Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Cool day for nature trip to Chek Jawa Boardwalk

2009-10-31T22:59:00.016+08:00

It has been raining like crazy for the last couple of days, and the weather threatened to spoil our Last Saturday nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk. But someone must have been praying, the weather turned out to be PERFECT for a trip to the great outdoors.

And everyone was happy to be out enjoy the beautiful natural vistas. One of the ladies in my group remarked that an outing like this beats shopping in Orchard Road on a Saturday afternoon. "Aye-aye" to that!

There were four of us guiding today, and we had about 45 visitors in total. Ivan and Ria took the Girls Brigade troop. There were more than 20 girls from the 74th Company. They were into their third day of a camping trip in Ubin, and some of the girls were struggling to keep their eyes open but we understand what it is like to be terribly short of (good) sleep.

Meanwhile, Chay Hoon and Ley Kun took the family and friends groups. We were impressed with the enthusiasm of our visitors. They just loved spotting the animals and everyone was asking good questions. Like us, they were really fascinated with the fiddler crabs on the mudflats beneath the boardwalk. The tide at 3-4 pm today was at 1 metre which was PERFECT for viewing the shore animals from the boardwalk. There must have been thousands of fiddler crabs today.

All of the following animals were spotted by our visitors .... !!

Malayan water monitor.

This is a rather large specimen. We continue to spot many water monitor lizards in Chek Jawa, both the full grown adult ones as well as many juveniles. We're happy to see them as their presence show that the ecosystem in Chek Jawa is well-balanced with enough food to sustain these large reptiles.

Further in the inner mangroves, we spotted these unidentified little red-eyed fiddler crabs. There was another unidentified little mudskipper close-by too.

Talking about mudskippers, Ria's group also spotted the bearded mudskipper. We often ask our visitors to guess whether a mudskipper is an amphibian or a fish, and, not surprisingly, some people do think that mudskippers are amphibians. Well, they are actually fishes, just fishes that have developed special abilities to stay out of water. They have gill pouches that can carry water so that the gills remain moist for a while, and pectoral fins that are strong enough to 'walk' and 'skip' on the mud. Mudskippers are such an enigma of a fish!

Many of us spotted the schools of little fishes too. Coastal areas such as Chek Jawa are vital ecosystems that provide a safe environment for the young of fishes. It is important that we maintain the natural habitats along our shores so that young fishes have a chance to grow bigger and stronger before they venture further out into sea.

Hey, we also noticed that the flight path over Chek Jawa seemed to have switched direction today. Usually, we see planes preparing to land as they approach the airport above us. But today, the planes are taking off northwards. How interesting!

Here are a few photos of our visitors today ....

The Girl Brigaders.

Chay Hoon's group looking really bright and cheery.

Ley Kun's group in all shades of colour.

And we bumped into Vyna (who is one of the Crabs too) who brought some of her friends to CJ today!

Back at the English Cottage, our visitors got busy with expressing their thoughts about Chek Jawa in our guestbook.

We heard the loud "ke-ke-ke" calls of the Oriental Pied Hornbills. There were at least 3 of them resting on the coconut trees on the southern shore of Chek Jawa. Ria managed to capture a photograph of the hornbill using her powerful camera.

After the 2-hour walk, we finally made our way back to Punai Hut where our taxi was waiting for us. Are we seeing a new "Priscilla the Wild Boar"? Shall we name her "Portia the New Wild Boar"? :-) This young female has been spotted several times near the hut. She is an intelligent animal. The villagers and taxi drivers have been feeding her and now she comes forward in anticipation to be fed each time. Still, do remember she is a wild animal, and we asked that our visitors refrain from feeding wild animals. When we feed a wild animal, we are, in reality, changing its natural behaviour. Some of these animals lose their desire to hunt, and they come in search of easy food. This is precisely why many of the long-tail macaques in our reservoirs have become pests in recent years.

Oops.... enough of preaching!

On our way back to Singapore island, we saw a huge storm brewing in the distance. That's the third storm in a 24-hour period!

The Crabs will be back for another walk in the last Saturday of November. Do write in to us to book your places. We run out rather quickly.

Thanks to Ria, Ivan, Chay Hoon and LeyKun for volunteering their precious time today!

Next trip to Chek Jawa Boardwalk - 31 Oct 2009 (Saturday)

2009-10-17T23:18:00.006+08:00

The Crabs would like to invite you to join us for a free tour of Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 31st October 2009 (Saturday). Come and explore the mangroves and coastal areas of Chek Jawa. There is no need to get your feet wet. The Crabs should be able to show you plenty of interesting animals and plants from the boardwalk.

Please write to us at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com to register.

Date: 31 October 2009 (Saturday)

Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk

Meeting Time: 3 pm

Duration of tour: 1.5 to 2 hours

Cost: Free (donations are gratefully accepted)

Group size: come in small family/friend groups of not more than 6

To read more about Chek Jawa Boardwalk, please check this site: http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/cj.htm

To find out how to get to Chek Jawa, click here:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/going.htm

Don't be discouraged; it is not difficult to get to Chek Jawa. I call it a 2-hop trip:

First hop: take a bumboat from Changi Village to the island of Pulau Ubin

Second hop: At the Ubin jetty, hop into an island taxi (vans) and tell the driver to take your group to Chek Jawa.

Give yourself about 1 hour to get from Changi Village to the final destination of Chek Jawa.

Got questions for us? Just write to our e-mail address at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com. We love to hear from you.

Another fabulous day out on the Chek Jawa boardwalk

2009-09-26T21:30:00.009+08:00

It was a sunny but breezy day and the Naked Hermit Crabs were delighted to share it with some 30 new friends! Even before we began, Ivan saw several wild boars near the trails!
It's a bit of a climb up the wobbly Jejawi Tower but we are rewarded with a great view of the surrounding mangroves and forest. And on the blue horizon, Pulau Tekong. We could barely make out the hills of Johor through the hazy day.

Below us, I think it's July leading his group, past the Betel Nut palms and other interesting plants growing next to the Boardwalk. We can't all go up the Tower at the same time so my team heads back down to have a closer look at the mangroves. The melodious song of the Straw-headed bulbul greets us from the forest.
Though the back mangroves have a few mozzies, we scarcely pay attention to them as we look at the Buta-buta or Blind-Your-Eye tree, and the many Nipah palms some of which were flowering, as well as the many mud lobster mounds. But the greater attraction were the many mudskippers and fiddler crabs found here.
They are rather tiny and well camouflaged but still my team found lots of them. Like this pretty Blue-spotted mudskipper!
Here's a closer look at one of the intriguing fiddler crabs. It has red eyes. Only the male has one enlarged pincer which is too big to use for feeding. It has one small pincer to feed with.
Females have two small feeding pincers. We had fun figuring out why this is so.
Here's another male-female pair. These look like Porcelain fiddler crabs.
All too soon we were out on the sea front.
The tide is high but we still saw sand bubbler crabs, and busy digger wasps excavating burrows on the sand. And on the water line, MORE mudskippers. This time the very personable and sociable Gold spotted mudskippers. Every now and then, one would raise the colourful fin on its back.
We stop the Koh brothers to help take a group photo of us. They are professional photographers so we had to stand just so, in order to take a nice photo.
The Coastal portion was a pleasant stroll in the breeze, with sunlight on the water. We talked about the coastal forest and the Chek Jawa beacon system. And talked about the legend of the frog, the pig and the elephant who had a wager about which of them could cross the Straits. And how thus Pulau Sekudu and Pulau Ubin came about. And we saw a White bellied sea eagle!

