Today was also a special day, as this was the first time we had so many registered visitors - 69 of them altogether, excluding friends who came with some of the guides.
(Taken by Marcus)
Also with us today were 4 new guides! They will be attached to the experienced guides for on-the-job training today.
And as per always, there were lots of interesting things to see at Chek Jawa, even if you just stay on the boardwalk!
(Taken by Laxton)
A golden orb web spider was quietly waiting on its web as we walked down the slope towards the shores. While it is not the largest spider, it certainly makes one of the largest and strongest web! In fact, the web can even trap small birds!
My group started with the mangrove mangrove boardwalk - the entire boardwalk is about 1.1km long, and comprises 2 sections - the mangrove boardwalk (500m) and the coastal boardwalk (600m).
The mangrove boardwalk will also bring you to the 20m-tall Jejawi Tower, which was named after the Malayan banyan tree next to it.
Here's LK's group, the Swimming Crabs, on the tower. You get a great view of the surrounding area, including Pulau Tekong and Johor!
(Taken by Marcus)
And on the other side of the tower, you'll get to see the lovely hill forest and mangrove forest. This is Marcus' group, the Vinegar Crabs.
(Taken by Jun)
The mangrove boardwalk allows you to see lots of interesting plants, including these bakau mangrove trees with their prop and stilt roots. The soil in a mangrove area is often very poor in oxygen, and thus these trees need to get their roots exposed to the air to breathe better.
There were several interesting animals too, including this giant mudskipper.
And during low tide, the fiddler crabs ruled the sandy area just next to the mangroves.
(Taken by Laxton)
Some of the groups also spotted this little monitor lizard.
(Taken by Jun)
Here's CH's group, the Ghost Crabs, at the coastal boardwalk section. Unfortunately, the currents were very strong today, making the sea water to be very murky. But despite that, we still managed to see several huge schools of fish swimming near the surface, sometimes going in circles. It was really spectacular seeing them! There must be like thousands of fish in each school!
And here's my group, the Thunder Crabs, still looking enthusiastic and cheerful despite the glaring sun towards the end of the walk :)
And one of my young visitor got to practise his photography skills with an SLR on some lovely flowers of the Singapore Rhododendron.
At the end of the walk, we managed to get our visitors to write or draw their thoughts in our guest book, and here're some of their comments:
At the end of our walk, Mr Chu, the van driver, kindly drove us to take a look at the heronry, where we managed to take a group shot of the gang.
(Taken by Jun)
And what are the Naked Hermit Crabs doing in the above photo? (Clue: look at the sign board behind.) :P
All in all, it has been a great day! Thanks to all our enthusiastic visitors for making this trip so wonderful.
And also, thanks to the crabbies - Ria, CH, July, Marcus, November, Ivan, LK for guiding the groups, and Juanhui, Sam, Laxton, Samantha, Geok Theng, and our Ubin guide friends Evelyn and Allan for helping out with the walk!
