An abandoned kampung hut in Mandai forest, accessible via Chestnut Park, is still standing in 2020.

The existence of the mysterious sole hut in urban Singapore has revived interest in locating it and checking it out first hand.

Revived interest

A Facebook post on Dec. 21, 2020 showed a group of intrepid explorers checking out the hut and providing instructions on how to get there.

Made entirely of wood with a zinc roof, the small structure on stilts is about 7m by 5m, or less than 40 sqm.

The most recent photos posted showed the hut containing remnants of clothes and plastic bags, alongside other debris.

Small pond and well

Within the compound of the hut is a small pond that probably once contained fish.

This pond has been fenced off, probably as a safety measure.

The site also contains water wells and other brick and wooden structures that were likely used to keep poultry.

Broken structure but with new parts

According to the Remember Singapore article on the hut updated in November 2020, the green paint on the hut's walls are worn off, and the wooden stairs found broken.

But some connecting bolts are found relatively new, suggesting that some maintenance work have been done in recent times.

The website also speculated that given the hut's relatively small size and its location, the structure might have been a temporary home or a storage place.

Cordoned off

Instructions on how to get to the hut are aplenty online.

Recent footage showed the hut cordoned off halfheartedly with red and white tape as some form of deterrence to stop members of the public from accessing it.

History of Mandai forested area

Remember Singapore wrote that Mandai Track 15 used to have many houses, ponds, plantations and even a place of worship around it, according to the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) 1979 and 1985 maps.

Gangsa Track, about 5km from Mandai Road to Chestnut Nature Park (North), was developed from Mandai Track 15, a beaten road off the main Mandai Road.

The thick Mandai forest and undergrowth reclaimed many of the other roads in the last two decades.

That was when the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) was constructed from north to south, first from Woodlands to Mandai Road, then from Mandai Road to the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), Remember Singapore wrote.

Residents in the area were relocated as a result.

The Mandai area has been taken over by the Singapore Armed Forces, and live firing exercises are carried out there now as part of their training grounds.

Gangsa Track was developed for mountain bikers and trekkers in the early 2000s.

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