The roughly 7km Mandai T15 Trail, beginning on the outskirts of the lush Central Catchment Nature Reserve and finishing within its heart, is a paradise for nature lovers and mountain bikers. It is notable for being one of the few rainforests in Singapore accessible after dark to the general public, and is among my favorite places for searching for nocturnal wildlife in the country.

Last Tuesday, my dad, sister and I embarked on an expedition there. My goal was as many ants and herps as possible. I wasn’t disappointed! We walked through the steamy depths of the jungle for a full two hours. Our headlamp beams danced between forest floor and canopy as we scanned diligently for wildlife. The glint of a million huntsman spider eyes decorated the verdence.

I flipped logs as we went along, finding frogs, ants, giant pill millipedes (Sphaerotheriida) and other millipedes (Paradoxosomatidae and Trigoniulidae). I did find several remarkable ants, including Carabera divera, the Asian marauder ant, and Dinomyrmex gigas, the Giant Forest Ant. The latter is among the world’s largest ant species.

But the 3 snakes we saw were undoubtedly the coolest finds of the night. I got to see a childhood bucket-list species; the Gold-Ringed Cat Snake. They are truly beautiful animals. We also saw a rather uncommon White-Bellied Rat Snake and a female Wagler’s Pit Viper perched amongst a grove of bamboo. A productive night altogether!