30 Nov 2008 - Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

My smiley princess was getting ready for a brand new day. We are going to Sungei Buloh for a morning nature walk.

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (双溪布洛湿地保护区) is a nature reserve located in the Northwest area of Singapore. It is the first wetlands reserve to be gazetted in Singapore in the year 2002, and its global importance as a stop-over point for migratory birds was also recognised by the Wetlands International's inclusion of the reserve into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network. It has an area of 1.30 square kilometres.

The admission fee is $1 during weekends and children less than 3 years old are free. After we went through the entrance, we came to a Nature Gallery. The gallery displays panels and exhibits on wetlands and a variety of related themes. There is a cave like structure and Jerlene kept running in and out of it.

After spending sometimes in the gallery, we walked to the outdoor and decided to go for the mangrove boardwalk, which is the shortest route in the reserve.

The mangrove boardwalk allows one to experience through the mangrove without getting the feet wet and muddy. We can listen to the calls of the cicadas and watch mudskippers manoeuvre across the mudflats. At high tide, observe crabs and shellfish on tree trunks. At low tide, look out for water snakes and horseshoe crabs in shallow streams The boardwalk of 500 meters has 4 shelters and takes about 30 minutes to walk. When we were there, it was high tide so we saw lots of crabs climbing up the trees.

Jerlene enjoyed the boardwalk very much and she was holding the park map, as if she knows how to read.

After walking for quite a while, we took a rest at one of the shelters along the boardwalk.

According to the website, Commonwealth Secondary School has officially adopted the mangrove boardwalk in 10 November 2001. One of the programme involved students of the school to paint up the ceiling of the shelters with Mural Paintings.

Before we proceed for the rest of the boardwalk, Jerlene decided to do some planning of the route.

Anyway, there is only one route along the boardwalk..... :-) Jerlene seems to be a volunteer of the park and one of the duties is to keep the park clean. So on the way out, Jerlene kept clearing the leaves on the boardwalk by kicking them into the water. She will clap whenever she successfully clear the leave from the boardwalk.

After we completed the boardwalk, we went to the theatrette where there is a 10-minute audio-visual show that gives you an overview of the reserve.

I actually did not expect we will spend more than an hour in the reserve but we did. In fact, we spent close to two hours and it was really fun. I would recommend this place to whoever is interested in nature. For those who are adventurous enough, you can go on the other routes, which are much longer (some may take 4-5 hrs to complete). You can probably see more on those routes, especially those migratory birds during the season. Anyway, below are some photos of fauna and flora of the reserve.