Gangsa Track: A hidden green space that is not as ulu as you think
Wild and isolated spots of nature can still be found in Singapore, if you look hard enough.
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Stretching some 5km from Mandai Lake Road to the backyard of Bukit Panjang somewhere in the middle of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, the Gangsa Track is one of the more ulu trails you can find in Singapore.
PHOTO: LESLIE KOH
Leslie Koh
It’s terribly uneven, often muddy, and strewn with rocks, dead branches and tree roots. There are no vending machines, no shelters, no benches – just trees, trees and more trees. The nearest road is the BKE, which rules out any option of a safe, quick exit. It’s as isolated as anything can be in Singapore. Or, at least, it feels like it.
During a trail race here some years ago, when one runner fell and sprained his ankle, he started to panic as he looked around him. When several fellow runners and I stopped to check on him, he begged us plaintively: “Don’t leave me here.”