Sarawak Natural Science Society: NSS Expedition

Showing posts with label NSS Expedition. Show all posts

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Friday, February 13, 2009

On the 17th and 18th January 2009, we made a visit to Samarakan, Sarawak Planted Forest, Bintulu.

By road, Samarakan is within an hour drive from Bintulu. To get there, one has to travel along the Bintulu - Sibu road. After the airport junction, there is a turnoff on the left hand side with a signboard indicating Samarakan. Travel along this road until you see another signboard on the left again showing Sarawak Planted Forest.

Along the way, we saw some Acacia plantations and oil palm estates planted by private entrepreneurs. As we drove further, we came across termudak areas cultivated by local folks.
As we entered the Samarakan concession, we started to see different species of fast growing trees being planted for trials. These included Neolamarckia sp., Facalteria moluccana, Eucalyptus deglupta, Gmelina arborea etc.

We arrived at the plantation rather late after 6pm. Arrangement was made for us to stay at the guest house. We had a sumptuous dinner which was pre-cooked by Dr. Daisy.
For the past week, it had been raining frequently and we don’t know what sort of weather to expect. But fortunately, the sky stayed clear during our visit. Later that evening, we armed ourselves with torch lights and got ready for jungle tracking. Joanes had promised to show us some night life in a patch of conservation jungle.

As we took a short walk around the guest house in order to get ourselves accustomed with our gears, we started to see frogs, spiders, giant ant, etc.
Walking in the jungle was never easy; tracking at night was even more difficult. The hooks of rattans persistently reminded us not to walk too fast as there were many things to see. The undergrowth was thick with plenty of saplings of dipterocarps and macaranga.

We challenged each other to be the first one to spot some thing of interest. We soon started to see spiders and different species of them. Dr. Daisy kept reminding Joanes to take photos of the spiders and made sure we could see the eyes. These nocturnal spiders had extra large eyes.
Just as well, Joanes was a skillful photographer armed with macro lenses. Why Dr Daisy was interested in eyes only? Later, I remembered that she is an eye specialist. Would spiders need medical consultation for their eyes?

Figure 1. Strange looking spider.

Someone spotted some more eyes in the dark and shouted for Joanes. This time it was gecko hiding inside a hollow log. That gecko seems to like its photo taken. It just stayed still while Joanes was busy clicking his camera.
Later, we saw some more lizards. One of them is pictured below.

Figure 2. Cyrtodactylus pubisulcus

We saw many species of frogs. Most of them were pretty well camouflaged
amongst the fallen leaves on the forest floor. To find them you either listen to their calls or look for reflection of their eyes with touch light. A loud call is not necessary from a big frog. It had been observed that small frog can hide in hollow logs to amplify their calls.

Figure 3. Filed Eared Tree Frog (Polypedates otilophus)

Figure 4. Red sided sticky frog ( Kalophrynus species)

Figure 5.Rana sp.

The strangest thing we saw that night was a hammer-headed worm
(Bipalium sp). This creature is actually carnivorous and known to prey on earthworms.

Figure 6. Hammered head worm (Bipalium sp.)

Figure 7. Large land snail

While we were engrossed with different creatures of interest, Azizan had been leading the way in front. Suddenly, he signaled to Joanes that he seen something else. He whispered that there was a mouse deer amongst the undergrowth. We tried to move forward for a closer look but our noises had disturbed the animal and it shot off into the dark. Joanes was not able to take any photos of the mouse deer. From his past experience with mouse deer, Joanes felt that the animal might still be in the near vicinity. Slowly, Azizan and Joanes moved forward, flashing the touch light around and keeping their eyes open and ear propped. Sure enough they spotted the mouse deer not too far from us. We could see the animal popping its head, not quite sure to flee or stay. Joanes quickly aimed his camera and took some shots but only managed to capture shots of the hind portion before the startled animal took off into the dark.

As it was getting late, we decided to head back to camp. We came a cross patch of soggy flat. We could see the ground was covered with one species of filmy fern. We have to walk gently trying not to cause too much damage.

At the back of the training school, there was a small knoll. Right on top of this grew a Tapang (Koompassia excelsa) tree. Something moved. A leopard cat or a civet. Popped its head up to look at us and quickly swing round and disappeared into the darkness.

