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

Join us our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 14 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! Register on Eventbrite here.

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of our volunteer guides, 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: 14 October 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
Sign up here.

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.

Flowering durian trees at Chek Jawa

Every Naked Hermit Crab is always different and you never know what you're going to see! During our walk yesterday, we enjoyed the sight and smell of durian flowers all around us on the ground and up in the trees. As most of us enjoy the taste of durians, we were grateful for the presence of bats and their role in helping pollinate durian flowers. You can read more about that here.

Durian flowers (Photo by Ley Kun Wong)

Photo by Liz Lim

Celebrating a decade of fun at Chek Jawa!

Photo by Ria Tan

For our final walk of 2017, thirty participants joined us as we celebrated our 10th anniversary of guiding at Chek Jawa! Over the decade, Naked Hermit Crabs has grown with many old and new guides joining the family and learning from one another.

A picture of our visitors right before we started our walk!
(Photo by Liz Lim)

To further commemorate our tenth birthday, we took similar shots of old photos from 2007 during the walk to find out how much Chek Jawa has changed over the years. Here are some of the 'before and after' photos!

The once sparse vegetation in front of Jejawi Tower completely covers the tower today.
(Photo by Ria Tan)

Young trees planted in 2007 have become tall and lush.
(Photo by Ria Tan)

The coastal boardwalk still offers beautiful views all year round!
(Photo by Ria Tan)

Taking in the views
(Photo by Liz Lim)

We were also graced by the presence of a Gerard's water snake (Gerarda prevostiana), which was spotted by one of our participants. This was the first time this species has been recorded on the island! This is the only recorded snake species that loops its body around its prey and tears the prey into smaller pieces rather than swallowing its food whole [1].

Gerard's water snake (Gerarda prevostiana)
(Photo by Sumita Thiagarajan)

Searching for food
(Photo by Sumita Thiagarajan)

We spotted loads of tree climbing crabs as we walked along the boardwalk as well. One of them was even seen eating a very special meal: a snake moult!

Crab eating a snake moult
(Photo by Liz Lim)

The Nipah Palm has always been a crowd favourite, with one of the visitors excitedly exclaiming "It's atapchee!" when they saw the plant! They were also fascinated by a young Nipah Palm that had just started out its life.

Young Nipah Palm!

It was one of the highest tides we have ever seen and there were many mudskippers taking refuge on the roots of the mangrove trees!

Can you spot the mudskippers?
(Photo by Liz Lim)

Mudskipper
(Photo by Liz Lim)

On the coastal boardwalk, we were greeted by a Collared Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper that were resting by the rocks. One group had even seen a White-bellied Sea Eagle swoop out of the trees above them on its way out to hunt some fish!

As it was our 10th anniversary, many visitors had written well-wishes for us!

An extremely cute card by one of our participants!

(Photo by Ria Tan)

Some lovely drawings from a family
(Photo by Ria Tan)

Finally, we would like to thank Ley Kun, Ria, Sumita, Ivan, Liz, Chen Xi, Dayna and Xiang Tian for helping us to guide the participants on this very special walk! Also, big thanks to Ley Kun, Ria, Sumita, Dayna and Liz for your amazing photos of this walk. Lastly, we'd like to thank all the visitors for joining us on this very special day and we hope you've enjoyed yourselves!

(Photo by Ria Tan)

See you in 2018 for more fun walks!


[1] Jayne, B. C., Voris, H. K., & Ng, P. K. (2002). Herpetology: Snake circumvents constraints on prey size. Nature, 418(6894), 143-143.

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...

19 Mar (Sat) morning: Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Finding a place to go to during the weekend of this March school holidays? Look no further! Join the Naked Hermit Crabs as we explore Chek Jawa and get the chance to spot many marine and terrestrial critters! Click here to sign up.

Date: 19 Mar (Sat) 
Meeting time: 9.30am 
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin 
Duration of walk: Around 2 hours 
Cost: Free (donations are accepted)

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

Jellyfish and Otters at Chek Jawa on 21 Nov 2015

We had a wonderful outing at Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 21 Nov! It is the year-end school holidays, and we tried our best to accommodate as many visitors as we could. We had a huge turnout of 74 visitors. FANTASTIC!

We split the visitors into 7 groups led by a guide each, and off we went exploring the mangrove and coastal segments of Chek Jawa. The visitors were excited to see so many animals - jellyfish, otters, monitor lizards, carpet anemone, crabs and more!

Read on to find out more.

So much to see at Chek Jawa Wetlands!

Our outing to Chek Jawa on 22 August was a fun and eventful one! We saw so many animals and had an encounter with a venomous sea snake. Lots of photos to share with everyone.

