A Hot and Humid Afternoon Hiking Singapore’s Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Last Updated on April 7, 2024 by Adam Watts

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in the very northwest of Singapore really puts the wild in wildlife. Crocodiles, mudskippers, monitor lizards, and, err, onions, this part of Singapore is one of the best escapes into nature you can get without leaving the country.

My phone didn’t agree with that last part.

After I’d taken a bus for an hour, then a Grab to get to the actual reserve itself, my phone buzzed. Text message.

“Dear traveller, welcome to Malaysia,” it said happily.

I wish.

As much as I’d love to travel again, for now I have to content myself by just looking at Malaysia, which is just across the water from Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Tantalizingly close, but still out of reach, like top shelf booze for particularly tall ten year olds.

This is Eagle Point and across the water is Johor Bahru (JB) in Malaysia. So close you could easily swim it, and indeed there are a few signs saying to call a hotline if you see anyone swimming “suspiciously”. I’m not really sure what suspicious swimming looks like and this area didn’t exactly seem like a popular spot for recreational swimmers so I suspect the “suspiciously” was unnecessary.

And before we get into the hiking experience in the wetlands, a quick note on the weather.

Throughout the afternoon there were thunder claps like boomed like battle cries, promising sweet release from the sticky, overpowering, relentless humidity that was punishing even by Singapore standards.

I heard one person apologize to their companion, “sorry it’s so hot, it’s normally quite windy up here.” I’m not sure if that was a genuine apology or a made-up one to get their friend to join them on a hike in very unpleasant conditions.

I tell you all this only in the hopes that you feel sorry for me as you read the below. Thank you in advance for your pity.

How to Get to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve isn’t an easy place to get to. There’s the fact that it’s in the very northwest, which is going to be a long journey for almost everyone.

If you have a car, good for you. Go ahead and skip this section.

If you don’t care about the cost to get there and you don’t have a car, take a taxi or your preferred ride-hailing service.

For everyone else, your general goal is to get to Kranji MRT station. By MRT it’s on the North South line, by bus I took the 961 from Bukit Timah all the way there.

Once at Kranji MRT station, look for the 925 bus. Mon-Sat, take the bus to Kranji Reservoir Carpark B and walk from there. On Sundays and public holidays, bus 925 will stop at the entrance to the reserve. Alternatively, take a taxi/ride-hailing service from Kranji MRT station.

The Hiking Route Around Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is split largely into three sections that I’ll call Coast, Mangrove, and Birds.

Eagle Point, pictured above, is part of the coastal trail, and it’s where I started. If you want to explore the whole reserve, it makes sense to start there.

The entrance to the coastal route is fairly unassuming – following Google Maps, look for the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Visitor Centre and not Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Centre. Confusing, I know.

You can tell this entrance is less-used because before I even got to the visitor centre I saw this friendly fella slinking along the grass.

The entire wetland reserve is very well-signposted so just follow the signs for whatever takes your fancy. The coastal trail leads to the main Wetland Reserve Centre and provides some great views of Johor Bahru in Malaysia, like those from Eagle Point you saw above.

Along the way you’ll find a bunch of onions. Giant onions.

No, Singapore does not dominate the “world’s largest onion” competition every year. These are in fact viewing “pods” you can go up into to get better views of the reserve, and hopefully see some wildlife.

Despite a terrifying number of warnings about watching out for crocodiles, I didn’t see any. Part of me was relieved, part of me was disappointed, and I still haven’t decided how much of each I felt.

What I did see was a lot of mudskippers. I’ll admit, I didn’t know what a mudskipper was. I assumed they were birds. They are not.

They’re weird-looking, mud-crawling, squelchy creatures that are overdue a Pixar movie about them because with a bit of color and a cute catchphrase, I’m sure they’d make someone a lot of money.

Anyway, I haven’t yet mentioned the weather.

After the coastal trail you can relax around the Wetland Reserve Centre, with a few exhibits, a bathroom, and a few vending machines.

Next up is the Mangrove section. Most of the coastal trail was through mangrove too, but the Mangrove Boardwalk has its own looping trail, which is closed during bad weather.

The Mangrove Boardwalk is short, features much less mangrove than the coastal trail, and I saw nothing of interest, so let’s move on.

Finally is the Birds section. I’m not sure what its official name is, if it has one, but it’s the entire area across Main Bridge. So follow signs for that from the Wetland Reserve Centre.

Around this area are an abundance of bird-watching shelters – depending on how you feel about vegetable-shaped architecture you may be pleased or displeased to learn that these shelters are quite plain, mostly-rectangular structures with openings to look out. Some of them were not so much shelters as single, flat pieces of wood sticking out of the ground.

There are in fact so many of these shelters that I saw more of them than actual birds.

I did see a few birds though, including this, which I think might be maybe possibly a heron, but I know less about birds than about the Latvian real estate market so don’t quote me on that.

I suspect the constant thunder, the time of day I visited, and the general season, mean I could not have picked a worse time to visit a nature reserve, but hey, at least the onions are always at their best.

By the end, after a long trek to get this remote part of the island of Singapore, and a longer trek inside Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, exploring pretty much every nook and cranny under oppressive humidity, I felt like this guy:

Bleeeeuurghhh.

But what’s important is we made it. We covered pretty much the entirety of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. We saw monitor lizards, mudskippers, herons… and onions. What more can we ask for?

Click here for more info on Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

If you’re looking for more hiking content, how about hiking to the highest point in Singapore?