December Expedition

Whilst the boys took their week holiday at the beginning of December Naomi and I were in the forest where we enjoyed more thunderstorms, did some more running and went in search of banteng! One morning we decided to walk along an old logging road where we often find fresh banteng tracks and dung. We had only walked about 500 meters along the track when we caught onto some fresh prints, having seen banteng twice I was super keen to find some more or Naomi to see so we very quietly walked along the rest of the old road, cameras poised in case we saw a banteng. About 1km down the road we heard a rustling in the trees on our left and after a few more steps the rustling turned into crashing as a large black animal crashed its way through the trees away from us, the size and amount of noise only suggested one animals, a banteng! Unfortunately it all happened so quickly that we didn’t manage to get a photograph but Naomi was very happy to get a glimpse of her first Banteng.

When the boys came back off holiday it was time for Naomi, Jo, Rusdi, Lee and I to head off on expedition. No that all the camera trap grids have been taken down we are undertaking the state-wide survey funded by Sime Derby to locate any remaining population of Banteng. We currently have camera tarps set up in Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Sipitang Forest Reserve and Sapulut Forest Reserve. First we headed to Sapulut, this forest was only visited or the first time in November sour mains aim while we were there was to establish more camera trap stations in different areas of the forest and in areas where there have been possible banteng sightings.

A combination of steep old logging roads and the rainy season meant that driving into locations in the dry morning was reasonably uneventful but getting back out in the rain of the afternoon was often more interesting. On our first day in Sapulut the rains turned the muddy track into and slippery mess and it took 5 of us giving the car some gentle encouragement to gain enough traction to get her up the hill!.. which we then had to try and walk up without falling or getting a tonne of mud caked onto the bottoms of our shoes!

Picture of Naomi and I testing the waterproofing in our raincoats!

On the second day we headed to a different area where there had been more recent banteng reports, as we started to walk along the old road we came across a vehicle parked up, we knew exactly what this meant, hunters were out hunting somewhere on the path ahead of us. Just as we expected we encountered the hunters a few hours later, returning to their cars with their days catch, a bearded pig stuffed in bags on their backs!

To help prevent our cameras being seen and stolen we have become more inventive at hiding them, being the tallest person on the Banteng team it has become my job to put the cameras as high as I can in the trees! This often involves balancing on a log for a bit of extra height whilst drilling in bolts above me!.. I just hope the boys can reach them next month t check them!

Next we went to Sipitang forest reserve, this is about 600km from our house in Lahad Datu and another 7 hours drive from Sapulut. We were staying in the plantation worked base camp, which has the luxury of television, but is at higher altitude to the other forests we visit so is a bit chilly.

On the first day we decided to head to our highest camera stations in an area that is currently being logged. When we arrived at the point on the GPS which stated ‘walk from here’ we found ourselves to not be at the bottom of an old logging road as expected but to be in the middle of a freshly logged area! Thank goodness for the GPS, because without it we would have had no bearings at all. Thankfully the cameras were in an area that is too steep to log so the trees and cameras were still there! No searching through the pile of logsto find it!!

Day 2 in Sipitang took us back to the area where the hunters had to help us get the car unstuck last time I visited this forest, a new gate stops vehicles from getting to this area now unless they have a key. Although as we headed through the gate we could see the condition of the road had deteriorated further and the heavy rain had caused huge crevices to form in the road. With some careful directing, great driving and a bit of road rebuilding (!!) we managed to get quite far along the road before having to abandon the car and walk the remainder of the way. Our decision to abandon the car and walk was an easy one when Lee and I jumped out to inspect one of the bridges to find that it half of it had collapsed and been replaced with two branches!

Rebuilding the road as we go

The bridge of branches

Unfortunately despite the poor road condition and the new gate being established we were shocked to find that at the location of our first two cameras not only the cameras had been stolen but the entire trees had been chopped down. Thankfully the rest of the cameras were intact.

The next day we headed to another area which is in the process of being logged, here we have had exciting signs of banteng but as we arrived.. after getting stuck in the mud.. we could see that the logging had moved closer towards our cameras. The old logging road that we walked along to set the cameras up had become a new logging road in the middle of a large cleared area and the nice easy walk had been turned into an obstacle course of felled trees! Let’s hope banteng like open areas more than closed canopy!

Practicing my circus skills!

