2 Jun 2019 (Sun) - Balik Chek Jawa

Once a year, and only once a year, during Pesta Ubin, volunteers from several groups come together to offer a Chek Jawa Open House. Free, no registration required, simply come to Chek Jawa!

Date: 2 Jun (Sun)
Time: 10am - 2pm
Meeting point: Chek Jawa Info Kiosk
More details here: tinyurl.com/balikcj2019

Volunteer guides will be stationed all over the boardwalk to share about Chek Jawa's amazing heritage  and wildlife. 

See you at Balik Chek Jawa!

18 March (Sun) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Join us our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 18 March, Sunday. Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Just gather your family and friends, and have someone do the signup on behalf of the group. Best of all, this nature walk is free! Click on our Online Registration Form.


Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Date: 18 March 2018 (Sunday)
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

For more information on what to expect at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk outings, and when preparing for your visit, please make sure you read our post specially written for you.

More photos in the next section.

25 Nov and 16 Dec, 2017 (Saturdays) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

The year-end school holidays are here.... YIPPEE! If you are looking for outdoorsy nature activities to do with the family during the holidays, why not join our nature walks at Chek Jawa Boardwalk, Pulau Ubin? Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Best of all, our nature walks are free!

We are running two public walks, and both dates are open for registration now! Just appoint someone to signup on behalf of the group. We welcome small groups of families or friends. Unfortunately we are not able to accept registration from large groups of people due to our limited resources. Click on our Online Registration Form.

Date: 25 November 2017 (Saturday) and 16 December 2017 (Saturday)
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

For more information on what to expect at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk outings, and when preparing for your visit, please make sure you read our post specially written for you. The post will also give you lots of details like how to get to Chek Jawa, where to meet, what to bring.

Meeting place: Information Kiosk at Chek Jawa Wetlands

Group photo before the walk begins

Click to see more photos of our past events at Chek Jawa.

15 Oct (Sun) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Join us our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 15 October, Sunday. Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Just gather your family and friends, and have someone do the signup on behalf of the group. Best of all, this nature walk is free! Click on our Online Registration Form.

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Date: 15 October 2017 (Sunday)
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

For more information on what to expect at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk outings, and when preparing for your visit, please make sure you read our post specially written for you.

More photos in the next section.

19-Aug-17 (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Hi everyone! We are back with our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 19 August, Saturday. Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Just gather your family and friends, and have someone do the signup on behalf of the group. Best of all, this nature walk is free! Click on our Online Registration Form.

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Date: 19 August 2017 (Saturday)
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

For more information on what to expect at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk outings, and when preparing for your visit, please make sure you read our post specially written for you.

More photos in the next section.

Celebrating Youth Day at the Pasir Ris Mangroves!

We are happy to have had 37 visitors join us at the Pasir Ris Mangroves for our Youth Day Walk, held in collaboration with The Wild Side and Nature Adventures SG.

You learn something new every day!

Soon after the walk began, we came upon many white mushrooms growing along the base of a tree. Our visitors were surprised to learn that the part of the mushrooms we see above ground are only the fruiting bodies, while the main body of the mushroom is mostly underground!

3 Jun, 2017 (Sat): Balik Chek Jawa with the Chek Jawa community

FREE, no registration required, just come to Chek Jawa! Volunteer guides will be stationed all over the boardwalk to share about Chek Jawa's amazing wildlife. From monkeys to wild boar, birds to butterflies, crabs to mudskippers, and fascinating plants of the mangroves and shores, some of which are rare elsewhere. If we are lucky we may encounter otters or even a dugong.

A spectacular view from Jejawi Tower

Date: 3 Jun, 2017 (Sat)
Time: 10am - 3pm
Meeting point: Chek Jawa Info Kiosk, 3.3km away from Ubin Jetty (map). About 1.5-2 hour walk or a 15-min van ride. More on how to get to Chek Jawa.

No charge, the activity is free!
No registration required, simply come to Chek Jawa.

An otterly wonderful walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves

It’s been quite a while since our last walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves, and we are glad to have 57 visitors join us for the long Easter weekend!

A little rain won't stop us!

After a quick introduction, we split into four groups, each led by our volunteer guides. It had begun to drizzle when the walk began, but luckily for us, the rain only lasted for a while, and we were able to resume the walk after a short wait.

15 April (Sat) - Free guided walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves

Specially for kids and families, explore Pasir Ris mangroves with volunteer nature guides from the Naked Hermit Crabs on this FREE guided tour of the boardwalk!

Sign up now on our online registration form! Don't miss the opportunity to see some wildlife in action! Pasir Ris mangroves is conveniently located 10 minutes away from Pasir Ris MRT station. Bring your children down to enjoy nature during the weekend!

Giant mudskippers are a common sight in our mangroves!

There are many creatures look out for in the mangroves, such as mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, herons and monitor lizards. Sometimes, you may even spot kingfishers and water snakes! It will certainly be an unforgettable experience with your friends and family!

Date: 15 April, 2017 (Saturday)
Time: 5 pm (We should end around 6.30pm, just before sunset.)
Meeting point: Pasir Ris Park, Carpark C.

