Day 8 at Sungei Buloh

On day eight our group visited Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The last seven days have repeatedly raised the question of to what limit Singapore will try to preserve the few remaining natural areas—forest habitat, coral reefs, mangroves, wetlands and shoreline. Sungei Buloh is an outstanding example of how well Singapore can do such preservation in a balance that gives visitors an enjoyable, peaceful setting to observe wildlife and nature and at the same time minimizes intrusion by visitors into wildlife space. Additionally, this area probably serves as a nursery site that nurtures wildlife for much of Singapore.

We spent more than three hours on our ramble and saw marsh hens, monitor lizards, whimbrel, heron, egrets, shorebirds (thought to be redshank and plovers), collared kingfisher, mudskippers, small snakes, squirrel, lots of butterflies and more—the monkeys stay hidden. There were towers allowing an overview of the reserve and also Jahor across the river. The soft sound of singing of morning prayers came across the river. In the mangroves, we saw tree-climbing crabs, mudskippers, lobster mounds, and monitor lizard. It was striking to Dr. Dan that a profusion of shelled life was evident here that we have not seen elsewhere—Semakau was close—and he felt this might reflect the status of health resulting from protection from human harvesting.

Our trip to Night Safari was rained out for now. Our visit to Parliament ws cancelled since they were out for holiday. It didn’t hurt to have a little rest.