I came across a group of Long-tailed Macaques, Macaca fascicularis at Dairy Farm. This wasn’t the only encounter but it was the only occasion that they consented to a photo shoot. Some were on the footpath, others were in an adjacent tree. Some youngsters were engaged in a rough and tumble game. If otters are largely approved of, with a few detractors, monkeys elicit a much broader range of attitudes. Are they wise, are they mischievous, will they steal my phone or my Mars Bar? I find them very engaging but yes they will steal your Mars Bar. Or steal your phone and barter it for your Mars Bar. A few walkers turned around and went back the way they came, others gave them a wide berth.
Macaques are synanthropous, that is while not domesticated they are well adapted for life around people. So are bedbugs, so are House Sparrows.
There is a second monkey native to Singapore Raffles Banded Langur, Presbytis femoralis. They are not synanthropes. A population of about 70 survive in the central catchment area. I did not get to see them.
I grew up in the East End of London. A family outing once took us to, as I recall, The Owl, a pub in High Beech in Epping Forest. The beer garden had a nice view and a water feature, I’m tempted to say a fake well but it may have been nothing more than a big tub of murky water. If this all seems vague forgive me. It was a long time go. A sign said something along the lines of, “Pull the chain to see the Water Otter” and there was indeed a chain leading into the water. When you pulled the chain a battered old kettle came up out of the murk. It was a major disappointment.
Real live otters are never a disappointment especially when seen in the wild. Singapore is the natural home of two species of otter, the Oriental Small-clawed Otter (Aonyx cinereus), which is rare and the Smooth-coated Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) which you have a good chance of seeing in a number of places including The Botanical Gardens, Gardens by the Bay and Sungei Buloh.
Otters live in small groups. They eat fish. Their behaviour is very engaging and best enjoyed quietly from a respectful distance especially when they have young ones.
Not everyone in Singapore is a fan of otters. There has been at least one attack on a human requiring hospital treatment. I have seen an interview with the man involved. The otters were upset when a jogger ran through their group. He kept running. They attacked the nearest person who was taken to the ground. He sustained bites to the legs and his face which he described as like having staples punched into his skin. The other group in conflict with otters are those privileged enough to have a koi pond in their back yard. Koi are expensive, long-lived and apparently people become quite attached to them.
The list of reptiles to be found in Singapore is very extensive. Most are small or shy, unobtrusive creatures. Two that you are likely to see are rather more spectacular. These are both monitor lizards in the genus Varanus. Australia also has a few Varanids including the rather impressive Lace Monitor while the island of Komodo has the biggest and most dangerous of them all, the Komodo Dragon. Singapore has three monitors. Dumeril’s Monitor (Varanus dumerilii) is rare. The other two are quite common and with reasonable luck will be seen in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. They are the Malayan Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) as much as 3 metres long and the Clouded Monitor (Varanus nebulous) which tops out at a mere 1.5m.
Monitors are carnivores that supplement their diet with carrion. Venom helps to kill their prey and the wounds they inflict tend to become infected so an animal that survives an attack now is likely to be carrion later. Don’t let that worry you. They are shy(ish) of people. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.
Water Monitors are usually seen in the water but can wander about on land. Cloudies are forest dwellers but I bet they can swim when they want. They can be told apart from the front end. Water babies have a blunt snout, the nostrils are close to the tip. Cloudies have a pointier snout, the nostrils are about half way between the tip and he eyes.
For such a densely populated place Singapore is remarkably green. Water and sunshine obviously help, but there has been a deliberate policy that nature should not miss out completely in the scramble for land. And it hasn’t. There are birds, mammals and reptiles in parks and gardens that are big enough parcels to sustain them. Yes, the glass is not full but don’t think of it as half empty.
In six days I visited ten parks and gardens. They were all worth visiting. My main interests are birds and wildlife so let me rate them with that in mind. (Gardens by the Bay is unmissable for different reasons). I’ll list them below the photos for any one planning a visit themselves. There are two groups – my favorites and the merely marvelous.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens were founded by the Agri-horticultural Society in 1859 in the days when Singapore was the British administrative centre of Malaya. The first superintendent, Lawrence Niven, laid out a tropical facsimile of an English pleasure garden where bands could play and the gentry stroll. In 1888 a new director, Mad Henry Ridley, took the gardens in a new direction contributing mightily to the development of the rubber industry. Professor Eric Holttam, director of the Gardens from 1925 to 1949 moved the focus to the cultivation and hybridisation of orchids. The gardens are now World Heritage listed, house the National Orchid Garden and continue to provide commercial expertise in Orchid production and much of the expertise valuable in making Singapore the green city which it is.
Admission to the gardens is free. The National Orchid Garden is not. But hey, you got here what’s another $3? Yes, that’s right, a lot less expensive than the Green Houses at Gardens by the Bay and definitely not to be missed.
Note that north on the map ain’t where it generally is. The Botanic Gardens MRT station is adjacent to the northern entrance. The National Orchid Garden is way down the other end. The walk will bring peace to the psyche.
