Three Singapore landscapes that got a second act

A quarry, a patch of scrub and a mined-out island, all handed back to the birds. The birds have not complained.

Pick by how much day you have: a morning goes to Rifle Range, a slow hour with binoculars goes to Tampines Eco Green and a whole day, with a boat ride in it, goes to Pulau Ubin. All three widen the usual list of Botanic Gardens, MacRitchie and the beach, and all three share a back story. Each was something else first – a quarry, scrubland, a granite island being mined – and each has been handed back to the plants and birds. The compromise is that these are three separate outings, not a marathon; choose by how much walking your group actually wants, not by which has the most dramatic photo.

Rifle Range Nature Park: the quarry that filled up

The one for people who want wildlife rather than a manicured park, and the best of the three for a mixed group. The Quarry Wetland was once Sin Seng Quarry, which stopped working in 1998 before nature quietly moved back in. It is now a 66-hectare park south of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, there partly as a green buffer to protect the reserve from development.

The pleasure is choice. The Gliders Boardwalk is a level 411m route out to the wetland, with rope bridges overhead so wildlife can cross. Waterhen Hide lets you watch the water birds unseen. The Rambai Boardwalk runs through the treetops, with signs on the site’s past as a gun club and quarry. If you want to earn your view, the Colugo Trail climbs 582m to the Colugo Deck, 31m up and looking straight down on the old pit. The Banyan Trail follows one of Singapore’s few natural freshwater streams.

Tampines Eco Green: the park built by holding back

Go here for birds without a trek. When it opened in 2011, only about 2.5 of its roughly 36 hectares had park amenities; the rest was left as marsh, ponds and secondary forest. Masagos Zulkifli put it this way on a visit that year: If you just walk around, you won’t know that you are in Singapore. Strong words for a park between two Tampines avenues, and fair ones for a place where most of the land was deliberately left alone.

NParks counts about 75 bird species here, with three bird hides and a scattering of snags: standing dead trees kept away from the paths because woodpeckers feed and nest in them. Species recorded include Rufous and Laced Woodpeckers, Baya Weavers knotting their nests and Grey Herons fishing in the seven ponds, so bring binoculars and use the hides. Even the toilet plays along: it is waterless and turns waste into compost.

Pulau Ubin: the granite island

The full-day option, and the one to save for a dry weekend. Bumboats leave Changi Point Ferry Terminal on demand once 12 passengers are aboard; check the fare with NParks before you go, and budget extra if you are bringing a bike. Quarrying shaped this island too. From Puaka Hill, its 74m high point, you look down on Ubin Quarry. Ketam Quarry borders the mountain-bike park, and Butterfly Hill grew on old quarry wasteland.

Chek Jawa, about 3km from the jetty, is the reason to go: six habitats from seagrass lagoon to mangrove, the 21m Jejawi Tower and a Tudor-style house turned visitor centre. Read the notices before you plan around it. In September 2026 NParks said part of the Coastal Loop boardwalk was closed for maintenance, with an expected April 2027 finish, and that the guided Chek Jawa Wetlands Tour was suspended until further notice; the rest of the site stays open daily from 7am to 7pm.

Keep the plan reversible

Pick one thing to notice, such as the quarry edge, a woodpecker hole or a rusting relic of Ubin’s working past. Carry water, choose a route you can cut short and watch the sky; NParks advises staying out of forested areas during and after bad weather. A postponed walk beats a soggy, stubborn one.

Good to know Rifle Range is open 7am–7pm and closest to Beauty World MRT; Tampines Eco Green is near Tampines MRT, unlit at night (aim to leave by 7pm); Ubin bumboats leave Changi Point Ferry Terminal. Check NParks and Pulau Ubin notices for closures, and don't assume whole-park accessibility: only some routes are barrier-free.

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