On the final day in Sipitang we headed for an area that we couldn’t access last time i visited, due to a landslide. We had been assured that this road was now clear and we could get to our cameras but the previous nights rain meant that another part of the slope had fallen onto the road below preventing us from even getting close to or cameras. Time for plan B. Instead, we decided to head to some other cameras that needed checking, these cameras were over an old broken bridge that when the water is low, you can cross the river bed to get on the bridge and cross the river. As we were driving to the old bridge and discussing what we thought the water would be like we were suddenly stopped as a whole herd of grazing Buffalo appeared on the side of the road. I didn’t even know buffalo existed here so was very pleasantly surprised! As we reached the river our thoughts were confirmed a the quiet flowing river had been turned into a raging monster by the rain, pouring over the broken bridge and around the end of the break where we normally cross.. if only I had my kayak! So these cameras were not getting checked either... time for plan C... back to the room to do some work!

Despite all the logging, broken roads and heavy rain the pictures from the camera traps revealed there to be lots of wildlife in Sipitang including at least two families of Banteng with calves. Yay!

Our final forest to visit was Maliau Basin Conservation Area, this is near Sipitang forest reserve so around 6 hours drive from Sipitang, although the drive gets quicker every time as more and more of the road is tarmaced. We only spent 2 nights in Maliau Basin as all the cameras there can be checked in one day, thankfully we didn’t have any visits from the Malay civet this time! The cameras photographs revealed there to be lots of banteng, elephants with calves and sambar deer with fawns around. This provided great entertainment for everyone while we were going through the photos on the second night, as every cute photo caused me to automatically say ‘aaaaawwww’ even when I tried my best not to!.. the photos were really cute though!

After lots of walking and eating packed lunch’s it was time to head back to the house in Lahad Datu for a Christmas break!

January, I'm half way already!

As nothing ever runs to plan, especially on New Year’s Eve I was silly expecting to have an uneventful journey into the Jungle house on the evening of December31^st!

We were picked up by forestry staff as Jo was still on Holiday and headed for our jungle house. It was about 8pm by the time we got near the house and the afternoons rain had caused the river to swell.. this is where we were faced with the choice.

      1.Walk the remaining mile to the house and risk encountering Mr Elephant the lone bull elephant with long tusks that had been around the house for the past week.

2    2. Sit in the car and wait for the river to go down.. ie sleep in the car until morning and hope Mr Ele doesn’t come!

3    3.Drive back out to the check point house where there is electric, gas and beds?!

I think it was an obvious winner, so we drove an hour back out to the gate where there was a house for the gate staff. The 3 Malaysian guys in the house were very welcoming and gave Naomi and I their room to sleep in and they laid out their mattresses on the floor in the main room. After Mi Goreng (fried noodles) for dinner we sat in the main room and watched tv... yes an actual TV with signal!.. and tucked into our box of cookies! As it was already late it seemed silly not to see the new year in, the New Years countdown was quite funny as the screen countdown reached zero before the presenters counting... ooops and after some interesting dancing and lots of fireworks we’d had enough of tv and headed to bed. A very memorable new years eve!

Naomi and I were in the jungle until the middle of January and we spent our time trying to avoid being soaked, trying to avoid the lightening and trying to avoid the elephant. Failing to avoid both the rain and the elephant! On one evening the weather was quite cool so we decided to go for a run, we were about 2 minute into our run when we spotted Mr Elephant standing right next to the track. This put a very rapid end to our run, making the run a total of 5 minutes long!

The elephant decided that it liked that area around the forest house and was around for the whole time we were in the forest, we encountered him again one afternoon when we were walking, again putting an end to our walk and sending us rapidly back to the house. Next he decided he’d pay us a visit, I was sat on the sofa with headphones on watching a film and Naomi comes running into the room to tell me that about 6ft away from me by the steps to the house was Mr Ele!!.. he obviously wanted to be our friend!

Lots of Rain resulted in a full, brown river to cross

Along with Mr. Elephant we also saw an Orangutan feeding on the fruits in the trees behind the house.

So after seeing the elephant for 2 days in a row and then seeing the orangutan feeding in the trees for two days I jokingly said that  the following day  would be a day of seeing banteng!... So when Naomi went for our morning walk the next day and Naomi suddenly stopped I thought she was messing about. But as I looked to where she had pointed I could see a small group of Banteng were foraging in the middle of the pathway about 50 meters away. This was super exciting and we had been quiet enough that they had not seen us, so we managed to sit where we were and get some photographs and watch them graze. This is what our placement has been about, saving the Banteng populations in Sabah so to actually see them in the middle of the forest happily grazing was magnificent.   

