Today, I went to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) for my second nature guide training session.
To get to SBWR, you need to align at Kranji MRT station and take the shuttle bus in.
That cost $1 per person payable by the "ti" machine - ezLink payment.
The shuttle bus arrives at 1 hour intervals, starting at 9am.
If not, you can take bus 925 at Kranji MRT station and align at Kranji Reservoir Carpark during Mondays to Fridays.
Then you will need to take a 15 min walk along the road in or venture through the Kranji Nature Trail.
On Sundays and Public Holidays, the bus will stop directly outside the reserve.
The main objective was to visit the mangrove broadwalk.
Along the way, July, our guiding instructor told us many information about the mangroves here at Sungei Buloh.
We also see the transition from the normal forest trees to the back mangroves and then to the front area of the mangrove.
Along the way, we saw many mangrove crabs.
One of the is the vinegar crab.
It is called a vinegar crab because the teochews like to pickle them in vinegar.
As a teochew, I have yet to try the vinegar version.
However, I had eaten the crab pickled in the dark sauce and chilled way.
I can be considered as a guilty eater of the crab.
As the tide were coming in, we managed to see the crabs in their tree climbing ability.
Vinegar crabs are also known as tree climbing crab because they will climb up the tree trucks during high tides in order to get away from water predators.
After the mangrove walk, we proceeded on to the Main Hide.
That's one of the hideouts to do bird watching.
As this period is the migratory season, you can see different birds feeding on the mudflats.
July told us that the mudflats water level are controlled by water barrages so that the birds can always feed.
On our way to the Main Hide, saw came across this Green Crested Lizard on one of the small trees outside the toilet area.
It was just slightly above my height and it does not seem be to afraid of humans getting close.
I spent some time there taking a few shots of it.
I was lucky that there happened to be an insect flying by, just nice in the same direction and position.
Along the way, we met Ria and another guider from the Naked Hermit Crab.
And we just met them one week ago.
What a coincidence.
At the Main Hide, we could see flocks of birds flying by and landing on the mudflats to feed.
With the longest lens I had (400mm), this was the best I could reach.
These are Common Redshanks.
They can be recognised by their red legs.
The trip to the Main Hide was more of a resting place and enjoy the bird watching session.
As it was impossible for us to catch up with the shuttle bus, we decided to walk out to the Kranji Reservoir Carpark via the Kranji Nature Trail.
That was the first time I am hearing about the trail.
Outside the visitor center, we saw a Malayan Water Monitor Lizard sun busking at the broadwalk.
It felt a little pissed off at us for interrupting his quiet time.
July told us that its bite is poisonous.
I figured or remembered that it is most likely due to its poisonous saliva.
I still remembered the incident were we saw another monitor lizard walking across the path just outside the visitor's gallery.
It did not cared about the presence of humans nearby as it takes its own time to cross.
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is really an interesting place to go and visit.
The whole place is big and there are other parts which I have yet to explore.
Hopefully, I can make a trip on my own there.
Protect the nature,
Pei Yan