Towards the end of the walk, the team decided to pose for a photo on the rock which I refused to get out on. Having fallen down too many rocks before. They sure make a brave and cheerful photo!
After a last look at the mysterious Tongkat Ali, we gather back at House No. 1 to share our thoughts and wishes for Chek Jawa.

July's kids were already hard at work.
Here's Kok Sheng's visitors penning their thoughts.

And this is the Kok Sheng's group photo when they were at the top of Jejawi tower.

My Pearson team had to cajole the kids to let them have the right coloured pens to do their contribution. The kids were quite fierce!
Kok Sheng has kindly scanned in all the gorgeous drawings and thoughtful words shared by our guests. It's in the next post.

At the end of it all, it was time for a nice group photo. What a great bunch of guests!
Thanks to all the guests who were really fun to bring around. I had a fabulous time with the Pearson group. They were very kind to laugh at my lame jokes and they sure could find lots of interesting things! And thanks also to Daniel who tagged along and helped out with the guiding.

We missed Mama Crab Ley Kun today, who is overseas, but nevertheless still managed all the sign ups for us. So all we had to do was turn up and do the fun part. Ivan, Kok Sheng and July guided. July also invited some friends from NIE: Pei Yan, Daniel and Candy, whom we hope will continue to guide with us at Chek Jawa. And it was nice to have James and Richard join us too.

Our next public walk is on the last Saturday of October. Do drop by the blog for more details!

More about Chek Jawa and Pulau Ubin, as well as our other wild places on the wildsingapore website.

More blog posts about this trip

Colourful crabs plus an insect and a plant @ Chek Jawa by July on his Where Discovery Begins blog.
Pulau Ubin - Fiddler fetish by James on his Singapore Nature blog.
Chek Jawa at high tide on the wild shores of singapore blog

Guestbook drawings - 26 September 09

2009-09-26T20:58:00.005+08:00

Here are the wonderful art pieces from our September guided walk. It was lovely to be able to showcase their interest, appreciation and reflection about Chek Jawa.

Chek Jawa Boardwalk - 26-September-09 Saturday

2009-09-20T07:56:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone! We are back for our usual last-Saturday-of-the-month guided tour, and we’d like you to join us!

Here are the details:

Dates: 26 September 2009, Saturday
Time: 3 pm
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk
Your group size: not more than 5

Write to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com with the title “Sign up for Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour September” and we will confirm your places for you. We accept walk-ins too! As always, we ask that you come in small family and friend groups of not more than 5. Please don't organise an extended family group or a company outing. The Naked Hermit Crabs are, er.... small and vulnerable. We confess.... we will get overwhelmed by large groups.

For additional information about Chek Jawa Boardwalk, click here .... http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/cj.htm

How to get to Chek Jawa?
1) From Changi Village, take a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin
2) At the Pulau Ubin jetty, hop into a taxi van and tell the driver to take you to Chek Jawa.

See you there!

International Coastal Cleanup at Chek Jawa (12-Sep)

2009-09-15T22:27:00.012+08:00

One of our Crabs, Anuj, led a team of 35 volunteers to clean up a section of Chek Jawa (South) on 12 Sep 2009 (Saturday). These volunteers come from all walks of life and they have independently signed up with ICCS to volunteer their services for the day. Many of them have volunteered for a few years already. Admirable! There must be something special about coastal cleanups that make them come back year after year.

Besides the 'independents', there were many other organisations involved in the cleanup of the entire Chek Jawa stretch, including AVA, LTA, St Nicholas Sec. School, Pei Hwa Sec. School, Advantest and Gemalto.

According to the data collected at Chek Jawa on 12 Sep 2009, there were 325 people involved in the event and they collected 2.786 tonnes of trash. That is about 8.5 kilogram of trash collected by each person!

The International Coastal Cleanup, Singapore, is now in its 18th year of battling marine trash in Singapore. A big part of the cleanup is actually about the collection of data about the trash itself. By collating data, scientists, government agencies, corporations and NGOs gain a better idea of what constitute our trash and what harm the coastal environment, and hopefully formulate better laws and strategies to fight marine pollution.

For example, it is a well-known fact that many marine animals such as sea turtles and whales do mistake floating plastic bags for their favourite food - jellyfish. Plastic bags are known to choke these animals resulting in eventual starvation and death. (Does this make you pause before accepting that plastic bag at the supermarket?)

During the few hours that we spent cleaning Chek Jawa, many of the volunteers were lost in our own thoughts. No doubt we were asking questions like why our beaches are so polluted and what changes do we have to make in our own lives to reduce trash. We cannot solely blame beach-goers for the marine trash. Some of the trash that we picked up were beyond comprehension. Like the used dialysis bag, a medical waste that most likely came from a hospital or clinic. Is it poor waste disposal practices that caused this medical item to show up on a beach?

Now, 'enjoy' the not-so-pretty photos taken of the Big Cleanup exercise.

More piles of trash collected....

Here is the picture of the medical waste that we talked about....

Hundreds of plastic bags are entangled in the roots of the mangroves....

And the volunteers meticulously cutting the plastic bags.

Bags of trash collected by 35 volunteers.

And a picture of Anuj at the end of the Battle of Man Against Marine Trash. The winner gets a clean beach!

A shout-out from the Crabs to JJ and friends who volunteered. JJ is one of our visitors who enjoyed our shore walk at Sentosa.

Another shout-out to KC, a volunteer nature guide at Chek Jawa.

And to Andy and Marcus, ICCS chiefs at the Chek Jawa site.

Read more about International Coastal Cleanup, Singapore:

ICCS main website
ICCS blog
ICCS blog about Chek Jawa cleanup, 12 September
Site results of Chek Jawa South section 9
Flickr photos by James of the Chek Jawa site
Picasaweb photos by KC of Chek Jawa South section 9

Chek Jawa - peaceful, untouched, a retreat from the daily stresses of life

2009-08-30T21:03:00.015+08:00

The Crabs were out in full force yesterday. We shifted our monthly nature walk to the last Saturday of the month and it looks like we made the right decision.

We had about 45 visitors in total; 20 who registered for the walk, 5 walk-in visitors and about 20 teachers-in-training from the NIE Green Club who came to observe us in action. The weather was just what we wished for - sunny and with a lovely breeze to keep everyone happy.

We split into 6 groups. Marcus took the photographer group, Ley Kun took the family group while November, Kok Sheng, July, Ria and Chay Hoon took the NIE team plus Nancy and company.

There was so much to see. The rambutan trees were heavy with fruit. We did not see durian flowers yesterday so this could mean there might not be a bountiful durian harvest in December. But we are no expert in durian fruiting, so don't take our word for it.

Of all the little creatures that we saw yesterday, 3 stood out for their uniqueness. There were some colourful tiny fiddler crabs at the mangrove boardwalk area. We saw a few fiddler crabs with stalk eyes, a darker fiddler with a whitish claw and finally a crimson orange fiddler, all co-existing within a small patch of mangrove. My crummy point-and-shoot camera could not capture the beauty of the orange fiddler crab. Here's the rather lame photo of it. Do check the other blogs listed below for better photos.

A keen-eyed visitor from Ria's group spotted the Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) among the mangrove bushes. It had a lovely lime green colour and was well-camouflaged in the bushes. We were able to observe it for a few minutes and noticed that it moved forward in a gentle expand-contract motion that made it look like it moved 2 cm forward, 1 cm backward and then 2 cm forward again. Fascinating.

November and Marcus' groups saw the elusive Mud Lobster in one of the streams! And November even took a video of it. Go check it out. It is a rare sight to behold. Take our word for it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/micamonkey/3869824396/?likes_hd=1

Here are a few photos of Ley Kun's group. The kids really enjoyed the trip, skipping, jumping and asking lots of good questions.

