Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

The mangroves here were a forest reserve from 1890 until 1938, after which much of the area was cleared for farming, and by the mid-1980s most of it had become prawn ponds. In 1986 birdwatchers from the Malayan Nature Society discovered how many migratory waders used the site and pressed for its protection. The government set aside land for a bird sanctuary, designated a nature park in 1989, and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong opened the Sungei Buloh Nature Park on 6 December 1993.

On 1 January 2002 the park was gazetted as a nature reserve, renamed Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and enlarged to 130 hectares, becoming Singapore's first gazetted wetland reserve. It was declared an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003. A 2014 extension added the Visitor Centre at Kranji Way and new trails.

Sungei Buloh is a cornerstone of Singapore's conservation story, a place that birdwatchers and volunteers fought to save from development. It is popular with school groups, nature photographers and families, and the quiet north-west setting gives it a rural feel rarely found elsewhere in the city.