Background Information
History of Sungei Buloh:
The 87ha wetland was selected as a nature park in 1989 and was publicly opened by Mr Goh Chok Tong in 1993, 6th December. A massive number of 100000 visitors have visited Sungei Buloh by 1994. The Sungei Buloh fund was set up with the help of HSBC in 1997 to support its nature outreach programme. There are also schools adopting the park such as the Woodlands Secondary School in 1999, Commonwealth secondary and Hillgrove Secondary in 2001 and 2002 respectively. In 2002 1st January, the 130ha Sungei Buloh was officially gazetted as a nature reserve and renamed Sungei Buloh wetland reserve. Also, Sungei Buloh was the central for migratory birds from all over the world thus was included into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network, recognised by the Wetlands international. In 2003, Sungei Buloh wetland reserve was recognised as Singapore's first ASEAN heritage park.
General rules for visitors:
- No poaching
- No fishing (no fishing lines & nets allowed into the reserve)
- No vandalism
- No setting of fire
- No pets
- No radio/loud hailer/musical instruments
- No bicycle/tricycle (except baby pram)
- No releasing of animals
- No smoking
- No littering
- No plucking of leaves & flowers
- Be as quiet as possible
- Keep to walking trails
How to get there:
- Board SMRT bus number 925 from Woodlands interchange
- Stop at Kranji Reservoir carpark
- 20 minutes walk from the bustop
Admission fee:
Adult price: Free
Child/ student/ senior citizen price: Free
Adult price: $1
Child/ student/ senior citizen price: $0.50
Before entering the reserve, a 10 minutes audio visual show in the theatre will be screened for visitors.
Time slots:
Days: Monday-Saturday
Time: 9am, 11am,3pm,5pm
Days: Sunday & Public holidays
Time: 9am-5pm (hourly)
Guided tours:
Booked guided tours are available at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for $60 per group of maximum15 people. Booking is only available at either 9am or 3pm on Mondays to Fridays, with one month's notice. The tour is about one hour and covers the whole mangrove boardwalk (3km).
There are also free guided tours on Saturdays at 9.30am and 3.30pm (excluding public holidays). However, it is based on first-come-first served basis.
Admission fee apply to both booked and free guided tours to the mangrove boardwalk on Saturdays, Sundays, Public holidays and School holidays.
Educational Activities:
- Prawn Watch
- Nature Hunt: questionnaire to do with children at Sungei Buloh
- Young Naturalist Programme: get a passport and take part in activities to earn badges and complete the passport
- Wireless learning trail on the mangrove board walk.
Things to bring:
- insect repellent
- water bottle
- cap
- umbrella (optional)
- poncho (optional)
- money
- camera
Dress code:
- Bright comfortable clothes
- Covered shoes
Our trip
Members present: Anngie, Vicky, Siyi, Silvia,Wanshi
Absent: Isaac
Time-check: 11 AM
Vicky, Ann Gie, Siyi, Silvia and I met at woodlands interchange and decided to grab some snacks before taking bus number 925 to Kranji reservoir car park. We were not sure where to stop at and even missed the stop. But the kind bus driver stopped in the middle of the road to let us alight before the bus U-turned back to Kranji interchange. We took a 20 minutes' walk from the Kranji reservoir car park to Sungei Buloh, which is about 1.5km away. On our way, we walked past a crocodile farm, where crocodile meats are sold, and also an aeroponics farm.
Map on how to reach Sungei Buloh
What a long long way to go...
Crocodile farm
Vicky: I was very excited to look for crocodile when we get in!
Ann Gie: I still have no idea what aeroponics mean.
Siyi: I am looking forward to any air-conditioned places! :D
Wanshi: Me too~ it was a scorching hot day :(
Silvia: If only we went on Saturday or public holidays.. Then the bus will bring us inside. :(Isaac: I totally overslept, sorry!
