I discovered the Gaharu Trail this morning, Sunday, June 28th, 2026, purely by accident.
My original plan for the day was to have a quick hike at Rifle Range Nature Park and go home. But the park is too small, and in this day, despite early in the morning (7:30am), it was very humid, even the birds didn't want to fly! I did not see anything interesting, the hike from visitor center to Colugo deck, about 1 miles, took less than 30 minutes. It was still early. I decided to continue on the trail.
Quickly I arrived at a junction, where 3 trails intersect, the Rifle Range trail, the MacRitchie trail, and the 3rd one, Gaharu Trail, which I never heard of . Looked at the Signage for Gaharu trail, it reads:
The Gaharu, otherwise known as the Agarwood, is the dark resinous wood from Aquilaria trees which is prized for its fragrance. The trees are critically endangered in Asia due to overharvesting. Part of the Gaharu Trail was once a road known as Jalan Gaharu. The road was expunged when the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) was built.
This signage led me to learn two things, the agarwood, and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) history.
The agarwood tree defensively secretes a resin to combat the fungal infestation. Prior to becoming infected, the heartwood mostly lacks scent, and is relatively light and pale in colouration. However, as the infection advances and the tree produces its fragrant resin as a final option of defense, the heartwood becomes very dense, dark, and saturated with resin. This product is harvested, and most famously referred to in cosmetics under the scent names of oud, oodh or aguru; agar, as well as gaharu or jinko. With thousands of years of known use, and valued across Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese cultures, oud is prized in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures for its distinctive fragrance, utilized in colognes, incense and perfumes. One of the main reasons for the relative rarity and high cost of agarwood is the depletion of wild sources.
PIE was started in 1964, and built in 4 phases, and was fully open in 1982. The Gaharu Trail was built around 2017, a relative recent event.
This is a different type of trails, I decided to explore it.
Looking down the trail, there was one person who was taking photos of plant leaves with a shade, no one lese. I marched on - the trail is well shaded by mostly Aquilaria trees, and with some scattered bayan trees, a.k.a. walking figs.
After crossing a stream, I came to a reactively open area, large plant, and tall grasses, surrounded by quite a few durian trees. A hiking group of sensor citizens was there taking pictures. I saw fallen broken durians here and there in this stretch of the trail. For a moment, I was concerned that a durian might fall from its perch, and hit hikers. No need to worry though if one stays on the trail. I did not see any broken durians on the trail. It tuned out that the small er southern loop (see trail map below), Gaharu/Banyan Trail, was once called durian loop.
Durian is appealing to many people, not me - its smell is repulsive to me. I saw one solo hiker, an old man, picked up a likely freshly broken durian and ate the fruit! I jokingly asked him - tasting good? he did not answer me directly, but said - it is free, why not? When I returned back to the trail junction, another group of senior citizens were debating something excitedly. Apparently one of them wanted to take a fallen durian home! Of course it is against park rules or basic outdoor etiquettes - take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints.
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| wild durian tree |
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| fallen and broken durians |
The trail is in densely wooded area, tranquility with melodious bird chirps. However I barely saw any birds. The loop trail is not long, from Rifle Range Nature Park, to Colugo deck, continue on the right hand side trail at the trail junction, i.e. the Gaharu trail, which is a loop trail, on return, one can go straight at junction, and return to Rifle Range Nature Park's visitor center, see my trail map at the end of this post.
I hiked about 3 miles (4.8km) in 100 minutes.
The Gaharu Trail is a lush serenity, a good extension to Rifle Range Colugo trail, which I had never hiked on until this day.
Notes
Gaharu trail is a vivid example that nature can reclaim land quickly. Along the trail, there are a few building foundations overtaken by wild grasses and plants. It reminded me a more dramatic example of nature's power when left to do its work. Chernobyl, despite radio active, absence of human activities, grasses, plants and even wildlife thrive there.
