Tioman Field Study Camp with Nature Explorers Day 1

From 7 to 10 September 2010, I was back on Pulau Tioman to conduct a field study camp for the students shortlisted from the Nature Explorers Programme.


We chartered a bus to bring to Tanjung Gemok to take a ferry to the island. It was a really bumpy ride, and some of the students demonstrated that the merlion can be found on a bus as well.


We finally reached Tanjung Gemok jetty. We barely had time to go for a toilet break when it's time to board the ferry, where more "merlions" were spotted. For those of you who don't know what is a merlion, just do a google. I'm refering to the one with water gushing out of its mouth...


We soon reached the island, and after lunch, LK gave a quick introduction on what to expect for this field study camp.


After that, we had some ice-breakers where the students introduce themselves.


We also had a little game, where the students had to write down something about themselves on a post-it. The post-its were consolidated and randomly pasted on the back of the students.


They had to form a human chain, with each student having to stand behind the person with his/her post-it. Sounds confusing, well, I guess you have to play it to get what I'm trying to say. In any case, the students got to know each other better through this game.


Another game we played was Whacko. The person who got whacked the most had to spell his name using his butt :P


After the ice-breakers, we brought the students around the resort for an orientation walk. During this walk, we also talked about the various adaptations of the coastal plants growing there. Didn't managed to take any photos except this flowering Wax Flower (Hoya sp.), since I was busy explaining to the students the various adaptations.

After the walk, the students rented the snorkeling gear, and we had a practice session at the house reef to prepare for the snorkeling session on the following morning.

And before we knew it, Day 1 was over!