What we've been up to in May

Whew! What a crazy month!

During the weekend of 24-25 May, the Crabs were at the Envirofest event (at Toa Payoh Hub) together with nearly everyone else from the active nature conservation community of Singapore.

Nature lovers were out in full force to share their work with the members of the public. Doing an exhibition is as important as doing field work. It gives us a platform to reach out to the masses with our message of conservation. Saving habitats, giving a voice to the animals that we try so hard to save cannot be the work of a few individuals in a community. We have to share what we have learnt in all our field trips with ordinary folks. They may not joined us in our field trips but many are no less concerned with issues of nature conservation in Singapore. They are the ones teaching their own children, students, sharing with friends and family. Every effort counts.

Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour - 31 May 2009

Greetings to all whom we met at Envirofest over the weekend.

The Naked Hermit Crabs will be holding their regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour on Sunday, 31st May 2009.

As we are expecting a HUGE turnout after our roadshow and in view that the school holidays are starting this weekend, we are requesting that you drop us an email to sign up for this walk. This will help us gauge the response and try to get more guides to come out and help.

As always, we ask that you come in small family and friend groups of not more than 6. Please don't organise an extended family group or a company outing. The Naked Hermit Crabs are, er.... small and vulnerable. We confess.... we will get overwhelmed by large groups.

Here are the details anyway:

Date: 31 May, 2009, Sunday

Time: 3 pm

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk

Your group size: not more than 6

Signup is needed. Write to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com

How to get to Chek Jawa?

1) From Changi Village, take a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin

2) At the Pulau Ubin jetty, hop into a taxi van and tell the driver to take you to Chek Jawa.

You make your way to Chek Jawa at your own expense. As for the tour, the Crabs do not charge for now.

Have a great week ahead!

Exciting April

The Crabs were back in action guiding at Chek Jawa on April 26th. This month was LK and my turn to guide. I hadn’t guided with LK since past few months so we were happy to see each other back in action. She is like my mentor who listens carefully and always answers my guiding questions.

The trip on the bumboat to Ubin started very well. I was delighted when LK treated me with pistachio chocolates that she had got from Melbourne. (Here's the insider story...LK had got Ivan and me to guide last month by bribing us with the promise of getting goodies from her Australia tour. So she had no choice). Like me, this Grey Heron perching near the Ubin jetty was also having a good time.

The guided tour was to start at 3pm. Since LK and I had reached the Information Kiosk a bit early so we decided to go on a stroll around the Kiosk area. First we checked the durian tree that is a stone’s throw away from the Kiosk. As the durian season is coming in few months time the fruits are getting conspicuous but still they are rather small. With the help of our binoculars we spotted as many as 5 young durians.

A few steps away from there, we spotted the St Andrew's Cross Spider. Hanging on an intricately weaved zigzag 3D web, the spider had folded its legs such that it resembled a cross having only 4 legs. It looked really beautiful.