Hi friends of the Crabs, we are pleased to announce the 2 public walk dates for November and December. Do join us to explore the mangrove region of Chek Jawa from the safety and comfort of the boardwalk. We welcome visitors of all ages as long as you're able to walk 2 km with us on a boardwalk.

Chek Jawa is rich in plant and animal life. The volunteer guides, including several student leaders from Dunman High, should be able to show you lots of interesting animals in the mangroves. On a typical outing to Chek Jawa, one should be able to easily spot mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, fiddler crabs, snails, bugs, monitor lizards, kingfishers and even snakes. Of course, sometimes we can get really lucky with sightings such as otters, white-bellied sea eagles, Oriental-pied hornbills, woodpeckers. No trip is ever alike, and that's the fun of it all. The kids, in particular, are excellent in spotting animals. So kids, you have some work to do when you come for one of our 'Crabby' walks. Just like last month, we would not have spotted the otter if not for the keen eye of one of the kids. Read about the awesome walk in October.

Our outings are fun and educational although a tad tiring. Come prepared for both hot and wet weather. It is always nice to get out of the city to enjoy the natural woodlands in Pulau Ubin. Make an effort too to understand nature conservation issues, especially because we all live in an urbanised country, and we tend to lose an understanding of what it means to share our space with animals, plants and natural habitats.


Dates: 2 November and 7 December (Saturdays)
Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2 hours
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Charge: Free

Click here to get to our online signup page. We will give you a confirmation by email. Do be patient with us as replies may be delayed. If you have questions, feel free to write to us at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com.

Do read on to find out what you need to do to prepare for the walk....

Yesterday's public walk at Chek Jawa was awesome! There were sightings of the white-bellied sea eagle, otter and.... a dugong!

timestamp 11:28:12

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(photo contributed by Ian Siah)

We are looking forward to another great outing to Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 5th October, 2013, Singapore!

Sign up with us, and our volunteer guides will take you around Chek Jawa on the boardwalk. We will walk about 1.1 km on the boardwalk, climb up a 20m high viewing tower (Jejawi Tower) for a panoramic view of the surroundings, and then end off with a drawing/sketching session at the English Cottage.

The biodiversity at Chek Jawa is rich. The boardwalk runs through the mangrove as well as the coastal regions. You should be able to see interesting plants and animals. There are many species of mudskippers, fiddler crabs, tree-climbing crabs, monitor lizards and even snakes. Chek Jawa is also rich in bird life. There are frequent sightings of hornbills, white-bellied sea eagles, herons, woodpeckers, sharmas, kingfishers and at this time of the year, migratory shorebirds at low tide.

orange fiddler crabs on the mudflats

We have volunteer guides who give their time for free to show the visitors around. We do this as an educational outreach to Singaporeans and residents, to show them the rich natural heritage that is in our own 'backyard'.

families exploring Chek Jawa from the mangrove boardwalk

Date: 5 October, 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 for 2 hours
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Boardwalk on Pulau Ubin
Cost: free

Click here to sign up online. We will give you a confirmation by email. If you have questions, write to us at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com.

For more information on Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, how to get there and other Really Useful Information, please read this blog post:
http://nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.sg/2013/01/2013-free-chek-jawa-boardwalk-trips-on.html#.Uh4gK2TMpN2

Hope to see you soon!

Enjoy the rest of the photos taken at our walks in 2013.

We held our anniversary walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk two weeks ago. It's our 6th anniversary! Time does fly.

We love Chek Jawa with all its natural splendor - forests, inter-tidal ecosystems, animals, birds, insects, fishes - so we are not going to let this outing pass without at least a post on our blog!

Here's the Big Group photo that we always take at the start of the walk. We didn't have that many visitors, somewhere around 30 visitors. But we had lots of guides that day. There's Pei Yan, Sankar, Ria, Yin Xin, Daniel, Kok Sheng and me (leykun). Kok Sheng had 5 of his students from Dunman High join us too. We all had a great time!

(what's Pei Yan looking at through her binoculars?)

Catherine who first met us at the Festival of Biodiversity in July came with her family too. Hi!



A quick introduction and briefing from the guides before we set off. We always ask our visitors to keep a lookout for animals and plants, and point them to us. It's an interactive exchange between guides and visitors. Sometimes, our visitors have lots of interesting stories to tell us too. We are constantly learning about nature from one another.

There's so much to see and discover at Pasir Ris mangroves, just minutes from the MRT station. Bugs literally show up on our hand, as Ian shows.
Although we had only a small group of families (it's exam period?), they were most enthusiastic and great spotters. So we saw the owl, snakes, flying lizard and lots of other interesting animals.

Specially for families and kids! Come for a cool evening walk to spot crabs, giant mudskippers, birds and more!
These mangroves are just a short walk from Pasir Ris MRT station. The tour is FREE, but please register online.

We're almost in September, and time to get out to Chek Jawa Boardwalk for our monthly free nature walk.

And guess what! We're celebrating 6 years, yes, SIX YEARS, of monthly nature walks (with a break here and there) by the Naked Hermit Crabs at our favourite natural but vulnerable coast! Has it been 6 years? Absolutely. Go check the blog post of our first guided walk at Chek Jawa: First NHC Guided Walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk, dated 8 September 2007.

First Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing by NHC in September 2007

So, come on down and join us at this anniversary walk.

Date: 7 September, 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 am for 2 hours
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk at Pulau Ubin
Charge: Still free!

If you are new to Chek Jawa, here's what you can expect to see in the mangroves and coastal areas.
- Lots of mudskippers and tree-climbing crabs.
- coastal forests, mangrove trees, fig trees, nipah palms
- mud lobster mounds
- fiddler crabs
- insects such as weaver ants, stink bugs, stick insects, cotton stainer bugs.
- reptiles, i.e. snakes, water monitor lizards, changeable lizards
- birds, such as the Oriental Pied Hornbills, eagles, sharmas, bulbuls, tailor birds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds.

This tour is kid-friendly, so bring your families.

Now for the important bit... how do I sign up? We have an online registration form. Sign up and we will send you a confirmation after that.

For more information on Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, how to get there and other useful information, please read this post: http://nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.sg/2013/01/2013-free-chek-jawa-boardwalk-trips-on.html#.Uh4gK2TMpN2

Or contact us at nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com

See you soon!

mudskipper

otters (year 2012)

Oriental Whip

tree-climbing crab

on the mangrove boardwalk

on the coastal boardwalk