December 12, 2008
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Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary Walk
Last Saturday, i dragged myself out of bed at 6am even though it was the school hols. Why? Because i signed myself and my parents up for the 15h anniversary walk at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve. It was also my parents first time there and they really enjoyed themselves. The turn-up for the anniversary walk was good and the weather was almost perfect. I was hoping to take a sunrise photo before heading out but there wasn't much of a sight to take so no photo there. We were greeted by some of the Toddycat
volunteers (with the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the
National University of Singapore) and when everyone was ready we kinda
grouped ourselves into the various groups before heading out to the
Mangrove Boardwalk. Mom went off with a different group because dad
went to the toilet, so i told her to go ahead first while i stayed back
to wait and we would catch up later.
Our Toddycat Volunteer Tree Climbing Crab
Mom observing the roots of the Mangrove trees
Towards the end of the walk we were at one of the shelters when one of the participants spotted a snake through the cracks of the platform and the whole group basically swarmed the spot trying to catch a glimpse of this snake. It may have been a small one but still it was the closest i've been to seeing a snake in the wild. This lil fella was identified to be a dogface water snake, didn't see any resemblance on the snake to looking like a dog but nonetheless it was still a sight.
The best photo i could take of the snake.
Moments later, another participant spotted something popping it's head out from a hole not too far where we sighted the dogface water snake.... it was an eel of somesort. Furthermore, we spotted a school (erm, can we say 'a school'?) of stingrays ... about 10-12 of them in the swallow water near the shelter. So you can imagine the excitement that was buzzing around the shelter because even the seasoned volunteers themselves say that such sightings are rare.
After the walk, we proceeded to the carpark where there was tentage set-up in celebration of Sungei Buloh's 15th birthday. The highlight of the celebration was the VIP who is none other than SM Goh. Too bad the speakers were not set up properly as i could barely make out what he had to say because the speakers were all situated near the stage and none were situated at the back of the tentage. Pity.. because from what i could hear sounded very interesting. Oh well ....
After SM Goh officially launched the celebration and unveiling future plans for the reserve, my parents and i took a walk out to the aerie and back. I was glad to see that they were enjoying themselves, just wished they had the luxury of time and stamina to stroll through the route instead of almost power walking through.
One of my favourite photos taken of mom and dadPersonally, the highlight of the day was the talk that Sivasothi a.k.a. Otterman gave about "Adventures in the Mud!". Given that we all had to study about Mangroves for Science during our primary school days, i wished i had Siva as my teacher because he made it sound so fun and so interesting!
It was definitely a good day out at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.
Additional Link : Habitat News
Comments (2)
i wouldnt have thought your parents would want to go on a nature walk.... must be an eye opening experience for you.
A group or collection of stingrays is commonly referred to as a "fever". I think school only counts for fish. Hence why fish are so smart and stingrays always looks kind of sick. Perhaps the stingrays should go and see the sturgeon for some fish medical treatment. The pictures look gorgeous and it looks like you had a good time seeing many wonderful animals.
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