We kept swinging our torch lights around hoping to catch more things. Up on another young Tapang, we could see some things that reflected our light. We went nearer to catch a closer look. Just beyond the reach of our hands, there was this large lizard. It could easily measure 20 cm long. As we prepared to take photo, it swung round and scrambled up the tree well beyond camera’s reach. That was the biggest lizard we saw that night.

Back in the guest house, Lawyer Lau kept talking about the bear cub that he kept in his house as pet. It was hairy and cuddly. It behaved like a baby, he said. We kept telling him that sun bear are not pets like dogs or cats. But he didn’t seem to be convinced. We need to educate him about conservation in a proper manner. It was way after 3 am in the morning before we headed for bed.

The next day our programme was to visit Kapur Waterfall and Bukit Minah.

Just like the day before, the sky was clear.

On our way to Kapur Waterfall, we passed through some areas of Acacia mangium probably 7 to 8 years old. There were plenty of regrowth under the Acacia trees. As we were driving along, we saw movements on some bushes beside the road. Joanes quickly stopped the vehicles shouting that he saw monkeys. We got out and moved gently towards the bush. The animals were still there but trying to hide from our view. We tried to move closer hoping to catch a better look. The monkeys started to scurry away but I could see that there were 3 individuals of Grey Leaf Monkey (Presbytis hosei ) with white ring around the eyes. Joanes later confirmed there were more than three individuals.

These monkeys were eating young shoots from a bush right beside the road. Something was so attractive to eat that the monkeys were reluctant to move away as we motored by. On closer inspection, we saw that the monkeys had been nibbling young shoots from a low Ficus bush. The latex was still oozing from the nibbled tips.

I had seen similar incidents with orang hutan feeding on young shoots of Merrimia spp. as well as sambar deer chewing young shoots of Hevea brasiliensis seedlings.
These three species of plants, though belonging to different families, produce latex. Could it be something in the latex that attracts the animals? Something interesting to research on, maybe?

As we traveled to Kapur Waterfall, we noticed that the road condition was getting worst. Deep ruts were left by vehicles travelling to Lana in the past few days during the wet weather. Half way down the road, we decided it was best that we turn back. We then proceeded to Bukit Minah instead.

Bukit Minah is the highest point in this area. The next highest point would be Bukit Setiam near Tatou, several kilometers apart. We stopped to look at some plants at the foot hill. Our noises disturbed some birds and we could hear familiar whooshing sound from the wing of hornbills. High in the canopy, a Wrinkled Hornbill flew past, followed by a pair of Bushy Crested Hornbill.
The road going up to top was very steep. We had to engage low gear with our 4 wheel drive vehicle; the gradient was easily 45 º.
Joanes mentioned that before the road was constructed, it used to take an hour or two to track up. At the top of the hill, there was a communication tower fully equipped with solar panels that convert energy from the sun to electricity.
Beside it, there stood a lookout tower supposedly for surveillance when fire danger is high during March to May period.

Figure 8. Fire Lookout Tower

From the top of the tower, we could just about see the entire project. The 360º view indicated that the plantations were mosaic of Acacia interspersed with patches of high value

Figure 9.

Mosaic of Acacia plantation interspersed with conservation forest conservation forest, riparian sites, steep hills etc. We stopped to take some pictures of an eagle sitting high on a branch, not bother by our noises.

Figure 10. Distant view of Bukit Minah

As we headed back to the nursery, we noticed something yellowish in color along the roadside. We stopped to take a closer look. And there it was an orchid with a tall inflorescence with yellow flowers. A Neuwedia sp ? growing amongst the bracken under the shade of Acacia trees. First time seeing this species around here.

Figure 11. Neuwedia sp.

The next thing that caught our eyes was a Dipodium pictum. There were several clumps growing luxuriantly under the Acacia shade. This species had flowers with reddish spots on the tepals. The strange thing is that the reddish spots are not in the front surface but on the underside of the tepals. It looked as though the flowers are turned inside out.

Figure 12. Dipodium pictum

On an open ground disturbed by logging, there were many Arundina graminifolia in full bloom. Generally, this species is common on exposed site and grows well under full sun. The flowers are like miniature Cattlyea.

