Join us on a walking trail around Mt Sophia and a neighbourhood known in colonial times as “European town”. Walking in the footsteps of the first missionaries, we learn who they were and their lasting legacy, both in brick and mortar as well as in the lives of families who have kept the faith through the generations.

The first to arrive in October 1819, the year Raffles arrived, were missionaries from the London Mission Society (LMS). Other missionaries soon followed. They started schools and churches to address the social, educational and spiritual needs of the newly established colony, in 19th century Singapore. The institutions established by them stood the test of time. They are still around, albeit with changed locations and names.

We will start the walk with a more recent missionary, well known even outside the Christian community, Brother McNally, who founded the LaSalle College of the Arts in 1984. Further back in time, we meet Reverend Benjamin Peach Keasberry, founder of the first Presbyterian Church in Singapore. His boarding school for Malay boys included members of the Johor royal family as students.

Less well-known is pioneer teacher, Maria Dyer, who followed her missionary husband, Samuel Dyer, to Malacca, Penang and also Singapore. Her interest in educating young girls, especially orphans, led to the founding of the first girls’ school in Singapore in 1842 – today it continues as St Margaret’s School.

These are, but a few of what you will learn. There are more.

Discover the chequered history of today’s Fort Canning Park. It was called Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill) in pre-colonial times – believed to be once a royal residence and later haunted by ghosts. Gun powder and the hoisting of the Union Jack at its peak exorcised the ghosts and the Hill resumed its strategic role, becoming Government Hill and later Fort Canning Hill. It was named after a Governor-General of India and ironically never used as a fort.   

Important as it was to colonial Singapore, the Hill also tells us that this island was a trading centre 700 years before that. Artefacts from the 14C have been dug from around the Hill – earthenware, coins, Chinese ceramics etc.     

Today’s Hill is a recreational and historical park. There are several historical gardens harking back to the first ‘botanic and experimental garden’ the early settlors set aside on the slopes of the Hill for nutmeg, cloves etc. That garden closed down but has been resurrected – see gambier and pepper (the first cash crops) and taste and smell herbs and spices.

We will stop by tombstones of certain individuals in what has been preserved of an overcrowded Christian cemetery. As we explore the layers of the Hill’s alterations, we will also unearth some of Singapore’s dirty and lesser known histories. 

A city-state with limited land and resources, the Little Red Dot aims to be resilient and sovereign regarding energy, water and food by adopting smart technology and creating a healthier environment.

Join us on an architectural tour (led by a well-known NUS professor) of buildings that are carbon neutral (Quote: We don’t pay electricity bills!), adopt biophilic principles, and promote an environment conducive to mental well-being.  This trend started as early as the 1980s, the older buildings being rehabilitated and renovated rather than demolished and rebuilt.

Newer buildings hide the lifts to encourage use of steps, have sensors to turn on electrical equipment, and use fans and wind tunnel corridors instead of enclosed air-conditioned spaces, green walls instead of concrete sound barriers, and vernacular design suited for the tropics.

An opportunity not to be missed – a tour of the first positive energy building where energy comes from on-site renewable sources.

Singapore’s diverse population is made up of migrants from many parts of Asia, including India. The Sikhs from the Punjab area in northwest India first came to Singapore in 1819 as sepoys, servants or convicts of the British East India Company.  Their descendants now form the small, vibrant Sikh community.

The Gurdwara - the Guru’s home or the door to the Guru (Guru means “Teacher”) is an integral part of every Sikh’s life. It is a place for worship and learning about their faith, celebrating rites of passage, community service and social interactions.

Join Explore Singapore! to gain an insight into the Sikh world when we visit the Central Sikh Temple.

Learn about Sikhism, the tenets of the religion, the history of the Gurdwara and the culture and traditions of the Sikhs. Tour the prayer hall and langar hall, and conclude with vegetarian lunch.

 Bonus: Watch a demonstration and try your hand at tying the Sikh turban.

This tour will bring you into a different world to provide a magical and mysterious experience which you would never think possible in Singapore. We will take you to Dover Forest where a man versus nature conflict was recently resolved – the eastern half of the forest will make way for much-needed public housing next to Dover MRT, while the western half will remain a secondary forest. An ecological impact study noted that there are 120 flora species, of which one-eighth are threatened, and 27 large trees of significance (including the Ficus in this photo). This patch of forest provides habitat and connectivity (between Clementi Forest and Southern Ridges) for 158 species of fauna, 7 of which are endangered or vulnerable.

Our guide lives in the neighbourhood and from his window he has watched a pair of changeable hawk-eagles raise their young in this forest over two breeding cycles. His other connection to the forest runs deeper than mere physical proximity - 3 generations of his father’s family lived in the area since 1905 before their kampung was cleared in the 1970s to become what is now Dover Forest and the private housing estates of Holland Grove and Mount Sinai. Amidst these estates only the kampung temple remains -  more than a century old, a relic to bygone years.

The boundary between the urban and the truly wild in our city state is but one small step - a step many rarely cross. Cross it with our guide and see a different side of nature in Singapore, not the managed and curated version that is prevalent, but a wild-growing 50-year old urban forest. What seldom-seen wonders lie beyond waiting to be discovered?

Singapore’s transient wild forest fragments are rapidly being lost to development, and it is hoped that the first-hand experience of one of these – Dover Forest – will better inform about their role and conservation value in land-scarce Singapore.

Singapore’s government housing programme for its population is one of the nation’s great success stories.  Housing Development Board (HDB) estates are all around us but how much do you know about them? How did the population of Singapore go from living in rural villages (kampongs) to living in high rise apartments while still keeping the community spirit intact?  Come with Explore Singapore! and our guide will explain how this was achieved in such a short time frame and how HDB won the United Nations’ World Habitat Award.

We will visit the HDB Living Space Gallery and learn about the philosophy and social needs that shape HDB’s policies and guide their development.

Then we will tour a few distinctive HDB towns and neighbourhoods, including one of the earliest town centres - Toa Payoh, built in 1966 - on foot. You will see close up how and what makes a lively, self- contained hub which is the nucleus of every HDB estate. One highlight of the tour is a specially arranged visit to a family’s home.

At the end of the tour you will understand how HDB towns are planned and built, and appreciate all the HDB apartments which are a core feature of Singapore’s landscape, better.

*This is a 3.5-hour tour which involves hiring a bus and visits to several places.

Want to find out more about our programmes? Click here to download a PDF .