12 Monitor Lizards and 6 Squirrels later ...

Just have to warn you that there's going to be an overdose of photographs from the Sungei Buloh walk which we did on Sunday, 21 June 2009. Yup, am on a roll for these walks until this 'nature trail' phase that I am going through ends, will see how many places I can complete :o)

We got there just a lil after seven and there was one other person (photographer with proper camera, tripod and huge knapsack probably with different lenses) with us. Because we were early, we got the Early Bird Special. Admission fee for an adult is S$1.00 and $0.50 for child/students/senior citizens. And don't forget to grab a brochure for your walk....

We were also fortunate that the tide was low so we saw alot more things due to that. And the weather was also good - not too hot so the walk was really pleasant. It was also relatively flat so no huffing and puffing thankfully. We decided to do Route 3 which covered the whole of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and on the map, it showed that it would take about 4 - 5 hours.

We did a count and we came across 12 monitor lizards (all shapes and sizes) and 6 bouncing squirrels. One even bounced on a branch that was so close to my head and I didn't realise it till Slawek pointed it out. Pretty cool. I think one reason why we saw so many monitor lizards and squirrels - we were early and it wasn't too hot yet. And there were hardly any people around except us. So guess them lizards and squirrels felt it was safe enough to take their morning Sunday walks. The fella below was really huge and I felt like I was at some dino park or something. Awesome!

We also saw (if you look real close to the right of the photo) kelongs (houses on water) off Singapore and I guess these are getting very rare these days. Probably will see these in photographs or videos in the Singapore museum in several years? Sad, huh?

Sungei Buloh being a wetland reserve, it's not surprising that there are heaps of mangroves around the swampy area. And these brought back fond memories of the days when I used to teach my charges about mangroves and their adaptations to their environment. Very cool.

Along the route, there were many tracks/boardwalks that will take you out to different observation points. We weren't in a hurry so we did a lot of mini detours and took our time to soak in the surrounding ...

Thankfully, the tide was low so much of the wetland areas were exposed. It seems that there's a family of sea otters seen at the reserve and I kept my eyes open but didn't get to see them. Maybe better luck next time? *grins*

The photograph below was taken at one of the observation huts. Lots of these around and good if you need to take a break. Didn't see many bird watchers ... probably not the right season as we didn't see too many birds around either.

I have a thing for flowers and I just love taking photographs of them. These were seen scattered on the trail and this one looked perfect and I just had to take a photograph of it.

If you're wondering what are those sticks sticking out from the muddy ground ... those are actually roots from the mangrove trees. One of the three types that you can find at the wetlands. These roots grow upwards above the muddy ground so that they able to take in oxygen that they need. And if you look closely, can you see a mud skipper in there?

Along the route, there was an observation tower - Arie Tower, definitely worth the climb up to see the view from above like the one below.

Another view from the top of Arie Tower. Plus the tower is another good spot to take a break and have breakfast or snack. How often can you have a meal with such a view? :o)

We also learnt of a new creature called Watch It *laughs* I was hoping to see a croc during the walk but we only saw them monitor lizards. Darn!

More photographs from our walk for your viewing pleasure ...

You should also remember to use your insect repellant because there will be areas where you find more buzzing mozzies than others. The photograph below shows an area where the water flows in and what would have been great would be a sampan ride here ...

Another little winding trail that we walked through ...

Am not sure if these are jackfruits or chempedak ... any idea anyone?

The photograph below was taken at an observation hut where we stopped for a light snack (lil bag of chippies) and we saw one lone bird flying towards the trees. I wished I had a pair of binos and camera with great len because it would have been a nice shot.

What I had to do instead was use my compact camera and zoom the camera to death to get the fuzzy shot below. Can you make out the bird up on the tree? This photograph is a zoomed version of the one above :o)

I guess it's different when you go on a walk that's leisurely and not have to chase after 40 kids who are screaming and running about *grins* Saw things that I have never seen before like jumping fish below. Have a few theories so anyone with the right answer please share. Am thinking that the fish were having breakfast and jumping to catch little insects that could be buzzing above the water? But kind stoopid for the insects to stay around after seeing their friends get snapped by the flying fish. Any other ideas? My Dad reckons that the fish got bored and taking a break from being wet *laughs* Can you spot the jumping fish?

