The beauty of a swamp.

Let's have a closer look at some of the things in there.


My son looking at the inhabitants of the swamp.


Let's appreciate the beauty of the swamp.

Another look at the swamp.


Look at those half-beaks.


A pufferfish is caught. Let's take a closer look at it.

Here are the pufferfish, the half-beak and killifish.


A look at some of the specimens.


And here's the pufferfish on show in our planted tank.

Although it was a really hot day with my outside the air-con room more like an oven than the inviting coolness of spring, I ventured out with my elder son to take a look at nature and appreciate its beauty and the life it contained. Too hot to travel any distance, we drove to the nearest swamp to enjoy its surrounding green and the comparatively cooler air. It's fantastic how the roots of the trees open up to reach downwards to the more solid ground below to anchor themselves in their watery environment. See how trees accommodate themselves to the environment. In nature, it is either that or wither and die. Is not that the same with humans? As the world become more stressful and challenging, we have to learn to face it with even greater strength and courage or succumb to psychatric problems or a willingness to end precious life. In facing life, there is much we can learn from nature; to accept the inevitable change that comes with the future and accept the fact that life can be as good as we make it to be.

It's good to realise the beauty of the greenery, to stop for a moment and ponder for a while how important trees are to our lives, how they supply us constantly with oxygen, without which there can be no life; to be grateful to mother nature for her gift of life.

Here, in the swamps is another element that plays an important role in our lives, water. Yes, water that cools our body, supply us with life-giving liquid without which there can be no flowing blood, no transport system for oxygen to reach each and every cell in our bodies, no transport of much needed nutrients to our organs and no removal of toxic substances from inside our bodies. Talking of water, the swamps also act as a fort to prevent huge waves from devastating man's habitat. And yet, except for the beautiful fire-flies that they bring, we often forget the beauty of its existence.

My son and I took a closer look at the water of the swamp to look at some of its inhabitants. There was this pair of crabs with their home in the crevices just above the surface of the water. Because the water of the swamp is brackish, pufferfish from the sea often follow the tide in and swim with the current back to the sea as the tide recedes. Here too can be found half-beak and killifish fry. Once upon a time, we did chance upon some prawns. Not this time though. There were some small blue-eyed fish, possibly blue eye lamp tetra fish, some gobies and a pair of beautiful red-spotted fish, but not identifiable by this writer. We manged to get a few specimen of the pufferfish, the half-beak and the killifish to put into a plant acquarium so as to capture their beauty with a camera.

Life is beautiful and all it takes is a walk with nature to experience and appreciate it joys and beauty. What a wonderful world! Thank God for that.