Free walk on 9th April 2011 - Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Join the Naked Hermit Crabs for their monthly guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk this April 9 (Saturday).

There is plenty of native flora and fauna to observe from the safety of the Chek Jawa Boardwalk. No need to get your feet wet. We should be able to observe interesting creatures like mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, fiddler crabs, weaver ants, kingfishers, etc. Sometimes when we are REALLY lucky, we get treated to spectacular aerial displays by the White-bellied Fish Eagles. We have also spotted the Oriental Pied Hornbills on many of our trips. These are animals in the wild, and Chek Jawa is not a zoo, so the sightings are never guaranteed. But that makes an outing to Chek Jawa ever so exciting simply because you'd never know what you get to see!

So come and see for yourself. Signup by writing to nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com. We welcome small groups of family and friends. If you are planning a corporate or organisation outing, we urge you to pool your money to hire the professional nature guides.

Date: 9 April, 2011 (Saturday)

Time: 9:30 am

Duration: about 2 hours

Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Cost: The Crabs do not charge for the trip but you will have to pay for the bumboat and taxi rides to get to Chek Jawa.

Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip, 12 March 2011, bookings open

Time for the monthly outing to Chek Jawa Boardwalk with the Naked Hermit Crabs.

Do join us this March holidays for an outing to one of the loveliest natural shores in Singapore. Chek Jawa is located on the north-eastern corner of Pulau Ubin. Even though this is a boardwalk trip, there will still be plenty to see. On most days, we see the fiddler crabs on the shore, tree-climbing crabs in the mangroves, mudskippers, monitor lizards, weaver ants, the list goes on. At our last trip in February, we were treated to a sighting of jungle fowl. These are the ancestors of domesticated chickens. The male jungle fowl have colourful plumage and can fly short distances.

Jungle fowl sighted on 12 February 2011

To register for this trip, please write to nakedhermitcrabs at gmail.com and let us know how many people are coming. We have limited places due to the small number of volunteer guides.

Date: 12 March, 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 am
Duration: about 2 hours
Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Cost: Free (you have to pay for the bumboat and taxi rides to get to Chek Jawa)

Plenty to see at Chek Jawa

The Naked Hermit Crabs had a wonderful outing to Chek Jawa Boardwalk on February 12. It was our regular monthly trip out to our favourite place. There were 12 visitors and so we split into 2 groups, one led by PY and Daniel, and the other by LK.

At the start of the walk, an observant visitor, Karen, spotted an Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) perched on a high branch right above our heads. The hornbills were really quiet that morning, but fortunately we managed to catch a glimpse of this large beautiful bird. It is reported that there are approximately 100 hornbills in the wild in Singapore. It was definitely a good start to the trip! A joy!

Oriental Pied Hornbill in Chek Jawa

CNY nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk - 12 Feb 2011

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Done all your CNY visiting? Tossed a few "yu-sheng" already? Eaten one too many pineapple tarts? I'm sure you had a great time this Chinese New Year! If you want to walk off some of the fat gained from all that CNY feasting, come on down to join us for a nature outing to Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 12th February. The Naked Hermit Crabs run these nature walks every 2nd Saturday of the month with the hope of introducing fellow Singaporeans and residents to the natural flora and fauna that are thriving in our backyard.

Chek Jawa is a natural shore located on the island of Pulau Ubin, off the Changi coast. We will be walking on the boardwalk, but still expect to see quite a bit of inter-tidal and mangrove wildlife such as mudskippers, fiddler crabs, tree-climbing crabs, monitor lizards, fishes and jelly-fishes. Sometimes, when conditions are right, we might see some of the large birds of Pulau Ubin - the Oriental Pied Hornbill and White-bellied Fish Eagle.

Date: 12 February, 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 am
Duration: about 2 hours
Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Cost: Free (you have to pay for the bumboat and taxi rides to get to Chek Jawa)

Write to nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com to register for the walk.

Please keep your group small, preferably fewer than 10 people, so that we can welcome as many family and friend groups as possible. If you are organising a corporate event, we encourage you to hire the professional nature guides.

First Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip for 2011

Hi friends!

We are holding our first Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip of 2011 on 8 Jan (Saturday). Give yourself a treat and get out to enjoy one of Singapore's beautiful natural shores. No, there are no al fresco coffee joints in Chek Jawa; no beach-front seafood restaurants either. Chek Jawa is a natural shore where you will still see inter-tidal marine life and mangrove swamps. As in many of our past trips, we expect to see fiddler crabs, mudskippers, fishes, mangrove tree-climbing crabs, monitor lizards, and, if we are lucky, the critically-endangered Oriental Pied Hornbill and otters.

Date: 8 January, 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 am
Duration: about 2 hours
Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Cost: Free (you have to pay for the bumboat and taxi rides to get to Chek Jawa)

Write to nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com to register for the walk.


Please keep your group small, preferably fewer than 10 people, so that we can welcome as many family and friend groups as possible. If you are organising a corporate event, we encourage you to hire the professional nature guides.

2011 - Free Chek Jawa Boardwalk trips on the 2nd Saturday of each month

Good news! The Crabs have decided to continue with the free Chek Jawa Boardwalk trips in 2011.

Looking back at the time when we started this project..... Our very first outing with registered guests was to visit the reef shore at Tanjong Rimau, Sentosa, on 5th June 2007, Environment Day. And our first Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip was on 9th September that same year. Time flies! We have done more than 3 years worth of monthly trips, bringing possibly more than 1000 people (we've lost count!) to Chek Jawa to appreciate the natural beauty of one of Singapore's wild coastal areas. We have also trained several new guides who now volunteer with us, and who are eager to share what they know of Chek Jawa with you.

Mark these dates. Write to us at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com if you wish to join us for a walk.

8-Jan (Sat)
12-Feb (Sat)
12-Mar (Sat) - school holidays
9-Apr (Sat)
14-May (Sat)
11-Jun (Sat) - school holidays
9-Jul (Sat)
13-Aug (Sat)
10-Sep (Sat) - school holidays
8-Oct (Sat)
12-Nov (Sat)
10-Dec (Sat) - school holidays

Meeting Time: 9:30 am

Meeting Place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin

Duration of walk: Approximately 2 hours

Cost: No charge still

Group size: small friends and family groups. Sorry, we do not do corporate groups nor events.

Families enjoying an outing to Chek Jawa

In a country that is so obsessed with shopping and the trappings of a city life, it is heartening to see so many of the visitors to our outings at Chek Jawa express their love for nature and wild places. And they bring their families along - the young and the young-at-heart - to enjoy a morning amongst the mangroves and coastal areas.

It is the school holidays, and we had a total of 50 visitors and 7 guides (including Alan from NParks who helped us too).

As the roving photographer today, I was able to take many photos of the groups along the trail.

Here's one of PY and her group as they set off from the meeting place.