SINGAPORE - National Parks Board (NParks) opened the 75-hectare Windsor Nature Park on Saturday (April 22), the fourth of five buffer parks to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, and also announced plans for a buffer park to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve that will open in 2020.

Visitors to Windsor Nature Park can explore three new trails like the Hanguana Trail, named after a recently-discovered plant that can only be found in Singapore.

The park also features a 150m long walkway four metres above the ground.

NParks undertook repairs to enhance the park over two years.

Over two years, the existing trails were repaired and the new trails were added, bringing the total length to 3.85km, up from 2.2km.

The low-lying area near Upper Thomson Road is prone to being water-logged, resulting in the old trails used to access the TreeTop Walk and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve becoming compacted and eroded over time.

Some of the new trails are raised boardwalks to prevent further compaction of tree roots and to enhance the experience for visitors.

Based on the natural terrain, a marsh habitat was created and planted up with native plants to provide an additional wetland habitat for biodiversity in the park. This includes 56 dragonfly species and freshwater fauna like the Masked Rough-sided Frog.

More than 500 trees were also planted in the park, including 100 trees planted by students, residents and nature groups during the groundbreaking in 2015.

Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Desmond Lee opened the park and also announced plans for Rifle Range Nature Park, a buffer park to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, that will open in 2020.

Plans for the 67-hectare park include a freshwater habitat for wetland fauna. The park will also link Beauty World to the former Sin Seng Quarry, once one of the deepest quarries in Singapore at 55m.

Said Mr Lee: "Our network of nature parks is part of our commitment in this city in a garden towards conserving our natural heritage."