Bukit Timah NatUre Walk

Having to really sit down and ponder about the Bukit Timah Reserve Nature Walk this afternoon. I realized how little I was aware towards the environment. I was expecting just another “Jalan Jalan” session in a park like when I was in a secondary and primary school. So, I was thinking, might as well grab a notebook and pen down notes that were interesting so I could actually look back in future for reference. Our guide was a volunteer, Uncle Johnny. Not that kind of handsome hunk that I pictured. He was a very nice elder who was very patient towards our ignorant questions. Our tutors mentioned on the bus that if we had any questions, “ASK THE GUIDE! DON’T ASK US!” Well, they studied a different branch of biology from the guide.

Uncle Johnny pointed us on the map of the reserve. The map showed how fragmented is our precious rainforest. It is so small yet highly impacted. I could not believe the number of species in this small spot is more than that of North America. For my group, we took the green route. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a tropical rainforest. The soil is basically hard and clayey so the roots of trees go out of the soil. Plants are modified for survival. The leaves of the plants in the rainforest have drip tips so rain drops will not be collected. As a result, algae will not grow and prevent the leaves from carrying out photosynthesis. The roots of the tress are buttress roots so they can anchor to the soil. Along the trail, we spotted a lot of interesting plants. Here are some examples:-

Centipede ferns. Well, as the name suggests, from the top view the stem of the plant did look like centipede.

We walked past a very tall tree (hundred times of my height but I am short) with very even diameter throughout the whole tree. You guessed it. It is Sepui, Red Dhup tree. People from the past decades had no proper building materials so they used its timber.

We too came across rattan plants. I was quite surprised that it looked different from what the markets sold to parents to “maintain order” of their children. But to think about it, it is kind of scary if they were to use the rattan with spikes.

When coming across red leaves, I used to believe that it was just the leaves lacking of green pigments. But according to uncle Johnny young leaves have different colour protected. The red pigment can also protect the young leaves from UV light. Think about it. How about using them as our umbrellas? No, ended up killing more trees.

Here is one of my favourites: The leaf litter plant aka the Kiasu plant. Why is it so? Plants, unlike animals are rooted to the ground and have to share available nutrients with the roots of other surrounding plants. This amazing under storey plant is an unbranched treelet with long, narrow and spirally arranged leaves that traps falling leaves. As the trapped leaves decompose, the nutrients released are absorbed directly into the plant for its growth. Talking about Kiasu, we Singaporeans get things as much as we can right? Just like this plant!

We came across animals like a monitor lizard. Wished I had a tongue like its. I spotted three squirrels and a very huge ant which is around the size of my thumb.

After walking for like forty minutes, we had reached the summit! We took photographs there and walked our way down again. The way down somehow refreshed my memory once more. I will be going there again to thoroughly enjoy nature all over again. Going in groups can be a little too noisy sometimes.