By Cherie Khoo (26S03B) and Tara Sim (26A01C)

$3.50 might only be able to get you one meat + two veg at the Caifan stall in the RI canteen, but for 50 cents less, you could spend your Saturday morning on an insightful guided tour to Sungei Buloh led by our very own Rafflesians from Project Naturalia. 

After discovering his newfound love for nature walks and cataloguing wildlife from attending an international course on ecological research in Malaysia during GAP Semester in Year 4, this VIA project was founded last year by Koshik Basak (26S03J) and heartily supported by many of his friends from Y14. 

Since then, their love for animal discovery and nature has shone through the development of Project Naturalia and its team’s dedication to providing guided tours to the community. This project sets itself apart from typical nature walks by teaching participants how to truly appreciate the world around them—going beyond a jog through your neighbourhood park or the obligatory school learning journey to the Botanic Gardens to learn about sustainability that most of us would rather sleep through.

With the key intention of bridging the ‘illiteracy’ the ordinary RI student (and wider community) has when it comes to nature, Project Naturalia’s tours provide opportunities for people to learn about local wildlife and flora species to look out for while outdoors to truly appreciate Singapore’s biodiversity. 

After chatting with Koshik, one phrase surfaced during our conversation: “touch grass.” How many of us would actually willingly get up at 8am on a Saturday for purposes outside of studying or school-related activities—let alone to pull up at Sungei Buloh? (P.S. they provide free transport to and from Bishan CC!) More importantly, when was the last time any of us spent our precious, and seemingly increasingly rare spare time in nature? 

This reluctance itself presents a solid case for the “nature illiteracy” that Project Naturalia seeks to solve—the disconnect between us and the natural world that surrounds us. 

Labelled as a “Garden City”, it’s almost painfully ironic that many Singaporean youths avoid going to green spaces—or go outside at all—as though stepping outdoors were a fate worse than dying a slow and painful death. Perhaps the biggest factor to this sentiment is the unbearable humidity Singapore seems to have all year round, which makes standing outside in an unair-conditioned space for more than two minutes enough to have us whipping out our electric hand-held fans that whir loud enough to rival that of industrial-grade machinery.

Somewhere along the way, nature became something we acknowledged from afar rather than actively experienced—a distant, abstract idea of sustainability endlessly drilled into our heads instead of a place we intentionally stepped into. 

We’re no longer the same kids who spent weekends flying kites at Marina Barrage or picnicking at the beach with our families, but teenagers who now hermit ourselves away into the comfort of air-conditioned rooms, doomscrolling in bed or buying stuff we really don’t  need in malls because “there’s nothing to do in Singapore”.

Yet, despite all our complaints about the heat and inconvenience, we start to wonder whether the issue lies less with nature itself, and instead more with our unwillingness to engage with it.

So, as two Pressies who love nothing more than sleeping in on weekends and have never been to Sungei Buloh, we decided to give up our creature comforts (and beds) and attend one of Project Naturalia’s tours. 

Flora, fauna, fungi, and fangs: Our Trip to the Wetlands

When we arrived at Bishan CC, we didn’t have to wait long before we boarded the provided excursion bus and were on our way to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. With roughly 30 minutes travel time there and back, we struck up a conversation with some of the student tour guides and asked them about their motivations for joining this CE01. 

Whether it was a Year 5 tour guide who had just joined the project, or an experienced Year 6 guide on their last guided tour, one thing became apparent—everyone there (a majority of which were ODAC members, unsurprisingly) had a shared passion for the outdoors.

Much more than simply grinding out community hours and buffing up portfolios, the project members spend their own free time preparing informative booklets for attendees, liaising with the community centre, and learning about local wildlife just so they can share this enthusiasm with others. 

Unlike other nature walks that simply host nature enthusiasts and bring them around green spaces rather mindlessly, Project Naturalia’s tours are accompanied by educational commentary, attendees leaving with new knowledge on Singapore’s flora and fauna.

The genuinity of the guides’ love for nature is clear in how each of them seems to have their own incredibly niche and random stash of fun facts related to the different wildlife species we spotted. (Did you know historically, crab meat—along with lobster—was considered a food for poor people?)

Beyond their proficiency in nature-related knowledge, many dedicated members also take the time to build meaningful connections with attendees. When asked about his favourite memory with this project so far, Koshik recounted an exchange with a mother who attended Project Naturalia’s very first guided tour with her child.

She shared that she had hoped to invite more of her friends and their children along as well, but was unsuccessful after learning that most of the children already had tuition or external classes scheduled instead. Our constant fixation on academics often causes us to forget to slow down, step outside, and reconnect with the world beyond our classrooms once in a while.

After speaking to a mother-daughter duo who frequently go on nature walks, we realised that many nature enthusiasts would prefer joining guided tours over self-led tours to enrich their knowledge and for easy transport to nature areas, where parking and public transport may be less conveniently accessed. 

The project also aims to engage further with the youth community by creating a gamified app–think Goosechase, but for animals! Along the way, we loved seeing the fish, migratory birds, spiders, and even bats in their natural habitat, and had a great time playing hide-and-seek with mudcrabs.

It seems like recent discussions on local ecosystems and biodiversity constantly revolve around conservation. While that seems like an insurmountable task to most of us, simply visiting our natural areas on guided tours like the one we attended can deepen our understanding and appreciation for flora and fauna. 

In our busy schedules and hours filled with schoolwork, “touching grass” is a natural remedy that we should all sample. And maybe in the future, we might all finally be able to tell the difference between a chicken and a Red junglefowl—before confidently calling them “basically the same thing” and moving on.