Upon arriving in Singapore very early in the morning on the 31st of July, my family has managed to see some of the sights and sounds of the city despite being highly jetlagged and grumpy. Myself, full of excitement to be (now) living in an equatorial city-state containing pristine tropical rainforest and diverse and exotic Indomalayan fauna, quickly planned a solo outing to a nearby wetland reserve with migratory birds, crocodiles and otters to do some casual hiking and wildlife watching to seek out interesting animals. After my outing, perched 22 stories in a hotel above the bustling shopping malls, hawker stalls and busy streets of the city while writing this blog post, I can say at the very least that Singapore has surprised my with its biodiversity so far!

This clean, well-designed city is almost like a huge manicured garden, with elderly, sprawling Rain Trees planted beside every road along with colorful flowers and carpets of tropical shrubbery that altogether create a strikingly vivid, emerald metropolis. While the territory of Hong Kong contained more wild spaces due to its hilly topography, the actual built-up areas within Hong Kong were packed close together with limited greenery and a more busy, chaotic feel, whilst Singapore is far slower-moving with endless green spaces throughout the city and a spaced-out, biophilic design. More my style!

I started my expedition to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on the morning of August 1st, pumped to see some cool critters. Among my target species were monitor lizards, crocodiles and exotic birds as well as otters. The public transportation I took to the reserve (especially the MRT) was incredibly smooth, even when compared to Hong Kong, and after about an hour on 2 busses and a train, I found myself at the gate to these biodiverse wetlands.

It was noon and the midday tropical heat (although not as bad as I worked it up to be) caused me to pour with sweat as I pulled out my gear. Already I was enveloped in the cacophony of the rainforest; the ring of cicadas was simply overpowering. I could already see some distant birds as I made my way to the visitor center, eyes peeled for wildlife. My first avian species were both lifers; some Javan Mynas foraging on the ground, followed by a lone Yellow-Vented Bulbul chirping on a tree branch.

Next to the visitor center was a small lake encrusted with water lilies. I almost immediately spotted a super cool critter that I wasn’t expecting to see this soon: an Asian Water Monitor basking in the sun! One of the world’s largest lizards, these prehistoric-looking reptiles can grow to over 2.2 meters or 7 feet long! They are as comfortable in the water as they are on land, and seeing one in the wild is awesome. After the first monitor swam away, I took a stroll around the lake and found a few more before heading back to the main path.

Sungei Buloh, which means “River of Bamboo” in Malay, is part of a network of wetland reserves stretching from Japan to Australia, including Mai Po in Hong Kong, that preserve migratory bird stopovers on the East Asian Flyway. Almost 250 bird species are found here. In winter, migrants from as far away as Siberia stop over in Sungei Buloh, and many of the species I observed in Mai Po are found here during certain times of the year. The reserve straddles the Malaysian-Singapore border in the northwest corner of the island city-state, and during low tide an expansive mudflat is exposed where crocodiles and wading birds can be observed. Many birding hides and unique-looking “pods”, metal structures modelled after natural objects, are scattered throughout the reserve, often overlooking different areas of interest.

Apart from mudflats, habitats within Sungei Buloh include mangroves, brackish marshes and coastal tropical rainforest, which is what I walked through on my way to the Coastal Trail, one of the primary trails through the reserve. The rainforest was incredibly dense and damp, with towering Banyans and abundant Fishtail Palms making up the majority of the vegetation. I saw Ashy Tailorbirds, Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers and more bulbuls here, along with some unique-looking butterflies and dragonflies.

One of the first animals I saw when I arrived at the coastal trail was one of the most amazing reptiles I’d seen in my life, swimming out in the bay. I could see the head, nostrils and pointed tail of a 10-foot Estuarine Crocodile exposed above the surface! This astonishing creature is one of several individual crocodiles found in Sungei Buloh; experts think that this population of crocs is the result of a few transient animals that migrated from Malaysia to Singapore in the 1990’s. Crocodiles had previously been hunted and persecuted to near extinction in Singapore during the 20th century, so it’s great that they are returning. Estuarine Crocodiles are the world’s largest reptiles, growing to a massive 20 feet (6m) long and weighing up to a ton. Adults possess a gargantuan bite force of 3,700 pounds per square inch– the strongest bite of any terrestrial animal. They are infamous for being man-eaters, and are responsible for the deaths of dozens each year, but are generally unwilling to attack humans unprovoked and prefer to prey on fish, other mammals and birds. The crocodile I saw disappeared too fast for a photo, however it was an amazing sighting, and one I won’t easily forget about!

