I was on Pulau Ubin today for a recce trip in preparation for my LSM2251 Ecology and the Environment class – 175 undergraduate students will visit the island over the next two Saturdays to observe birds and habitat diversity. Recce trips are a necessity for familiarisation and to take note of changes, which are common place in busy Singapore.
As it turns out, we were stopped in our tracks around the corner of the Sensory Trail as the trail had been boarded up – and at either end. I conveyed the bad news to the ecology class and their TAs just now and thought to share it here just in case you were planning a trip there like we were.
Nothing was amiss during an earlier recces of the island for the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and someone I asked today who should know, wasn’t sure if the Jalan Ubin access was blocked (it was). The sign indicates ‘improvement works to [the] Sensory Trail’, so this looks to be something urgent – I see the guided tours there have been cancelled. I must have missed the announcement.
Anyway the ecology class will go on, although with the loss of alternative routes, some degree of overcrowding might result at certain locations. Meanwhile, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore can either skip the site this year, or shift the date to a year-round cleanup in October if the site is not ready for The Independents on 29th September 2012.
We’ll see.
Otterman speaks... 
Hope it is re-opened in Nov. Catherine and I will be coming from India to Singapore over our Diwali break–first time since we left in 1999. Seeing the trail is top on our list of many things to see and do.
Cheers,
Richard
Hi Richard, wel come back in November! Yes it should be open then. They said Oct so I am sure it will be ready for a recast! Give me a shout when you are coming!