Friday, June 02, 2006

Trond on volunteering as a Nature Guide

I believe that one of the most beneficial activities one can get involved in is volunteer work. Firstly you give of yourself to your community and secondly it gives you a great opportunity to learn new things and experience personal growth. For me and my life in Singapore nature guiding and working as a nature interpreter has given me a lot of personal satisfaction. I have volunteered for Singapore Botanical Gardens as a tropical rainforest guide and in the process I have learned a great deal about the tropical rainforest system and continue to learn more. At the same time I have the opportunity to shape people's views of the rain forests and the extreme importance these play in the greater picture of earth's climates and why we should do what is in our power to protect these fragile forests. The photo to the right is of me giving my classmates from the MSc. Environmental Management Programme a guided tour of Singapore Botanical Gardens' Tropical Rainforest. Thanks for the photo Anbu.

I have also recently taken up nature guiding at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve. This is a mangrove eco-system and as such represents a different, but equally as important, aspect of earth's biodiversity. It is my personal experience that in sharing the importance of earth's forests, ecosystems and biodiversity with the public at large we can all help shape the future of nature conservation. I can highly recommend anyone interested to volunteer as a nature guide/interpreter.

To volunteer contact either Singapore Botanical Gardens or Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve directly.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, yes I vouch for Trond - he is a good guide at SBWR :-)
Remember, We managed to see the croc, the jungle fowl, laced woodpecker (both male and female), and many butterflies !!!