At the top of Jejawi Tower (20m high) which is named after the tallest tree in Chek Jawa, the Jejawi tree, also known as the Malayan Banyan Tree.

And our final segment of the Chek Jawa trip .... signing of the NHC guestbook.

Everyone found a comfortable place to pen his and her thoughts.

I have also scanned a few of the drawings done by our visitors. Read what they have to say about Chek Jawa....

"Singapore is not just a place of high buildings and sophisticated shopping centres! Chek Jawa will give you lots of surprises."

"It would only be justifiable for us to leave it (Chek Jawa) the way it is and to encourage awareness surrounding this tranquil shore."

"Peaceful, untouched, a retreat from the daily stresses of life."

"Chek Jawa is beautiful. Even if we have all the developments in the world, we still need a tranquil spot to remind us that the natural world is beautiful. Please don't take that away."

"It was a special world of nature."

"This is such a beautiful and serene place, it brings tears to my eyes."

This is Pranav's drawing. He is in Primary 2.

This is the contribution by Evangeline who is in Primary 1.

So, it is most fitting to end this blog with a few photos showing the tranquility that is Chek Jawa.

Thanks to Ria, July, Kok Sheng, Marcus, November, Chay Hoon and Ley Kun for guiding. And to James who came along to take photographs.

And other blogs written about this trip...

Chek Jawa at high tide with the Naked Hermit Crabs by Ria in her Wild Shores of Singapore blog
Long yet fulfilling day by Kok Sheng in his God's wonderful creation blog
Pulau Ubin - With the NHC by James in his Singapore Nature blog
Furled by budak expressing his thoughts in prose and poetry after his trip to CJ
A video of Mud Lobster at Chek Jawa by November.
Wildfacts updates: colourful fiddlers and more by Ria

Our next Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip is on 26 Sep 2009 (Saturday). Look out for our announcement closer to the date. See you!

Chek Jawa Boardwalk - 29-Aug-09 Saturday

2009-08-28T01:12:00.006+08:00

Hi friends,

In case you miss our earlier announcement, we're holding our monthly Chek Jawa (Pulau Ubin) nature walk on Saturday instead of Sunday. And it is this coming Saturday, 29th August.

Date: 29 August 2009
Meeting Place : Chek Jawa Information Kiosk
Meeting Time : 3 pm
Duration : 1.5 to 2 hours
Cost : still free for now
Group Size : not more than 6

We are going to have a good turnout of volunteer guides this Saturday, so pre-registration is not needed now.

There is so much to see in Chek Jawa. Come on down to experience the magic of the place. The Crabs will be there!

Got questions to ask about Chek Jawa? No problem, send them to nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com

Chek Jawa - Last Saturday of every month

2009-08-14T18:53:00.011+08:00

The Naked Hermit Crabs are making a BIG change to their Chek Jawa Boardwalk nature trips. Instead of holding our walks on the last Sunday of each month, we have decided to change them to the Last Saturday of the Month!

So the first Saturday walk happens this month on 29 August.

Nothing else has changed:

Meeting Place : Chek Jawa Information Kiosk

Meeting Time : 3 pm

Duration : 1.5 hours

Cost : still free for now (amazing!)

Group Size : not more than 6.

Confirmed trips:

29-Aug-09

26-Sep-09

31-Oct-09

Come and join us to explore the different coastal habitats on Chek Jawa. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boars, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

What to bring: camera, binoculars, drinking water, a hat, sunblock

For additional information about Chek Jawa Boardwalk, click here .... http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/cj.htm

And how to get to Ubin and Chek Jawa .... http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/going.htm

1) From Changi Village, take a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin

2) At the Ubin jetty, hop into a taxi van and tell the taxi driver to take you to Chek Jawa. Give yourself about 1 hour to get from Changi Village to Chek Jawa.

Finally, drop us a line at our email address, nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com, to let us know us know that you're coming. We will give you a reply to confirm your place. However, if you have not registered with us but feel like showing up on the day itself, do come along anyway. If yours is a small group, we should be able to take you in as well.

We want to live a more spontaneous life!

Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the photos taken at Chek Jawa....

(how rubber tapping works)

(a stick insect)

(a beautiful moth, unidentified)

(a young visitor to Chek Jawa)

Chek Jawa again!

2009-07-29T23:01:00.013+08:00

(natural rock formation on the southern shore of Chek Jawa)

On Sunday, we had our regular monthly nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk. Instead of the usual huge crowds that we used to have, we had just 5 visitors this time. We wondered if the low turnout was because we asked for pre-registration and it may have deterred many people from committing to a trip. We must think harder for a solution to our problem that oscillates between having too many visitors and then too few. It is not easy to find an equilibrium!

(Fruit of the Barringtonia asiatica)

Ivan and Vyna took the only group out on the boardwalk while Anuj and I were able to explore on our own. For the first time, we started hunting for seeds near the shore. Our best find was the large fibrous fruit of the Poison Fish Tree (Barringtonia asiatica). It has a most unusual square base. Flowers are large and look like a beautiful pink and white powder puff.

(sapling of the Barringtonia asiatica)

We also found a Barringtonia asiatica sapling nearby. I’m going to monitor this sapling in future trips

(pear-shaped fruits of the Barringtonia racemosa)

A related species called the Barringtonia racemosa can be found in the same area. The flowers are also pink and white powder puffs but smaller in size. The pear-shaped fruits hang in a long stem of about 60 cm long. Both these Barringtonia species are pollinated by bats and moths.

(Crinum asiaticum)

We next stopped to look at the impressive Seashore Lily or Crinum Lily plant (Crinum asiaticum). It is found just next to the boardwalk near the shore.

(large flowers of the Crinum asiaticum)

The Seashore Lily was blooming and fruiting at the same time. We counted 35 flowers in the inflorescence. The bulbs are heavy and as a result they droop to the side and were resting on the ground. I am glad we had time to stop and take a closer look at this beautiful species.

Hey, I must add that not far from the Seashore Lily, the other group saw a pair of horseshoe crabs mating!

(Varanus salvator)

Further down the mangrove boardwalk, we spied a juvenile Malayan Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator) resting on some styrofoam debris. I recounted the monitor lizard sighting to Ivan later on and lamented that the water monitor lizards in Chek Jawa are not as large and impressive as those found in Sungei Buloh. Ivan remembered that he had seen a huge adult one before. Really? That’s another animal to look out in future!

Here are more pictures of Ivan and Vyna’s group as they progressed along the route.

The repair works on the floating pontoon were completed and we were able to walk all the way to the end of the pontoon. While on the pontoon, we were able to see a few species of fishes that thrive in the waters of Chek Jawa. I’m pretty hopeless with naming fishes but fortunately Ivan was there to point out the needle fishes, halfbeaks and gar fishes. Most of them are juveniles which kind of support the popular belief that Chek Jawa is a refuge place for juvenile fishes.

What about the birdlife in Chek Jawa? Oh yes, we first heard the loud and clear chirps (“chiup-chiup-chiup”) of the Common Tailorbird, and after trying very hard, we finally spotted it perched on the branch of the Sea Almond Tree. The Tailorbird is quite a gregarious little fellow that does make its presence felt. It is so named because it is able to ‘stitch’ leaves together to form a nest.

The Oriental Pied Hornbills were present at Chek Jawa during our walk, mostly likely feeding on the ripe rambutans that are in season now. However they teased us with their loud “ka-ka-ka” calls near the mangrove and forest areas, but would not reward us with a sighting.

The bulbuls (likely the Straw-headed Bulbul) and the kingfishers could be heard too. But not seen! Just not our day for bird-watching at Chek Jawa!

