I had a rare date with my big boy two weekends ago. He brought me out for a train ride to Labrador Park MRT Station for a quick nature walk in the Labrador Park Nature Reserves. The entire park features 55 acres of preserved natural habitats, nature trails, and a seafront promenade.
We did not attempt to explore the entire reserve coz that would take us the whole day. For us, a short walk through the Berlayer Creek and along the Bukit Chermin Board Walk suffices.
Related Post: Our Remarkable Hike with up the Bukit Timah Hill Summit with 2 toddlers
Berlayer Creek
Nature is so easily accessible to us, with the MRT station located right at the doorstep. We entered the nature reserve via the Berlayer Creek mangrove trail. The cicada and cricket symphony greeted us the moment we entered the path.
related post: An evening with my 4 kids at Forest Walk, Southern Ridges
We mistakenly walked up to the ramp towards the roof and discovered a magnificent view of the Keppel Club golf course. Uhm, the rooftop is built for visitors to have an elevated treetop view of the Berlayer Creek. We missed the point.
According to Lee Kong Chiang Nature History Museum, Berlayer Creek is home to numerous fauna and flora, with about 60 bird species, 19 fish species and 14 mangrove plant species recorded.
We entered the creek during low tide. Rightfully, we should be able to spot the Giant Mudskipper, sponges, anemones and other marine animals.
However, we were distracted by a monkey lounging along the boardwalk. It was not shy at all. It didn’t budge when we walked towards it and instead, it stared towards our direction.
I had two bad experiences with wild monkeys in Singapore. There is no need for a third one, especially with just me and my son in the middle of a forest with no one else around. We braced ourselves up to walk as swiftly as we could to get pass this fearless monkey while trying to look composed.
There were two lookout points along the boardwalks. We merely walked past for fear of encountering more monkeys. We did not do a good job this time observing the surroundings. A revisit is undoubtedly a must! The man at home needs to join us.
Bukit Chermin Boardwalk
Our brisk walk took us only 20 minutes to reach the Bukit Chermin Boardwalk. NPark suggests that we look out for Chinese Pond Herons and Cattle Egrets to the right of the boardwalk. We should also try to spot the White-bellied Fish Eagle and Brahminy Kite above the waters between Berlayer Creek and Sentosa. The Great-billed Heron may be waiting on the rocky shore for its unsuspecting prey to swim by too.
If you turn right towards the west to walk along the boardwalk, you will find two playgrounds and a couple of relics from WWII and the colonial days. We came last year and stopped by the playgrounds. They weren’t anything exciting but being park-lovers, we love going playgrounds that are surrounded by nature. And it is unusual to be spinning on a merry-go-round located right beside a machine-gun bunker!
This time around, we walked eastwards with the intent to reach Harbourfront within another 60 minutes or less.
Our walk along the Bukit Chermin Boardwalk was accompanied by gentle cool breezes, pretty sceneries of the waterway and Fort Siloso on our right, as well as the vibrant greeneries of Bukit Chermin Hill on our left.
The view gets better when we reach Marine at Keppel Bay which has more than a hundred berths to house yachts of up to 280 feet (85 metres) in length. The scenery on the left was remarkable too. Reflections at Keppel Bay was right beside us. Our curious eyes could not stop peering into the development.
Unfortunately, our stroll came to an abrupt end when we reached Corals @ Keppel Bay because the bridge leading up to Harbourfront was blocked.
That was the end of our date and we met up with the rest of the family for dinner.
More hiking posts that you may like:
Thomson Nature Park – A Walk Thru the Mystical Forest
Exploring the Chestnut Nature Park (North) with young kids
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve with Kids – What You Need to Know
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