by Ron Yeo
Shorebirds: Many migratory birds stop by Singapore’s mudflats to feed and rest before continuing their journey.
Dark, smelly, dirty, muddy, scary, mosquito infested, illegal immigrant infested… Ask the usual Singaporeans what they think of our mangroves, and these are some of the common responses. In fact, I even had a friend telling me that he did not like going to mangroves because he was afraid of snakes dropping down from the trees.
Indeed, many Singaporeans consider the unruly mangroves to be an ugly sight compared with the manicured parks and gardens we find around us. There are even some who questioned why the remaining mangroves in Singapore are not cleared to make way for development. The fact that we have already destroyed over 90% of our mangrove forests means nothing to them.
Are our mangroves really so dangerous and ugly, or are they just poorly understood, or even misunderstood in some cases?
The friend I mentioned earlier, together with his family, finally braved a trip to Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk with me some time ago. At the point of writing this article, they are still very much alive and kicking, thank you very much. We were not attacked by snakes falling from trees, bitten by disease-carrying mosquitoes, or robbed by illegal immigrants. It was an unforgettable trip for them nonetheless. Finally, they managed to see the beauty in what they had thought was an ugly mangrove forest.
Tree Climbing Crab: The tree climbing crab climb up trees during high tide to avoid marine predators.
When we arrived, little tree climbing crabs were slowing climbing down the trees as the tide were receding. Giant mudskippers were frolicking in the water, grapping worms that got flushed out by the outflowing water. A pair of grey herons was nesting near the viewing platform, obliviously to the crowd of quiet onlookers. The teruntum merah trees were blooming, adding splashes of red to the otherwise green foliage.
How much money are Singaporeans spending to enjoy such little bits of nature overseas, when all along they can enjoy a similar experience at their doorstep?
If you have more time to spare, I would suggest heading northwest to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. More scenes you would expect to see in nature documentaries await: flocks of migratory birds feeding on the mudflat (from September to March every year); a crocodile or two lazing on the river bank; and if you are lucky, a family of otters hunting for fishes in the river.
But of course, the importance of mangrove goes beyond their value as a venue for leisure activities and relaxation.
Teruntum merah: The teruntum merah has pretty red flowers that attract birds to feed on the nectar and perform pollination.
In land-scarce Singapore, protecting our coastlines from erosion is all-important. The dense network of mangrove roots not only holds the soil together, but provides the environment for coastal deposition to take place – natural land reclamation in action!
Mangrove plants also filter waste matter from the land to the sea, and vice versa. It is thus no wonder that many people find the mangroves to be dirty with lots of rubbish – these plants are working hard to help minimise the rubbish from reaching the open sea and polluting our source of seafood.
The mangrove forest itself, of course, is already an important seafood supplier. Mud crabs, stingrays, clams, tiger prawns… seafood lovers will cry on the day when all mangroves are destroyed.
And not to forget the various useful things such as timber, rope, charcoal, tools and traditional medicine came from mangrove plants and animals.
Like the Ugly Duckling, there is beauty in our “ugly” mangroves, and this beauty can only be appreciated with patience and an open mind.
Otter : The smooth otter can regularly be seen at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, hunting and eating fishes in the river.
The writer is a nature enthusiast who conducts regular tours to nature-spots on the mainland, as well as to off-shore islands. He also keeps a blog, Tide Chasers.
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Are Sinkaporeans this ignorant? Mangrove swamps are a treasure trove of wildlife and one of the last vestiges of untouched nature here. They serve a very important purpose in biodiversity and balancing the ecosystem.
if we open our eyes,there’s beauty to be seen all around us. sadly,ppl only treasure things when they are gone.
have singaporeans who are always travelling oversea went to nature habitats in singapore?
beauty of nature does not ranks itself.
I totally enjoyed this article. Will make it a point to visit the places that were highlighted very soon.
Surely Singapore cannot be contemplating destroying this wonder of nature. Blindness? How much more of the real world has to be given up for man’s greedy objective, when all over the world Mother Earth and the Universe is warning us to STOP! I am involved in an Arts project in Singapore next year and much of my inspiration is the Mangrove Swamps of Singapore. They are not only beautiful, but magical.
Hoped that the mangroves will not be removed and ‘redeveloped’ for economic reasons, PAP get red eyed and goes into frenzy mode when they see money.
The mangrove nature is a treasure worth protecting and admiring. I didnt know there is one such beauty in pasir ris. Thanks TOC for highlight it. Worth visiting.
Hope that our green-eyed or red eyed Govt will leave Chek Jawa at Pulau Ubin alone, and not build ugly blocks of HDB apartments or some industrial development.
The clowns in the Parks & Recreation Board have no love of nature and think they can do a better job than God. Right now they are rapidly destroying the bit of paradise on the banks of the Serangoon River, wiping out the greenery of the river bank in favour of concrete and destroying lush nature to make cyling/walking tracks and manicured lawns. This is Singapore’s concept of development.
A good article.
But I have a splendid idea, convert the mangrove swamp into a casino resort to bring in the gamblers and boost up the GDP
Thanks for sharing
It is all down to short term greed.
Greedy Gahmen says,” Hey seafront land you know. Can sell for $340 million for development.”
Greedy Developers say,”Can makan, build shoodily, charge high, sell to rich new immigrants and speculators. then go laughing to the Bank.”
Buyers say, “Singapore so small mah, where got somemore land. Can buy. Then en-bloc and make us a million each”.
“Mangrove? What Mangrove? When they started developing it 10 years ago it was muddy waste land.”
Congratulations, TOC, for publishing this article! What a refreshing new breeze you introduced to the agenda where readers can engage in what kind of Singapore we want today and what kind of legacy we want to leave behind to future Singaporeans. Protecting and nurturing our Nature heritage is equally important to be included in the never-ending, dynamic National Debate of the Singapore we want today, tomorrow and forever as the political, social and economic issues discussed in TOC daily.
Kudos to Ron Yeo also for writing this excellent article. Thank you for your labour of love which succintly and objectively educates we Singaporeans on a national asset that has to be passsionately protected and developed. Your article is holistic, fair, non-partisan and non-divisive; so different from the divisive and vexing speeches made by so-called world leaders in so many “Save the world” international conferences.
I hope univerity professors, school principals, and Ministers and Members of Parliament will read this article, embrace the torch of “Planet Earth and Singapore! We care for you!” and pass it on to their students and constituents.
Well done, Ron Yeo! what a joy and motivation to read your article today, New Year’s Eve for 2011 and the eons ahead of us and our future generations of Singaporeans and the rest of brotherly and sisterly Humanity.
Go for it, Brother!
Thank you for this article; esp. your beautiful photos. Thankfully people like your friend is not a majority in Spore.
The main photo, with its wild birds and their mirrored images reflected on water, is great fodder to present for an award winning photo competition.
What a great presentation, away from the artificial, flowering and decadent image of Marina Bay’s IR complex.
Gah-men no like nature.
Will build more IRs.
Money Faced gahmen will say to world,
” See our lovely Marina…..CASINOs!”
Nothing real, natural and good will survive in Stinkabore!
I’ve just been to our mangrove reserve and i noticed lots of litter being thrown about here and there. wtf??
Wonderful article and this what we at ubinkayak.com have been trying our best to bring awareness to our guest too. We bring our guest out kayaking to explore our beautiful mangroves in Pulau Ubin daily. I hope more of these article will be published to bring awareness to our people.