are extremely unlikely to encounter them, there are some creatures whose attention is unwelcome, including the Malayan coral snake and the black spitting cobra, though these generally slither away long before you might spot them. To see animals against which you might come off a poor second in a face-to-face encounter, you could add the Singapore Night Safari to your experience. Part of Singapore Zoo - generally regarded as one of the world’s better zoos - this imaginative safari offers walking trails and tram rides, with subtle lighting, to see many animals that are most active at night.
The tram ride commentary can grate quickly, with guides sprinkling the experience with Walt Disneyesque emotions. Being informed that the lions liked to gather together to study their menu (“sadly there is no vegetarian option”) was my cue to hop off and explore on foot. Trails are extremely short, but seem longer in the dark, and the interpretation here is more educational. I headed for the mangrove trail where huge, yawning, fruit bats dangled impressively from branches. Even though it was 9.30pm, the humidity made walking an endurance event akin to wading through thick velvet curtains. Authentic? Absolutely not. Enjoyable? Yes.
Coupled with the genuine article earlier in the day, it made me appreciate that, while its neighbours continue to log their forests to exhaustion, Singapore at least acknowledges that jungles and wildlife have a value that cannot be priced in dollars alone.
* The treetop walk can be reached along a three-mile path from MacRitchie Reservoir Park, or a 1.5-mile walk from Venus Drive, off Upper Thomson Road. The best way to reach the park is by bus from the city centre, which takes about 45 minutes.
* For more information on Singapore’s nature reserves and the Singapore Zoo night safari, see www.nparks.gov.sg and www.nightsafari.com.sg .
* Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) offers economy Heathrow-Singapore return tickets from £600 inclusive. From next Friday, two of the three daily flights will be on the A380 superjumbo.
