back in s'pore, back to nature

i prefer visiting the sungei buloh wetland reserve on a weekday during the school term time. first, you do not meet the crowds. second, there is no admission fee to pay. on weekends, the place can get quite packed, so much so that you may not get a parking space. also the noise generated by so many visitors, especially young children, scare away all the shy animals, like the smooth otters. on a normal weekday, if there is no organised group, you hardly meet anyone along the paths and the three marked routes.



this family of otters was rolling on some dried leaves on the track. there were two young ones in the water nearby. i do not know if they are the same otters that i used to see at the sand bath near the visitors' centre. the two cubs are definitely new additions. the otters are quite wary of humans. you have to approach them slowly because when you get within 'striking' distance, the big male will give a signal and they will all disappear. i think they have a better sense of smell compared to their sense of sight.




while on the main bridge, i noticed something unusual in the water below. from my many visits to the wetland, i could tell that it was not a huge monitor lizard. i suspected it was a crocodile. it turned out i was right. the creature seemed to be aware of my interest because it submerged and disappeared. i knew that it would re-surface somewhere, sometime. it re-appeared on the other side of the main bridge.




i stayed on the main bridge for about half an hour watching the crocodile, apparently stalking its prey. i do not know if it was after the monitor lizard or the common sandpiper. it was still like a piece of log, allowing the incoming tide to push it towards the land. when the bird flew away, it switched its attention to the monitor lizard. i had my camera ready for any swift action by the predator but the crocodile seemed to have loads of patience. i lost mine and decided to go on exploring the other parts of the reserve.



apart from the usual sightings of monitor lizards, plantain squirrels and waterfowls, and hearing the calls of the kingfishers, crows, white-bellied sea eagles and the orioles, i came across this creature up on a tree near platform 2.

what do you think it was?

was it a python? a common krait? a viper?

scroll down to find out

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the water monitor lizard is a good climber. so is the clouded monitor lizard. it was enjoying a nap up on the tree.

the smooth otters of sungei buloh

you can read about the smooth otters here.

i have seen the otters in various parts of the sungei buloh wetland reserve. the first time i saw them was at the sand spit, at low tide, near platform one. at that time, the soldiers were still on the lookout for the famous fugitive. i asked one of the soldiers and he told me that the otters usually made their appearances at low tide.

the second time i saw them, they were frolicking in the sungei buloh besar and later chasing one another on the river bank. there were six of them, two adults and four kids.

subsequently, i saw them twice in the muddy pond near the visitors' centre. again, it was a family of six i saw. they were playing in the water and abruptly, on a given signal, they all got out of the pond, clambered onto the land and proceeded to the river where they swam upstream.

i have also seen a solitary one at the pond between stations 5 and 6. it was hunting for fish on its own.

today was the first time i saw the otters on the track. at first, i thought they were puppies but when they looked up, i recognised them as otters. if they are from the same family - they must be - they have really grown. the kids are now as big as the adults. four of them were on the track and three others were in the pond on the left. again, when the leader gave a signal, all of them moved quickly to the pond on the right. they soon disappeared into the water.

one of the staff members at the reception commented that i was lucky to have had so many sightings of the otters. my explanation was that because i moved about alone, there was minimum noise to scare them away.