15km Hike: Lor Lada Hitam to Upp Seletar Reservoir

Short clip reference: Beat the Heat ☀️ 15km Hidden Trail to Upper Seletar Reservoir 🌊

This is a 3 hour duration, ~15km hiking trail starting from Lor Lada Hitam to the ending point at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park.

Lor Lada Hitam can be accessed via Car or Public transport by taking the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) to Springleaf MRT Station (TE4).

Walk out from Exit 3 and head to the bus stop located outside. Board Bus 138 or 171. Alight about 7 minutes later (9 stops) at the "Opp Mandai Agrotech Pk" stop on Mandai Road (Stop ID: 48059).

From the bus stop, cross the road to the opposite side (watch out for coming cars).

Walk straight all the way along Lor Lada Hitam road, at the same time admiring the peaceful nature and the surrounding lush greenery.

It is quite a ulu place as normally people will only drive here. You can just stand at the centre of the road to take a quick photo (photo 3).

I feel it is much nicer to walk than driving here, to warm-up and get good nature vibes before reaching the park.

Turn left to 31 Lor Lada Hitam where you will soon reach the Sunrise Point (photo 4). The place is good for a sunrise view if you were to reach there by 6.30am.

From there, enter the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector. It is part of the Woodlands Heritage Trail. The left side is heading towards Upper Seletar Reservoir Park. While the right side is towards Mandai MRT Depot out to Woodlands Avenue 12 (photo 5).

I started to walk from the right to MRT Depot first, then U-turn the route back to the reservoir park. Walking along the cement forested path accompanied by the nature sounds is relaxing.

Note: The area is restricted for taking photos and filming, CCTV is around too.

Thereafter to cross the traffic light and continue walking down on the left side. This is the Mandai Park Connector. While walking through this long connector, it seems to be a never-ending route ahead but yeah, just keep the legs moving.

After some time, you will finally get to see the sight of the reservoir. You can walk over to the grassland to take a photo. The portrait will turn out to be beautiful with the background of the clear blue sky, white floating clouds, and forest trees' reflection on the calming green river (photo 6).

Walking up a bit more and you will reach the entrance of Upper Seletar Reservoir Park. On the right is the Reservoir and the left is the Mandai Executive Golf Course.

You can take a photo facing the golf course with the greenery and white-blosommed tree (photo 7).

While moving forward on the straight path, you can admire the scenery on both sides and take photos along the way (photo 8, 10).

At the very end you can see a rocket-shaped tower, this is the Seletar Lookout Tower (cover photo).

The tower is 18 metres in height, built in the year 1969. Do walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the tower. Once you reach the top, you can have a 360° panoramic view of the reservoir and golf course.

When you walk down from the tower, at the right side before heading to the public restroom, there is an outstanding tall Heritage Tree with a massive trunk named 'Kapok' (photo 9).

While you are standing near the tree, you will see those white furry fibres floating down to the ground. These white fibres are the Kapok, which surround the seeds inside the hanging fruits.

Before I left the Heritage Tree, I saw a few aunties and uncles picking up the white fibres and saying "got plum bossom 有梅花" 🤭

Generally this is a very great hiking trail for exploration, though the weather is very humid in the late morning. Upon completion, I felt a sense of satisfaction.

✨There is no water cooler or drinks vending machine anywhere at Lor Lada Hitam to Ulu Sembawang Connector Park, until you are near the Seletar Tower (there is one water cooler available outside the restroom). Hence bringing your own water is an absolute necessity. You will feel the thirst when the weather is extreme hot.

/Upper Seletar Reservoir Park #MyFreeTime #ThingsToDo #SingaporeExplore #naturelovers #Lemon8SG