Its rare to see wild piglets up close, all five of them, including an older sibling watching over them. NPark workers have also seen another family group of nine piglets, they are seldom seen after poachers tried to catch them. Their baby stripes will soon fade so don’t miss the chance to take pictures of them when they emerge from the bushes near Punai Hut.
Updated June 2011.
Durian season 2010
The durians in Ubin are dropping at its peak. It will be all over in a week or so. We camped overnight determined not to miss out. The durian trees nearby are known to have the best tasting durians.
Unlike commercially harvested durians, Ubin durians are harvested from the jungle floor as the ripe ones drop, sometimes from a great height, its spiky skin strong enough to absorb any hard landing.
We can only hear muffled thuds so its not easy to locate durians by sound. The first step is shine our flashlights at the tree to check where the durians are hanging in numbers, this will give us an idea where to look as they roll hidden in the bushes. Still, they are easy to miss, you need a keen nose to catch a slightest whiff, so we would not consume any durians until the hunt is over in order to preserve maximum sense of smell.
Durian night hunt
Picture of durian tree. Click to zoom in.
Suddenly a durian dove straight towards us. There is no time to react, it shatters right between us with a loud thump. The durian exploded inches from my feet, bounced and spikes into my friend’s calf, drawing blood. We have been lucky, it could have smash our faces as we looked up. The durian was already rotting. Durians get watery and some rot on the branches from too much rains.
The durian that nearly hit us.
The rains also brought in mosquitoes in huge numbers, we covered ourselves with expensive spray repellents and planted no less than 10 mosquito coils around our camp area, having run out of egg cartons to burn.
Although the harvest is plentiful, we were contented with 7 durians. Other diligent groups got more. There are small shelters built under the trees, keeping the occupants dry and safe from falling durians. Others use electric bikes, criss-crossing the island revisiting each durian grove.
Updated: 10 July 2010
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Took leave. Camped overnight for the past 2 weekends. We heard that Ubin durians are beginning to fall and were excited. Unfortunately we were too early. There were unriped durians on the grounds with teeth marks. Like us humans, monkeys are also excited and plucked the durians too early before they ripen. We sheepishly accepted durians from Mr. Lim, a Ubin villager staying at Marman “Orchid farm”.
We were again unsuccessful on the second week. There were durians pickers camped under the trees. One sat motionless for hours, coming into life on sounds of durians dropping. They would race towards the spot where they heard the durians drop. These people must have heard tales of thousands of dollars earned picking free durians. There is a family of 10 brothers earning $10,000 picking free durians or $1,000 for each brother. Small sums for many but there are lots of poor folks in Singapore.
We only managed to get one before they came running over. During to the rainy season and the cooler weather this year, the durians were watery and bland, quickly fermenting within space of several hours, unlike the previous seasons where they tasted a lot better.
It looks like we have to go to remote parts of Ubin for our durian hunt.
Updated: July 01, 2010.
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Durian seasons come to Ubin twice a year. The major one lasts a few weeks and no one knows the exact dates. The first sign is the abundance of durian flowers, indicating the season is about to due in a few months.
Some durians will fall earlier but these are usually premature durians. Fully ripened durians will fall a few weeks later and lasting for about 6 weeks. Other tropical fruits also ripen at the same time including rambutans, mangosteens, dukus and langsat.
Ubin durians are a treat. In the midst of the hot season, the durians are expected to be more fragrant too They are your organic varieties having been left abandoned by islanders who resettled a long time ago. Being older varieties without the benefits of modern cultivating techniques, Ubin durians are tough to open with flavors that vary from tree to tree. Use gloves and a “durian knife” to pry open.
During durian season, entire families would converge heedless of snakes that may hide in the bushes. Ubin villagers usually wear “phua chu kang” boots to protect themselves while gathering durians. Some even use umbrellas to protect themselves from falling durians.
