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  Electric New Paper 24 Apr 07
Work so risky they quickly signed wills
Nature lovers brave lightning, insect and animal bites to document shoreline treasures
By Teh Jen Lee

THEY sacrifice sleep, endure sandfly bites and risk being struck by lightning - all for the love of nature.

Accountant Toh Chay Hoon, 30, and freelance videographer Alvin Lee, 35, regularly experience all these and more while documenting Singapore's shoreline treasures - the marine life you find when the tide is low.

Thanks to people like them, a new book called Singapore's Splendour - Life On The Edge, was launched yesterday for Earth Day. The 184-page book took five years to put together. Almost 500 images were collected after more than 120 trips to little-known places, such as Pulau Ular in the south and the Merawang Reef Flats in the west.

Helming the project is Dr Chua Ee Kiam, a photographer-cum-dentist who has written four other books. Dr Chua has done his fair share of wading neck-deep in chilly morning waters to land on the shores of Pulau Ular.

But he prefers to highlight the work of nature lovers like MsToh and MrLee, who help find the animals and plants for him to photograph.

'Bad weather was particularly worrisome due to the open nature of the habitats. Jolts of lightning flashes had sizzled near enough for us to expedite the end of our work and the signing of our wills,' wrote Dr Chua in his latest book.

Lightning is only one of their concerns.

BITES

Ms Toh is allergic to sandfly bites and her legs are scarred from bites that became infectious. She has also been stung many times by hydroids, a marine animal related to jellyfish. They are not poisonous, but have a painful sting.

But that does not stop her from going out every fortnight, whenever there's a low-enough tide. 'When I was a guide at Chek Jawa, I was asked to help out in documenting other parts of our shoreline,' said MsToh. ' I didn't know there was so much life existing in our own backyard.'

She recalled a local diver who was amazed to learn that anemone shrimp exist in Singapore. He had travelled all the way to the Maldives to see them. Anemone shrimp are commonly found on carpet anemones of the Southern Islands here.

Ms Toh said: 'On almost every trip, for the past 31/2 years, I see something new, all without the use of scuba gear.'

Her nickname is 'Eagle-Eye' because she is able to spot animals that are smaller than your baby fingernail.

As for Mr Lee, he is used to lugging his 15kg video equipment around at all hours of the night.

'I've gone out at midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am. I almost stepped on a stonefish once but luckily, I registered its shape just in time,' he said.

Stonefish, which are hard to spot because of their green-brown colour, have venomous spines that can easily pierce through any footwear. Mr Lee knows of someone who had to be warded for four days after stepping on a stonefish while on a local nature trip.

Both he and Ms Toh are glad to see Singapore's Splendour being published.

Mr Lee said: 'Now I can show my family why I go out at those unearthly hours.'

Singapore's Splendour - Life On The Edge (hardback) is available at $65 from Select Books or $68.25 from Books Kinokuniya.
links
More about Dr Chua Ee Kiam's "Singapore's Splendour - Life On The Edge" on his simply green website

Toh Chay Hoon and Alvin Lee are members of wildfilms.

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