Rare seagrasses are still there, on the other side of
Sungei Mandai Besar!
Along the way, I checked on the narrow strip of mangroves growing behind the heavy industries located near the shore.
It's easier to reach this location (orange circle) from Kranji than to struggle through the soft mud from the Mandai side. I've plotted out the points where I saw Beccari's seagrass today.
Here's the kml file from my Google Drive. The points include photos of the Beccari's seagrass seen at that point. It seems you can only see the photos if you load the kml file on your Google Earth. The photos don't show up on Google Drive.
The was a forest of young
Perepat trees (
Sonneratia alba) all about the same height with meadows of the Critically Endangered
Beccari's seagrass (
Halophila beccarii) at their feet.
The seagrasses also grew under some of the larger trees.
There was some black hairy stuff growing among under one of the large trees, next to the seagrasses.
First discovered by
Andy Dinesh in Dec 10, I saw these seagrasses in
Feb 2011.
 |
A green carpet of Beccari's seagrass with Mandai mangroves
and Johor Baru on the horizon as seen in Feb 2011. |
Here's what I saw today. I didn't walk too far into the meadows as the ground was really soft and the weather was turning. I got back just before it started to thunder and rain.
 |
| Click on image for larger view |
Some of the mangrove trees growing here were blooming! Including
Api-api bulu (
Avicennia rumphiana),
Api-api putih (
Avicennia alba) and
Perepat (
Sonneratia alba).
The large gnarly
Bakau kurap (
Rhizophora mucronata) was also blooming! The magnificent
Api-api bulu (
Avicennia rumphiana) is still there.
The
Sea hibiscus (
Hibiscus tiliaceus) were blooming too.
I also had a quick look at the trash situation here and did a separate post about it.
Mandai mangroves are beautiful and under threat. Fortunately, people who
care about Mandai will come together on 31 Aug (Sat) for the
Mandai mangrove and mudflat workshop.
To share and discuss Mandai's amazing flora, fauna, geomorphology as well as how we can conserve Mandai mangroves, here's
the full programme (I'll be doing a brief presentation on the Becarri seagrass found at Mandai). All are welcome to attend this free workshop,
sign up online here. The workshop is organised by a
team led by N. Sivasothi and Dan Friess.