(Sus scrofa)

To end our day of adventure, we saw a family of wild boars near Punai Hut. Our taxi driver, Tian Song, grabbed a few small bags of biscuits from his van and threw them at one of the wild boars. The little fellow was able to tear the foil using its snout and paws, and got to the biscuits. Is this the new “Priscilla”, the hand-fed wild boar?

As always, we end our blog with drawings and words from our visitors. To Charmaine, Cheong Kai and Beng Teck who attended our workshop at the Young ChangeMakers Conference 2009, we are delighted to have you join us on the walk. Did you get the information that you needed from the interview?

To Rajesh, our new friend, hope you like Chek Jawa. I agree totally with your comment about the litter in Chek Jawa. That is an “interesting” topic for another blog!

And finally, thanks go out to Ivan, Vyna, Anuj and Ley Kun who helped this weekend.

YCMC-NHC Workshop cum Volunteer Experience 18 July

2009-07-19T17:06:00.024+08:00

This year, the Naked Hermit Crabs are very honoured to be involved in the inaugural Young Change Makers Conference 2009 held on 18-19 July 2009. We were invited to conduct one of the workshops and were delighted to meet not one, but two, groups of enthusiastic youths!

During the workshop, the YCMC participants learnt more about what Naked Hermit Crabs guides do at Chek Jawa. Ivan regaled them with tales of Chek Jawa, such as its history and the unique six eco-systems present, as he presented a virtual tour of the wetlands.

You can bet that it sure made participants want to get there and see the wonders that Chek Jawa had to offer for themselves!

The workshop also sought to introduce some basic aspects of guiding by familiarising the participants with the flora and fauna found on the different habitats of Chek Jawa. The imaginative participants performed a role play to show what visitors can see. Here’s how it looked like.

Listen to the podcast of one of the groups as they highlight what's so sexy about fiddler crabs!

We had also displayed some books (here’s Vyna guarding some of them). The idea was to show to the participants how simple guiding can be. There are a plenty of books and resources to learn from. The only prerequisites are passion and genuine interest!

Some of the groups wanted a group photo and we couldn’t say no!

In the afternoon, we brought the participants to Chek Jawa to get up close and personal with nature. The bus ride to Changi village ferry terminal was pretty comfortable and we got the much needed rest before starting up on the tour again.

It was far from the normal guided walks we conduct. The participants are deep in competition in their quest to win in a treasure hunt contest where they get points for spotting certain types of flora and fauna found on the wetlands.

No sooner than they started, they were already treated to the sight of a wild boar. The groups also saw more wildlife, such as the hornbills. One of the groups even spotted the red jungle fowl!

Unfortunately, amongst the beauty of Chek Jawa, a few participants saw some ugly behaviour - of visitors! A group of girls had climbed up the Jejawi tower, only to throw their aluminium cans down to the ground. Let's take a stand and stamp this out!

When the guided walk drew to a close, we gathered at House No. 1 for a group photo and prize giving. That’s the 3 guides in the front row – Ivan (left) Vyna (center) and Anuj (right). The participants were also given "badges of honour" - our Naked Hermit Crabs pins! Some of them wanted to pose with it.

We are delighted that many of our participants are eager to know how they can play their part. We hope that they will continue to appreciate our natural heritage and in time, join us in our efforts to conserve special places such as Chek Jawa.

Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour Double Bonanza – 18 and 26 July 2009

2009-07-03T13:28:00.001+08:00

Greetings everyone! You are in for a treat this July with a Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour double bonanza as we are back with not just our usual last-Sunday-of-the-month guided tour, but another one on 18 July as well!

July is an exciting month at Chek Jawa. You may even see durian trees fruiting! So come join us on one of the dates below.

Here are the details:

Dates: 18 July, Saturday and 26 July 2009, Sunday
Time: 3 pm
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk
Your group size: not more than 5

Signup is needed. Write to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com with the title “Sign up for Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour July” and we will send you a registration form that you need to send back to us for acknowledgement.

As always, we ask that you come in small family and friend groups of not more than 5. Please don't organise an extended family group or a company outing. The Naked Hermit Crabs are, er.... small and vulnerable. We confess.... we will get overwhelmed by large groups.

How to get to Chek Jawa?
1) From Changi Village, take a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin
2) At the Pulau Ubin jetty, hop into a taxi van and tell the driver to take you to Chek Jawa.

You make your way to Chek Jawa at your own expense. As for the tour, the Crabs do not charge for now.

Have a great week ahead!

Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip with the Naked Hermit Crabs

2009-06-21T14:08:00.004+08:00

No need to get your feet wet. Come and join us at our monthly boardwalk trip to Chek Jawa

There will be lots to discover for both kids and grown-ups. Find out more about the fiddler crabs, giant mudskippers, Oriental Pied Hornbills, coastal mangrove trees, and much more.

Pre-registration is needed. Please write to nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com and let us know how big your group is.

As always, we request that you come in small family and friend groups. We have only a couple of volunteer guides, so we can cope with a limited number of people for each trip. Thanks for your understanding!

Date: Sunday, 28 June 2009

Time: 3 pm meet at the Chek Jawa Info Kiosk

Duration: Two hours

Cost: no charge for now

Sentosa Shore Walk, 12,13 Jun09

2009-06-02T22:21:00.005+08:00

This is the walk worth waiting for! It's time for our annual Sentosa shore walk during the June school holidays.

Dates: 12-June-09 Friday morning (full) and 13-Jun-09 Saturday morning (full)

Places are limited. Do sign up by writing to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com with the following information:

Name of team leader: _____________
Mobile # of leader: _______________
# of people in team (max. 5): ________
# of children in team: _____________
Preferred date: 12/6 or 13/6

We will only allow children who are 6 years-old (K2) or older to join us at the Sentosa walks. The younger ones will have to wait for their turn when they grow older. This is our rule, so please respect it. The walk is not suitable for young children, toddlers and babies.

Meeting place and time?
We will inform you upon confirmation of places for your team. The walks are in the morning.

What to expect from the Sentosa shore walk?
1) Your shoes will get wet. We will be walking in ankle-high water in the inter-tidal zone. It is NOT a walk on a sandy beach.
2) It is a 1.5 to 2 hour nature walk
3) You will see lots of inter-tidal marine and plant life, including corals, crabs, fishes, seagrasses.
4) Read more about our past Sentosa shore walks and see photos to get a better idea of what to expect. Click here.

Do I have to pay for the walk?
No, you don't to pay the Crabs for the nature walks. Transitions Optical has sponsored these walks and so it is free for you. You will however have to pay for the standard entry fees into Sentosa.

Do write in soon as places run out quickly.

- the "Crabs"

Hot and Humid May

2009-06-01T22:16:00.012+08:00

The last day of May was unrelentless in its heat and humidity. We thought it was deterrent enough for the typical air-conditioner-loving Singaporean, and so we were not sure how many people will turn up at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip. But we were pleasantly surprised. 45 people came!

We started the walk by showing the visitors the durian trees. The fruits will be ripe towards the end of June and early July. Ubin durians are quite famous for their sweetness and soft flesh. They are "Old World" durians as these trees have been growing on the island for a long time. So if you come back again in a few weeks' time, you can easily buy them at Ubin town. The rambutan trees were absolutely heavy with green fruit too. These fruits ripen at the same time as the durians.

One nature fact concerning durians: The durian trees are pollinated by bats. So, saving the bats on Ubin are important for the durians. Put simply, no bats, no durians.