The Eco Lake is a must in both directions. With a few colourful Kingfishers and a family of Otters, some very large lizards, exquisite flowers you have one of the finest gardens in the world. It even has pet swans, black ones and white.
Watching videos like this one is what put Singapore back on my bucket list …
The gardens were opened to the public in 2012, they cover 105 hectares (260 acres) and as well as being very beautiful gardens they include two very large green houses and some interesting treelike things. The gardens are free. The green houses are not. But hey, you got here what’s another $53?
Do the flower dome first while it’s still a climax. After the misty mountain it’ll be a long time before a green house impresses you again. The Flower Dome is the largest green house in the world. The Cloud Forest enclosure is taller but has slightly less of a footprint. Keeping these structures cool and running is a unique feat of engineering.
There are a lot of flowers, plenty of trees and some kitsch. I’m a big fan of botanical gardens, not a fan of Disneyland. The overall effect is sufficiently restrained, my sensitivities emerged with only scrapes and bruises. I enjoyed the Flower Dome … a lot.
And in botanical gardens I am much more a fan of foliage than the seasonally gaudy (although orchids are very hard to dislike). And water features, give me a water feature. I was very much looking forward to the next house.
When you enter the Cloud Forest it hits you in your soul. Pause. Gaze in wonder. Move on a short distance, turn and look back. Watch the new arrivals. What’s happening to their faces is what happened to yours as you came through the door. This way you can share the moment and enjoy it twice.
Satay by the Bay is a hawker centre adjacent to the Kingfisher Wetland and close to the MRT. Good food, a Tiger Beer and watching the sunbirds or kingfishers rounds off the experience … very nicely.
If you fly into Singapore at night you cannot help but be impressed by the lights of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ships at anchor off the south coast. Singapore became what it is because of where it is. It sits at the bottom of the Malay peninsula at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca which connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the mighty Pacific. It has been important to seafaring folk since ancient times.
In more recent times the Portuguese and then the Dutch dominated trade around the Malay peninsula giving the Brits a rather hard time. The Brits of course had India and a rather lively trade with China. In 1819 Stamford Raffles by great acts of statesmanship (shorthand for bribery, corruption and threats of violence) founded a free port on the Singapore River. It got off to a flying start. And it’s still flying high.
When I first came here it was a city in transition. Modern high rise along side colonial architecture, shanties along the river bank, junks and bumboats on the water, roadside hawkers. The hawkers are now nicely accommodated in Hawker Centres, the shanties are gone. No one has lived on the river since the Clean up the river campaign of 1983. Now it is a very clean, very modern Asian melting pot reflecting rapid and recent immigration. 75.9% of the citizens and permanent resident visa holders are ethnic Chinese, with ethnic Malay and Indians comprising 15.0% and 7.5% respectively. There are no tent cities of the homeless. You will not be offered a baggy on your way into the park. Crime is remarkably rare. If you stand outside the metro station looking at your phone someone will soon ask you where it is you want to go and point out the way. Children give up their seats to adults on the train. Adults give up their seats to the elderly. English is the language of public communication and, the very pinnacle of civilisation – they drive on the left.
The total area of Singapore is considerably less than either Melbourne or Sidney and at ~6 million the population is considerably more than either. It is densely populated.
Most people live in high rise apartments. 90% of apartments are privately owned on a 99 year lease basis. A compulsory savings program akin to Australia’s Superannuation scheme exists and can be applied to purchasing an apartment. Hence the high level of home ownership.
To buy a car you must first purchase a Certificate of Entitlement. They are sold at auction every two weeks, with the government controlling the number of certificates for sale. Set aside at least $100,000 for a small car $150k for a luxury vehicle. Then you must purchase the vehicle.
For a typical income earner on about $70k the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit, henceforth the MRT, is looking like an excellent option. And it is indeed quick, clean and cheap. It is hard to travel more than 40km in any direction without falling off the edge in any case.
I hope to avoid living in a big city for the rest of my life but if I had to I’d choose Singapore over London, New York or Paris (especially Paris).
What I do like about cities, though, are the lights …
Last full day in Singapore, 7 am, and it’s raining. And boy, does it know how to rain. We have been lucky. Most mornings have been dry, afternoons not so much. Only once have we been soaked to the skin despite our umbrellas. Rain, of course, is the reason the city state is so green.
The birding has been fascinating. Forest birding is always tough, throw in the lack of familiarity with Asian birds and the list takes a while to grow. On the other hand novelty always adds spice. Here is a taste, more when I get home and start editing …
I grew up in London. That helps with the culture shock. It also helps with traveling via the MRT. Singapore is a big bustling modern city. The sort of place I usually try to avoid. The population is a whisker shy of 6 million or about 7,595 people per square kilometre. Compare that with Australia where the population density is about 3 people per square kilometre when taken as a whole (less than one in WA where I live).
It’s a wonder that any wildlife survives here at all but there are some wonderful parks and a great effort has been made to clean up the water ways. Green has been inserted everywhere that it will fit.
bobmcgee 