Bucket List: A visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore, Tanglin, Singapore Botanic Gardens - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Singapore is a small city-state where land scarcity is a perpetual issue. However, in the midsts of all the buildings and structures of concrete and glass, city planners somehow managed to find space for beautiful gardens and reserved primary and secondary forests.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is one such place and is amazingly located right in the fringe of town. Flanked by foreign embassies on one side, a busy and world renowned shopping stretch on the other, a hospital on another side and private landed bungalows along much of its perimeter, this tropical oasis of a garden took pride of place right next to a bustling world city.
Growing up, visiting the Gardens were a fairly regular activity for me, from school excursions to family outings during festive periods. I always loved these visits, with the vast open areas to run and explore, the cool breezes under the old trees and the beautiful flowers to marvel at. Photography was not an option for me in those years because I was too poor to afford a camera! Any experiences had to be committed to memory, most of which had been eroded by the passage of time.
However, since the Gardens was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, I had never visited until recently. This is despite that the Gardens is located a mere 20-minute drive from my home!
Thus, my recent visit, my first since the Gardens officially joined the UNESCO List, was considered a travel bucket list item in itself. Another UNESCO site visited!
What to Expect
Included as part of the Garden's ground are primary rainforests where trees stood undisturbed from human development. Around 6 hectares in size, this small patch of rainforest contribute to Singapore being known as only one of two cities in the world with a tropical rainforest within its city limits.
Established in its current site in the year 1859, the Singapore Botanic Gardens was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status on 4th July 2015, thus becoming the first (and, so far, only) tropical garden to be accorded this honour.
Originally functioning as a private members' park of the Singapore Agri-Horticultural Society, the Singapore Botanic Gardens has today grown into not just a botanical garden but a scientific institution of sorts, contributing to Singapore's status as one of the world's leading centres of commercial orchid research and culture. The Gardens currently houses one of the largest collection of tropical plant specimens.
Located within the Gardens' grounds is the National Orchid Garden. Within this three-hectare site, there is a mind-boggling collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.
When to Go
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is opened daily from 5am to midnight and entry is free for all. But paid ticketed entry to the National Orchid Garden is required.
Getting There
Because the Singapore Botanic Gardens is conveniently located within the city limits, getting there is a breeze. Flanked by MRT Stations (a.k.a. Subway, Metro), Botanic Gardens Station (CC19/DT09) and Napier Station (TE12), the garden grounds are also within walking distance from Bukit Timah Road as well as the Orchard Shopping Belt.
Many public buses serviced the roads along both the Gardens' entrances at its Bukit Timah Gate and Tanglin Gate.
Tips and Advices
As with any visits to a garden, lots of walking can be expected. Wear comfortable walking shoes and come prepared with a sunhat or cap since Singapore is geographically located near to the Equator.
A small umbrella for wet weather conditions is a good idea especially when visiting during the year-end rainy season which typically starts in November and continues until late-January or early-February.
A bottle of drinking water will also come in handy but there are also a few eateries within the Gardens ground. Hey, we are Singapore and food is never faraway. Eating is our unofficial national pastime! 😁
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