On the boardwalk facing the sea, the kids got excited watching the fiddler crabs and mudskippers with their mad antics. The creatures were so busy feeding. There seemed to be more mudskippers than normal, perhaps because the tide was coming in. Mudskippers are such an enigma. They are fish that are learning to walk on land! I cannot help but feel that we are witnessing a tiny sliver of the evolution process.

The mangrove trees next to the boardwalk have their own story to tell. The seeds of the bakau kurap mangrove trees already start sprouting their first tap roots while still growing on the tree. They look so much like long beans! The tap root helps the bakau kurup seed survive better in the relatively hostile environment of the mangroves.

The mud lobster mounds are interesting too. By building huge mud mounds, the mud lobsters are constantly changing the landscape of the mangroves. Inside the "condo-like" network of tunnels live a myriad of other animals such as crabs, snakes, scorpions, spiders and of course the mud lobsters. The tunnels help to make the mangroves healthy by loosening the soil and introducing air into the soil. This is very much like the good work that earthworms do in our gardens.

Having seen the small mudskippers at the shore, the kids were even more excited when they saw the giant mudskippers deeper in the mangrove area. These mudskippers are HUGE! The ones we saw were at least 10 cm long.

Up on the Jejawi Tower, my group saw a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles soaring over the forest canopy near the Kampong Maman area. For a brief moment, we thought we saw them lock talons in mid-air. They were a long way away but we were nonetheless happy to observe the magnificent birds.

At the end of the boardwalk, we stopped to look at the Seashore Nutmeg Tree. The seashore nutmeg tree was thought to be extinct in Singapore until they were rediscovered in Chek Jawa. Now there are several small clusters on the island and it is believed that the Oriental Pied Hornbill is one of the many birds that helped to spread the seeds on the island. Further up the trail, we were happy to see the Tongkat Ali tree doing well again. For several months, this particular Tongkat Ali tree was bare where its crown should be. We are glad to see a new crown of leaves and that no permanent damage was done to it.

My group heard the loud calls of the Oriental Pied Hornbill but could not see them. So near and yet so far! Ivan and Ria's groups were luckier. They spied the hornbills on their way out to the boardwalk. My group stopped by to see the artificial nesting box installed high up on a tree. The visitors now understand how the female hornbill and her babies are totally dependent on the male papa bird to feed them during the nesting period. It is a fascinating story that sometimes mirror human behaviour too. You can read more about the hornbill breeding cycle at the BESGroup website.

We ended the walk at the English Cottage in the cool of the evening sun. The nature show at Chek Jawa never ends. We were rewarded with the sighting of a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles soaring gently above the English Cottage. We saw their impressive wing span.

We hope the visitors had an enjoyable day at Chek Jawa. For those who came with their children, we applaud you for making the extra effort to get them to know more about the natural world around them. Hopefully the kids will remember Chek Jawa when they grow up. Better still, let's all hope that Chek Jawa continues to be conserved for future generations of Singapore kids to explore, enjoy and admire.

The nature guides on Sunday were Ria, Ivan and Ley Kun. Thanks for giving your time!

Read more about this trip at Ria's "wildshores" blog http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/05/chek-jawa-with-naked-hermit-crabs.html

What we've been up to in May

2009-05-30T19:23:00.000+08:00

Whew! What a crazy month!

During the weekend of 24-25 May, the Crabs were at the Envirofest event (at Toa Payoh Hub) together with nearly everyone else from the active nature conservation community of Singapore.

Nature lovers were out in full force to share their work with the members of the public. Doing an exhibition is as important as doing field work. It gives us a platform to reach out to the masses with our message of conservation. Saving habitats, giving a voice to the animals that we try so hard to save cannot be the work of a few individuals in a community. We have to share what we have learnt in all our field trips with ordinary folks. They may not joined us in our field trips but many are no less concerned with issues of nature conservation in Singapore. They are the ones teaching their own children, students, sharing with friends and family. Every effort counts.

There were plenty of exciting stories to share from groups such as Team Seagrass, Hantu Bloggers, Nature Trekkers, Nparks, RMBR, to name a few. The Crabs were right there with everyone else to share their stories about guided nature walks on two of Singapore's shores - Sentosa and Chek Jawa Boardwalk.

The kids who dropped by at our booth loved the "Can Eat or Not" game. Through the game, we introduced some of the marine animals that are found on our natural shores, while their parents got a short explanation from the Crabs on the nature walks that we do.

Some parents enjoyed the game! They too were fascinated that so many animals can be found in the intertidal zone in urban Singapore.

A mother and daughter enjoying Envirofest 2009.

Thanks to Liana, Chay Hoon, Anuj, Ivan, Ley Kun and many others who helped out at the Crabs' booth.

******************

On 30/5/09 Saturday, we took several families from Clementi Town Secondary School (CTSS) out to see the intertidal zone at Sentosa. Everyone's spirits were high as they had been waiting a long time for this day. After a short safety briefing from the Crabs, the groups set out to the shore.

The groups spotted lots of hard and soft corals with all the polyps visible. We were fascinated with the colours of the polyps. There were bright green, dull green, yellow, brown and red.

A few kids were a bit apprehensive about getting their shoes wet in the water initially, but within minutes, they forgot all about it and began searching for animals and marvelling at the beauty of these creatures. They seemed to like the crabs. Not us "Crabs", but the real stuff like the hairy crab, brown egg crab, red egg crab. mosaic crab and swimming crab.

Here's a large brown egg crab that has made its home in the giant tyre.

Unfortunately for the CTSS group, the shore walk ended prematurely when a huge storm blew right into our path. We ended the walk after less than 1 hour on the shore. Everyone agreed that safety comes first, but all said that the trip was an eye-opener to the beauty that is found on our shores. I'm sure many will return to Sentosa to take a second look at the "Original Underwater World".

Thanks to Allen, Sam, Ley Kun, Evelyn, Ria, Ivan and Si Jie for helping with the CTSS walk.

Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour - 31 May 2009

2009-05-24T22:44:00.005+08:00

Greetings to all whom we met at Envirofest over the weekend.

The Naked Hermit Crabs will be holding their regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour on Sunday, 31st May 2009.

As we are expecting a HUGE turnout after our roadshow and in view that the school holidays are starting this weekend, we are requesting that you drop us an email to sign up for this walk. This will help us gauge the response and try to get more guides to come out and help.

As always, we ask that you come in small family and friend groups of not more than 6. Please don't organise an extended family group or a company outing. The Naked Hermit Crabs are, er.... small and vulnerable. We confess.... we will get overwhelmed by large groups.

Here are the details anyway:

Date: 31 May, 2009, Sunday

Time: 3 pm

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk

Your group size: not more than 6

Signup is needed. Write to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com

How to get to Chek Jawa?

1) From Changi Village, take a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin

2) At the Pulau Ubin jetty, hop into a taxi van and tell the driver to take you to Chek Jawa.

You make your way to Chek Jawa at your own expense. As for the tour, the Crabs do not charge for now.

Have a great week ahead!

Exciting April

2009-05-04T02:15:00.055+08:00

The Crabs were back in action guiding at Chek Jawa on April 26th. This month was Leykun and my turn to guide. I hadn’t guided with Leykun since past few months so we were happy to see each other back in action. She is like my mentor who listens carefully and always answers my guiding questions.

The trip on the bumboat to Ubin started very well. I was delighted when Leykun treated me with pistachio chocolates that she had got from Melbourne. (Here's the insider story...Leykun had got Ivan and me to guide last month by bribing us with the promise of getting goodies from her Australia tour. So she had no choice). Like me, this Grey Heron perching near the Ubin jetty was also having a good time.

