This island is one of Singapore’s few islands that can still be visited by the public, and only a 45-minute ferry ride away. The tranquil nature found here include coastal forest, Triassic cliffs, sandy beach, rocky seashore, inter-tidal, mangrove, and coral reefs offshore. These easily accessible varied natural habitats make this island an excellent spot for nature study and outdoor exploration. Sea turtles have been recorded to come on-shore to lay their eggs. Rare, endangered seashore plants are still found surviving along its coastline.
Our nature camp program:
Saturday 10/6:
1.00pm Board ferry at Marina South Pier to St. John’s 1.45pm Arrive on St. John’s, free & easy 3.00pm Check into our dormitory campsite, program briefing 4.00pm Nature-guided trek round the island 6.00pm Dinner 7.30pm Nature-guided night walk 10.00pm Night sky-gazing, zzzzzz
Sunday 11/6:
7.00am Breakfast, nature-guided walk to Lazarus Island via land bridge 10.00pm Check-out of dorm 12.00pm Board ferry to Marina South Pier
Cost: If we have a group of 15 paying pax, it is at $80 per participant. If we have a group of 20 paying pax, it is at $60 per participant. FOC for kids age 6 years and below of participants.
Cost includes provision of breakfast, and does not include the other meals and ferry rides ($15 return per adult/kid).
Please note:
St. John’s and its dorm are managed by Singapore Land Authority which requires advance booking with the personal particulars of all overnight visitors.
To reserve your seat/s, please email the participant/s:
- full name as in identity card/passport
- identity card/passport number
- mobile number
to Andrew at: andrewtay.sg@gmail.com
Closing date for registration: 10 May 2023
Falling on 22 April, Earth Day marks the occasion to highlight the pressing environmental issues that we’re facing and the need to protect our planet. Join Cicada Tree Eco-Place for a guided walk in MacRitchie forest, part of the largest nature reserve and green lung in Singapore, and home to rich biodiversity. We will be exploring Windsor Nature Park and Venus Loop for this walk led by our volunteer guides. Get to spot mammals like the Malayan Colugo, birds like the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, and cool insects such as dragonflies and beetles. Learn why secondary forests like MacRitchie is crucial to us and how you can do your part for the environment.
This walk is free of charge and suitable for kids 5 years old and above.
Please note that your seat is confirmed after you register for the tickets. We will send all confirmed participants an email with more details of the walk, including meeting location, one week prior to the event. Those who joined the waitlist will be informed via email if there are available slots.
Wildlife-watching guided walk at Rifle Range Nature Park by Cicada Tree Eco-Place to celebrate World Wildlife Day.
Date and time:
SATURDAY 4th March 2023.
9.00am to 11.30am.
Venue:
Rifle Range Nature Park
Description:
The 3rd of March is World Wildlife Day. It is a United Nations international day to celebrate our world’s amazing wild animals and plants, and their importance to our lives and to our planet. The theme for this year is ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’. We Human Beings rely on wildlife and biodiversity-based resources – Nature – for all our needs, from food to medicines and fuel. A sustainable partnership between Man and Nature is crucial.
Singapore may be a tiny island but it still has an amazing diversity of wildlife found living in its remnant rainforest, mangrove, marshland, and in the surrounding sea. Globally endangered wildlife living here include the Sunda Pangolin, Straw-headed Bulbul, Dugong, and the Hawksbill Sea Turtle.
To celebrate our wildlife and wild places, we visit the newly opened Rifle Range Nature Park to look for wildlife both big and small. Here, pathways wind though forested hills, stream and marshland which provide protected homes for wildlife. This guided walk will involve some easy climbing up a hill to a look-out point.
Please note:
This walk is free of charge but participants will be requested to give a donation of any amount to the local animal welfare charity ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society).
To register, please email names of adult/kid participant/s to Andrew at: andrewtay.sg@gmail.com
Details and instructions will be provided upon registration.
Love MacRitchie Forest nature-guided walk by Cicada Tree Eco-Place in celebration of Singapore World Water Day 2023
Date and time:
SUNDAY 12th March 2023
9.00am to 11.30am
Venue: MacRitchie Forest
Description
Our priceless Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) consists of the reservoirs of MacRitchie, Lower & Upper Peirce, Lower & Upper Seletar, and the crucial, remnant rainforests that surround them. The rainforest here creates rain and catches rainfall, storing it in its ecosystem, and drop by drop form streams slowly winding through the forest and into our reservoirs. So, in Singapore, we are also drinking water that has been made and filtered by its rainforests! We explore via the earth track through the rainforest, and onto the boardwalk along the reservoir’s edge, by-passing lush swamp-forest habitat home to unique native freshwater critters, such as the Treehugger, Dwarf Snakehead and Forest Softshell, their survival depending on a source of unpolluted freshwater. Cicada trees, monkey cups and lianas are some of the amazing flora that still thrive in these cool forests, helping to balance our climate and filter the very air we breathe.
