Four years ago, to the day, on 16th March 2020, we sailed past Singapore at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, watching a flow of airplanes landing at Changi airport while container ships and tankers were moored up after being told not to proceed any further.
In 2024, we were already berthed at the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal and were having breakfast by the time the sun rose. Soon afterwards, we were ashore. There had been tales of long queues to get off the ship, as Singapore insists on passport checks, but it all went smoothly with an automated system. Well, smoothly for most people: the machines would not read my passport (Margaret blames the beard) and I had to go to the manual desk to get into Singapore.
We decided to walk to Gardens by the Bay, which were only about 20 minutes from our berth, through fairly open ground. On reflection, we could have maybe got a taxi, as there weren’t many birds, although we saw our only Singapore Chinese Pond Heron. House Crows and Javan Mynas were the commonest birds. The latter is endangered in its native Java, but introduced and abundant in Singapore. Probably the most interesting thing we saw a robo-sweeper at Marine Bay South Pier, like a giant automatic carpet sweeper clearing up any rubbish.
Once in the Gardens by the Bay, we took a quieter path along the edge and tracked down some Asian Koels making strange noises (not just going ‘ko-el’); they were quite common in the gardens. I had also been hearing cockerels crowing, and thinking nothing of it, when a male Red Junglefowl appeared – they are wild here and were quite common in the gardens. A male Brown-throated Sunbird was feeding on flowers – the first of a few; we also saw Ornate Sunbird.
The path we were following ran alongside a ditch and I caught sight of a movement and then saw a huge Water Monitor, over 2 m long, swimming along. It was fascinating to see how it used its tail for propulsion, all four legs just held still and close to the body. Another couple of juveniles were seen later.
Next, we went to the Meadow – which was just a lawn – where there was an intriguing sculpture and good views of the iconic, but terribly boringly named, Marina Bay Sands building, with its three towers topped by a rooftop garden. After hearing a few, I finally got to see my first of several Black-naped Orioles.
We were now in view of the famous Gardens by the Bay ‘supertrees’. My first impression of them was that they looked better on TV and in the dark, but the more the day went on the more I appreciated them – they just had a lot to live up to. I have also felt conflicted about the supertrees at times, thinking of them as another example of humans appreciating their own achievements more than the originals that they imitate, but I discovered that they were not just decorative but functional, as they are part of the cooling system for some of the other buildings in the gardens.
We cut across the park now, towards the lakes, where there were many dragonflies, and some dragonfly sculptures. A dragonfly appears on the logo of the gardens. I spent some time tracking down a singing bird and it was an Oriental Magpie-robin – a common bird and an illustration of how having a guide who knows the calls can help maximise your time, although it was a Singapore ‘tick’. A Yellow Bittern flew into the reeds. Several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters were feeding over the lake. Close by, a Ruddy-breasted Crake flew across the path and disappeared into the foliage.
There were swiftlets flying over and all those I saw resembled the Germain’s Swiftlets that we saw in Vietnam. Other species occur here, including Black-nest Swiftlet, which is inseparable in the field, but most sources suggest that Germain’s is the commonest species.
We had now reached the main buildings of the gardens – and it was warm. The first vending outlet we reached was called Shake Shack and it specialised in milkshakes, but all we were interested in was that they served something wet and cold. I had a dragonfruit-based juice drink and then followed it with a lemon meringue shake which, if I’m honest, looked better than it tasted. Margaret had an ice cream float but I have never been a fan – I don’t want melting ice cream.
Our next destination was the kingfisher wetlands. The first kingfishers we saw there were very large and metallic! Our first Pink-necked Green Pigeon was nearby. There was a nice shelter with an occasional breeze beside the main pond at the wetlands and it was a very nice place to watch the world go by for a while, accompanied by a very confiding Zebra Dove. Also going by were a second Yellow Bittern, a pair of Dark-necked Tailorbirds and a Malaysian Pied Fantail.
Beside the kingfisher wetland was the so-called Satay by the Bay. This is developed southern Asia’s take on street food these days. Street food is messy and untidy – but popular – so Satay by the Bay was a tidy, regulated, open-plan, covered concrete concourse with shops selling street food. And beer. I had a pint of draught Tiger, and we had some mixed satay. Javan Mynas were scavenging from the tables.
We were now at a bit of a loss. Margaret was tempted to go back to the ship for a snooze, but I suspected that if we did that we might not get back for the evening, and we wanted to see the gardens by night. So, we meandered a bit, seeing a White-throated Kingfisher in the kingfisher wetlands and then a Collared Kingfisher beside the Golden Garden.
At we passed the coach set down point we overheard a guide telling a busload from the ship that a Tiger Orchid was flowering on one of the trees, and this was a rare occurrence.
Then, walking from the Golden Garden to the visitor centre again, we encountered a small mixed flock of birds in some of the taller, including two Blue-throated Bee-eaters, an Asian Brown Flycatcher, two Common Ioras and some Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers. Some Long-tailed Parakeets also flew over.
We still had time to kill, and Margaret wanted to visit a pharmacy, so we decided to go to the nearest one. This was just outside the gardens, in the Marina Bay Sands shopping centre, at the base of the Marina Bay Sands towers. The shopping centre was vast and shiny, but at least it was designed to be navigated, unlike Hong Kong malls.In the bay, now cut off from the sea by a barrage, there were rowing teams practising.