The guided tour was to start at 3pm. Since Leykun and I had reached the Information Kiosk a bit early so we decided to go on a stroll around the Kiosk area. First we checked the durian tree that is a stone’s throw away from the Kiosk. As the durian season is coming in few months time the fruits are getting conspicuous but still they are rather small. With the help of our binoculars we spotted as many as 5 young durians.

A few steps away from there, we spotted the St Andrew's Cross Spider. Hanging on an intricately weaved zigzag 3D web, the spider had folded its legs such that it resembled a cross having only 4 legs. It looked really beautiful.

While eagerly waiting for visitors at the Information Kiosk , we prayed March Mayhem not to repeat itself. Hello! It was already 3pm and there was no one here yet. What's wrong! Have people forgotten today's tour. Thankfully our patience bore fruit... we had our first group of 5 visitors with whom we set foot on our guiding extravagance.

Visitors are always thrilled seeing the fruit trees planted near the boardwalk so we showed them the star fruit, jackfruit as well the durian trees further down from the Information Kiosk. Personally I get excited on being able to relate my dinner table with the wilderness of nature. Becoming aware of where our everyday food comes from, we urbanites form an affinity to nature like never before!

The Sea poison tree was fruiting. Its showy flowers covering the ground and pomelo like fruits attracted the attention of the visitors from a distance. Leykun explained them how the extract from the seeds is used to shun the fish – which is how the tree got its name. What’s most amazing to me is that the fruit of this tree can stay afloat in water up to 2 years to find a suitable site for seed dispersal.

Pomelo like fruits of Sea poison tree.

We invariably find civet cat’s dropping on a small rock that is a few steps away from the Sea poison trees. Visitors found it disgusting to hear the story of how their premium Kopi Luwak/Civet coffee is made. On our way back home, myself and Leykun were discussing whether the civet regurgitates the coffee beans as opposed to the popular belief of it defecating the beans.

The tide was pretty low by evening time and we had a good view of the Nipah palm, the perepat tree and the fiddler crabs buzzing with activity - feeding and making mating calls at the same time. Wish us humans were that efficient!

We could neither spot any Cotton Stainer Bugs under the Sea hibiscus leaves nor the weaver ants but saw something rather interesting. It looks like someone has taken the seeds of the Bakau Kurup tree and planted them in the mangrove. The saplings are growing well.

As the walk was getting more planty, it was time to get animally. Warren (our excited visitor) spotted a slimy and rubbery looking thing on the boardwalk. It was so uniform that it actually looked artificial. It is the Oriental Whip but sooner than we realized, Warren had tweaked the animal with a leaf to find out if it was alive or real at the first place! Wasting no time and words, I focused the camera to capture a few quick snapshots before the snake slipped under the boardwalk.

It was about 3:45pm now. We had just entered the mud lobster territory when we met our 2^nd group of 9 visitors. They had arrived at Chek Jawa a bit late so they were trying to find us since then. Better late than never! At this point, Leykun and I separated into 2 groups. Leykun continued with the original group while I took charge of our new visitors.

Out on the adventure again! The Sea holly was flowering. The young leaves of this plant resemble the leaves of Christmas holly tree.

By late evening, the birds were out perching in the seagrass lagoon area. I saw an isolated Great-billed Heron that has been frequently spotted there. There were also few Little herons closer to the boardwalk.

Hoping for some more avian sitings and breathtaking scenery (as I had promoted to the group so far), we climbed the Jejawi tower. The view from the tower was great as it was cooling and a bit windy. We could hear Hornbills, a Tailor bird and an Indian cuckoo but couldn’t see any of them from the tower. Anyway, it was time for the best shots of the day!

My group – mix of youngsters led by Annie and joined by our kampong uncle! Two of my visitors decided to rest while we posed for the photos.

Leykun’s group had a mix of age groups as well – from the young Joel and his parents to the seniors, Warren and Tony.

Both the groups look happy in the photos J so I guess they were enjoying the tour.

We didn’t encounter any litter on the boardwalk this time but like always we felt sad seeing graffiti on the tower. Bad!! What a childish act this is!

Very recent acts of vandalism too – ‘Was here on 6 April 2009’!
We hope these graffiti vandals get caught. Their CWO punishment should be to spend a weekend in Chek Jawa to apply a fresh coat of paint on Jejawi Tower.

It was now time to walk on the other side of the boardwalk that is closer to the shore. We were on the part of the boardwalk that is closer to the rocky habitat. There I spotted a Horseshoe crab with its tail covered by algae. What an unexpected siting!

A few metres away the horseshoe crab I saw this red patch of algae. It is quite unusual to find it in Chek Jawa. Not sure where it came from!

We were now approaching the coral rubble habitat. I had the thought that we had seen enough for the day and it was time to walk steadily and head back towards the coastal forest. Little did I know that more interesting creatures are to show up this evening!

Close to the Chek Jawa Rear beacon, one of my group members spotted a stingray swimming in shallow waters. It got the whole group excited. We had a good look at it but it was difficult to get a snapshot because the fish swam towards mirky deeper waters. Pity we couldn’t record the ray in our cameras!

While my group was witnessing such wonders of nature, Leykun’s group got a little discussion going on the artificial wonders created by humans - the beacons as they saw the Chek Jawa Rear beacon. According to a visitor in her group, Warren, who used to be in the maritime industry, ships entering Sembawang Shipyard will first look for the Chek Jawa Front and Rear Beacons. The captain of the ship will align his ship in the direction such that his line of view shows that Chek Jawa Front is aligned with Chek Jawa Rear. If it is nightfall, he will look for the white light on the rear beacon instead. As the ship enters the sea channel between Ubin and Changi beach, the captain must ensure his ship lies to the port (left) side of the Malang Papan Beacon (the green coloured beacon next to Pulau Sekudu). The Malang Papan Beacon serves as a guide to avoid the shallow waters around Pulau Sekudu.

Shipping lanes everywhere! This reminds me that Chek Jawa is truly Singaporean. Amazing wildlife somehow adapting in their complex habitats lying real close to an international shipping route! How thankfully resilient nature is to such stressful conditions.

Hang on! There is still some more diversity to be seen at Chek Jawa. We saw a collared kingfisher perching on the rocks. Soon thereafter we spotted the Red Junglefowl posing for a photo. It was at quite a distance from the boardwalk so a crisp image was hard to get.

As we were about to enter the coastal forest again, I spotted the fruiting Pong Pong and Seashore nutmeg trees. The latter was once considered extinct in Singapore but was rediscovered in Chek Jawa. Hornbills love the nutmeg fruit.

We couldn’t spot the hornbills around their NParks built nests high up on the tree. But it was a good compromise when we saw a wild boar pass by in the vicinity. What more could we have asked for!

We ended our walk at House #1 where our groups gathered for some fun activities, an entry in our guestbook and photo taking opportunities.

Our visitors have left lovely comments. All praise for Chek Jawa!

All praise for Leykun alsoJ

My group made a nice artistic poster!

I thought the message is loud and clear…we love Chek Jawa and want it to be conserved!

Thanks to Anuj and Leykun for guiding this month.

Free Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour - 26-Apr Sunday

2009-04-24T07:46:00.002+08:00

Time flies! We're having our nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk this Sunday.

Date: 26 April 2009, Sunday
Time: 3 pm
Meeting place: Information Kiosk at Chek Jawa

Please come in small groups of not more than 6. We have only a couple of guides this Sunday, so we can only take about 20 visitors.

Happy Earth Day (belatedly)!

Draft Blue Plan seeks your feedback

2009-04-22T10:00:00.004+08:00

"The Draft Blue Plan is a proposal to the Government and people of Singapore from the members and organizations that form “International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008 Singapore” – interested members of civil society concerned about the conservation and management of Singapore’s coral reef heritage. Contributions and advice from the leading marine biologists in Singapore have been incorporated. It was released on 23 April 2009. Members of the Public can download a copy of the Draft Blue Plan here.

