hsbc tree top walk at macritchie


finally made it across the tree top walk today. surprisingly, quite a few hikers are solo hikers like myself. i suppose those of us who enjoy being close to nature also tend to be loners. met a family of five, with their maid in tow, who acceded to my request to take this picture.

i started from the car park at venus drive. you walk along a well marked track which follows a stream for part of the way. then you come to what remains of a former village house with concrete steps. after that you will be walking along a path running next to a service road within the singapore island country club.

about 100m from the ranger station, i met this family of five. they were studying something on the damp ground closely. the little girl then volunteered the information that there was a scorpion among the dead leaves. the maid used a stick to prod the scorpion, which raised its curved tail as it started moving off. this is not the first time i have seen a scorpion in our nature reserve. i saw one crossing the road at upper peirce nature park a few years ago and another time, one in the undergrowth at labrador nature park.

the hsbc tree top walk is a 250-metre suspension walkway between the two highest points at macritchie. at its highest, the walkway is about 25m above the forest floor. for one who has a fear of height, it was an achievement to walk across it. the flow on the tree-top trail is one direction only. you enter from the ranger post via peirce track and exit through the gate at the end of the walkway to continue your hike on the petaling trail.

the tree top walk is closed on mondays. the opening hours for tueday to friday are 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on saturday, sunday and public holiday, it opens half an hour earlier, at 8.30 a.m.

the hike from venus drive to the tree top walk and back is a distance of about 7 km and can be covered within 2 hours.