Tuesday's forecast only showed a 30% chance of rain so it was the perfect opportunity to hit up MacRichie Reservoir. We hopped into a cab and headed to the Venus loop car park. Starting off the hike at the Venus drive car park cut off about 3 miles of the hike, the only problem was our cabby had no idea where that particular car park was and instead insisted on dropping us off at the main entrance. At first I was going to protest, but after feeling like I was about to get car sick thanks to his constant break/acceleration we figured it best to just exit at the main entrance and tackle the additional mileage. Our 6 mile hike ended up being a 10 mile hike. I added the black arrows below to show the path we walked..
The hike begins! It was hot ..the type of heat where you just drip sweat even in the shade. I don't think I will ever acclimate to the heat. It was an uphill journey to get to the tree top walk. We encountered a few interesting creatures along the way; one was a very slimy looking lizard that we weren't fast enough to grab a photo of, a few large lizards, a squirrel looking thing but with an extra long nose, and then endless numbers on monkeys! One of the groups of monkeys we encountered was a little family. The mom actually had a baby clinging to her belly. We were totally immersed in watching them play and just do what monkeys do, however the Singaporeans seem un phased and just walk right past. I guess the monkeys are like our deer.
 |
| On the Trail |
 |
| Crazy Lizard |
 |
| Handlebars on the Trail |
 |
| Hydration Time |
 |
| Found the Lake |
 |
| Monkey Family |
Finally we reached the Tree Top Walk. It was quite a steep little climb to get to the bridge, but well worth it. There were numerous monkeys around the bridge and one that acted almost as the gatekeeper. He didn't seem to mind when we got up close to him
 |
| Coming over to say hello |
 |
| Gatekeeper Monkey |
 |
| Tree Top Bridge |
 |
| About halfway on the bridge |
After finishing the Tree Top walk, which is a one way walk so you have to walk the full loop we figured to continue along the trail and do the full MacRichie loop. We stumbled across the Jelutong tower and climbed up to check out the view.
 |
| Ugh.. proof just how sweaty and nasty we were |
 |
| Thought this would be a cool pic.. not so much |
 |
| Climbing the tower |
 |
Finally reached the top!
 |
 |
| Heading back down |
 |
Little Turtle in one of the streams was all about
getting his photo taken |
 |
| Got to love the signs |
 |
| Large Lizard |
Somehow we missed a turn and ended up right next to the road, but we were able to walk along the road back to the park entrance. It was an intense hike, but well worth it. There are a bunch of reservoirs in Singapore so I think another hiking trip is def on our must do list.
Here is a video we made of different stuff along the hike, including MONKEYS!
For a HD version of the video, watch it on the Vimeo website, or just click the HD button in the above window. You can click the 4 arrow button to watch in full screen as well!
https://vimeo.com/47149123
