Friday 27 May 2016 – The Cicada Tree Eco-Place and the NUS Civet Research Team (NCRT) brought 34 members of the public on a close to three-hour night walk.
The night walk is part of Pesta Ubin 2016, a five-week open house initiative with plenty of activities lined up to celebrate the off-shore island Pulau Ubin.
The participants met at Changi Point Ferry Terminal, ready to bump-boat their way to Pulau Ubin. Photo by Katie Tan.
Participants arrived after sunset. Photo by Ria Tan.
The eventful night started off with a slideshow presentation by Vilma D’Rozario from Cicada Tree Eco-Place, and Xu Weiting from NCRT to introduce the participants to the civets and other local wildlife that live on the island. Andrew Tay from Cicada Tree Eco-place, and Ria Tan from Wildsingapore also shared some do’s and don’t’s of going to the forest.
Vilma D’Rozario’s stories left her audience curious and captivated. Photo by Ria Tan.
Weiting shared some tips on finding out the diet of the musang. Photo by Katie Tan.
The participants and guides then headed off to the forest trails with their torches. The group walked for an hour and a half and saw many interesting flora and fauna. Coincidentally, it was flowering season for durians and many of the trails were filled with yellow durian flowers. Being quiet and respectful of nature, the participants were graced by the presence of flying foxes, smaller bats, a nightjar, an oriental scops owl, a rare eight-spotted crab spider, and last but not least, a common palm civet!
The musang finally appeared at the end of the walk. All craned their necks just to catch a glimpse of the eyeshine of this amazing creature atop of the towering durian tree! Photo by Ria Tan.
We thank the participants for their enthusiasm, Cicada Tree Eco-Place (Andrew Tay & Vilma D’Rozario) and Pesta Ubin organiser, Ria Tan and Pesta Ubin volunteer, Mohammad Juhari, for making the night so wonderful for everyone. It was a night walk filled with numerous interesting stories and fun facts! We are also very grateful to Uncle Lim on the island who kindly allowed us to use his backyard as the holding venue.