Time-check: 11.20 AM
All of us felt tired and sweaty when we finally reached the entrance to Sungei Buloh. There is a signboard indicating the operating time of the reserve. It shows that the gates will be closed at 7pm but last tickets will be sold at 6pm. As we walked further deeper along the route, we reached a route splitting in 2 directions. On our right, it leads us to the main entrance and on our left, it is the drop off points for taxis and buses.
Us!
Facing the opposite site of the counter, there is a signboard indicating the Dos' and Don'ts at Sungei Buloh and beside the counter, there is a room called the Nature Cove. Books about wetlands, birds and plants can be found there! The room is air-conditioned and wireless broad band is available so it would be a comfortable place for research and studies to take place. There are also some displays of different butterflies and the awards received by Sungei Buloh. Strictly no food and drinks are allowed in the room.
Recycling bins are also found there and we should do our part in saving the earth by recycling our unused plastic bottles or cans after finishing our drinks, or by recycling the maps.
The Nature Cove
Butterfly specimens
Isaac: Must be a really sunny day that day.
Recycling bins
A toilet for the handicapped
Lockers outside the toilets
Isaac: Picnic next time shall we?
Vicky: If we were to travel using ALL routes, it will add up a total of 15km!
Siyi: That will be about a third of the whole distance of Standard Chartered, we can start training for next year.
Silvia: Really? But I'm not interested in running.Isaac: I didn't know Sunei Buloh was so big. Interesting?
Time-check: 11.45 AM
There is a theatre beside the nature gallery where screening of a video on Sungei Buloh will be projected. We did not went for the audio visual screening because when we reached there, it was 11.45am so if we would like to watch the screening, we will need to wait till 1pm for the next time slot.
This is Silvia, one of our group mates, with her lame action :D
Silvia: Wow! I'm on BLOG!! :D
Screening day and timings
The first place we went was the Mangrove Boardwalk. The flooring was special as it was covered by wooden stilt structures throughout the walk. We were greeted by cicada calls and butterflies when we entered. There are a lot of flora and fauna in the boardwalk. Some examples are bird nest ferns, Muntingia calabura, Nerita that were grown on trees and many more.
It was high tide when we went so we did not manage to see the mud lobsters or crabs. However, we did saw a giant mudskipper and some other small ones on the mudflats. The whole walk is about 500 meters long and there are barcodes at different areas to explain the plants found there, through the wireless learning trail.
Vicky: But we didn't manage to get the meaning of every code because we don't have a guide):
Silvia: Yup! :(Time-check: 12.40 AM
Before we enter the three routes, there was a signboard full of articles about Sungei Buloh and warnings like "Do not enter the routes during storms" and" Beware of crocodile" can be found. This will ensure the visitors know how to react when they encounter emergency situations.
Isaac: Maybe they are scared of you.
Next, we crossed the main bridge before proceeding to Route 1. No fishing was allowed at the main bridge and some photographers were at the bridge, taking photos of the shorebirds. The dustbins there are specially designed by the school students who adopted Sungei Buloh.
Safety barricade were set up to ensure the visitors safety
A monitor lizard swimming across the pond near the main bridge.
Tortoise: "hey wait for me!!!"
No Fishing at the main bridge
Route 1 is basically a route surrounding two big main ponds where migratory birds can be found during different seasons of the year. After crossing the bridge, there was a bird observation hide 1A for visitors to admire the different varieties of birds. But to our disappointment, we only saw a group of tailor birds after staying for 5 minutes. Club cars were also parked there so that the rangers could reach the destination immediately when accidents occur.
In each observation hide, there will be pictures and information on the kind of migratory birds that we might see.
Views from observation hide 1A
Isaac: This is B-E-A-Utiful
There were 5 bird observation hide and 12 observation screens in Route 1 so during the migratory seasons of the birds; one can take a holistic view of the birds at different angles. Hotline number can be found at the observation hides and observation screens. Besides the birds, we also saw a row of attap houses through the 1.1 observation screen.
