When I was doing some more investigation into the newly opened “Southern Ridges” walk, I came to the Singapore National Parks website. It seems (I am not at all surprised) there’re over 300 parks in Singapore and Singapore calls itself “Garden City”. And what’s actually the most amazing part if this, is that most parks are (or will be) linked through something called the “Park Connector”. This link of all parks, when competed, will span 360km and the 9km of the Southern Ridges will be part of it. But the national parks organisation is also responsible for the road-side greenery, which to me always looks in tip-top condition and very well maintained, much like the tropical paradise of The Marbella, our home.

It’s all part of (off course) strong government legislation that was introduced some 40 years ago. I think Singapore originally, when Stamford Raffles arrived, was covered with tropical forest and every morning I walk past a small patch when I go to work. But back in the 70’s these green areas were quickly being taken over by logging and housing developments, until the then prime-minister decided to start planting new tree. He choose fast growing, shady, easily maintainable and green trees. This turned Singapore into a green island in the years to come. Trees were planted everywhere, along roads and streets, in suburbs and on the grounds of government institutions like schools. Lately this has been combined with city planning and development. Some of the trees and roads these trees were planned along, are now heritage listed. Right in the middle of Singapore, you can still experience the low-lands and tropical forest.

Here’re some statistics:

• 1,763 hectares of parkland
• 3,326 hectares of nature reserves
• 4,278 hectares of roadside greenery and vacant land

Despite competing land needs (Singapore is still an island), the Government has set aside space for parks, trees and greenery. Under the Concept Plan 2001, 4400 hectares of parkland will be set aside when Singapore’s population reaches 5.5 million. One other plan for example promotes the creation of sky-rise and rooftop gardens and one that encourages people to buy plants for their homes.

But even on enormous developments like “The Marina” (more about that later), there’s vast amounts of (reclaimed) land set aside for parks. In that specific case it’s called Gardens by the Bay. Their interactive map is actually very impressive.

There’re also some nature reserves left in Singapore, of which 4 so called reservoirs act as water catchment areas. There’s not enough water (but it rains almost every day) for the Singaporean population, so they still import from Malaysia.