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Venturing Bukit Batok Nature Park Singapore

The highlight of Bukit Batok Nature Park is the 10 storey cliff and the walk up the transmission tower. This used to be the site of a granite quarry which was abandoned in 1988.

Map of the Bukit Batok Nature Park

Beware of Falling Durians

Orchids around the park entrance

View of the Transmission Tower

There is a playground and several shelters where you can take a rest

A water stream from the pond

The rock face of the hill overlooking a pond

The pond was carved out after decades of dynamite bustling of the wall of the hill. The pond does look deceptively shallow but it is several storeys deep

There are turtles in the pond

A tree that has its roots wrapped around a boulder

Close Up on the Granite wall

Shelter half way up the hill

The memorial on the 120 steps up to the transmission tower commemorate the fallen soldiers during the battle of Bukit Timah Hill on February 11 1942.

The Battle of Bukit Timah Hill was one of the bloodiest battle in Singapore where the Japanese took the greatest casualties. In revenge, the Japanese Soldiers massacred the chinese living in the nearby village.

There was an earlier war memorial built by the Japanese for their fallen brethren. During that time, the Australian POWs were granted the permission to built their own memorial on the steps of the hill. Both of which were destroyed after the Japanese Surrender.

Maps


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Trekking up Bukit Timah Hill (Singapore)

Singapore being a small island republic without any mountains to call its own. The tallest natural peak is Bukit Timah Hill which is 163.63 meters tall and it took me, an inexperienced climber, about 1 hour to reach the summit. It was a very leisurely climb through the concrete path but there are moments where the path is very steep. On the way down, we took the forest track and it was quite tiring on my knees as I had to jump from step to step. Overall, it was certainly a good exercise and there is certainly a sense of achievement having climb the tallest peak in Singapore even if it is short in comparison to the others. If you want to climb Bukit Timah Hill, it would be best to do so in the morning when it is cooler. I did it in the afternoon and the humid weather of Singapore did not really help the situation. That is probably why I do not see many people on the hill at the time.

The typical way of getting to Bukit Timah Hill would be through Hindhede Road, we went through the jungle track through Rifle Range Road instead.

Rifle Range Road with the Bukit Timah Railway Crossing in the Background

Our track beings here through the Rifle Range Trail

Remnants of someone’s house

Jackfruit on a tree.

500 meters to the Bukit Timah Hill Visitor’s Center

Inching closer to the entrance

Our welcoming committee

We are there at the entrance

In the past, the forest around Bukit Timah Hill was infested with tigers in the 19th century. The last of which was shot in 1924.

After a steep climb up

A Rest Stop after the steep climb

Woo Hoo! We reached the submit at 163.63m

The Telecom tower on the left of the Summit Hut. This is our rest area before the climb down

There is nothing much to see from the top as much of the surrounding are forested and there wasn’t any view of the city from here. Coming down, we took the Diary Farm Nature Trail which would take us to Diary Farm Nature Park.

The climb down took us through several difficult paths

Abandoned Water Tank

Abandoned House at the Diary Farm Nature Park

The Wallace Education Centre named after Sir Alfred Wallace who visited Singapore in 1854

Road to Civilisation

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