Nature Trails and Night Wonders (NTNW) is one of the most fascinating outdoor activities of Earthlink. It is sort of like a nature classroom – which is quite popular in the western education system – intended to let participants experience the vibrance of the mangroves firsthand . Apart from that, this activity was also one of the outreach events organized by Earthlink, meaning that this event was not solely meant for Earthlink s members, but for all NTU students.
NTNW was organized on the 30th of January, which was a Saturday. The entire event was carried out at the Pasir Ris Park and it lasted for about 8 hours in total, including travelling time. The event proceeded successfully and satisfyingly, with the sun shining splendidly. Approximately 50 participants, including Earthlinkers partook in this event. To warm them up for the walk and to break the ice among them, the participants were randomly divided into 4 teams to compete in the games conducted by our game masters.
After the ice breaking games, it was time for the main attractions of this event: the nature walks. There were 2 individual nature walks being conducted, namely the Nature Trails and the Night Wonders. Nature Trails was conducted during day time, around 5pm in the evening, at Kitchen Garden in the park. Along the journey, a variety of edible plants like vegetables, culinary herbs and spices were showcased to all of us. The nature guides played their roles well in giving extra information and explanation whenever necessary, such as the uses of the plants, flowering season, as well as the plantation method. In the park, we frequently discovered various living creatures like butterflies and birds. We even saw a chicken wandering around!
Night Wonders was the finale of the event. It was carried out during the night in the mangrove forest. Again, all the participants were led by their respective nature guides for a mangrove board walk. This time, at a significantly different habitat from the previous walk, we were able to view all the flora and fauna that had adapted themselves to the mangrove environment. Mangrove swamps are characteristically high in salinity but has a low oxygen content in the water, as well as an increased exposure to high temperatures during low tide. As such, we could discover a unique ecosystem in the swamp, such as mangrove trees that possess breathing and props roots, the dog-faced water snake and mudskippers. We learnt a lot about this special ecosystem during the journey, from both our own observations and the information provided by nature guides.
As a conclusion, this journey did not just allow us to view the beauty of nature, but also how human activities affect it. We should bear in mind that environmental issues decide our future too. Therefore, we need to find a balance point between urbanization and conservation of environment, in order to seek for continuity of Earth s life as well as for human to better off.
