Should we ban or allow kayaking in mangroves?

photo by Moira 

Ever since the series of SKB1 paddle, I have received encouragement from people who would like to do more of such kayaking, and reservations from authorities who are concerned about kayaks’ impact inside the mangroves.

When I first paddled into our mangroves more than 10 years ago, I remembered mostly fear of the mud and ‘dirtiness’ of the mangroves. I felt an urge to paddle out immediately.

I have since been enlightened about the mangroves from passionate nature lovers I paddled with. They opened my eyes to a wonderful intriguing world. 


"I see you".

 photo by Kathy

For instance, the elegantly named Rhizophora disperses not seeds, but nurture live babies on its branches until they are ready to stand on their own. Long, slender, and shaped like a rocket, I used to think the shapes have to do with their need to shoot down into the mud. But that is not so. The rocket-shaped babies had evolved to enable them to walk later on.

Babies?

These Rhizophora mangrove trees give birth to live tree babies so we don’t refer to them as seeds. The mother tree allows her baby trees to grow and stay with her until they are long enough to take root.

When they drop, these babies cannot walk. They can only float. They drift with the winds and tides until they are ready to stand and grow legs. Some take a week to stand, while others take a month. How they stand? The sharper tip is water absorbent while the rounded end is not. The tip will gradually absorb water until it dips heavier than the rounded end. And like a magic wand, the babies can stand upright in the water, ready to walk.

With sunshine, the first leaves sprout from the top and legs from the bottom. When it hits land, it quickly hauls itself upright by sticking more legs into mud.

photo by KC

Inside the mangroves this time, I watch these babies swaying as the wind blow. I wait in hope to see one of them fall, putting my hand on the cold bark of the tree. As I wait, I see interesting snails all over the trunk of the mangrove. For those who love maths or beautiful things, you should pause to examine these little creatures carefully. For the spiral of their shells reveals the secret of aesthetics and beauty, long use by painters, architects and perhaps even plastic surgeons!

The kayak sits in silence inside the mangrove, so quiet in fact, that you can watch the whole mangrove community going about their morning activities. The snails are painfully slow to watch but the birds are always very active in the morning.

The egrets and herons always have that wide-eyed alert look about them. They are languid, even when they fly; no hurry. The Kingfisher on the other hand, is the more paranoid bird. They keep a distance, guarding their privacy. Green pigeons are the noisy ones up in the trees, rustling about, and chasing each other. There are many other birds I could not identify.

The kayak does not disturb these birds, or even the mighty Brahminy kites. The birds continue to roost, or draw fish after fish from the rich mangrove river.

photo by Mel

The amphibious creatures are the shy ones. The best way to spot otters is patience and low light. Just sit quietly on your kayak and wait. For safety, the otters crossed the exposed mudflats in a hurry. They surprised me with their size, speed, and numbers. A pack of 10 almost galloping at full speed across the mud flats during the lowest tide of the month. Their hunched back heaved up and down as they run.

The ugly Goby fish, or commonly known as mudskippers, are not only shy, they startled. They conceal themselves one moment and then make sudden and abrupt movements. Many times, they can give paddlers a fright, because it is so quiet inside the mangroves.

Even more elusive than the mudskippers are the mud lobsters. Quite impossible to spot and quite an impossible scientific name to remember - tha las si na ano ma la. For a creature no more than 30cm long, they can build up a cone shaped mounds that can reached up to 3 meters high.

If you keep paddling into the river, you will discover 2 other amazing trees. The Puzzle Nut Tree and the Nipah palm. The Puzzle Nut Tree must be seen to be believed. How the tree managed to arrange its seeds inside a sphere fruit is a puzzle wrapped in delicious brown. 12-18 irregularly-shaped interlocking seeds fitting perfectly in spherical dimensions. Once you messed up this 3D fruit puzzle, it takes some figuring to put the pieces back together. 

As for the Nipah palm, it is for your own survival that you should learn to recognize this plant. Their leaves are weaved to make attap roofs shingles, the flowers (sap) fermented to make vinegar, and tappers collect palm sap to make palm wine. Famously, their fruits are preserved as sweet dessert that everyone loves to eat. Locally, vendors sold half a dozen of these “attap chees” on a satay stick or most commonly add them to ice kachang.

So if we are somehow blasted back to Stone Age or stranded, this one tree can provide shelter, food, and even wine to drown your sorrows!

To see all of these, one would normally have to trek into the mangrove at low tide. But with a kayak, you can silently glide into this river wonderland, blending in, watching this unique community go about its daily life. A kayak is non-impactful and borrowed just 10cm of water at any one time. No emissions, no noise, no trampling of the ground.

There still places in Singapore one can discover nature. Not just being in nature, but actually discover something about the workings of nature. And such places are sometimes only accessible with a kayak. At this one such place, trees are not just trunk and leaves, but problem solving organisms cleverly adapting themselves to a harsh world.

I would love to show you such amazing trees and other wonderful living creatures. But only with a kayak can I take you where no roads will take you; into the little lagoons and shallow streams. Using our own power and curiosity, a new world of wonder opens up undisturbed.

_____

thanks to Ria Tan, Hang Chong, Kwok Peng, Moira, and other nature-lovers-kayakers who ‘discover’ for me the wonderful world of the mangrove. for without them, my eyes would still be closed that my mind see with narrow ignorance.