Truly, we say it again and again - Chek Jawa is ALIVE! If you have not visited Chek Jawa, come visit this gem of a nature place with the Naked Hermit Crabs. We run a monthly nature tour on the boardwalk as part of our educational outreach to fellow Singaporeans and residents, and the next one is on 12 September.

We hold our walks on the boardwalk. At Chek Jawa, there are 2 segments of the boardwalk - the mangrove boardwalk and the coastal boardwalk.

This is the outer mangrove segment where we always stop to watch the cute fiddler crabs.

Mangrove boardwalk

When the tide is low, it is wonderful to be on the coastal boardwalk because you can see so much up close. Well, next best thing to being on the mudflat itself.

Coastal boardwalk

Hey! What's that green animal? It's the Haddon's carpet anemone. This is a beautiful animal, roughly 60 to 70 cm in diameter. The green colour is due to microscopic algae growing in the anemone. The carpet anemone has a large oral disk on which are lots of tentacles that can sting and trap small animals that swim past it. We used to have a lot more carpet anemones at Chek Jawa, but the encouraging news is that we are slowly seeing more of them these days.

Haddon's carpet anemone

22 August (Sat) morning: Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Hello! Registration for the free nature outing to Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 22nd August is now open. Join the Naked Hermit Crabs to check out the wildlife residing in the mangroves. Limited places are still available.

Click here for the online registration form.

We have been doing FREE nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for close to 8 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plants and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

Date: 22 August (Saturday)
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Duration of walk: Around 2 hours
Cost: Free (donations are accepted)

Click on this post to get more information about getting to Chek Jawa, what to bring, what to prepare for the outing.

Fantastic day out at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

60 visitors - lots of families, kids, moms and pops, groups of friends - came out to explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs during our July walk. As always, we saw lots of interesting stuff and had a great time!

The tide was low enough for us to see the fiddler crabs on the sandy patch below the boardwalk. The kids love to see the male fiddler crabs wave their large claws. We told the kids that the female crabs are there too. Harder to spot, for sure! Some of the kids saw them and were able to describe the female crabs have equal sized claws and sandy colouring. Not bad, kids!

Fiddler crabs (Photo credit: Ian)

This is the location where you can see the fiddler crabs at the edge of the mangroves.

Way out on the sand bar, there were 2 Great-billed herons. The guides had their binoculars and shared them with the visitors. These are magnificent birds standing as tall as 1.1m. What are these birds doing out there on the sand bar? Hunting for fish in the incoming tide! Such resourceful creatures! We have seen these Great-billed herons many times.

Great-billed herons

13 June (Sat) evening: Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Update: 
We are full! Registration is suspended for the moment until we can get more volunteer guides. Thank you for your understanding. 

Registration for the nature walk on 13th June (Saturday) is now open! Join us as we uncover a different side of Chek Jawa during this upcoming Special Ubin Day Walk.

As our guided walks for Chek Jawa are usually in the morning, this coming walk will be a special one as visitors will get a chance to see the evening side of Chek Jawa! Who knows what we will discover and encounter!

We have been doing FREE nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for close to 8 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plant and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

To sign up for the walk, click here!

Sign up at the Online Registration Form, and we will confirm your attendance via email in a few days! 

Date: 13 June (Saturday)

Meeting time: 4:30pm 

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free (donations are accepted)

Read on for more photos and details about the walk.

Otters and Low Tide at Chek Jawa!

We had an awesome day at Chek Jawa yesterday, shared with 35 visitors! This is our monthly free walk. There were lots of sightings including otters, horseshoe crabs and lots of fiddler crabs on the shore.

It was low tide in the morning. And Ria's group who set off first saw 3 otters running on the mudflats! The visitors were thrilled!

Photo credit: wildshores

This is certainly not the first time we see otters in Chek Jawa. The most recent otter sighting was in October 2013, and before that, twice in June 2012. We've seen them in the area around the coastal boardwalk as well as coming out from the coastal forest. Some of the guides remember seeing otters in the northern sandbars of Chek Jawa.

9 May (Sat) morning: Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Registration for the nature walk on 9th May is now open! Join us to discover the wildlife that reside in the mangroves of Chek Jawa!

We have been doing FREE nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for close to 8 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plant and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

To sign up for the walk, click here!

Sign up at the Online Registration Form, and we will confirm your attendance via email in a few days! 

Date: 9 May (Saturday)

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free (donations are accepted)

Read on for more photos and details about the walk.

11 Apr (Sat) morning: Free guided walk at the Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Update: 
We are full! Registration is suspended for the moment until we can get more volunteer guides. Thank you for your understanding. 