My first Banteng Pics

At the middle of January we headed to Danau Girang Field centre (DG) for the annual meeting and to catch up with the other PTYs. Unlike our other quick visits to DG we were there for 3 nights this time. It was great to learn about all the projects that everyone else is doing and to hear about all the events in the jam-packed schedule for the coming year, welcoming volunteers and students from all over the world for placements, visits and field trips. It was also great to learn about the PTY’s who will be filling our boots, when us current PTYs head back to the UK ready to take on the final year of our courses, time is going so quickly. The three days at DG flew by, but I have promised the guys there that we will be back before we head for home in July.

Naomi and I in the rain on the Boat to DG

We left DG and headed for our house in Lahad Datu for the final week of January. There was lots of sorting to be done at the house, broken cameras needed testing and a general tidying up of equipment after January’s expedition needed to be done, of course apple pie had to be baked to help the process along!

The end of January sees our next Visa run and the halfway point of our placement... already!

Festive Fun

For Christmas, Naomi and I were home alone in our house in Lahad Datu, with strict orders that we were not to spend that whole time doing work! For the first few days this was easy, it was the lead up to Christmas, and having not had internet for a few weeks, we had lots of catching up to do with the outside world and a bit of Christmas shopping to do... for each other!

After dropping Jo at the bus on the first morning we decided that the house wasn’t looking very Christmassy, so we set about making the DIY decoration that Claire had sent me, these included mini Christmas trees complete with glitter, baubles and tinsel, a super long paper chain and Merry Christmas bunting. Once the decorations were made we decided that we didn’t want to string them up on the wall and that they would look better on a tree.. but we didn’t have a tree, ironic considering we spend most of our time in the forest. With our creative heads on, we next made a tree out of a green jungle kit bag, 2 green hammocks, a box, an empty bin, a towel and a sleeping bag, topped off, of course, with a star.

Homemade Christmas Tree

Christmas Eve was a day of baking and Christmas carols, we set the Itunes Christmas playlist going and made cookies and apple pie. An old glass jar became our rolling pin and the worktable our counter top. We cut the cookies into all sorts of Christmas related shapes, including Naomi’s miniature nativity, and finished them with icing and chopped up jelly babies. The apple pie making doesn’t need explaining but in true homemade apple pie fashion it was topped with some hand cut leaves and eaten with a large scoop of ice cream! On Christmas Eve instead of putting on all our layers and headed out into the snow, we put on our sandals and insect repellent to attend the local Christmas carol service. Despite not really understanding what was going on the carol service was good with the Malaysian versions of well known Christmas carols and a kind gesture of a take away box of food being distributed to everyone at the end.

Cookies and Apple Pie

On Christmas Day Naomi and I decided that we wouldn’t cook a roast as the weather was hot and it would never live up to a home roast. We woke up on Christmas morning and santa had been so we sat and opened our stockings with the Christmas songs playing again. We decided that giving each other their presents would be too easy,  so we made treasure hunts around the house for each other. Naomi went first and was doing well at finding her clues and gifts until I gave her a clue which said ‘Sudah charged, Belum charged, so many batteries’...  in other posts I have said about how many batteries we have to charge for expedition and in the house we have 3 boxes full of batteries, but where was the clue! After much laughing and rummaging and a tiny bit of help as to which box the next clue was in, Naomi finally found the clue! With a bit of extra help from Naomi I managed to complete my treasure hunt and we sat and opened our presents. The best present from Naomi was a recorder, we had talked a lot about getting recorders before Christmas but we hadn’t been able to find any. Whilst Christmas shopping Naomi had managed to find some, so luckily had got herself one too, we spent the rest of the morning playing Christmas carols and duets on them. In the afternoon the family from the house next door invited us around to theirs to celebrate Christmas with them, so we wondered over. There was an assortment of dishes of meats, rice, noodles and veg out on the table and they insisted on us helping our selves, which we did later in the afternoon. We were in the process of getting some food when one o the children said ‘have you had squirrel before?’, I thought he was joking until he lifted the lid off one of the dishes and I looked to see fried squirrels heads! The family were very welcoming but every member wanted their photo taken with Naomi and I, this wasn’t just the small family who live in the house, this was the whole extended family and all the children, unfortunately we didn’t get a photo of our own!  Later in the afternoon we headed to Secret Recipe, this is a chain restaurant that does western and asian food, amazing cakes and drinks and has free wifi. We had decided that we would eat dinner here, fish and chips seemed an appropriate choice of dinner, and chat to our families who were just getting out of bed!

Catching up with the Family!

The few days between Christmas and New Year were spent having much needed lay ins, watching films and eating our second apple pie with a second tub of ice cream. We also forgot we were meant to be on holiday so did a bit of work and charged all the batteries ready for the next expedition!

So Naomi and I survived our first Christmas away from home and were sufficiently stuffed with homemade apple pie and Secret Recipe's slices of cake, time to get back to work!