I had a great time at Ubin volunteering at sold-out tours of Ubin mangroves and Chek Jawa this December.
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Record turnout for the R.U.M. walk!
Photo by Tammy Wong. |
And sharing about Ubin with the Straits Times too!
Merry Mangrove Mapping at Ubin with R.U.M.
The
Restore Ubin Mangrove (R.U.M.) Initiative had the biggest turnout for our free monthly walk! With 8 hardcore RUM volunteers and nearly 50 hardcore visitors. The walk began as usual, thanks to
Uncle Lim, at his shop at Ubin Town. Phillip Lim as usual, an anchor guide at the walk, here he is giving a briefing before we begin our walk.
Uncle Lim also let us put up the R.U.M. banners at the front of his shop.
We're fortunate to have John Chen at the walk. John is interning with NParks (and also Pesta Ubin!) and shared more about the abandoned aquaculture ponds that NParks has transformed into a beautiful freshwater haven for wild birds.
Thanks also to Sankar for guiding. He spots a Flying dragon - a lizard that can glide.
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| Photo by Mohammad Juhari. |
Not everyone can spot the tiny animal high up on the coconut tree. So thankfully Dayna Cheah was there to take a photo of it and share it with the participants.
For the first time in December, the R.U.M. walk allowed participants a chance to try out mangrove mapping. And learn more about the science behind mangrove restoration. Jared Moore did an awesome job explaining how mapping works.
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| Photo by Mohammad Juhari' |
Despite the short downpour, everyone had a chance to try out mapping.
The large group broke up into two, taking turns to try out mapping or exploring the shore nearby. Thanks to Mona Tan, Sankar and other nature guides for helping to find critters and sharing about them.
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| Photo by Mohammad Juhari. |
I'm so impressed by the hard core participants, undaunted by wet weather! Bravo!
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| Photo by Mohammad Juhari. |
Indeed, we feel like champions at the end of the walk! Thanks to Mohammad Juhari for the video of Lisa Lim and Mona Tan and Liz Lim having fun!
Photos of the walk thanks to Mohammad Juhari
MORE photos of the walk by Mohammad Juhari
Photos of the walk thanks to Tammy Wong!
Naked at Ubin, Chek Jawa!
The
Naked Hermit Crab December walk was filled with kids! 80 families and kids in all!
Here is Mama Crab Ley Kun starting us off before the walk. Ley Kun has been leading the small team of Crabs for a long time. In fact, next year is the Crabs' 10th Anniversary of free monthly walks on our shores!
Kids have a great time exploring the mangroves up close along the Chek Jawa boardwalk!
Ley Kun spotted TWO kinds of snakes. Here she is pointing out the Dog-faced water snake (rarely seen during the day). And later on, an Oriental whip snake.
I just love my group who were so enthusiastic and found many awesome animals. And included the famous
DinoMama who blogs about amazing adventures she has with her kids.
We end of the walk, as usual, with a drawing session for the kids. They produce the most amazing art! MORE about our day on the
Naked Hermit Crab blog.
Thanks to Mohammad Juhari for these photos of the walk!
And MORE photos by Mohammad Juhari
Thanks to Richard Lau for these photos of the walk!
Ubin with the Straits Times
The R.U.M. team were touched when Audrey Tan from the Straits Times approached us to do a story about Ubin's mangroves. Another great excuse to visit Ubin, share about the glorious mangroves, and some of the work being done to restore mangroves in abandoned aquaculture ponds. Phillip Lim shared about the importance of mangroves for fish farming, and he found tiny fishes in the mangroves to illustrate how mangroves are an important fish nursery.
Lisa Lim shared about the work being done to clean up the mangroves of trash so baby mangrove trees can grow in a cleaner environment. While Jared Moore shared about how mangrove mapping works and about the many different species found in our mangroves.
And I was asked to share about the Sea holly! Thanks to Audrey Tan, Desmond Foo, Huda Aziz for the awesome
video and
story, and Ariffin Jamar for awesome photos.
It was great to share Ubin and my days with such wonderful friends, doing amazing work and sharing awesome encounters. Thank you everyone.
