Inside a reserve protected since 1884, trails climb through one of the last tracts of Singapore's primary lowland rainforest to the island's highest point.
Bukit Timah was declared a forest reserve in 1884, after a report by the botanist Nathaniel Cantley the year before, and became an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2011. Its 163 hectares hold the largest connected area of primary rainforest left on the island, original lowland dipterocarp forest mixed with tall secondary growth, rising to the 163-metre summit of Bukit Timah Hill. Summit trails run from 1.2 to 1.9 km.
Listen for birds in the canopy and look down at the streams, home to two freshwater crabs found only in Singapore, among them the Singapore freshwater crab. The reserve is no secret: visitor numbers rose from about 80,000 in 1992 to some 400,000 in 2014. Come at opening time, when it is coolest and before the crowds, and leave pets at home.
