Another great day out with lots of kids and mums and dads at Chek Jawa for the
free monthly Naked Hermit Crab tour at the boardwalk!
It's the school holidays, so we have more than 70 people on the walk! We spot otters, hornbills, snake, monkeys, pigs and lots more!
We met up with some of the early bird visitors at the entrance to Chek Jawa. Ley Kun explains more about
rubber trees. A kind van driver who used to be a rubber tapper comes around every day to tap the trees here, so everyone can see how it used to be done.
As we walked to the Information Kiosk, we spot birds which Ivan explains more about.
I got to go first and we have a look at some of the fruit trees planted at the kampung that used to be here. The
starfruit tree is fruiting!
The young ones are really good at reading the map. Alas, the Tower is closed today so we go straight into 'Mosquito Valley'.
Here, there are towering
Nipah palms, which were fruiting and flowering like mad.
And also crabs, mudskippers and other critters of the back mangroves.
It's high tide today, and very hot! But we had fun looking for fishes and other marine life.
One of the sharp eyed kids spot this large school of fishes under the boardwalk!
Another young one spot a family of
Jungle fowl on the shore. The rest of the team spot
otters too! And a snake, and
hornbills. Alas we missed those sightings. Check out
Kok Sheng's blog post with photos of the otters and other sightings.
As usual, at the end of the trip, everyone shares their thoughts and love for Chek Jawa through amazing drawnings!
As we enjoy the breezy day at House No. 1, a huge ship passes Pulau Sekudu on the horizon. The waters off Chek Jawa are a major shipping lane for shipyards in Singapore and Pasir Gudang port in Johor.
Kok Sheng takes photos of the artists and their work. I didn't get a photo of Pei Yan hard at work as usual with the young ones.
Here's one of my favourite drawings!
Just before we left Chek Jawa, we met Mama
wild boar have a lie down as her piglets have their lunch. There are still seven of them! And they still have their watermelon stripes.
A small troupe of
Long-tailed macaques are also hanging around at the entrance.
The guides reward ourselves with another great lunch at Ubin Town. And on the way back we stop by the uncle selling homegrown fruits off the back of his truck. Lots of rambutans!
Also delicious jackfruit or
nangka. There were also lots of
durians in Ubin Town as it's durian season!
It was a really hot day. Even "Tail Cat" at Changi Jetty was trying to cool off! (There are two white cats at Changi Jetty, one has spots thus "Spot Cat", the other had a brown tail hence "Tail Cat").
It's always a delight to share Chek Jawa. Visit the
Naked Hermit Crabs blog to find out more about the free monthly guided walks at the Chek Jawa boardwalk.
Posts by others on this trip
- Kok Sheng with photos of the otters, hornbill, snake and more!
- Pei Yan with piggies and other fun activities during the walk.
- Ivan with more sightings and sadly, some examples of vandalism
