It's the school holidays! As usual, we have a huge turnout of visitors for the monthly free tour of the Chek Jawa boardwalk with the Naked Hermit Crabs.
About 60 people turned up for our walk! I had lots of fun with enthusiastic visitors spotting critters and sharing stories.
Mama Crab Ley Kun starts us off with a quick introduction. She reminds that the Naked Hermit Crabs are soon going to celebrate our 10th anniversary of doing these free monthly walks!
The kids are really great at reading maps. As I point out the 'mosquito valley' that we will be walking, everyone is not deterred. Yay!
I love having kids in my group as they are superb at spotting. They found crabs, mudskippers, spiders and more!
Today I made it all the way up and down the Jejawi Tower despite my horrible back. The Tower is situated next to the tall
Jejawi fig. When the fig tree fruits, lots of birds, squirrels, monkeys and other animals gather to feed. The tower makes it easier for us to view this spectacle.
Here's a photo of the wonderful people in my group, at the top of the Jejawi Tower.
We stroll through a tunnel of
Nipah palms, the source of our favourite attap chee and many other wondrous food.
A sharp eyed visitor spots this tiny
Malayan water monitor lizard hiding in a hollow log.
The kids spot the
Giant mudskipper with 'longan-seed eyes'. It is next to the swimming pool that it has build with only its mouth to dig up the sand.
On the Coastal boardwalk, we spot some schooling fishes and also one jellyfish!
The
Seashore nutmeg is fruiting profusely. This Critically Endangered tree is still abundant at Chek Jawa.
Due to the recent rains, there are lots of mushrooms everywhere. Including these strange red fingers that sprouted here and there in the forest around Chek Jawa.
LOTS more awesome photos by Mohammad Juhari on
facebook here.
Thanks to Mohammad Juhari for this selfie of Mama Ley Kun, Ian and Ethan and me.
For more about the next free monthly guided tour of the Chek Jawa boardwalk, check out the
Naked Hermit Crab blog.
