Chek Jawa Boardwalk with Yishun Student Care Services

It was a fine and sunny Saturday morning where the Naked Hermit Crabs had the pleasure of sharing the beauty of Chek Jawa with the families from Yishun Student Care Services. We were accompanied with many NIE friends who were around to help facilitate the walk. :-)


This is my group led by Ivan where we started off from the coastal boardwalk. After some discovery on the coastal plants, our group went to look at the Rock oysters attached on the huge boulders.


It was high tide but Chek Jawa just exudes that kind of rustic charm. There were lots of different fishes swimming about in the waters. Ria's group and my group saw a school of large fishes with yellow tails which Ivan identified as square-tailed mullets.


As we entered into the mangrove boardwalk, many of us were amazed by the elaborated root structures that the mangroves have to adapt to their environment.


Some of their propagules were even sprouting into life!


The mangrove boardwalk proves to be a huge hit with many of the families. Many were excited to see many of the living animals and plants that can be found here.


From far, there was this school of mudskippers that were basking in the partial sunlight above the water level mark. It's amazing that these fishes can survive out of water.


Another mudskipper spotted that is really bigger than the rest is the Giant mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri).


Ria's group also saw a beautiful pair of Yellow spotted mudskipper (Periophthalmus walailakae)! One of them is showing its dorsal fin.


Wow, what kind of animal is making the kids all so interested that they were looking at so intently?


They are the brightly coloured crabs. These hermit fiddler crabs are quite small but their neonish colouration and cute huge claws for the males is a joy for the kids to look at.


Among the bushes, there are also other smaller creatures like spiders, bugs and this grasshopper.


Ivan spotted the special find of the day for our group! It is the Oriental whip snake (Ahaetulla prasina)!


This snake was really still and nice for us to take photographs of. It's my first time getting so close to this beautiful snake.


Ivan, our monitor lizard man, of course spotted Malayan water monitors (Varanus salvator)! We saw two of them, a juvenile one and this slightly bigger monitor that is basking under the sun.



On the mud lobster mounds are many well camouflaged tree climbing crabs (Episesarma sp.). This particular crab seems to be feeding on something. Hehe.


Soon it was time to climb up the tall Jejawi tower! The exhausting climb was worth it as the scenery was spectacular given the excellent weather! We had a good look at Pengarang, Johor and our very own Pulau Tekong. One of my participants even recalled the incident when elephants swam over from Johor.


Here's Ria's team at the peak of Chek Jawa. They sure look like they are having a great time!


Soon it was time to head back to the area next to House No. 1 where everyone starts drawing and writing their reflections.


Here's Chay Hoon passing the markers and papers to the kids.


The kids drew many fascinating animals and plants they spotted during the trip. Some others tried out the word search and crossword puzzle that we have also prepared especially for the families.


Here is Wei Zheng who is in my group.


Similar to me, he was also captivated by the Oriental whip snake and he drew a nice picture of it. :-)


Here's Jin Tian, my friend from NIE with a family showing their masterpiece.

Below are some other of their art pieces to share with you all.












And finally, we ended the walk with a group photo! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the walk.

Soon it was time to return back to mainland but I'm sure some of them are already planning to return to Chek Jawa on their own accord in the near future.

More blog posts about the trip:

• Sunny at Chek Jawa by Ria at the Wild shores of Singapore blog.
• Oriental whip snake at Chek Jawa in my God's wonderful creation blog.