Sign up here.

Meet near the first toilets nearest the entrance to Carpark C. The meeting point is a short stroll from the Pasir Ris MRT station. Pasir Ris Park is a very long park with many carparks (from A to D). Do look at the map to be sure you are heading for the correct carpark.

Please sign up for the walk at our Online Registration Form. We look forward to seeing you there!

Do read on for more information about our FAQs and what you can expect to see!

18-Mar-17 (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Hi there! It is the March school holidays and we have a free Chek Jawa nature outing on the boardwalk this coming Saturday, 18 March. We still have about 20 places available for sign-ups. To sign up, do so at our Online Registration Form

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Date: 18 March 2017 (Saturday)

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Duration of walk: 2 hours

Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

More information can be found in this link.

2017 schedule - Naked Hermit Crabs turn 10!

We are turning 10 this year! 10 years of bringing you the fun and FREE nature walks at Chek Jawa Boardwalk and Pasir Ris Mangroves. We couldn't have done this without the constant support and encouragement of our visitors. Sometimes we felt like giving up, and sometimes we went slow to give ourselves some rest. But we're still here, and we hope we have done a little for the ground-up conservation efforts of our nature places in Singapore, especially for threatened natural shores such as Chek Jawa.

It gives us much joy to share what we know about the plants and animals that live in the fragile coastal ecosystems of Chek Jawa and Pasir Ris Mangroves. Sign up for our walks and get to know Singapore's own biodiversity from volunteers who care about such things.

Here is our schedule for 2017. All walks are held at Chek Jawa Boardwalk (Pulau Ubin) unless stated otherwise.

25 Feb (Saturday)
18 Mar (Saturday) - school holidays
22 Apr (Saturday) changed to 15 Apr (Saturday) - Pasir Ris Mangroves
20 May (Saturday) we plan to train new guides in May for the Jun Balik Chek Jawa
3 Jun (Saturday) - Balik Chek Jawa. No registration needed. Simply show up at Chek Jawa and we will have guides to show you around.
1 Jul (Saturday) changed to Pasir Ris Mangroves instead of Chek Jawa
19 Aug (Saturday) new date
3 Sep (Sunday) - school holidays - Pasir Ris Mangroves
15 Oct (Sunday)
25 Nov (Saturday) - school holidays
16 Dec (Saturday) - school holidays

Registration for our walks are done online through Google Forms. We open registration one month at a time, as soon as we finish the previous one.

Click here to access the Online Registration Form for Chek Jawa Boardwalk.

This is the normal schedule at each Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip:

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

If you have any questions, feel free to write to us at nakedhermitcrabs at gmail dot com.

Happy nature exploring!

Chek Jawa outing with the Naked Hermit Crabs

We have concluded the final two walks for 2016. There were 60 visitors in November and a bumper crop of 80 visitors in December. We are so happy to see the wonderful turnout of parents with their kids in tow! The school holidays are perfect for families to spend time together exploring the wild side of Singapore. With the Crabs as guides, it's a great way to explore Chek Jawa Boardwalk!

Visitors in December

The walk begins with a briefing from the guides. There were 4 guides altogether, and visitors were split roughly 20 to a group.

Briefing before the walk

We found lots of ripened fruit on the ground - fruit from the seashore nutmeg tree. In fact we found at least 3 areas in Chek Jawa littered with the bright red fruits. Chek Jawa remains one of the last strongholds for the critically endangered species of the seashore nutmeg in Singapore.

Seashore nutmegs

FREE Nature Walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk - November and December

Gold-spotted mudskipper seen at high tide at Chek Jawa (October 2016)

It's the year-end school holidays! We are opening registration for our FREE nature walks at Chek Jawa for the months of November and December. Register at this link!

The Naked Hermit Crabs have been running these nature outing for small family and friend groups since 2007. Run by a small group of nature volunteers, we want to raise awareness of rich and fragile coastal ecosystems such as Chek Jawa. It is common to hear people dismiss mangroves as "useless swamp land", or talk about "draining the swamp" as a metaphor for getting rid of something useless or harmful. We want to dispel that kind of thinking that mangroves and inter-tidal coastlines are useless land.

When you visit Chek Jawa, you will see just how rich it is with plant and animal biodiversity, and why we should protect it for future generations. Chek Jawa is a gem among the nature places in Singapore.  Even though we are not going down to the shore (yes, the nature walk is conducted on the boardwalk), there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Let the volunteer guides show you the amazing biodiversity that is in our own "backyard"! Sign up here.

Date: 19 November and 17 December (Saturday)

Meeting time: 9.30am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free (small donations are accepted)

a typical scene during our walks

Read on for more information...

FREE Nature Walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk - November and December

Gold-spotted mudskipper seen at high tide at Chek Jawa (October 2016)

It's the year-end school holidays! We are opening registration for our FREE nature walks at Chek Jawa for the months of November and December. Register at this link!