Q. Why durians drop at night
Durians drop during the day too, although more at night. From the same tree, its durians will drop over several weeks, but sometimes they hang tantalizingly for weeks and are suddenly gone in a week or so. Once ripen, the frequency seems to in favor when temperatures dip or rise quickly when night come or when dawn breaks. Strong gusts of wind will also bring about unexpected bonus. Which is why picking durians is a waiting but rewarding game.
As durians usually drop at night, there are brave ones who stake out at cemeteries waiting for the loud thuds of durians falling. You need a trained eye plus a strong flashlight to find them as they roll into shrubs and bushes.
Update: 19 June 2010.
Durians are beginning to fall and we were excited for a night of adventure and durian hunting. Have bought a couple of new flashlights to try out including my favorite lights. They include:
Zebralights H60 Headlamp 18650 Flood.
HDS CR123a Ra Clicky ExecutiveTM Flashlight (General purpose)
Quark CR123x² Turbo (For throw)
I am bringing LED lights for its weight, excellent run-times, super brightness, and good color rendition. Qualities that are essential for durian searching.
If you intend to find some. Just follow your nose and look for them on the forest floor. Sometimes you hear a lucky thump of durians which has just fallen. Make sure you rent a bicycle with basket, like this lucky couple did. You also need repellents to deter mosquitoes from feasting on you.
Don’t congratulate yourselves too soon if you find durians on the floor. They are probably bad if they are discolored and smell a bit off, Those with bites marks are from frustrated monkeys who cannot get through the though shell.
Unseen, the wild boars are waiting too. During the night, they would push the durians against the forest floor with their tough snouts until the durians split open like flower petals. By morning only empty husks remained. Many ‘ghosts encounters’ were results of mistaking these pigs or islanders trying to scare people away from collecting durians.
Although durian gathering can be fun, there are ‘geylang types’ from mainland Singapore who act as if the trees are theirs. They would intimidate others including Ubin villagers who come near, loudly proclaiming their ‘ownership’. Its not true of course.
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Their scientific name is Sus scrofa
This is Jack, probably the most photographed pig in Pulau Ubin.
With a population of 500 boars, they managed very well to hide themselves.
Instead you will see a lot of freshly churned top soil as they dig with their snouts for earthworms. Their favorite snacks include rubber seeds and durians.
Consider yourself lucky when you encounter them. The older big ones may do a mock charge. Just shout to frighten it away.
Smaller younger ones may even feed close to you and are not wary of humans.
Even up close they are so pre-occupied with eating that we were able to take pictures up close.
Avoid baby pigs with little stripes. Mum is around and she can be very protective.
Striped piglet. Photo taken at Chek Jawa.
Sometimes you may come across their nest. Be cautious, the nest are used by other boars to hide in also.
Coconuts torn open by boars. Their snouts are that strong.
Coconuts are also used as bait to set traps. Report to Nparks should you encounter such traps. Some poachers even use leg clamp traps that are danger to unsuspecting humans and pets.
Update: Jan 2011
Wilds pigs also feed on shorelines and mangrove swamps for their favorite shellfish. Herds would sometimes swim across the Straits of Johore looking for new source of food. To them, and to tigers when Singapore is just a fishing village, the Johore Straits is just another large river similar to those in Malaysia. Which is one one hear news of occasional wild pigs that lost their way into mainland Singapore. Its too bad they are seen as free pork like free fruits during Ubin’s durian season. People here would launch themselves in avid discussions how how they should be cooked instead of viewing them as living links to mother earth.
Lokan clams with ample meat are among their favorites. Speaking of lokan clams, an old Malay lady was gathering them when she came face to face with a boar which she mistook for a tiger, causing a tiger scare where signs were put out warning everyone by authorities. There are still false alarms since. Anyone with photo of the warning signs to share?
Otters are shy animals who quickly hide when they are approached. They are very rarely seen even for regular Ubin visitors. Count yourselves lucky if you see them and avoid making your presence known. My friend Andy have been to Ubin for many years and finally got his luck. They were spotted 350 metres east of Ubin jetty (lon/lat 1.403579, 103.973310).