Another first time for me. One side we saw the jumping fish. As I was walking away, spot these wild dogs crossing the wetlands to get to the other side. They were walking in a row and I guess because the tide is low, they could do this. And again, camera wasn't powerful enough for me to zoom so excuse the poor quality shot.

Feeling happy with what we saw so far, we continued to walk ...

We went to the Mangrove Arboretum which was a section of boardwalk through the mangrove swamps. With the tide below low, we saw mud skippers, different kind of crabs (below is the tree climbing crab), shells and heaps of other creatures. Nice.

You can see heaps of mangroves here ... great area to teach about them mangroves and I can guarantee that they will remember the facts better than just studying from the textbooks.

Here's a shot of the Mangrove Arboretum ...

Why I took this shot - I like how the lianas and creepers hang down like a curtain in the forest. Reminded me of something from The Swamp Thing *laughs*

If the leaves below look familiar, it's because they are sea hollies. Reminded me of them Christmas hollies :o)

Again had to zoom using my compact and pleased by how this turned out. You get an up close and personal shot of a .... mud skipper.

Cannot remember if the fellow below is Monitor Lizard number 10 or 11 actually. Number 12 we saw at the Sungei Buloh Visitors' Centre and fella wasn't bothered that there were heaps of people around taking photos of it (I had monitor lizard fatigue by then so didn't take a shot of that).

To the right of the photograph is the Arie Tower that I mentioned before. This is a shot at the opposide side of the tower and we could see people jumping about inside the observation area of the tower. And I have no idea why they were jumping about ...

While walking along the water, we came across this monitor lizard that was swimming leisurely. He was eyeing us while we walked along with him as he swam. Guess he knew that he was safe as long as he remained in the water.

We finally reach the end of the walk (also the start point) at about 10.30am. It's quite funny that there's this sign that greets everyone who enters the trail and it has to be the most ignored sign ever. Why? Let me explain. I am glad to see that parents are taking their kids to these nature reserves. The next step would be to teach their kids how to behave.

There is a reason why one doesn't scream and shout at the reserves. It was shame but we came across three families with kids and the parents were poor role models, who shouted 'Clab, clab, come look at the clab' to their kids and then kids ran to parents while shouting 'Where, where, where got clab'. The kids saw butterflies fluttering and he screamed, 'See, got bitterfly, see the bitterfly' *sighs* I tried to shush one kid but he didn't understand me when I told him to keep quiet or he'll scare the animals away. This is a personal appeal - parents please educate your kids, there is a difference between a nature reserve and a playground. They may appear the same to you but please be considerate that there are others who go to the nature parks for peace and quiet, and do not appreciate you and your kids screaming at each other. Please! I know there are parents who teach their kids the right behaviour at the nature parks and from the bottom of my heart ... a big thank you *hugs*.

We continued to the Mangrove Boardwalk and spent another 30 minutes there. And you can skip this part if you've had an overdose of mangroves *grins*. Roots below (one of the three types) are the knobbly ones. These are all adaptations to help the mangroves survive the muddy ground and coastal areas where they can be found.

The roots below are prop roots. Because of the waves that hit the trees and the muddy ground, the roots prop the trees up so that they won't get damaged so easily by the waves as well as trees are above the muddy ground.

The third one are them pencil-like roots that grow upwards from the muddy waters. Had similar photographs before so you're familiar with these ones ...

This is an awesome tree, a close up of them prop roots. Pretty cool huh *laughs*

These are the flowers from the mangroves. The leaves also have special features. Maybe not so obvious here but they have drip tips at the ends so that when it rains heavily, the water will flow off the leaves without damaging them. Also, some have shiny waxy leaves that serves the same purpose, to help rain water flow off the leaves quickly. Because the mangroves grow along the coast, they take in salt water and they get rid of excess salt by storing them in the leaves. For some, you can scratch the leaves and have a taste - you can taste the salt. When the leaves dry and fall off, the trees have gotten rid of the excess salt. Clever huh.

Fruits of the mangroves (see below) are spear-shaped. Any idea why? When the fruits drop off the trees, they will poke itself into the soft muddy ground where it will then grow into new trees.

The boardwalk out to the visitor centre marks the end of our Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve walk. We finished the whole walk (including the mangrove boardwalk) by 11.00am. About 4 hours as mentioned in the brochure with lots of stops along the way. If you get a chance, I strongly suggest that you go on this walk and see how many monitor lizards you come across. Let me know ya *grins*