Tampines Quarry Park
Photograph: Lakeside view at Tampines Quarry Park.
Photograph: Lakeside view at Tampines Quarry Park.
The Tampines Quarry Park is not your typical neighbourhood garden park. It looks more like a gem of a natural lake that has not been sanitized for decades. It is tucked away in a corner of Tampines, off Tampines Avenue 10 that I never knew existed until I read yg's post.
Tampines Quarry Park is a disused sand quarry site. In the old days, loads of sand were trucked off from this area. The cavity left behind in the ground is now covered with water, turning it into a lake.
There are no man-made facilities like walkways, park benches, streetlights or toilets. You also won't find directional signage at Tampines Quarry Park.
There is no entrance nor exit to Tampines Quarry Park. If you read it on the map, one has to bash through thick vegetation to reach this body of water.
I am lucky to time my visit right on this particular afternoon. Other visitors who had just arrived before me led the way and I simply followed them to the spot where they disappeared into the trees.
Photograph: A trail cuts through Tampines Quarry Park.
From the obvious trails in the ground, it is easy to reach the edge of the lake. There is litter around the lakeside spot where I stand. Someone must have had a mini-barbecue, as I can see a burnt patch on the ground with bricks coated with charcoal.
I decide not to stay long as there is no proper path to walk along the edge of the lake. Besides, the buzz of mosquitoes is a major warning sign for me.
The Tampines Quarry Park is definitely not a place for a family outing. But as an offbeat place to witness an untamed scene of Singapore, this could be worth a look-see.
See more places. Live more life.
Tampines Quarry Park is a disused sand quarry site. In the old days, loads of sand were trucked off from this area. The cavity left behind in the ground is now covered with water, turning it into a lake.
There are no man-made facilities like walkways, park benches, streetlights or toilets. You also won't find directional signage at Tampines Quarry Park.
There is no entrance nor exit to Tampines Quarry Park. If you read it on the map, one has to bash through thick vegetation to reach this body of water.
I am lucky to time my visit right on this particular afternoon. Other visitors who had just arrived before me led the way and I simply followed them to the spot where they disappeared into the trees.
Photograph: A trail cuts through Tampines Quarry Park.
From the obvious trails in the ground, it is easy to reach the edge of the lake. There is litter around the lakeside spot where I stand. Someone must have had a mini-barbecue, as I can see a burnt patch on the ground with bricks coated with charcoal.
I decide not to stay long as there is no proper path to walk along the edge of the lake. Besides, the buzz of mosquitoes is a major warning sign for me.
The Tampines Quarry Park is definitely not a place for a family outing. But as an offbeat place to witness an untamed scene of Singapore, this could be worth a look-see.
See more places. Live more life.
scene that
5 comments:
I love to cycle to this place when I first lived in this area. I noticed the shimmering of the lake during our Raya outing, while on a coach along Tampines Ave 10. That was when I went on by bike to take a closer look and took some photographs of it many years ago.
The place had somewhat changed when a bush fire ravaged the greenery. Then came the illegal farmers, planting vegetables near the water's edge. But before that, it has been a popular fishing spot for many people.
I had been there several times just to be alone in a suddenly quite and rustic place once I crossed over the thick vegetation.
You should be there just before sun down to witness a site that looks somewhere far, unlike any local place you've seen before.
Like you said. This place is not for everybody. Not kids mind you, the lake should be very deep and dangerous. There was fencing around it before, but time had rusted it and the fence fallen, unable to protect the place from illegal entries nowadays.
Thanks for sharing your detailed past experience at the old quarry. Learnt a lot from you!
Well, that's a really interesting "man made" lake. It would be sort of interesting if they could stock it with fish or is the water too poisonous to hold life?
Maybe they could recycle the water and improve its quality.
I didn't know this place exist! Thanks for sharing.. Would love to come here myself one of these days.. :)
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