MacRitchie Reservoir Park

This past weekend Elaine and I made a trip to MacRitchie Reservoir Park, one of the Singapore parks that has been on our list for some time.  Singapore has several fresh water reservoirs in its interior, which provide water for the city.  The water basin areas also serve as nature reserves and parks for some limited recreation, not unlike many water reservoirs in The States.  The reservoirs are also a keystone of Singapore history.  Singapore was the largest military base in the world in the British Empire prior to World War II, and a strategic center for Southeast Asia.  However, the Japanese, with a smaller invading force than the British defence, was able to force capitulation after only a month of battle because they were able to capture the areas surrounding the reservoirs, and disrupt the water supply to Singapore.

Tree Top Walk

Our main interest in MacRitchie was to do a "hike" in a more rural area, but also see and walk on the Tree Top Walk, an elevated bridge across a small gorge in the park.  (Truth told, you are never too far from the city anywhere in Singapore.)  The bridge is about 250m in length, although the "walk" follows a boardwalk through the jungle area (some areas are boggy), which is about 1.2 Km in total.  To reach the Tree Top Walk requires about 4.5 Km, and another 4 or 5 Km to get back, so all told, our hike was north of 10 Km.  The journey took us in a complete loop around the edges of MacRitchie Reservoir.  It took us about 4 hours.

Jim & Elaine on the MacRitchie Park Tree Top Walk

Tree Top Walk bridge--  The TTW is a narrow suspension bridge (yes, a little sway).  Patrons are required to go a single direction, no returns as it is rather narrow.  A ranger monitors the bridge at one end, and access is locked during non-open hours.

The weather was cloudy, and a very slight rain brought a few drops on occasion during the afternoon.  This may sound bad, but actually the walk would have been unbearably hot if it had been a bright sunny day.   Despite the high humidity in Singapore city proper, it was noticeably more humid in the jungle forest of MacRitchie.  By the end of the walk, I was as soaked as I might have been if we had been caught in a real Singapore downpour, with not overwhelming exertion.  Distances here can be deceiving--  a short distance can seem much longer because of the heat and humidity.

Mystery Shoe Failures

Apparently the trails around MacRitchie are quite rugged, or mysteriously hard on shoes.  We probably passed as many as a dozen different shoe soles along the path-- pieces of shoes from blow-outs along the way.  Fortunately, unlike the shoes along the Washington state coast, there were no feet in these shoes-- just the rubber/plastic sole parts.  What causes these failures?  Nike should investigate.

Rubber on the Trail--  a piece of someone's shoe.  I saw MANY of these.  There is something odd going on at MacRitchie Reservoir.  Something causing massive shoe failure.  Perhaps it is the heat and high humidity, or runners that just overheated their feet with a strong run!

MacRitchie Reservoir Park-- the jungle trail

No Fly Fishermen Allowed

As I discussed in an earlier post, fresh water fly fishing in Singapore is nearly illegal.  I got to see this first hand at MacRitchie Reservoir.  That's not to say it is totally illegal here.  Here's the information:

As it says, the allowable fishing area starts here:

... and it ends here:

To give you better perspective, here is another picture:

The vertical sign post some ways down the shore is the first sign.  All other areas around the reservoir appear to be restricted.  To fly fish in this area requires a good roll cast, or use of a switch rod, as the walking path behind the approved area is pretty close for a back cast.  I'm also pretty sure the fish in the reservoir probably avoid this section.  Any of those that failed to do so, disappeared.

The restrictions don't stop everyone...

The park is patrolled by rangers, so fishermen beware!

I was pleased to see some promotion of Catch And Release practices:

Long-tailed Macaque Monkey--  Humans aren't the only ones at MacRitchie park.  There are also golfers enjoying use of the golf course along one side of MacRitchie.

But, restricting fishing to a 50 meter stretch of reservoir is probably the greatest conservation measure for fish, short of prohibiting fishing entirely.  Other aquatic activities are permissible on the reservoir.  There is a significant rowing course (with a boat house for the rowing shells) with buoys, and kayaking is done as well.

The rowing course at MacRitchie

Singapore insects

[19-March 2010]--  One of my preconceived notions about Singapore was that since it is located in the tropics, there would be many (and large) creepy insects to deal with. That hasn't been the case. Since we haven't gone out into the "bush" of Malaysia, or other more rural areas just yet, this may be premature, but to date there haven't been many insects to report.  During our preview trip, we saw a couple of dead cockroaches at a couple of prospective apartment rentals.  Note-- we didn't rent either of these apartments!  There has been virtually nothing at the apartment we did rent, aside from some mosquitoes (and that's OK with us both).  As a fly fisherman (note the title of this blog) I have taken notice of the insects we have run into, for some future fishing expedition requiring a forgery of the critters, using fur, feathers, and a hook.
The insects that have been about are mostly colorful, and noisy.  The trees near our apartment (and the rest of Singapore for that matter) are loud with the sounds of cicadas, although these guys are elusive-- I have not seen one, only heard them.  They are deafening.  There are also a plentiful flight of butterflies, particularly all yellow and all black colored varieties.  I haven't been able to get any good pictures of these.  At the ceramics studio, I caught this picture of a beautiful red damsel fly.

Red damsel fly

Some of the insects that I have seen are quite large.  Fortunately they have been found outdoors, and not in.  Here are some examples:

I saw this grasshopper near our apartment swimming pool--  he is about 4 inches long (and quite dead).  This is the only one I have seen-- they don't appear to swarm about in quantities (thankfully) as we see in Idaho and other areas. En masse (and alive) these would make for a frightening science fiction film, or a cause of deforestation.

A little difficult to see in this picture, but there is a very large spider in the center of this web.  The spider body is about the size of a U.S. nickel, with the legs + body about the size of a silver dollar.  One day on my walk about, I noticed a very large tree leaf (about the size of a dinner plate) that appeared to be suspended in mid- air.  It was caught in one of these nuclear spider webs.  Giant arachnids-- creepy!

Levitation?  This tree leaf appeared to be suspended in air, trapped by a large spider web.  If it could hold this large leaf (quite heavy, actually) I didn't want to find out if it could trap and hold humans, e.g. me.

Singapore garden snails-- they can be pretty large

They also come in purple-- oops-- actually this is a fine Chinese glass sculpture that Elaine acquired.  The snail has some significance in Chinese culture.