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.

Shorebirds and the Environment--Midway Point

At my suggestion, Dr. Dan took me to Little India for dinner. I was unprepared for but excited to see the phenomenon that greeted us. The streets were teeming with a mass of humanity—it was Sunday, a laborer’s day off—and there was a homogenous shoulder to shoulder mass of male Indians filling the sidewalks and flowing to fill one lane of the street on each side—cars fought to pass. There was a gentle, pleasant hum of voices—like bees might buzz in a hive. We moved through the crowd with comfortable interaction and pleasant eye contact. Men greeted each other with excitement, hugs, or customary hand holding. These were immigrant temporary workers separated from their families for time measured in years, not the weeks I’m separated from my family. Street stands sold phone cards enabling them to call home to their loved ones. I knew Singapore depended heavily upon outside workers but this became real and personal with the experience of being even superficially among them. For me there was a mixture of amazement and excitement—I have never been in such an environment.

We found a local restaurant and had lamb and mutton dishes that were pleasantly spicy along with a yogurt interwoven with cucumber and carrot, greens and delicious bread. Afterward, we walked thru the wet market where many of these men were buying fish, meat or spices for their upcoming week. Women were, if not rare, certainly less than half of a percent of the people seen. Shops were closed with few exceptions due to the Sunday work holiday—so we plan to return during the week.

A Sunday Night visit to Little India

At my suggestion, Dr. Dan took me to Little India for dinner. I was unprepared for but excited to see the phenomenon that greeted us. The streets were teeming with a mass of humanity—it was Sunday, a laborer’s day off—and there was a homogenous shoulder to shoulder mass of male Indians filling the sidewalks and flowing to fill one lane of the street on each side—cars fought to pass. There was a gentle, pleasant hum of voices—like bees might buzz in a hive. We moved through the crowd with comfortable interaction and pleasant eye contact. Men greeted each other with excitement, hugs, or customary hand holding. These were immigrant temporary workers separated from their families for time measured in years, not the weeks I’m separated from my family. Street stands sold phone cards enabling them to call home to their loved ones. I knew Singapore depended heavily upon outside workers but this became real and personal with the experience of being even superficially among them. For me there was a mixture of amazement and excitement—I have never been in such an environment.

We found a local restaurant and had lamb and mutton dishes that were pleasantly spicy along with a yogurt interwoven with cucumber and carrot, greens and delicious bread. Afterward, we walked thru the wet market where many of these men were buying fish, meat or spices for their upcoming week. Women were, if not rare, certainly less than half of a percent of the people seen. Shops were closed with few exceptions due to the Sunday work holiday—so we plan to return during the week.

Duke Tropical Ecology Course--BLOGS

Blog Addresses for our group—where they are posting their observations:
(they will be added as they are accumulated)

Carly Knoell http://carlyworldtravels.blogspot.com/

Annie Wolf http://anniestrips.blogspot.com/

Day 7--Early morning ramble--McRitchie Reservoir

A Ragtail Durong sits in silouette, and unidentified brown bird sits in the mist on dripping leaves--just after sunrise and another Durong sits atop a dead tree with unidentified friends, and at the Tree-top Walk a sea eagle flys over in the distance.

A thoughtful monkay watches us pass on the trail after we earlier saw many turtles and occassional monitor lizards checking us out.

Our visit to McRitchie Reservoir and Bukit Timah began with a 5:30am departure from the hotel so we could see dawn there and the intensity and variety of Singaporean use of the park. Our taxi dropped us off among a steady stream of cars/taxis. All around us—in the dark—Singaporeans of a variety of ages came to what seems a favorite spot. It was Easter Sunday and people gathered for a sunrise service--“brisk walkers”, joggers, easy ramblers, people doing individual Tai Chi or Yoga—all were in place before and at dawn. The volume of people grew thru the morning. The setting was beautiful and sunrise illuminated a heavy mist. In fact, all morning, the mist hang in the air.

We walked the edge of the reservoir hoping to see some wildlife while we experienced how the people of Singapore used one of their preserved greenspaces. From these four hours, many people cherish this setting. One Stork-billed kingfisher flew overhead, doves sat in the trees and swallows flew high. A few small birds were seen along with a Racket-tailed Drongo and a sea eagle. One large Snakehead (fish) was near shore and turtles were frequent and several monitor lizards were seen. The songs of birds were varied and everywhere but the mist and early hours limited photos—few came close as well.