As I walked along the coastal trail, tall mangrove trees began popping out on both sides, with many well-maintained boardwalks leading out onto the bay providing some nice vistas of Johor, Malaysia. On one of them I spotted a few Black-Nest Swiftlets swooping about on the hunt for insects. Back on the main trail, a feral dog began following me for a bit which made me a little uncomfortable– feral animals in the wild can be dangerous, but the dog was relatively shy and departed into the nearby foliage shortly after. There were many turquoise-hued Collared Kingfishers along the trail, some deep in the mangrove forest, and though kingfishers are notoriously hard for me to photograph, I managed to get a shot of one. Later on, I ran into two guys who were herping along the trail, keen on finding some snakes. We quickly ran into an Oriental Whip Snake, a cute, slender tree-dwelling serpent with an iridescent bronze back! My camera wouldn’t focus so I wasn’t able to snap a photo, but it was another awesome herp sighting, my third one of the day! Singapore has some seriously impressive reptiles!

Along the coast, it was upsetting how much trash was washed up from nearby Malaysia. Poor trash disposal services in rural areas are a primary cause of such pollution in many oceans around the world.

I started walking with a friendly Bengali guy who spoke very broken English, but enough that I was able to understand him. Like me, this was his first time in Sungei Buloh and he was game to spot some animals as we trekked into the most remote and biologically rich part of the reserve– a meshpool of lush mangrove forest, bird hides and open marshes where many resident and migratory wading birds congregate. A beautifully-designed second visitor center near this part of the reserve had some interesting birds, including Common Flamebacks (a type of woodpecker), Pink-Necked Green Pigeons, and Zebra Doves, all three lifers. We ran into tons of House Crows and many colorful, lively Plantain Squirrels as we walked around one of the biggest open marshes in the reserve. A tropical rainstorm began, although the canopy of the nearby trees provided more than enough cover to observe wildlife without getting soaked. We saw quite a few monitor lizards swimming in nearby bodies of water and crossing the path.

The walk around the marsh took about an hour, and as for wading birds we saw, I was not disappointed with the diversity or abundance of species, especially given that the migratory season in Singapore is winter. We spotted Little Egrets, Gray Herons, Common Redshanks (a lifer), and Milky Storks (another lifer). Milky Storks were easily the coolest birds I saw at the reserve. These alluring, endangered storks are closely related to the Painted Storks I saw in Sri Lanka. The two species are known to hybridize in captivity: some of the individuals in Singapore are hybrids due to the primary population of storks being the result of ex-captive individuals escaping into the wild, though the species is native to the country.

We finished the trail, which led back to the visitor center, and the guy (who’s name I didn’t catch), departed. I took a longer route back to the bus station at the reserve’s entrance to try and find the crocodile, but to no avail. I caught the bus and within an hour, I was back at my family’s hotel– hot, sweaty and tired, but really satisfied! I was extremely impressed with the wildlife I saw today (especially the crocodile), and I will certainly be back to Sungei Buloh in the future! For a large city in particular, Singapore has absolutely loads of cool wildlife. Due to its greening efforts, its location near the equator and its preserved swathes of wildlife habitat, Singapore is among one of Earth’s most biodiverse cities. It is unsurprisingly a birding haven, with a large population of East Asian migratory birds (like Hong Kong), as well as a number of fascinating Southeast Asian rainforest species like hornbills, barbets, parrots and broadbills. The sheer diversity and abundance of mammals and reptiles here far exceeds Hong Kong and has opened doors for me to explore different types of wildlife watching other than birding– I look forward to going mammal watching more often and to start herping (reptile watching) here in the future! Note that for the first time I included a list of reptiles I saw on my outing, a testament to how impressed I was with their abundance here.

I wish someday to work as a zoologist/conservationist in Borneo (I’m pretty much obsessed with the place), and Singapore could be a gateway there due to its proximity to the island and similar biology, so it’s super cool to be living here! Thanks for reading as always, and stay tuned for more posts,

-Bennett

*A lifer is a first time observation of a certain species for me

Bird Species Recorded: (17 total, including 10 lifers*)

Pink-Necked Green Pigeon (Lifer)

Zebra Dove (Lifer)

Milky Stork (Lifer)

Black-Nest Swiftlet (Lifer)

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker (Lifer)

Common Flameback (Lifer)

Ashy Tailorbird (Lifer)

Javan Myna (Lifer)

Yellow-Vented Bulbul (Lifer)

Common Redshank (Lifer)

House Crow

Gray Heron

Little Egret

White-Breasted Waterhen

Collared Kingfisher

Asian Koel

Rock Pigeon

Reptile Species Recorded: (5 total, including 3 lifers)

Estuarine Crocodile (Lifer)

Asian Water Monitor

Oriental Whip Snake (Lifer)

Common Sun Skink (Lifer)

Red-Eared Slider

Mammal Species Recorded: (1 total)

Plantain Squirrel