Figure 13.Arundina graminifolia

When looked around the open ground, we saw some attractive reddish leaves intermingled with bracken fern.
On closer inspection, we found that the plant with reddish leaves were actually Melastoma malabathricum. What caused the plant to develop such abnormal leaves. Is it because of high acidity of the soil?

Figure 14.Melastoma malabathricum

Recently, apiculture had been introduced in the Acacia plantation. Bees introduced from China were producing good honey from Acacia.
We saw many beekeepers in Samarakan. They were husband and wife team. Each couple stayed in small shacks with solar panels providing electric power to their house. All of them kept a dog or two; it had been reported that sun bears were attracted by the honey and the dogs were supposed to keep the sun bears at bay.

As we passed the gate, I remembered that several years ago, I had seen a patch of Nepenthes hirsuta not too far from the gate. I reminded Joanes to look into this. Maybe he should collect some specimens and possibly transplant some individuals.

In the past two days, we had been introduced to the conservation work done in Samarakan.
Instead of the monoculture of Acacia plantation, Samarakan had been developed into a mosaic of planted Acacia interspersed with high value conservation forests, riparian sites and etc. This created a new environment that encourages biodiversity conservation. Studies had been conducted to ascertain the biodiversity status of the Acacia plantation. More information is being gathered as time progresses.

This is an example which illustrates that part of biodiversity can be conserved in degraded and fragmented forests. Increasingly, the public are aware of the importance of biodiversity conservation. There is also increasing demand on forests for recreation and ecotourism.
This project due to its proximity to Bintulu, could de developed into an education centre for the general public. Visitors could easily access the centre on day trip.
Longer stay could be developed along the home stay basis. Local folks could be trained in the hospitality industry as well as apiculture.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Visit to Binyo-Penyilam Conservation Area

Written by: Mr. CK Tham

Binyio Penyilam is a wetland reserve located along the Sebuah River. A visit was made by several members of the Sarawak Natural Science Society on the 20th and 21st December 2008 to the area on the Society’s first expedition.

Day One
To make this trip, we had to travel upriver from Bintulu along the Sebauh River. Arrangements were made to meet at the Bintulu Waterfront Jetty at 9.30am. A group of twelve was supposed to join the visit. A few of us early birds gathered at a kopitiam to have breakfast. After breakfast we waited at the jetty for the others to turn up. We watched large numbers of swiftlets and swallows circling above us; busy scooping up insects for their morning feast. To our inexperienced eyes, it was not easy to distinguish swiftlets from swallows. Oh, with old age my eyesight is failing. Nearby, in the top floor of the shop lots, swiftlets were being domesticated for their valuable edible nests.
Across the river, there were rows and rows of kampung houses on stilts; houses painted yellow, green, white, orange etc. I had never realised they were so colourful. I quickly took a few shots with my camera. Despite passing by here many, many times, I had not noticed the beauty of these river houses. The time spent waiting was not wasted after all.

Finally, all had arrived after 9.30am. Two speed boats had been arranged. We quickly loaded our backpacks, food, drinking water, fishing gears, net and field gears for insect catching, not forgetting the crates of Tigers , of course.
This is my first time traveling up the Sebauh River. It had been raining for the past few days and the water level was high and the current swift. Floating debris in the river came rushing downstream. This didn't seem to worry our boatmen at all. I was pondering if we needed to have our lifejackets on, just in case. Soon we were passing the Kemena Industrial Area. We could see heaps and heaps of timber logs piled up high, close to the river edge. Sawmills and plywood factories had slowed down due to the economic downturn. These logs, especially the smaller one are going to rot away if left lying in the sun and rain. How much of the forest had been destroyed to lay these logs to waste.
As we travel to Ulu Sebauh, we see more logs piled up along the river edge. More mills had shutdown. Workers had left for their early X'mas and New Year holiday; not knowing when work will start again.

The boats sped by Sebauh Township. In the river, there stood a Taoist temple. What an odd location to have a place of worship. Maybe the local folks want to remind the river god to control the water level. If the water level rose too high, the house of worship would also become submerged.

Two hours upriver, we finally reached RH Joseph. We stopped by to pay the tuai rumah, Encik Joseph a courtesy call as he is the headman of the area. We were invited into the long house. Like most longhouses in Sarawak, not many occupants were around having found work in towns; most will come back for X'mas I guess. As we sat down, welcome drink was served. Soon, I see Lim GM, a student from UPM was getting red in his face. The alcohol must have gotten to his head fast.

