Day trip to Chek Jawa with the Crabs

We had a good turnout of visitors at our monthly Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on Saturday. 41 visitors in total.

Most of them are first-timers to Chek Jawa, and one of them was visiting from the US. She came to Chek Jawa because she wanted to see a different side of Singapore. Good decision! As for the kids, they are excited to be out on a nature walk with their parents, and, of course, with the wonderful Crabs! I think they had a great time! The guides certainly had a great time!

The happy bunch of visitors on 16 Jul, 2016

The spot under the Jejawi Tower is always a good starting point to introduce the tree-climbing crabs of Chek Jawa. The kids could not wait to point out crabs, spider webs, mudskippers.

 

Here's a close-up of the tree-climbing crab in the mangroves. Love its red pincers! This little critter is pulling a leaf fragment into its burrow.

We also managed to take a photo of a white-rumped shama along the footpath leading to the information kiosk. A slightly fuzzy photo, but you can see the beautiful long tail of the shama. The guides stopped to listen to its beautiful call.

The tide was around 2.1m and on its way out during the time we were there. The oysters on the big rocks attracted our attention.

Rocky shore of Chek Jawa. More oysters.

One of the groups spotted a stingray swimming next to these rocks. It was very fast, and we had no time to capture a photo. We did see an orangey colour around the fringe of the body, so it's likely the blue-spotted fantail stingray. We estimate the body width is around half a metre. It was a fleeting view of the beautiful animal. We are happy nonetheless!

There were lots of cute mudskippers at the water line. These amazing little fishes are a joy to watch! The kids love them, and could not stop talking about these mudskippers. Unfortunately, the tide wasn't suitable for viewing the colourful fiddler crabs. We saw none at the outer mangrove area.

Alas, the Chek Jawa shore was littered with marine litter and debris! It was really painful to see this. Some of the guides explained to the visitors that marine litter is basically human-created trash that ended up on shores around the world, and its presence is harmful to marine ecosystems and marine life.

Marine litter

We ended our walk at the English Cottages. The kids (and adults) produced lots of lovely drawings showing what they saw and remembered of Chek Jawa.

This family did a wonderful drawing of animals on the shore as well as in the water. 

Awesome drawing of a Monitor Lizard. Hey, look at that forked tongue!

Stick-man drawing by a bunch of friends. Our walks are perfect for the young-at-heart too! 

Our visitors are lovely! Thank you!

Crab, mudskipper, bird and monitor lizard, as seen through the eyes of a young visitor

Another collection of creatures spotted by the kids

Encouraging words from a traveller from the US.

During this trip, I managed to captured several photos of our volunteer guides in action. This is Yong Jen talking about the wells of Pulau Ubin.

Our volunteer guide, Yong Jen, in action

Jonathan is another passionate volunteer. He's doing any of these walks before he heads out for his studies overseas!

Jonathan and his group

Ivan, who never ceases to amaze us with his knowledge of wildlife. He is one of the charter members of the Naked Hermit Crabs.

Ivan taking a photo of his group, the Tan family, and Mohammad Jauhari our new friend

We met Alyce who was at Chek Jawa guiding a group from a local company. Alyce is a professional nature guide who often shares her time by volunteering with us too.

Our good friend, Alyce, who volunteers regularly with us.

Thanks go out to all the volunteer guides for this walk - Yong Jen, Jonathan, Ivan, Ria and LeyKun!

Our friend, Mohammad Jauhari, took lots of beautiful photos during the walk, and shared it on his Facebook album: Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour on 16 July by MJ


The next Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing is on 13 August, Saturday. You may register here at our Google Form. Come and join our amazing nature walks at Chek Jawa!