Nicely fed at GardenAsia Bistro behind, my explorers are ready to take on the wild… Let’s go!!! Nice to see that the family has chosen clothes that blend in with the trees and mangroves so we get a great chance to see the wildlife. Amazing set of camouflaged clothes they have chosen today.

A beautiful breezy and very healthy lunch was consumed this day before our adventure commenced. We sat overlooking the pond on this lovely, dry day. Blissful. Wifey even said she felt so relaxed here she was very sleepy. Good job GardenAsia Bistro.

OK, when I said we all ate healthy that clearly excludes Strawberry Blonde who ordered a Coke Float the size of a small child…

Who wants to see a crocodile? “Meeeee….” said Jude Jude. And, how big do you want it to be? “This big Dad…” said Jude Jude. Or was he saying “Wow, I love GardenAsia Bistro Dad, look at it…” Or was his Dabbing action broken today? Or had he sprayed Mum’s hairspray not deodorant under his arms??? Doesn’t matter, he is super-happy and that’s all that matters.

Here is the VERY disappointing photo I mentioned, and this is just one of so so many I could have taken. There was a very bossy rubbish disposal lady wandering around with a bin-bag and tongs picking up a little bit of plastic here and a bottle there and moaning at everyone for having masks not fully up over their face – well we are strenuously walking sweetheart which is the ruling. How about you strenuously stop your bitching and do your job and clear this shit up. It was high-tide as we walked around and there were tonnes of this everywhere. I have done clean-ups on St John’s Island myself. All it takes is some effort and focus and this can be gone in a day – come on Singapore National Parks Board (NParks), invest some resources, coral some volunteers (I would gladly volunteer) to clear this up and stop it returning next high-tide. It’s saddening to see this.

A little walk down the road from the restaurant past a few prawn fishing places and we arrived at the Reserve. We went left again to do the circular walk of where we had been before and then plan to cross over to the other side and do the long walk in a straight-ish line to the visitor centre to catch a cab home. Our 1st welcome to the wetlands is from these beautiful little fruit bats sleeping up in the eaves of the welcome centre. About the size of a small squirrel, they all look rather cute but I bet ridden with disease and comes with a nasty little bite…

Then we get to see the most common monitor lizard among the three found in Singapore, the Malayan water monitor (Varanus Salvator) – like a bloody U-Boat this thing is. This bugger can grow up to 3m long and I reckon we ended up seeing a couple that big today. The other two species you can espy at Sungei Buloh are much more elusive, namely the clouded monitor lizard (Varanus Nebulous), and the rarest Dumeril’s monitor (Varanus Dumerilii). Monitor lizards are mostly carnivorous and will scavenge on carrion. Please watch the video for the monitor lizard we caught on video catching a and trying to despatch a frog. It was just incredible to watch.

Can you see it? It was making an incredible noise and got louder the closer we got. So with some closer inspection, I was able to spot it and get a little picture. The Cicada. A tree-sap eater. Daddy-pedia kicks in – apparently, there are more than 3,000 species, but roughly falling into 2 categories; annual cicadas, which are spotted every year, and periodical cicadas, which spend most of their lives underground and only emerge once every decade or two. Have you spotted it yet?

Back to those 3m long big boys. Have a look-see at this monster lazing in the sun by the water’s edge. HUGE. The plants are not really giving this scale. Believe me, this is huge and sooo fat. Jude turned around quickly, saw it and called out; “Daddy…” Cheeky bugger.

My carefully camouflaged explorers crossing the water channel to get to the wetlands. Like to Cicada, can you see them? Note how they blend into the background. It almost becomes impossible to see them. Cough cough…

A very cheeky and camera-shy squirrel. This little bugger would just not sit still, despite Jude Jude telling him off. Finally, though, he paused to munch on some fruit and/or nuts. So cute.

Another incredible thing today. The largest flipping mud-skippers I have ever seen. We have seen these all over South East Asia. Usually, they are a couple of inches long, like 2-3″. But, these buggers are HUGE, like a babies leg long. Strawberry Blonde and I also had the chance to witness, what I think were two males have a territory fight in the water. Like two Bull Seals having a crack at each other, super-aggressive and making a real splash. Amazing to watch. It was like being back in Margate after the pubs shut.

And now for PANO setting to come into its fore. Up to the top of the viewing tower, we climbed and I took the chance to take some 180 degrees panoramic snaps. Last time we were here in March 2019 it was so much drier. Tiny little pools, not lakes like we have today. I think that is Malaysia in the distance.

It really was just stunning here today. Again, I’ll call out the weather. We had such good fortune. No rain and cloud cover so it was not so hot. Just perfect for walking around this rather large wetland reserve.

Taken on purpose for my Mum. This very jetty was where she stood with us, with Malaysia behind. But that photo was taken in…2009

Today we even saw a lone Macaque monkey. High-tide so he was just chilling eating fruit and nuts, but really pissing off the murder of crows higher up in the trees. They were seriously going crazy because of him. Quite interesting to see a lone Macaque so I can only assume he was not part of a family due to a more-dominant male being in charge.

I could have watched him for ages. He was so chilled out. Just sitting there looking around for his next goody to munch on. Life’s pretty good being a Macaque it seems…

And off he goes to higher branches to get to fresh fruit and nuts. See you later buddy.

A rather brave explorer gets very close to another Malayan water monitor. It also gives you a chance to see how big these things get. This is not far off Jude Jude’s size if you include its tail. They’re big, big, big… Not Crocodile Dundee, but Monitor Lizard Jude Jude…

We spotted a stunning Great Egret sat in the mangrove trees as we returned back over the bridge to start part II of our wetland adventure today. Stark white against the green. Also worth calling out, despite not seeing one, was the number of Kingfishers in the wetlands. Everywhere we walked you could hear them calling. 

The boardwalks here are uber-cool. Every now and then they have these ‘pods’ that look like flower-bulbs, I even said they look like shallots – sorry it’s the cook coming out in me. It’s just wonderful to walk through the mangroves at a birds-eye view and/or a fish-eye view. It’s just ace, especially if like me you are a Richard Attenborough wanna-be at heart.

Here is another one of those babies-leg sized Mud-skippers. No idea what they’re eating up here in the Woodlands area of Singapore, but they are literally 2-3 times bigger here than I have ever seen. 

And on this side too the Malayan Water Monitors are enormous. Sitting there in the sun again, just at the water’s edge in the mangroves. It looked so calm and lethargic but believe me this thing was constantly eying us and sniffing us with its tongue. Ready to pounce or run-away. One of the two… But you could tell he was a coiled spring…

Time for some panorama again… Check it out. Gorgeous.

Check out the video again for much more insights and images to ‘this side’ of the wetlands reserve. I took more video here because we have never been here before. It’s just brilliant, even including rope bridges just above the floor of the jungle – I feel like Indian Jones… damn where did I put those sacred stones…?