We walked the Tree-top walk and then headed to Bukit Timah which is a preserved rainforest site (tho in decline from numerous factors) and the highest spot in Singapore. The walk and climb was challenging for me—we did about 13 kilometers distance. After making it to the top and back down to the city proper ( a total of 4 hours) our group ate a delayed and welcomed breakfast at a Malaysian stall-style restaurant.

Then back to the inn to shower/rest/ blog/ or explore. In the evening, everyone does their own thing—Javanese massage for some of the gals, visit to Little India for Dr. Dan and I, and –well, we will hear what everyone did when we gather for breakfast.

Ecology and Planning--Bollywood Day 6

Photograhing the Javanese Myna, I happened to also capture the Stork-billed kingfisher in the background. Also, I got a distant shot of the brillant colored oriole--you should see the flash of color as it flies. A unidentified bird feeds on seeds of the tree flower.

Today we began with a stimulating experience of visiting the class of Lai Choo Malone-Lee who teaches students of joint environmental design and community planning. It was amazing to witness how thorough and forward thinking they are and realize they are only part-way along their journey to merge ecological issues and developmental needs as Singapore is beginning to increasingly want. They presented work group proposals for an area known as the Dragon Kilns which is also sitting in a sensitive wildlife corridor.

Then we went to Bollywood which is not only a demonstration garden/agricultural enterprise along with a fantastic bistro, but (as patrons alongside us related) a genuine and cherished oasis from the more concrete city. They felt being surrounded by green flora was a valuable escape. This reminded me of the scientifically proven fact heard earlier this week that “people living in intact habitats are happier and healthier”.

Ivy Singh was our host—giving us a glimpse into her garden and her perspective. Only !% of Singapore is set aside for agriculture and the existing farms and farmers are constantly threatened by the rapid changes. The granite and building materials dump/storage nearby feels like fingers of development reaching forward attempting to clutch this small remaining geographic area. As she related, “ when the last fish is caught and the last tree is cut and the last crop is destroyed—you can’t eat money”///all part of a regional proverb from hundreds of years ago.

Our stop at Sunei Buloh was cancelled due to a monsoon rain lasting a couple of hours. Rains occurring later in the year are a noticed change by several citizens we have met.

I hoped to see more birds to i.d. and photograph—my surprise was to get an accidental pic of a stork-billed kingfisher as I shot a Javanese myna for fun.

Check out-- http://www.bollywoodveggies.com/
Don’t just check out the site, but if you live in Singapore, check out the bistro and farm.

Day 5--Semakau

Starfish/octopus/sea cucumber and Ria leading the mudflat look-about

Semakau is the island south of Singapore which serves as the landfill site for all the incinerated ashes of the country’s trash comig from several processing sites. Semakau previously was the home of a native village and culture that was displaced by this islands reclamation and new purpose. The result seems to be a successful, clean operation to handle rubbish but also providing a unique habitat for wild birds and preserving/replanting of mangroves, sustaining an extensive area of mud flat/sea grass and coral rubble and coral reef further out. There is also a tropical forest section behind the mangroves—and plenty of mosquitoes. We saw few birds but a wide variety of species—some exotic or uncommon—but this is a desirable birders site. I saw no shorebirds but one heron was seen by someone else. Our timing put us there at dusk and low tide so we could see the variety of coral/starfish/shell-dwellers which I couldn’t name—and much more.

The ride out to Semakau allowed us to see the massive petroleum factories—one 2 or three largest in the word/ shipping docks-second largest in the world and also Singapore’s state bird (according to our birder guide at Ubin--Raj) the crane—in this case along the docks.

We saw starfish, octopus, sea cucumbers, numerous types of coral, an anemone with “nemo” hiding inside, and –well, I wanted to run about to see the nest thing someone else found. We were calling out in joy with our discoveries to show our finds—seventeen of us—there was no minute without a new find and and a new gathering. Later, we learned that there was much to be seen by staying still and quiet and life emerge from hiding.
We were guided by Ron and a contigent of volunteers and especially Ria Tan.

Please visit Ria’s sites:

Her blog post for Semakau is up on the wildfilms bloghttp://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2008/03/pulau-semakau-with-dr-dan-and-friends.html

The photos of our visit are also up on Ria’s flickr accounthttp://www.flickr.com/photos/wildsingapore/

Ria features news on the wildsingapore news bloghttp://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/

Ron's blog is at: http://tidechaser.blogspot.com/