Kayaking to Mandai River

We kayaked at Sungei Simpang, Sungei Jelutong at Pulau Ubin, Pulau Sekudu, Sentosa , and Keppel Bay near Sentosa. There are a few more places to kayak around Singapore, one of them is Mandai River.

Kayaking to Mandai River has been on my mind for some time. I investigated a little bit, check what features it has, where to launch kayaks. Checking on the map the best launching point is Kranji Park Carpark A. I checked the carpark last week on our way to and from Sungei Buloh Wetland. 

Today we kayaked to Mandai River with Michael and family from the carpark.

The launching place

It was a beautiful morning and we arrived at Kranji Car Park A around 8:30am. This carpark is right at the edge of Kranji Reservoir dam, there is no beach, but rocky bank. Putting kayaks into water is more challenging than other places we have been to. Further more there are two discouraging signs, one stated that there is crocodile sighting, don't get into water! second sign is that state property no trespassing. In fact one fisherman told us that there was a crocodile by the shore on the right hand side of the shore. 

Before we started inflating our kayaks, an otter appeared in the water,  eating a fish!

We knew that it was the best possible launching spot for this trip, so we went into water and paddled toward Mandai River.

Rocky bank made launching difficult

warning sign

another warning sign

Otter near Car park A in the water

Kayaking to Mandai River

The launching spot is about 2 km from the mouth of the Mandai river. We kayaked eastward in leisure pace, and trying to spot the crocodile in vain. Quickly we found out that the water near shore there is really shallow. In fact our rudder scratched water floor a couple times. We had to paddle away from the shore more than we liked. On the way back, due to lower tide, we had to be further away from the shore to avoid being stranded. No wild life but beautiful reflections of white clouds in water. We could also see Kranji Costal Nature Park more clearly.

kayaking trail

wooded shore

White Bellied Sea Eagle on top of a tree

The eagle - close up

Johor Strait is like a lake

Kranji Costal Nature Park - we spotted a crocodile by the Fantail Pod

Mandai River

The mouth of Mandai River is beautiful with many birds, great herons, grey herons, night herons, and egrets, collared kingfishers, pacific swallows, . . .in wetland and/or trees. We lingered in this area for sometime, enjoyed the sighting of birds, and the scenery. 

Egret at Shallow water

A pair of collared Kingfishers

night heron

A pair of Herons

A Pacific Swallow

The initial section of Mandai river was pretty beautiful, but due to noise from nearby construction, there was no bird any more. There were fallen trees in the river here and there partially block water way. A few places the water was really shallow, our rudder scratched river floor a few more times. About 1km into the river, after we passed a yellow bridge, the river became a concrete drainage, and river bank was bare, no more trees, so we turned back.

It was a nice kayaking trip with friends in a leisure pace. Before we knew it, the 3 hour, 4+ mile (6.8 km)  kayak trip was over, and we did not feel tired at all!

A new building at the river

Three kayaks in our group

green moss on a tree from high tide

A bridge over Mandai river

Note - 

1. Need to kayak to Mandai river at high tide. Otherwise, for big kayaks, like our tandem Emma, the river's navigable section will be really limited. Here is the tide table for Singapore.

2. We encountered police again at the end of our kayaking (last time was near Sungei Simpang). Two policemen were standing on the dam near the parking lot, with binoculars. They did not talk to us at all when we debarked from our kayaks, but left shortly when we got to land.