Comments and suggestions from members of public are invited. You may email us at blueplan.singapore@gmail.com before the closing date, 14 May 2009. The Blue Plan will presented to the Government with the collated and edited comments in late May 2009.

Please note that blueplan.singapore@gmail.com is designed to receive emails only. While we will give every opinion/comment due consideration, due to human resource constraints, we are unable to respond to queries and may not be able to include every comment into the final Blue Plan due to editorial considerations. Please contact the Marine Conservation Organisations Listed in Annexes B & C of the Draft Blue Plan if you are keen to find out more about the wide range of activites and programmes that are being organised. We apologize for this inconvenience."

March Mayhem

2009-03-29T23:15:00.003+08:00

After a 2-month hiatus, we're back for the first guiding session of 2009 on the Chek Jawa boardwalk.

As announced previously, only a very small handful of guides were available this month, since most of us were busy with other matters. As such, we were a little worried about the size of the turnout, and whether the number of visitors would be too much for us to handle.

But as we made our way to Pulau Ubin, we could see that trouble was brewing in the skies above.

Oh dear.

Upon arriving at Chek Jawa, it seemed all too clear that a downpour was imminent.

Maybe the weather played a part, or maybe it was the fact that it was the first weekend after the end of the March holidays, but the size of the crowd that greeted us at the Information Kiosk was stunning.

There was nobody at all!

For some time, Anuj and I were wondering if this month's session was going to end up with the both of us walking down the boardwalk ~~hand in hand~~, without any visitors with which to share the wonderful sights and sounds of Chek Jawa. Considering that we'd been fretting about having to handle large groups, the lack of any visitors whatsoever was a real anti-climax.

Just when we were about to head off on our own, we were joined by 2 brave souls, Siok Ai and Maggie, who were enthusiastic about visiting Chek Jawa despite the gloomy weather.

And so, the merry band of 4, consisting of 2 guides and 2 visitors, set off on an epic journey of adventure, peril, and fortune. Nah, just kidding. We'd barely reached the Jejawi Tower when it really began to rain, forcing us to scurry back to the Information Kiosk. What a way to start the session.

While the rain poured, Siok Ai and Maggie browsed through Anuj's copy of Pulau Ubin: Ours to Treasure by Dr Chua Ee Kiam, which he had borrowed from a library. And as they flipped through the book, Anuj and I did a bit of static guiding, sharing more about Pulau Ubin and Chek Jawa in general, from the legend of Pulau Sekudu to the mass death of early 2007. When you are stranded at the Information Kiosk in the midst of a thunderstorm, you do what you can to prevent the visitors from getting bored.

Finally, the rain lightened into a mizzle (Ria's nickname for a miserable drizzle), and we decided to resume our walk.

First thing we noticed were the durian flowers that were scattered all over the ground!

In a few more months, the durian trees will be full of ripening fruit. Remind me to watch my head then. This photo was taken in late June last year.

As we turned the corner, we were treated to a shocking sight.

The tongkat ali was completely bald!

Tongkat ali is an evergreen plant, meaning that if you see a bald tongkat ali, something bad must have happened to it. What on Earth happened here?

Here's a photo of the tongkat ali in happier times, with a full crown of leaves.

This wasn't a case of the plant getting all its leaves stripped off by a bad caterpillar infestation, neither was it shedding its leaves due to disease. Someone or something had completely hacked off its crown, leaving behind just the stem. Anuj said that when he was here last week, the plant wasn't looking like this at all.

Anuj also noticed that it looked as if something had been digging at the base of the stem, exposing some of the roots.

Was this deliberate vandalism, or even a foiled poaching attempt? We forgot to check with the ranger on our way out.

As I explained to Siok Ai and Maggie, this is the dilemma faced by people everywhere. Do we open up access to nature areas, enabling more people to revel in the beauty of these places, while at the same time increasing exposure to undesirable behaviours like poaching, littering, harassment of wildlife and vandalism? It's a situation that is seen all over the world, and frankly, the solutions aren't simple.

I hope the tongkat ali manages to regrow its leaves soon.

Further up, we encountered more evidence of ugly visitors.

Sigh. Yes, there aren't dustbins situated every 100 metres along the boardwalk, but is it too much to ask that you hold on to whatever rubbish you have until you return to the Information Kiosk or House No. 1?

I swear, if I ever see anyone deliberately leaving trash behind along the boardwalk, I am going to give them a piece of my mind. What sort of message are we sending to other visitors? That the government halted reclamation of Chek Jawa and built this boardwalk, only so that we could trash and abuse this place?

Now that the rain had cleared up, we were able to take a nice leisurely stroll along the coastal boardwalk. We were joined by many birds; swiftlets and swallows were flying overhead, while after hearing its distinctive calls on numerous occasions, a collared kingfisher made an appearance, followed shortly after by a stork-billed kingfisher. We were treated to the sight of a common sandpiper foraging on the rocks, while small flocks of whimbrels flew past. We also managed to spot little egrets, little herons, and a pair of great-billed herons hunting for food in the water close to the sandbar. We even heard and saw one of the resident white-bellied sea eagles! In the coastal forest, we could hear straw-headed bulbuls and red junglefowl, but they proved elusive.

Here's Siok Ai and Maggie, our 2 brave visitors.

The smaller creatures never fail to amuse and excite our visitors.

Such as these mudskippers.

Or the ever-present fiddler crabs.

Close to the junction of the coastal boardwalk and mangrove boardwalk, we came upon an unusual sight.

It's the skull of some sort of animal!

I'm sure it's a mammal, and judging by the teeth, probably a herbivore. I don't think it's a dugong skull though, since it has a longish tapering snout. Wild boar, perhaps? But it lacks tusks. Too bad it was upside down, and quite far from the boardwalk, so we couldn't take a closer look.

We were surprised when an oriental pied hornbill swooped into view, completely silent except for the beating of its wings. Unfortunately, it soon vanished before any of us could take photos.

As we entered the mangroves, we came upon even more rubbish tossed by inconsiderate and irresponsible visitors.

To be honest, I get extremely annoyed when people write off the garbage on our shores as having drifted in from Malaysia, and therefore there's nothing we can do about it.

There's no way all this trash was washed in by the sea and neatly deposited on the boardwalk.

Everybody has been taught since kindergarten or primary school that littering is wrong. So why do people still do it, especially in our nature areas? Are people so lazy or so blind that they fail to see the consequences of their behaviour?

We worked hard at spotting some of the denizens of the mangroves, such as tree-climbing crabs and giant mudskippers. Alas, the mud crab that we used to see quite often last year is missing in action. I hope it was just hiding in its hole; there were a couple of large clam shells on the mud just outside, so I hope it's a sign that the burrow is still occupied.

One of the nipah palms was flowering. We also saw a couple of piles of dung left behind by the common palm civets, providing us with an opportunity to share about kopi luwak.

On the last leg of our walk, we climbed the Jejawi Tower.

Beautiful, isn't it? Earlier this morning, a whole group of us were busy helping out with TeamSeagrass.

Siok Ai and Maggie take in the view. We were hoping to spot the hornbills, and we did actually hear them, but they were hidden from view.

The Jejawi Tower is another good place for visitors to learn about the abuse of our nature areas. It's great that people want to visit our nature areas for recreational purposes. But at the same time, a proportion of these visitors behave extremely badly. Less than 2 years after it was opened to the public, the Jejawi Tower is now badly covered in graffiti.

