Even though rubbish was strewn adjacent to it, this view and its surrounding ambience had me holding my breath. Welcome to St. John’s Island (in my opinion, this is one place where Kuching would be a better alias instead). Of course, this doesn’t greet you immediately when you first set foot on the island. In fact, not unless you are willing to brave slippery slopes and muddy banks can you savour this hideaway with its near-pristine waters. With approximately 35 employees from the Deutche Bank in tow, we all set off to the island to carry out a coastal-cum-mangrove cleanup. Indeed, whoever’s been to the island would agree that this location (especially the small area of mangroves) was sorely in need of a spring-cleaning.
Proudly sporting their bright blue logos (which apparently means a growth that is steadily regulated), the near 40 people were separated into 3 groups. With LK as the lead guide of the group, I was assistant with my responsibilities ranging from being a photographer to seeker (of certain fruits of plants etc). But mainly, I was there to gain some know-hows of being a guide. Lesson 1: The type of audience matters. To be an engaging guide, one has to change the mannerism, language and content according to the kind of listeners. After kicking off with introduction, LK explained the itinerary of the day before going a little into the history of the place. Apparently, this island used to be a former quarantine station for leprosy cases and a penal settlement for political prisoners and ringleaders of secret societies. Cool eh?
After making sure everyone has put on the proper required shoe wear, it was time for the short guided tour. The first plants LK touched on was the pong pong tree (Cerbera odollam) which flank the roads situated near the coast before proceeding to a few mangrove tales. Lesson 2: Never drown your audience in a pool of scientific facts. Scaring them defeats the purpose of a guided walk. Instead, share with them stories or information which they can relate to in their daily lives. Unless you have a group of ecological students/scientists that come for an education tour, it’s best to leave out the scientific names. Common names would do just as well. In fact, the public might relate better to these and would hence, be more interested in the walk.
The Chinaman’s Hat or the limpet (left) got quite a few oohs and ahhs from the audience. Lesson 3: Elaborate on the readily-seen features. Visuals and images sink in more quickly then words. In fact, if it’s possible, talk about some quirky facts that are associated with the clear-to-see features. Like the limpet, it’s stuck so hard to the substrate that it’s near impossible to pry them off with just bare hands.
We were all pretty amazed (yours truly excluded cause she was trying hard to find a pong pong fruit while snapping shots of the group.. lol) when LK explained that the hole dug by the ghost crab (Ocypode sp.) (right) tunnels down four feet at a 45° angle. Animals and plants and such are important and make wonderful tales, however, the natural features of the landscape (eg strand line etc) are also excellent fodder for guides to focus on.
Everyone having fun with the Casuarina branchlet (left). Lesson 4: Touching can do wonders. And I don’t mean anything lewd with this, mind out from the gutters please. :) Anyway, instead of just going on and on about a certain plant or animal, it’s also good to let our audience get a feel of the described organism. Even letting your group handle simple things like the aforementioned branchlet is a million times better than letting them listen to you drone on and on about the wonders of this and that. Humans, we get distracted real easy.. before long, it will be thin air one is addressing.
Lesson 5: Having fun is not against the law. In fact, it will ease the tension and let you communicate more easily with your audience (right). Of course, the assistant guide left that area with puffs of white, hairy seeds in her face. =.=”
Everyone gazes far into the sky as they tried to catch a glimpse of the distant Brahminy Kite (left). And soon, we reached the designated area that green group was in charge of. Looks fairly clean doesn’t it? Well, seeing is not always believing.
The flowers of the Teruntum Merah (Lumnitzera littorea) (left). It was really hard for me to leave a plant without getting at least one clear picture of it, but then duty calls. Nearby the plant had some weaver ants crawling about it. Though they can have many nests (right) on one plant, only one will contain the queen. Small but smart.
Resembling a fresh mound of poop, this mud lobster mound (left) was found aplenty (new and old ones) on the muddy area which we trekked upon. These mounds are made when the mud lobster digs deep into the muddy substrate in search for food. Whatever mud that they come face-to-face with will be kicked and piled on the surface.
And in the Eden of verdant tranquillity, a large Nipah palm (Nypa fruticans) (right)was found flowering and fruiting. Apparently, this plant has many uses. But I can’t seem to conjure up any, and the only use I know of it is that the jello-like substance in the seed is eaten as attap chee. Ooh, now that I think of it, LK also mentioned that the sap collected from the plant is also used to produce Gula Melaka. This gotta be one of my favourite trees. :P
And here’s what I meant by the Eden of verdant tranquillity. Except for the rubbish marring its edges, this scene was near-perfect.
And boy were there a lot of them! Split up further into 3 groups, each was given a pair of tongs, gloves and a couple of those black, massive garbage bags before they went their own way to pick up the trash strewn about. And as expected, there were a lot of plastic bags being disposed off. Other wastes include construction trash, a large polystyrene box (above), cans, cardboards etc. It was too much that those in charge stopped recording the rubbish (the data will then be added into the database of the International Coastal Cleanup) picked and focused their energy solely on the fairly arduous task.
By the end of the day, the place was relatively cleaner compared to the 1 hour before. Although the people have been encouraged to reuse, reduce and recycle, there’s still a long way to go before Singapore can achieve its aim to be 100% litter-free. As RY says, each and everyone of us is already helping with the conservation of nature just by not littering and recycling. :)
It was a fun day indeed despite getting all muddy and wet (the heavens opened up and poured as we were on our way back to the jetty), but little did I know I was in for a nasty revelation. >_< Get well soon, A720 IS!
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