Welcome drink at Rumah Joseph

Lonely occupant of longhouse

I didn't drink, scared of getting drunk. I get drunk easily. In my earlier days in Sarawak, I learned a hard lesson during one of my previous trip up river. Not knowing the potency of the welcome drink, I innocently bottomed up the glass. Later, as I was boarding the longboat, I felt dizzy and lost my balance. And the next thing I knew, I was in the chilly river water. Someone quickly grasped me before the crocodiles did.

For the night, we were to stay at the conservation project field centre. This was only a few minutes upstream from RH Joseph along the Sg Penyilam. We had to transfer into longboats as the stream was too narrow and shallow for the speedboats. The newly built field centre is a single storied house located on a small hillock; just high enough above the flood level. There are 4 bedrooms adequate for 16 persons or more. A small petrol generator provides the power that we need at night. It is sited right in the wetland area so there is no shortage of water. Though the surrounding water is brownish colour, it is actually quite clean. If you are game enough, one can make a good cup of tea from the peat water; rich in lignin as in ordinary tea.
A quick survey was made of the surrounding compound. This hillock being slightly higher than the surrounding wetland had been used as a farm by the local folks. But this had since been abandoned. Rubber trees possibly twenty years old and nangka trees were abundant in the compound.
High up in one of the trees, a nesting place 3-4 feet across; consisting of branches and twigs was spotted. With my experience in Sabah at the back of my mind, my immediate response was "orang utan nest". My excitement was dashed when Joanes Ungga our team leader explained that bears are common here. To avoid the flood, bears had learnt to build their sleeping places high up in the trees. Upon closer inspection, paw marks were observed deeply scratched into the tree trunk. Smart adaptation.
The surrounding ground was bouncy to walk on. The thick leaf litters had accumulated into a thick carpet. Though the soil is very acidic and low in nutrient, vegetation growth is tremendous thanks to the abundant amount of water. Standing trees produced a thick layer of roots near the surface to catch whatever nutrient available. Epiphytes such as Asplenium ferns, orchids, etc. growing on tree trunk catch falling leaves. With the help of microbes, the debris is converted to plant nutrient for the epiphytes. Without human disturbance, such situation can sustain a very complex bio-diversity.
Later in the afternoon, we took a boat ride up one of the small streams. We followed the stream meandering through thickets of Pandanus. Oriental darters, black hornbills, black bellied malhokas were startled by the noise of the boat engine. Several species of orchids belonging to Dendrobium, Coelogyne, Bulbophyllum, Trixspermum, Eria etc grew in abundance with other epiphytes like Hoya and Aescynanthus.

Dendrobium spp

As we traveled upstream, the passage amongst the pandanus became narrower; we had to duck our heads to avoid being hit by overhanging branches. Finally, we decide to lie on our back in the longboat; looking at the sky as the day passes by. What a relaxing day.

Epiphytes collecting debris

We stopped under some overhanging trees for tuai rumah Joseph to inspect his fish net. This he had set the night before. As he pulled in the net, we could see he had trapped several species of barbs and catfishes.
We headed home after this. On the way, we met the other group that had gone out fishing in another boat. They were not so lucky with their fishing rods. For their contribution to dinner, they were looking for ants. Yes, ants. The red kerangga species. They harvested a few nest full of them, despite being bitten by the fiery ants.
For dinner, we had barbecued freshwater fish and I found the ant wasn't so bad after all; rich in protein anyway.
As night gets dark, the crickets and frogs started to sing. The rain came down and we could not go out to see the luminescent mushroom which we had spotted earlier.
Moths, beetles and other insects were attracted to the light in the veranda and Lim GM was busy with his net and collecting bottles. These were easier to catch than the termites that he used to study; definitely more colorful.
Despite the rain, the night was stuffy and humid. I could not sleep. Tossing and turning, thinking of how to collect the beautiful dendrobium without Joanes knowing.