In the sixties, British forces personnel adopted a colony of otters living on a small islet off Changi. A servant working at China Sea Beach Club (rebuilt into SAF Ferry terminal) would row over and feed them fishes bought from the wet market. The islet is long gone, the area reclaimed when Changi airport was built. The otter colony was abruptly dispersed and dead ones were caught on fishermen nets.
Otters are slowly making its comeback. They have been spotted at Sungei Tampines, Paris Ris Park (lon/lat 1.379849, 103.953285),
These lizards used to be commonly seen in Ubin. When startled, they climb up to the nearest tree. Their natural predators are dogs so make sure your pets are leashed.
These lizards are not prolific breeders, their numbers declining, being easily trapped by poachers, who include “snake head biters” commandos who like to show their prowess biting off heads of live snakes.
If you are a student and being entertained by one, remember that wild animals are protected in Ubin. Tell your instructor that you have already seen how its done and set the creature free instead of eating it. There is cautionary story of a SAF army commando who is a Ubin regular. Happens about 14 years ago. He subsequently died of blood poisoning after drinking wild reptiles blood. Monitor lizards are scavengers and carrion eaters. They swim about eating dead carcasses and are known to burrow into freshly dug graves and eating the dead bodies, which are traditionally wrapped in shrouds only and buried in shallow depths. Malaysians regard them as filthy animals. Its a bad idea to catch wild ones for pets and endanger your family members.
Jungle survival course training in Pulau Ubin.
Jungle survival training are usually conducted by armed forces for individuals who are selected for their top physical condition and mental endurance, in order to conduct dangerous missions, learning to escape and avoid capture. They are not being taught to ordinary soldiers for a number of reasons.For rainforest people who spend their entire lives in the jungle, finding enough food is a big challenge. The scarcity of animals on the forest floor resulted in very little meat in their diet. Yet many of such survival courses including TV reality like Man vs. Wild teaches the fun part of trapping of small animals for food. To survive in jungles is a perilous undertaking as no jungles around the world are the same. There are poisonous plants, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, mosquitoes that brings malaria and dengue, parasitic worms, bacteria causing dysentery or leptospirosis from rat urine which causes organ failures. It takes an entire lifetime for forest people to survive in their environment. Such 3 days courses create false sense of confidence that leads to tragedies and deaths.
Parents should consider carefully before allowing their children to go for exotic courses for the sake of gaining precious extracurricular and leadership points in the hope of gaining admissions to prestigious institutions, undergoing 3 days of gruel-ling programs which young bodies and minds are not conditioned for as in this tragic story which 2 schoolgirls drowned in Pulau Ubin more than 10 years ago.
Singapore CDC, Nparks, school principals please take note. Here is an actual experience related by a trainee while in Ubin.
Anyway monitor lizar do taste good. confrim nicer than chicken esp those farm bred ones we eat nowadays. Choose the ~0.5m long ones. Smack bugger on the head until tongue drop out sideways… hang on fence or pole, slit the skin from throat down to tail with a razor…and just peel it off like piece of clothing until the claw area and chop if off. All their fats are concentrated in one area at the belly (yellow lump). Just pull it off and the rest are all lean meat. Serious! If you are in the jungle and there is no cooking oil, just melt this fat back and stir fry the chopped up lean meat from the rest of the body. Throw away the head and neck. Jungle cooking, make do with what u can find lor..pandan leaves, chilli or even small fruits. Above was really what me and some buddies did during jungle survival @ Ubin many moons ago.
Update: 7 Sept 2010.
Since the post was put up this site got hits from people searching for information on buying clouded monitor lizards as pets or as parts (gallbladder). It is illegal in Singapore to buy or trade in exotic snakes and reptiles. All AVA need is to catch the traders who will turn in their customers for lighter sentencing.
Trail cameras are used by hunters. They are also also used by wildlife researchers. My friend lent it to me and I am hoping it can help capture pictures of rarely seen mouse-deer and leopard cat.
We took late boat to Ubin on Saturday (May 8, 2010). At 9pm there were people going fishing or camping on weekends. The van driver was contacted ahead to pick us on arrival.
