Yesterday, I had a lovely time with enthusiastic families at Chek Jawa for the monthly free guided walk with the
Naked Hermit Crabs.
Fortunately, the haze was quite low in the morning. We saw lots of wild boar and other interesting wildlife as usual. I also made a quick stop to congratulate Kelvin and his team at Adventure Paddlers on the launch of their Pasir Ris outlet.
We are grateful to have quite a lovely day out in the morning this month. We had to cancel September's walk due to haze.
A view from the Jejawi Tour. Somewhat hazy but we could still enjoy a view of the surrounding mangroves and coastal forest, and glimpses of Malaysia and Pulau Tekong in the distance.
As usual, it is the kids and sharp-eyed parents who spot all kinds of critters from crabs, to mudskippers to a young Water monitor lizard.
We came at high tide which is great for spotting fishes. We saw mullet and halfbeaks and wondered about sharks and other big fishes that might lurk in the deeper water.
How nice to see that NParks is starting to reintroduce our mangrove orchids on the mangrove trees at Chek Jawa.
How nice to see the Perepat tree next to the Ubin Jetty was in full bloom. Usually, we rarely see the night blooming flowers after sunrise! This tree supports a population of nectar-feeding bats, that also pollinate our favourite fruit trees like durian. So we need to protect our mangroves if we want to have our durians!
We had a lot of great encounters with the wild boar family. If we don't alarm the wild boar, it is possible to have a closer look at them. This is a young piglet and we should not hurt them because its mother is nearby! But at the end of the trip, we saw how some people had put the wild boar family in danger by not disposing of their trash responsibly.
More about this incident here.
As usual, after the walk, the kids had a great time sharing what they saw at Chek Jawa through their beautiful drawings.
Even the youngest ones have fun expressing their day.
While the young ladies in pink had a lovely day by the sea.
A masterpiece of an anatomically correct mantis!
At the end of the walk, we can also enjoy a view of Pulau Sekudu and Changi on the horizon from House No. 1, which is now the Chek Jawa Visitor Centre.
The Naked Hermit Crabs conduct this free guided walk specially for families every month. During school holidays, we also conduct walks at Pasir Ris mangrove boardwalk. Check out the
Naked Hermit Crab blog for the latest updates.
The water in the Johor Strait looked ok. When it is the colour of teh-o, it usually means there is some kind of plankton bloom going on.
After the walk, I stopped by quickly to congratulate Kelvin of Adventure Paddlers on the launch of his awesome outlet at Pasir Ris. Adventure Paddlers promotes water sports with an amazing variety of water sports gear and programmes. They are also staunch advocates for environmental protection. Conducting many activities to raise awareness including trips to Pulau Ubin's mangroves, and many clean up activities from Pasir Ris to Pulau Ubin.
Kelvin's cool outlet at Pasir Ris Park (near Carpark E) has outdoor seating great for relaxing by the beach.
For hazy days, a lovely homely aircon space to relax, play and have drinks.
Besides the environment, Kelvin and his team also generously support the Cerebral Palsy effort.
And thank you for supporting the shores by sharing the
wildsingapore Northern and Southern guidesheets!
More about Adventure Paddlers on
facebook and
website.