Cost: S$13 per participant. Kids age 8 years and below of participants tag along for free.
To register, please email names of adult/child participant/s to Andrew at: andrewtay.sg@gmail.com
Details and instructions will be provided upon registration.
Urban organic food-gardening workshop with vegan lunch at Kampung Senang holistic health centre, by Cicada Tree Eco-Place.
Date and time:
SATURDAY 18th March 2023
9.30am to 1.00pm
Venue:
Kampung Senang’s centre in Tampines
Description:
This workshop includes:
guided tour of an urban organic farm and high-rise gardening
how to organically grow tropical veg, herbs and spices
learn about soil mixtures, organic fertilisers and composting
plant propagation methods
vegan set lunch with salad and soup
veg seeds and herb cuttings for participants to adopt
Cost: S$40 per adult. S$20 per child.
To register, please email names of adult/child participant/s to Andrew at: andrewtay.sg@gmail.com
Details and instructions will be provided upon registration.
Kampung Senang Charity and Education Foundation is an eco-conscious charity providing holistic, compassion-focused care programmes and activities to promote well-being, good health and happiness – www.kampungsenang.org
Jointly published by both societies, all book sales proceeds go towards conservation activities.
Singapore, 3 December 2022 – Nature Society (Singapore) and Cicada Tree Eco-Place today launched Alexandra Woodland – Haven Along the Rail Corridor, an educative book detailing the flora and fauna of Alexandra Woodland, its rich heritage and history, experiences of its residents and community, along with conservation ideas to enhance the woodland’s ecology.
Launched at Hang Jebat Mosque, this is a joint effort between Nature Society (Singapore) and Cicada Tree-Eco-Place, and is their second book collaboration to date. All sales proceeds from the book will go towards conservation activities by both societies.
Alexandra Woodland spans around 15 hectares and sits on the western flank of the Rail Corridor opposite Alexandra Hospital and is bordered by Ayer Rajah Expressway and Portsdown Avenue. For decades, this area has been left untouched by development, and has become a semi-natural woodland with a variety of habitats that includes a lake and marshland.
This Woodland is an important ecological link between the central nature reserves of Bukit Timah and Central Catchment and the parks of the Southern Ridges of Kent Ridge, Mount Faber & Telok Blangah Hill Park. It is the closest stepping stone for wildlife from the Rail Corridor to the Southern Ridges.
Dr. Ho Hua Chew, Co-editor of Alexandra Woodland and Vice Chair of the Conservation Committee, said, “In view of the current degradation or imminent development of such forests and wooded areas at Toh Tuck, Clementi, Dover and Portsdown along the Green Rail Corridor, Alexandra Woodland’s conservation significance as a haven and/or stepping stone for the dispersal of forest-associated wildlife has greatly increased and should be conserved with the recommended habitat enhancement measures in place for its long-term survival.”
“The presence of many forest-associated wildlife species such as Banded Malayan Coral Snake, Malayan Box Terrapin, Thick-billed Green Pigeon, Changeable Hawk-eagle, Long-tailed Parakeet, Glossy Swiftlet, etc., as well as the critically endangered orchid, Jamba (Neuwiedia veratrifolia), indicate the ecological importance of this secondary forest as a stepping stone or home ground for forest-associated species.”
“Nature Society’s bird records at the forest patches along the Rail Corridor indicate the Rail Corridor as a probable route for the dispersal of the globally and nationally threatened Straw-headed Bulbul from the central nature reserves and Bukit Batok Nature Park via Alexandra Woodland and Gillman Barracks to the southern coast at the Labrador Nature Reserve,” Dr. Ho added.
There are calls for this wooded area to be conserved, given its heritage and natural history.
Let’s not lose yet another forest for a road or rail. Alexandra Woodland should be preserved for its heritage and ecological values, especially amid the climate and biodiversity crises we face. It has played a significant role in the story of our nation — from river to road, spirited queens to early pioneers and legendary warriors — the spirit of Alexandra lives on today in its communities. In Singapore’s perennial search for a historical anchor to bridge past and present, Alexandra is as rich and authentic as it gets.
TERESA TEO GUTTENSOHN, Book CO-EDITOR and co-founder of Cicada tree eco-place
Mr. Leong Kwok Peng, Co-author of Alexandra Woodland and Chair of the Conservation Committee at Nature Society (Singapore), agrees that the woodlands should be kept wild. “We see the Rail Corridor as more than a strip of recreational green space. The essence of the space lies in the woodlands alongside it, without which the corridor will lose its magic and Alexandra Woodland is one such important space,” he said.
Alexandra Woodland – Haven Along the Rail Corridor was put together by a team comprising 12 people, including two editors, nine authors and a book art director. It contains 156 pages, comes in soft cover format and is printed on eco-friendly paper.
The book is available from Nature Society (Singapore) and Books Kinokuniya.