We headed to Chek Jawa to camp at Punai Hut. The spaced rows of rubber trees nearby would give the camera unobstructed view and allow us to learn its functions. This time, I am hoping to get pictures of wild boars and if lucky, get pictures of mixed domesticated/wild breeds. These have short legs and look closer to pot bellied pigs. If we are extremely lucky, we may capture pictures of an albino or white haired boar which some villagers claimed to have seen.
Unfortunately, it rained heavily earlier and air is dense with humidity which carried noisy sounds from jets taking off from Changi Airport three km away. Most animals including boars tend to be less active on wet weather.
We only managed to catch pictures of ourselves with the trail cam. It was just as well as the camera was angled too high.
Initial impressions. Despite being an expensive Reconyx trail camera, its main failings is narrow point of view, cumbersome size and lack of picture preview. Such cameras are not ready for prime time and expensive at more US$600 considering the lack of local sales support.
Our night is not wasted however. We met young campers trail walking with laser pointers looking for glow-in-the-dark mushrooms and fireflies. There is always something interesting to do in Ubin.
Soon it was dawn and the jungle is alive with bird calls especially of Ubin jungle fowl with its distinctive choked crowings. Chek Jawa is open from 8.30am to 6pm but you can talk to the caretaker for permission to visit earlier. Took pictures of the famous English bungalow House No. 1 which is restored and converted into a visitor centre. Chek Jawa is worth a visit for its coastal view and organized walk on its mudflats. Entrance is free for now.
The first visitors started arriving from 9am. This time there were about 50 retired ladies on a field trip organized by Sembawang Community Club. One lady was a nurse midwife who was stationed for a 2 years in Ubin in the early 60s. There is a dispensary at Ubin village now converted into a restaurant (Ubin First Stop). She recounted the number of babies she delivered during her time when Ubin numbered more than 2000 residents then.
Most scenic pictures of Ubin we see in the web are taken in the evening. There are very few pictures of sunrise unless you are a Ubin islander and is at the jetty every morning.
The pictures here are taken by Mr. Moh. Mr. Moh and his wife have lived in Ubin for the last sixty years. Together they operate van taxis services on the island and we are one of their regular customers. Early this year Mr. Moh asked for my help to get him a digital camera. I got him a low cost Nikon camera.
As it turns out, Mr. Moh pictures were beautiful, especially morning scenes while waiting for the first arriving customers. Sometimes there will be large ships crossing the narrow Johore straits under cloudy blue skies which make wonderful postcard pictures. Below are pictures Mr. Moh have taken. Click on them to enlarge.
Cruise liner along Johore Straits
Sunrise over Ubin
Wooden jetty in soft morning light
Shore birds flying
Curious monkey at Chek Jawa
No so shy boar at Chek Jawa
Mr. Moh van taxi rates are reasonable. You can also arrange bookings for early pickups or night trips. His mobile number is 97317629.
My friend Andy who have been photographing Ubin wildlife told me Ubin wild fowl can be difficult to photograph. One can only get fleeting glimpses as they dash through the jungle floor.
If you are lucky you may come across a brood of chicks following its parents. The chicks are vulnerable to natural predators including monitor lizards, monkeys and wild pigs. Wild pigs would churn up jungle floor for earthworms, removing undergrowth and giving the fowls less place to hide. There are worrisome signs as some Ubin villagers notice their numbers are declining.
My concerns turn to elation when I saw 17 adults, male and female while walking along coastal walk at Chek Jawa. Chek Jawa is now a secured area and is closed after 6.30 pm. Thanks Nparks for keeping them safe from poachers.
We were lucky to spot this civet cat (paradoxurus hermaphroditus) up close in our night walks. Caught out by our flashlights, it froze allowing us to take pictures.
Coffee seeds harvested from the feces of the Palm Civet Cat is most sought after and is the most expensive in the world. Pulau Ubin used to have coffee plantations before the war. Next time we might just go looking for their droppings in old coffee groves for some good “weasel coffee”.
Civet cat droppings with undigested forest seeds.
