Cruisin' the world together

Although Singapore is a small city-state and has progressed quite dizzyingly, it has managed to preserve a portion of its natural environment. Last Sunday, we took one of the country’s nature trail along what is called as the Southern Ridges.

We started off our hike at Alexandra Arch, near the HortPark garden. Alexandra Arch, a newly-constructed pedestrian bridge, is itself a piece of architecture. From there, we walked along the elevated steel bridge that connects the bridge to the Henderson Park. This part, which is called the Forest Walk, gave us a close view of the forest.

In the middle of the trail, it was sunset and it started to get dark. This probably made Albert's imagination as we could hear the sound of the birds and insects. He then said while we are walking “We need to rush because the jungle is getting spooky.” We asked what he meant and he replied, “It's spooky because its getting dark and we are lost!”






About Alexandra Arch
Conceptualised as a “Gateway to Nature”, Alexandra Arch links Hilltop Walk and Forest Walk.

Walk on this 80m long bridge and admire its unique architecture - it looks like an opened leaf across Alexandra Road, with its curved deck intersecting an arch that is tilted at a 70-degree angle.

Alexandra Arch is lit up by LED lights at night. The lights change colour at intervals from 7pm to 12am daily, displaying varying shades from the colour spectrum of dusk.

Distance: 0.08km
Difficulty level: easy






About Forest Walk:
The Forest Walk meanders through some 50 metres through the secondary forest of Telok Blangah Hill and connects to Alexandra Arch.

There are two trails on the Forest Walk (just cross over from Carpark 3 to get on either trail) – the Elevated Walkway and the Earth trail.

The Elevated Walkway, accessed by the metal bridge, offers you the experience of walking through the secondary forest of Telok Blangah Hill at eye-level with the forest canopy. This is an excellent platform for spotting birds, dragonflies and butterflies.

If you prefer a more rugged experience and hanker after a closer experience with wildlife in the area, embark on the Earth Trail. Steps have been built at some parts of the trail in view of the steep terrain.

The dense secondary forest found here, the Adinandra Belukar, is home to Singapore’s rich biodiversity.

Distance: 1.3km
Difficulty level: easy (Elevated walkway), moderate (Earth trail)
Walking time: 20 min