Wetlands Reserve in Singapore

I fell asleep on the bus that I had roamed onto and traveled really far from my home. When I awoke, I jumped off in front of a wetland reserve called Sungei Buloh.  As I entered the park I passed a sign saying, "No Pets." I figured, since my parents weren't with me, I was not technically a pet at that time...I was just a small, wild cat!

This place was great fun but a little spooky. I slipped past the entrance gate passing a small freshwater pond teaming with turtles and two big monitor lizards.

I walked across a bridge and stepped on to a gravel path that led through a salt water marsh. The path was shaded by thick, green bushes and trees of numerous varieties, some of which were covered with beautiful flowers.

As I started down the path, I came upon a smallish, 2 ft long, monitor lizard who raised his head and just stared at me. His gaze startled me and the fur on my back instinctively shot up! After a few tense seconds we both calmed down and he apologized for shocking me. He told me he had never seen a bright orange cat before and then introduced himself as Larry...yes, Larry the lizard... I told him my name was Purrla and wondered if he could show me around his park.

Larry loved being a tour guide. He was younger than all the huge lizards we saw so felt honored to be asked to share his knowledge of the reserve. As we walked along, Larry expounded on all the sites we passed. We saw tree climbing crabs, puffer birds, herons, dragon flies, and spiders.

We gingerly stepped out into the marshland on a creaky dock and heard a loud splash! Larry explained that the noise was probably caused by a school of small fish being chased by a larger predator fish of maybe even an alligator! That pronouncement scared me so I ran back to the trail and waited for Larry to join me. He laughed at me for being such a scaredy cat.

As we approached the entrance/exit of the park we spotted a family of three Hornbills.
Seeing them was probably the highlight of my excursion. They were so beautiful!

Larry was hoping I could stay longer as there was so much more he wanted to show me. However when I told him I had to get home before my parents discovered I was out of the condo, he understood.

On the long bus trip home I had time to reflect on my day. Everyone thinks of Singapore as a huge concrete jungle but don't realize there are some areas of natural beauty that still remain to be enjoyed.