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Picture above. The elusive Greater Mousedeer photographed at Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
With the last official sighting 80 years go, its great news to learn that Greater mousedeers were sighted on Ubin. (Another link)
Mousedeers are called Pelandok in Malay or Kancil in Bahasa Indonesia. Some Ubin villagers have seen them, but they have also spotted sun bears and gibbons in Ubin so its hard to believe what they saw. There are even reports of tiger being sighted spooking everyone. I once saw an old boar with strange gait that I almost thought I saw an orang-utan.
The reduction of people residing in Ubin has brought some unexpected benefits. The enlargement of Outward Bound School perimeter occupying nearly the whole Western side of Ubin also help create a “no man’s land” where animals have space to themselves. I am hoping to find squirrels which used to be common in Ubin many years ago.
But opposing Yin Yang forces are still at play. Contractors are indiscriminately fogging some places in Ubin killing mosquitoes, butterflies and other insects alike. They pour chemicals to kill mosquitoes larvae when there are pond fishes already feeding on them. There are huge land development going in Johore just 5 km north of Chek Jawa, potentially cutting off migrating animals like wild boars who are able to swim across to Ubin. The creation of an anti smuggling fence sealed Ubin further. There is a family of otters in Ubin itself which may not survive as a breeding population.
Pollution is problematic with tanker washings going on at Johore side, discharging oil and tar. The rivers of Johore are choked with rubbish landing on Ubin shores that some visitors declared Noordin beach as the dirtiest beach they ever saw.
This is Jack. This wild boar was a piglet when it was injured and rescued about 14 years ago. Today, Jack’s growing tusk is about poke into its cheeks, causing lots of discomfort. Its about time for it to be cut.
Update: 9 February 2009. Jack should be happier now. It was sedated before several volunteers were able to hold it still before cutting its tusks.
Some visitors felt that Jack should be returned back to the wild. Its too domesticated for that now. Ubin lovers remember Priscilla, the female boar at Chek Jawa.
Photo courtesy of Wild Shores of Singapore
You can see Jack at “Orchid Farm”, 180 meters south of Maman beach. Make sure you collect lots of rubber seeds from the rubber trees nearby that area. Jack loves them.
Here is a link of another picture of Jack by Thomas Hoven. We all shared his feelings of Ubin.
Sometimes you might come across turtles far away from water sources. These are actually terrapins.
How to tell turtles, tortoises and terrapins apart.
1. Turtles have webbed feet for swimming. They live mostly in the water.
2. Tortoises feet are round and stumpy for walking on land. They live on the land.
3. Terrapins have clawed feet. They live both on land and in water.Note:
The word terrapin comes from an Indian word meaning ” a little turtle”.
I found one while cycling in Ubin. I put it in a disused fishing net and released it back to the quarry lake.
There were 3 separate encounters after that. One on the mainland by the side a road. Looks like these creatures have a wanderlust during mating season.
January would be the best month to visit Ubin. The December rainy season is just over. The island is dry and breezy, skies are blue and the air is bright and clear. You don’t get weather like that too often. Its also perfect for photography.
A superzoom point-and-shoot camera is an ideal tool. A great all-round camera. Here are the pictures we got in a single day outing.
Its a lucky day. Having a camera ready also make you more observant too.
A buffy fish owl
A golden web spider (Nephila pilipes)
The pictures below are blurred. We were too excited.
The elusive jungle fowl
A foraging bush pig
Wild pigs will stampede when they are caught by surprise. Baby wild pigs with striped backs may run in panic towards you with their anxious mother behind them. Shout or make loud noises to let them know you are nearby so they have time to run the other way.
Pulau Ubin wild monkeys are usually shy and avoid people. But in many places like Bali they associate food with humans and were known to attack people especially young children.
Alpha male in Pulau Ubin watching over his troops.
There are cobras hiding in the bushes so don’t go tramping about.
Shed cobra skin as pictured below.
Pulau Ubin islanders wear long boots when searching for durians. But entire families from mainland would converge in Ubin hoping to find free durians.
This dog “Robin” died from a single cobra bite.
Blackie’s score is 3 dead cobras so far.
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