Vol 1 No 1
Dec 93

Wildlife Sanctuary
(Part 1)

(Part 2) what you can experience
at the Park

Demystifying Migration:
A study of birds on the
East Asian Flyway

Insectivorous Bats: Studying them at the Park
  Wildlife Sanctuary
in Singapore: A Sneak Preview (Part 2)

The Visitor Centre
The Visitor Centre hosts a series of facilities including a lobby area, an exhibition hall, a theatrette, an education workroom, a laboratory and administrative offices. The exhibition hall houses displays and exhibits, and the theatrette tells the story of the Park through a 10-minute audio-visual show.

Savour a leisurely walk here
Part of the Visitor Centre is surrounded by a moat with fresh water pond plants. Built mainly of wood, the Visitor Centre building exudes a quiet rural charm.

A Magical Sea of Trees
A mangrove catwalk traverses the coastal mangroves adjoining the Visitor Centre and a stroll here is a refreshing and tranquil experience.

At high tide, it turns into a magical setting of 'a sea of trees' where visitors can reach out to touch a trunk or peer into the eyes of a ghost crab crouched on a branch. Occasionally, the loud cackling of a kingfisher breaks the soft gentle lapping of the tide. The shaded placid waters are broken by the rays of sunlight streaming through the leaves of trees. At low tide, the mudflats teem with wildlife.

Mudskippers look out suspiciously from shallow pools of water or skim quickly to other pools. Dog-faced watersnakes pursue little fish and crustaceans. Crabs hurry here and there and creeper shells bask in carpets of green algae. With a hand lens, you can see a profusion of insect and mud life.
The strange root formations of mangroves are also a curiosity. Some twist, turn and bend like human knees. Others protrude out of the soft black mud like thick needles. Yet others branch from the trunk and seem to prop the tree up—like stilts. The strangling stems of figs wrap themselves around straight trunks and weave formations reminiscent of artwork.

Roots come in all shapes and sizes,
but none more interesting than
those of mangrove
A walk along the catwalk is a return to tranquility, and to the sounds of life. It is a return to nature.

A Walk in the Park
After the mangrove experience, the main reserve area opens the world of wetland birds to visitors. Hides are located in several areas. These are wooden structures for bird observation. A narrow viewing slit or window opens out to the ponds. The windows allow only minimal light in so that any movement made by bird, watchers will not disturb the birds.

A resident Purple Heron
From the hides, herons can be observed roosting on treetops, egrets wading in the shallows of water, and smaller waders playing along the edges of ponds or roosting in large flocks on islands.

Along the various trails, there are butterflies, dragonflies and a host of other insects. Cobras and pythons may be encountered but they are more likely to be frightened off by us!
The Park is home to a predator of birds—monitor lizards. They are more often heard than seen, a loud rustle of grass or a plunge into the ponds maybe their only traces. Occasionally, you may catch one sunbathing along a path. When confronted, it will clumsily but surely scurry away into the safety of the shrubs.

Facilities and Services
There are guided group tours around the Park for visitors. An Education Service also provides visiting school groups with a guided tour as well as participation in an education activity.

Research
Because of the large diversity of life to be studied, research in the Park is ongoing. Plant and animal identification, recording of the number of migratory birds and their species, their arrival and departure times, finding out where they will fly to when they leave Sungei Buloh and if they will return next year—such studies help us to understand better the mystery of migration. They also form the basis of management of the ecology within the Park.
   
© Sungei Buloh Nature Park