Wading through the Marshes

So when the news came out that Singapore had a new nature spot, my husband made it a point to go and take a look at it. But first, we grabbed lunch at Gardenasia Nyee Phoe. It was our first time there and, I have to say, the food was absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended!

  

    

    

 
As with all parks in hot, tropical and sunny Singapore, we over-prepared electric fans, towels, hats, cool clothes, sunscreen and natural bug repellant and, guess what the weather had to be on the day we decided to go? It was absolutely p*ssing cats and dogs, with a huge howling wind.     

 
 

 
Well, we were NOT going to let a little rain, uh, rain on our parade, so with a small umbrella and a poncho to share among the three of us, we went ahead on our determined exploration of the newly opened Kranji Marshes. Hey-Ho! 

  

    

    
   
Interestingly, the marshes appeared in Kranji around the 1970’s through human intervention. The Kranji dam caused flooding in the Kranji area and freshwater which were unable to runoff formed the marshes which became a bird sanctuary.
   
 
Thankfully the sun decided to take pity on our poor soaked pants and shoes and gave us a chance to actually catch more wildlife other than “drenched chickens” ?????, what we Chinese refer to people who got soaking wet.   

  
   
Albeit, a couple of butterflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes don’t really count for much wildlife. We did see some lovely birds but they were hard to capture. At least the weather had turned for the better and it was very enjoyable.

Honestly, I will be back again when the weather is much better. The park (for now as part of it isn’t opened) is a really easy flat 30 min walk and great for bringing children to. Bikes and scooters are not allowed but give them a pair of binoculars and they will have a great time. Since it is a nature park, large groups and loud noises are not encouraged as we should be mindful that some individuals go there to take photos of the actual wildlife and we should not scare the animals away.

Finally, I have saved the best for the last. As if to bid farewell, we did catch a couple of White-bellied Fish Eagle doing a great display for us.