Join us on the morning of 11th of April and discover the wildlife that reside in the mangroves of Chek Jawa!

We have been doing FREE nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for close to 8 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plant and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

To sign up for the walk, click here!

Sign up at the Online Registration Form, and we will confirm your attendance via email in a few days! 

Date: 11 April (Sat)

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free

Read on for more photos and details about the walk.

Back to Chek Jawa Boardwalk

After nearly six months of closure for repair works, Chek Jawa Boardwalk is open once again to visitors. The Crabs were eager to resume their monthly walks, and we did, on 14 March 2015. What a wonderful morning spent exploring our favourite mangroves with our lovely visitors! Read on to find out all the cool creatures we saw in Chek Jawa.

As the tide was low during the time of our visit, there was lots of wildlife activity in the inter-tidal area. From the Jejawi Tower, we saw 2 Great-billed herons out on the mudflats. These tall birds are regular visitors. If you time your visit to Chek Jawa at a low tide, you may be able to see these relatively rare birds in their natural habitat.

Photo taken from Jejawi Tower

In fact, while we were at the top of Jejawi Tower, we saw more herons flying above us. What a beautiful treat to see the graceful posture of these birds in flight!

[Note: This Chek Jawa walk is funded from the kind contribution by Raffles Institution, channeled through wildsingapore.com for a talk that Ria conducted in the school. On behalf of the visitors and guides, I would like to say "Thanks" to the folks in RI!]

Mar 14, Saturday: We are resuming our Free Chek Jawa Guided Walks

After being closed for almost half a year for upgrading works, the Mangrove Boardwalk is open once again! We have been eagerly awaiting to start our walks at Chek Jawa once again and to be able to share the experience with more families and individuals!

We have been doing FREE nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for close to 8 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plant and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

To sign up for the walk, click here!

Sign up at the Online Registration Form, and we will confirm your attendance via email in a few days! 

Date: 14 March (Sat)

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free

Read on for more photos and details about the walk.

2015 - Free guided walks at Chek Jawa Boardwalk with the Naked Hermit Crabs

We have finally confirmed our 2015 dates for the public walks at Chek Jawa Boardwalk! Thank you for your patience....

14 Mar (Sat) - school holidays
11 Apr (Sat)

9 May (Sat)

13 Jun (Sat) - Special Ubin Day Walk, 4:30 - 6pm

11 Jul (Sat)

22 Aug (Sat) - UPDATE: this is the new date for our celebratory SG50 National Day walk!

12 Sep (Sat) - school holidays

10 Oct (Sat)

21 Nov (Sat) - UPDATE: this is the new date for November. We had to change because of a clash of dates with another conservation event

12 Dec (Sat) - school holidays

[Update 8 Feb 2015] - Upgrading works at the Mangrove Boardwalk and Jejawi Tower have completed, and we are able to bring our visitors to that segment of the Boardwalk. The Coastal Boardwalk segment remains closed till 31 March 2015. See full notice of the upgrading works at the NParks website.

Photo of mangrove boardwalk taken on 7 Feb 2015 (Photo credit: Sumita)

Do sign up for our walks. We open registration one month at a time, as soon as we complete the previous one.

This is the normal schedule at each walk:

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: 2 hours

Fees: None

Fun at Pulau Ubin for kids and the family on Ubin Day 30 Nov (Sun)

Join the Naked Hermit Crabs on Ubin to celebrate! Lots of fun family activities from morning to night!

Walks, cycles, kayaking, stargazing, butterfly watching. Also art workshops, exhibitions, games. From the outdoors and nature to heritage, kampung life to makan. Come experience Ubin's unique charms, laid-back kampung life and home-cooked makan! 

27 Sept, Saturday: Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

If you have joined us last Saturday for our Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk and would like to join us for the Chek Jawa Boardwalk, we are glad have been bitten by the nature bug and are joining us again! No worries if you have not joined any of our walks because here is the chance for you to do so on 27 September, Saturday!

We have been doing free nature trips to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for nearly 7 years now. Each month, we bring small groups of visitors out on to introduce them to the plant and animals found in the mangroves and intertidal areas of Chek Jawa. All from the safety and convenience of the boardwalk. There is always plenty to see on these trips, such as wild boars, insects, lots and lots of crabs, spiders, snakes, fishes, perhaps a jellyfish or two in the sea, and not forgetting the birds in the forests and flying high above us. Who says there is no nature in Singapore! Come explore Chek Jawa with the Crabs!

Sign up at the Online Registration Form, and we will confirm your attendance via email in a few days! Our email address is nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com.

Date: 27 September 2014 (Sat)

Meeting time: 9:30 am

Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Around 2 hours

Cost: Free

Read on for more photos and details about the walk.