All observation screen look like this. It is ensure that the birds will not see us when we see them!
Silvia: Now you see me...
Mangrove trees
Borders of Malaysia
Isaac: If you want to be arrested, why not? =)
Observation hide 1B
Views from observation hide 1B
Platform 2
Route to observation 1C
Views from observation hide 1C
Vicky: I'M THE BRAVE ONE!
Siyi: Please, me and Silvia too! Wan Shi and Ann Gie are scary cats!
Ann Gie: The lizard seems more afraid of us then we were of it.
Time-check: 1.30 PM
Dustbins were located at different areas of Route 1 so people could throw their litters in them and not on the ground. We went to the Aerie which is located at the centre of Route 1. It is 18 metre tall and at the top most level, we found special floor patterns of different leaves found in Sungei Buloh. At the aerie, we could see a panoramic view of Sungei Buloh.
Unique patterns of leaves on the floor
Views from on top of the Aerie
Roof top of the Aerie
Time check: 1.45 PM
Route 2 was only beside the Aerie and measures about 5km long. After a 10 minutes' walk away from the start of Route 2, it started to rain heavily. We had no choice, but to stop at one of the shelters provided between observation screen 2.2 and 2.3. While waiting for the rain to stop, we were stung by a group of mosquitoes. So after discussing among the group, we decided to continue our journey when the rain started to get smaller.
Silvia: I realised that it is not a wise decision to stay in the shelter. There's a lot of blood-thirsty mosquitoes.
Isaac: Repellants to use my friend!
We continued walking on Route 2 and came across the prawn pond, but did not find any prawns because the tide was too high due to the heavy rain. We went deeper to take a look at the tower hide where we saw 3 big stray dogs, and decided to go back to the visitor centre because the rain was too heavy to go on further. It was a pity that we did not go to the outdoor classroom and the mangrove arboretum, which is the longest boardwalk in Sungei Buloh.
Heavy rain!
Signs were set up to guide the visitors along the way
Vicky: Such a waste ): But I had fun seeing people being stung by the mosquito! (I only had 1 bite)
Ann Gie: You are abnormal, how come you never get stung as much as us?!
Siyi: She bathed in insect repellent before she came! I know what to do next time~
Silvia: Bathing in it is still not enough. She drank 2 full bottles so her blood also contains the insect repellent. That poor mosquito must have died without knowing why it died.
Time-check: 2.30 PM
Overall, the trip can be quite boring at times because there were not many different varieties of birds there at this time of the year and we did not get to see small creatures like the tree-climbing crabs and the mud creeper. We even got mosquito bites as souvenirs, but we did have a close encounter with 6 monitor lizards and it was exciting.
Vicky: My leg was the dirtiest and it even looked like as if I just got my leg tattooed!
Siyi: I totally agreed! You should bath more!
Silvia: Exciting to me, but a shock for you, Wan Shi. * Evil laughters
- Purchase entrance tickets
- Take note of the Dos and Don’ts
- Visit the Nature Cove
Things to do:Roam around the nature gallery
Time: 11.10am-12pm
Things to do:Guided tour around the mangrove boardwalk
Things to look out for:
- Mudskippers
- Fishes
- Mangrove plants
- Sea hibiscus
- King Fishers
- Mud lobsters
- Shellfish
- Barnacles
- Butterflies
- Birds
Time: 12pm-12.30pm
Things to do: Lunch at cafeteria
Time: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Things to do:Route 1
Things to look out for:
- Monitor lizards
- Mudskippers
- Spiders
- Shore birds
- Otters
- Observation hides
- Observation screens
Things to look out for:
- Outdoor classroom
- Prawn pond
Things to look out for:
- Cattail
- Lotus
- Water lettuce
- Water banana
- Water lily
- Aquatic frens
- Dragonflies
- Yellow bittern