Time was definitely dragging now. We went for something to eat – and McDonalds was the best option (!). Two mammals were the highlight – a Plantain Squirrel in the trees and Brown Rats scavenging around some of the more secluded tables!
For dessert, I went to the gardens shop as they had some ice cream, which included durian fruit ice cream. I had to try it. “I wonder if it’s just the taste, or if you get the smell as I well,” I wondered as I opened it. You get the smell as well! It stunk. General opinion is that durian fruit smells disgusting but tastes delicious. Well, either the ice cream making process does something to the taste or I am out of step with general opinion. I thought it tasted pretty horrible, and only managed a few mouthfuls. Fortunately, I had bought some chocolate ice cream. Some White-bellied Sea Eagles drifted over as we waited.
We were beside by some of the supertrees waiting for it to go dark when one of the gardens assistants approached us and told us that the lightshow, which we did not was going to happen, was in the main supertree grove, not were we were sitting. We moved the supertree grove and found one of the last sitting positions, even though it was still not dark. Some bats began to appear, two very noisy Rufous Woodpeckers flew in just before dark and a Savanna Nightjar drifted over.
Slowly, the trees began to light up. Then, at 19:45, we got the announcement that the light show, currently with an operatic theme, was about to begin. It was an impressive performance, culminating, inevitably, with the music of Nessun Dorma.
Afterwards, we waited in a long taxi queue to return to the ship, getting slightly annoyed by the queue-jumpers who just leapt at any empty taxi before they got in the queue. Our taxi driver wanted to know if we thought Singapore was expensive. “Did you buy a beer?” he asked. “Did it cost a lot?”. I didn’t know, I told him, I just wanted the beer!
We had to scan our passports to the back on the ship. Mine refused to scan again, so it was off to the manual desk.
After our exertions of the day before, staying out longer than we should, we did not get an early start the next morning. Dave Cooper had very kindly sent me a list of potential sites to visit but, even with an overnight stay, I always suspected that our itinerary would be Gardens by the Bay and the Botanic Gardens.
We got a taxi to the gardens as, at the time, we thought that the nearest MRT station was 15 minutes’ walk away. I told the taxi-driver which gate we wanted to go to, at the north end of the gardens, but he still took us to the nearest gate instead. I decided to just go with the flow.
It seemed surprisingly quite in the gardens at first. We walked round Swan Lake, where there was a Mute Swan (there was a Black Swan at the Eco Lake later) and saw some singing Oriental Magpie-robins. A Plantain Squirrel was in the trees.
There was a good area around the ginger garden and to the south of the orchid garden where there was a Stork-billed Kingfisher, an Arctic Warbler and my main target, a Crimson Sunbird, amongst other species, including another Water Monitor.
Margaret then went in the orchid garden, but I wanted to look around this area a little further, so we split up for a while. There was a building in the orchid garden and, of course, being almost on the equator, it was a cool house for the species that couldn’t stand the heat.
In the middle of the gardens there was a boardwalk through a rainforest trail, where we saw two Oriental Pied Hornbills and a rather endearing Common Tree-shrew.
We stopped for lunch in the centre of the gardens, where I chose some random and strangely-named lemon, lime and mint flavoured drink in the hope it would be something mysterious and exotic but which turned out be fizzy, in a can and made in Australia.
We continued our walk north and found some monitors foraging in leaf litter which were not Water Monitors as I which thought but Clouded Monitors. A little later we also saw a Changeable Lizard, an invasive species which is forcing out the local species of Calotes lizard. Two Common Tailorbirds were in the Foliage Garden.
We were heading to the Eco Lake, which I suspect is one of the better areas in the park – but not if you get there on a sunny Sunday afternoon. As well as temperatures well into the mid-30s we were also having to contend with groups of people meeting up on their day off, as we had seen in Hong Kong, and every shady tree or pagoda had people in it by now.
The Eco Lake held a Lesser Whistling Duck (as well as the Black Swan) and no otters, despite the frequent otter crossing signs throughout the gardens.
It was warm, sunny, crowded and birdless, so we decided it was time to head back to the ship, after stopping to use our remaining Singapore dollars at the ice cream stall.
We had a quick look for a taxi but decided to use the MRT, especially as I was intrigued to compare the system to Hong Kong. The main difference was the fact that station names were in three scripts – Roman (English), Chinese and Hindi – rather than two. It was swift, clean, efficient and contactless card use was full implemented. We changed stations at Newton and then got the next line to its terminus at Marina South Pier, which must be a new station as it didn’t appear in my internet searches. The station was a short five-minute stroll from the cruise terminal. When we checked our bank cards, we had been charged 6p each for the journey!
We were back at about three and I considered trying to get to Marina East Drive, across the barrage from Gardens by the Bay, for some last-minute birding but, although we were not due to leave until seven, all aboard was at five, so there wasn’t really any time. In any case, there were Sunday afternoon meetings taking place under every tree, so I suspect it might have been too hot and too busy.
Having failed to go through the automatic machines three times in a row I never even bothered scanning my passport and just went straight to the manual desk.
Another cruise ship, named Genting Dream and owned by a Hong Kong company, was at the terminal on the opposite side of the pier to Arcadia. It had what I thought were pretty lights flashing along the sides, but when we left and saw them for a distant the ship was actually a giant advertising hoarding advising people to “cruise with us”.
As we left, the sun was just setting. A Black Bittern flew past, a last Singapore tick, and a final White-bellied Sea Eagle flew over. The supertrees had not yet lit up.
When I Grow Up I Will Go There 