What makes people get this seemingly uncontrollable urge to write or carve their names? Does anyone else seriously care? Of course, it does in a way make it easier for us to narrow down the target of our contempt and scorn. We could probably spend an hour on the Jejawi Tower and come up with an entire "Hall of Shame" gallery.

Yes, I'm talking about you, students from Meridian Junior College Photography Club.

And the whole bunch of you army guys.

And yes, you as well, members of sgforums.com. I'm not going to dignify your vandalism with a link to your site.

We returned to the Information Kiosk, where Siok Ai and Maggie did their wonderful guestbook entry.

It was getting late already, so we made a quick trip to House No. 1. I was glad that we did, because we were treated to the sight of not one, not two, but FIVE hornbills flying past us! I didn't manage to get any good photos though.

But for your benefit, here's a photo of one that Marcus spotted from the Jejawi Tower this morning.

We finally headed back towards Ubin Jetty, and I couldn't resist taking a photo of the beautiful sky at sunset.

It's great to be back at Chek Jawa, and guiding such a small group was a very relaxing, stress-free affair, made better by the cloudy sky and cool breeze after the rain. But I was saddened to see all the signs of abuse by visitors, from litter on the boardwalk, to vandalism on the Jejawi Tower. Perhaps for future walks, I think it would be a good idea for us guides to carry along plastic bags for us to retrieve any litter we find along the way for proper disposal at the end of the walk. If there is anything to be gained from such an act, I guess it would help visitors to understand that they themselves have a responsibility to keep our nature areas clean and litter-free.

I'm now looking forward to our next walk in April. What will we find then?

29 March, free nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

2009-03-22T22:18:00.003+08:00

The Crabs are back in action for Chek Jawa! We are finally resuming our free walks after a two-month hiatus.

Date: 29 March 2009, Sunday
Time: 3 pm
Meeting place: Information Kiosk at Chek Jawa

Please come in small groups of not more than 6. We have only a couple of guides this Sunday, so we can only take about 20 visitors.

Usually we don't need anyone to register before the trip, but on account that we have only 2-3 guides this weekend, I suggest you drop us a line at our email address nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com to inform us that you are coming. It might help just in case we have more visitors than we can cope with.

Have a great week ahead.

No Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour in Jan and Feb 2009

2009-01-23T10:20:00.007+08:00

Dear Friends,

The Naked Hermit Crabs are taking a short break from guiding this January and February. So, there is no Chek Jawa walk on 25-Jan-09 and 22-Feb-09 (last Sunday of each month).

We resume our walks in March on the 29th.

We wish everyone "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and may we continue to have our wonderful nature places to explore in Singapore.

- The Crabs

Last public walk for 2008

2008-12-29T23:27:00.034+08:00

28 December, 2008

We ended 2008 with one of the biggest turnout of visitors to our free Chek Jawa Boardwalk tours.

This is the scene that greeted us when the Crabs (Ivan, Chay Hoon and me) arrived at the Chek Jawa Information Kiosk. A quick headcount and we realised that we had 50 visitors. Undeterred, we quickly split into 3 groups and got down to the happy business of showing the visitors around Chek Jawa.

First stop was the fiddler crab station :-). As it was low tide, the crabs were out in full force. Yep.... armies of crabs everywhere. The kids were fascinated to see that every male Fiddler Crab has one large claw and one smaller one. We lingered long enough to observe the crabs waving their
claws to attract the smaller and dull-coloured females.

Moving towards the mangrove area, we stopped to see the mudskippers 'flipping' and 'skipping' in the mud. A visitor thought that the mudskipper was an amphibian. It does look like an amphibian, but actually it is a fish. An unusual fish indeed. One that lives in the zone between land and sea, has protruding eyes, developed strong pectoral fins that are almost flipper-like, and has large gill pouches so that the gills remain wet even when the fish is out of water.

Inside the mangroves, the visitors got to see:

- interesting mud mounds made by the mud lobsters,

- nipah palms which produce 'attap chee' seeds for our ice kachang desserts

- the sea holly shrubs (someone even broke out in song while on the boardwalk. A Christmas carol .... "Deck the halls with boughs of HOLLY.... Falalala... lala..la..la". A very festive and happy mood.)

- the amazing giant mangrove mudskippers which we know can grow to lengths of about 15 cm

- numerous vinegar crabs. Someone in the group remembered his Teochew grandmother would soak similar looking crabs in bottles of vinegar,

- lots of cotton-stainer bugs with white crosses on the backs, feeding on the sea hibiscus trees

- a juvenile water monitor lizard near the boardwalk

- a group of visitors had a good close-up view of a pair of Ashy Tailorbirds among the low mangrove bushes.

Up on the Jejawi Tower, the guides were able to point out the different ecosystems that made up the Chek Jawa environs - coastal forest, mangroves, sand bar, seagrass lagoon, rocky shore and coral rubble.

Looking eastward, we were able to see Pulau Tekong and the army buildings. Beyond Pulau Tekong, we could see the Malaysian state of Johor and several hills.

Many families join us at our walks. It's good to see parents helping to nurture in their children a healthy respect for nature.

After the tower, we went to the coastal boardwalk. We were able to see

- big oysters on the rocks

- lots of drills and nerites (they are all snails) on the rocks too

- long seagrasses in the lagoon

- sand-bubbler crabs scuttling everywhere

- Ivan and Chay Hoon's groups saw a flock of Red Junglefowl foraging on the shore

- a pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles soaring above the coastal forest

- a solitary Great-billed and several Grey Herons feeding on the sand-bar area.

On our way back to the English Cottage, the skies broke and it began to pour. Those who got to the English Cottage earlier had time to pen a few words for our guestbook, and gave us a couple of interesting drawings too.

This one by Ariel showed her keen observation skills. Look closer and you will see a English Cottage with a chimney, a red jungle fowl, spider, bakau kurup mangrove tree with stilt roots, a mudskipper, a male fiddler crab and oysters on the rocks.

After nearly two hours, we were happy to end the nature walk and bade our visitors a fond good-bye. Thanks to Ivan, Chay Hoon and Ley Kun for guiding and the beautiful photos.

What a really nice way to end a wonderful day at Chek Jawa.... although we did not see the Oriental Pied Hornbills while we were at Chek Jawa, we were delighted to spot one at the Ubin village centre on our way home.

The Naked Hermit Crabs would like to wish all friends and supporters a wonderful 2009 ahead.

We will be taking a short break from guiding, and will not be holding our Last Sunday of the Month walks at Chek Jawa in January and February. Those who wish to take part in our Chek Jawa Boardwalk tours may join us in March 2009. Till then .... happy nature watching!

December --- Last Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour for 2008

2008-12-17T23:48:00.004+08:00

Dear Friends,

Join us at our last Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour for 2008! It's a free tour, so what are you waiting for?!

Date: 28-Dec-08 (Sunday)

Time: 3 pm meet at Chek Jawa Information Kiosk

Duration: 2 hours

Cost: no charge

Contact: nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com

Information on how to get to Chek Jawa: http://nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.com/2008/02/free-cj-boardwalk-tour-every-last.html

Signup needed? No, but we'll go on a first-come-first-serve basis until we run out of guides. Please come in small groups of 6 or less. No large groups please. The Naked Hermit Crabs are a small and er..... 'vulnerable' group.

And here are some words from a visitor who got philosophical after a trip to Chek Jawa with us ....

"Chek Jawa. It amazes me how individual components in the wetland inter-weave into the fabric of an ecosystem; the roles each play. Independent and yet inter-dependent. Each is a beauty of its own; just how much do we really pay attention to its form. In life, all of us play a role and all make up a system of life."

See you on the 28th!

[note: the free tours are made possible with the kind sponsorship by Transitions Optical.]