The Naked Hermit Crabs have been running these nature outing for small family and friend groups since 2007. Run by a small group of nature volunteers, we want to raise awareness of rich and fragile coastal ecosystems such as Chek Jawa. It is common to hear people dismiss mangroves as "useless swamp land", or talk about "draining the swamp" as a metaphor for getting rid of something useless or harmful. We want to dispel that kind of thinking that mangroves and inter-tidal coastlines are useless land.

When you visit Chek Jawa, you will see just how rich it is with plant and animal biodiversity, and why we should protect it for future generations. Chek Jawa is a gem among the nature places in Singapore.  Even though we are not going down to the shore (yes, the nature walk is conducted on the boardwalk), there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Let the volunteer guides show you the amazing biodiversity that is in our own "backyard"!

Date: 19 November and 17 December (Saturday)

Meeting time: 9.30am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free (small donations are accepted)

a typical scene during our walks

Read on for more information...

Mangrove Pufferfish and Mudskippers

We were delighted to have a group of 36 visitors join us for our monthly walk at Chek Jawa on 15 October.

If you have been to the top of Jejawi Tower at Chek Jawa, you will recognise this wonderful view of the island of Pulau Ubin. No tall buildings, no concrete, no highways. Just rich vegetation and forests that provide a safe haven for the amazing plant and fauna biodiversity. This is our precious Pulau Ubin!

And this is the other view. There's the Chek Jawa coastal forest (on a hillock) in foreground on the right, part of the outer mangroves on the left, a view of Pulau Tekong (the biggest island belonging to Singapore) in the horizon, and beyond that a glimpse of the Malaysian state of Johor.

This is the happy group of visitors at the start of our walk. So glad to see a bigger turnout this month, after the initial fears and uncertainty about the Zika cases in September.

15 Oct (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Registration for the Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 15 October, Saturday, is now open! You may sign at our Google online form.

Bring your family and friends to Ubin, and enjoy the great outdoors and learn about the wonderful biodiversity that can be found in Chek Jawa, located in the eastern tip of the island. You won't be disappointed. We have experienced guides (all volunteers) who are eager to share their love for mangroves and marine life with you. Chek Jawa is indeed one of the richest coastal ecosystems in Singapore. Some of the 'die-die-sure-can-see' animals are fiddler crabs, mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, spiders, wild boars and monitor lizards. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle, White-rumped shama and the giant Atlas Moth.

So what are you waiting for? Gather your family and friends, and sign up!

Date: 15 October, 2016 (Saturday)

Meeting time: 9.30am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free (small donations are accepted)

Read on for more information...

17 Sep (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Hello everyone! The next Chek Jawa Boardwalk nature trip with the Naked Hermit Crabs is coming up on 17 September, Saturday. Registration is open at our online Google form.

Ours is a nature walk designed specially for kids and families! A trip to Pulau Ubin is incomplete without a visit to Chek Jawa, one of Singapore's richest coastal ecosystem. Some of the "die-die-sure-can-see" animals are the fiddler crabs, mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, spiders, wild boars and monitor lizards. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle, White-rumped shama and the giant Atlas Moth.

We have been doing these monthly Chek Jawa walks for nine years now. Our guides are all volunteers, and they are passionate about sharing their love for nature with anyone willing to listen. In fact, September is our anniversary month. Here's the account of that memorable public walk on 9 September, 2007: First NHC Guided Walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Do gather your family and friends, and sign up.

Date: 17 September (Sat), 2016
Meeting time: 9.30am
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Duration of walk: Around 2 hours
Cost: Free (small donations are accepted)

Read on for more information...

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

16th Jul (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

We are pleased to announce that the Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour on 16 July, Saturday, is now open for registration. Sign up at our online registration form, and we will send you a confirmation email after that.

Our free Chek Jawa Boardwalk tours are run entirely by volunteers who are eager to share their love for nature and conservation with you. At our walks, our guides will help you find lots of interesting mangrove and marine animals. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

Let the volunteer guides show you the amazing biodiversity that is in our own "backyard"!

Date: 16 July (Sat)
Meeting time: 9.30am
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Duration of walk: Around 2 hours
Cost: Free (small donations are accepted)

More Information...

Awesome first Chek Jawa walk in 2016

After taking a break in January, the Crabs are happy to be back conducting the first walk of 2016.

There were 56 enthusiastic visitors who made that long journey from Singapore to Chek Jawa. I have always called the journey "a skip, hop and a jump" because you have to get to Changi Village first, then 'hop' on to a bumboat, and finally 'jump' to Chek Jawa on an island taxi. Hardly anyone complains about the journey, which kind of tells us just how much Singaporeans love Chek Jawa! Bravo to the visitors!

Golden Orb Spider

Even before the walk began, the visitors were admiring the Golden Orb Spider and its splendid web. The weather has turned drier this week, and the guides were expecting to find more spider webs, and we did! Spiders are known to conserve energy by avoiding the task of building webs during the rainy season. The rain would spoil their webs easily, and the spiders would end up spending more energy to build and re-build webs.

Group photo of walk on 27 Feb 2016, Chek Jawa

Here's the happy group photo before we set off for the walk. Our walks are suitable for families as well as for grown-ups.

Flowers of the Attap (Nipah) Palm