Day Two
Early in the morning, we were wakened by the call of the Hill Mynas.; loud and crisp through the morning air.
Joanes promised today we get to see more interesting vegetation. But be ready to get wet. We took off by four longboats; meandering through thicker pandanus thickets. “Watch out for overhanging branches”, the boatman shouted. The pandanus were in bloom; yellow flowers arising from the apex and insects attracted to the scented inflorescence. Dr Daisy caught a glimpse of the violet Papilionanthe hookeria, which was rather rare amongst the pandanus. I remind myself that we must stop to catch a closer look on the way back.
Dragonflies flew over our head as we rode into an open area. Blue ones, brown ones, red ones, damsel or dragonflies. They flew so fast that my eyes went blur. I reminded myself to sit still before I lose my balance.
At last, we reached an old camp site. There were more trees and more orchids and other epiphytes. Over the years, the accumulation of plant materials and debris brought down by the river had built up sufficient medium for the trees to grow on. As we moved further inland, we approached a depression that had formed an inland swamp. The vegetation changed. There were plants with pneumatophores; roots with prominent lenticels protruding into the air. We could see Nepenthes gracilis amongst the roots of the trees. The flowing water was brackish. The water was knee deep. The ground was muddy and sticky. But foot walks made of jungle rollers had be laid along the trail for easy movement. But today walking was not going to be easy. The rising water level had submerged the trail. The water was half a meter deep and brackish. We groped our way gently amongst the pneumatophores. It seems endless. Be careful, hang on to low branches to keep the balance. There are no crocodiles here. But you don't want to loose your camera in the brackish water.

Walking through brackish water

Pneumatophores

At last, we saw some palms nearby. We were on higher ground. R ed stems started to appear everywhere; beautiful Cyrtostachys lakka. More palms caught our eyes as we looked around. Eugenssonia with stilt roots; Pinanga with cluster of scent flowers and orangey fruit; Salacca with 3 inch thorns; Licuala with typical palmate leaves; Dendrocalamus rattan climbing up trees. There were more and many more palms.

Red Palm Cyrtostachys lakka
As we moved forward, we came across the odd Dacrydium tree. And then we came into an open area and felt water again with our feet. Pitcher plants can be seen everywhere. Nepenthes gracilis with reddish pitchers; Nepenthes rafflesia with bulky lower pitches and long slender upper pitchers. Ant plants were common amongst the taller trees. Having satisfied ourselves with the photo session, we proceeded to go back.

Nepenthes rafflesia

Termite nest
Joanes showed us a tall tree which had been badly mauled a few feet off the ground. Sign of bears again. This one was probably digging into the tree trunk looking for the stingless bee hive. Bear loves honey.
We moved through the submerged walking boards again; this time nobody fell into the water.
We stopped at a tree next to the jetty. Looking up there was this large clump of Trichostia orchid in flowers. From a distance, they could be mistaken for miniature Dimophochis.
We hopped into the long boats and headed towards the camp.

Dr Daisy, where's the Papilionanthe hookeriana you saw earlier?
I can't remember; the pandanus are all the same. There is no landmark.
No, no. It was around here. Keep looking.
At last, we saw the violet flowers overhanging the pandanus. Quickly, took some photos and off we went.

Papilionanthe hookeriana amongst the pandanus

We went meandering through the thickets of pandanus again. Watch your heads.
The boatman took a corner too fast, lost control and smashed into the pandanus.
I never realised the pandanus leaves were so thorny until I was propelled against a clump and having my hands badly cut.

Soon, the boatman straightened up and we were on our way again.
Back at camp, the river water was fresh and cool. Jerry, Daisy and Ivy couldn't resist the temptation to take a dive off the jetty. Oh how refreshing.

Lunch was ready. But last night, we had devoured the fish we caught and we had to eat sardine for lunch.

It was time to go home. The speedboats that brought us here were waiting. We left without collecting the Dendrobium.
Traveling downstream was faster. It only took us 1 and a 1/2 hour to get to Bintulu.

We said goodbye and hope to see each other again on another trip.
I hope by then, Lim GM is more dexterous with his insect net and catches more dragonflies. To think of it, he needs a bigger net.
I look forward to hear from Dr Bong that he had identified the microbes that attack his termites.
Next trip, I hope there will be more dendrobium to collect.

Though during the trip, we didn't see large mammals. But we are glad to know of their existence. The deer had left droppings and foot prints amongst the pepper plants; the honey bears prominently left his paw marks up the tree and strangely built his nest several meter high in the air; the wild boar had been scavenging under the rubber trees eating up all the fallen seeds and uprooting the farmers' tapioca roots.