on saturday, i got the opportunity to see the nature side of singapore rarely seen by many of us. i signed up for a guided tour of pulau semakau which was organised by the raffles museum of biodiversity research.
a little info on pulau semakau. in the year 1999, when the last remaining landfill on Singapore’s mainland was exhausted, the semakau landfill was created by enclosing pulau semakau and a small adjacent island (pulau sakeng) with a rock bund. so now, all our waste ends up at semakau, i.e. ash from the incineration plants and all non-incinerable waste. during the construction of the landfill, effort was made to protect the marine ecosystem, especially mangroves and corals. 13 hectares of mangrove were replanted to replace those removed during the construction of the bund. thus wildlife continues to thrive on pulau semakau.
i left marina south pier at around 710am and reached the southern island of semakau in 30 mins. on first impression, the island looked rather bare. other than the jetty, the NEA building and the mini wharve, there was absolutely nothing to see.
we had to take a 5-minute bus ride to the inner part of the island to reach the mangrove area. from there, we had to bash through a mini forest which had a fair share of mosquitoes. but i guess the bashing was worth it, as what lay ahead was a rather pristine intertidal area of semakau.
my guides, july, who is a very enthusiastic guy, together with his coral expert, angie provided us with lots of interesting anecdotes and facts regarding the area and the discoveries found on the beach. we had a fruitful morning at the beach, finding interesting creatures and plants to photograph and admire. these things are definitely rare or non-existent on the beaches found on mainland singapore.
to see more of the pictures, please check out my flickr -> here!
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