Lightning and Elephants but Rescued by Peaches

After 2 weeks on expedition I joined Naomi in the forest for Banteng night watch duty. Naomi had already been in the forest for 2 weeks when I joined her but thunder and lightning every night had put night watch duty on hold nearly the entire time. This stormy weather continued for the duration of my stay in the forest meaning Night watch duty turned into some much-needed hours of work being done!

The lack of night duty meant we could get some running done in the early mornings before the sun got too high in the sky. On the second run the early morning and I didn’t get along too well as I stumbled, nearly saved my fall, stumbled again, nearly saved it again and then fell over, much to Naomi’s entertainment but resulting in a cut hand. Luckily we were running back towards the house so we our run wasn’t ruined. Back at the house we put our first aid certificates to use washing my hand under the tap, and putting on antiseptic cream and a plaster, it got my out of washing up for a few days too!

Post run picture complete with bad hand!

On one morning Naomi and I went for a walk logging for Banteng signs and dung, we walked along  the path by the house and just when we were about to turn around I spotted a large flattened patch of grass where a banteng had been resting the night before. So we decided to walk a bit further and found a really fresh massive banteng dung, most likely from a very large male that morning, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately we didn’t manage to see the individual. I love being up and awake in the early mornings here, all the insects are busy, the birds all waking up and the weather still cool, walks at this time of the day are truly beautiful. On a walk one morning we found a large fresh banteng dung and very close to it a very large flattened patch of grass, where are banteng had be lay resting only a few hours earlier. 

The weather was very dry and a few groups of elephants each with tiny new born calves moved into the area below the house to be close to the river, the elephants stayed around for over a week holding Naomi and I hostage in the house and putting an end to our running. The group of elephants came to graze by the house every evening,giving us some great opportunities for pictures, when there weren’t ferns in the way, and to watch the amazing behaviour of all the individuals in the group. The adults pull long pieces of grass and swing them in their trunks to get flies off their head and back and the tiny baby copying the bigger youngsters and suckling from the mother. Luckily the house is surrounded by a fence that can be electrified if needed and the elephants foraging can be seen from the safety of the house.

A plus side of being house bound was that my banteng forage project finally got some attention, I managed to get all my plant specimens mounted and get on with my write up, this also meant I had to get to grips with R, the software for my data analysis. Here is a picture of me taking over the main room as I sorted through all my specimens checking I didn't have 2 of the same, not that easy when you have 70!

Insanity-10 days of being stuck. After 8 days in the house with a few hours of laptop battery to get work done in the day, the genset running all night and food down to rice, eggs, baked beans, sweetcorn and sardines, Naomi and i reached the point of crazyness. Luckily we had for seen this point and warned Jo who had sent a huge tin of peaches into the forest with the forestry staff. The peaches arrived complete with label “In the event of insanity open and consume Immediately”.. so when the point of insanity was reached we did as was instructed.. serves 7... more like gone in 7 minutes!

The end of my time in the forest saw some spectacular thunder storms that light up the room and shake the house whilst deafening you with the rain hammering the roof. It rained so hard that the rivers were impassable meaning Naomi and I packed up all our things to leave and then had to unpack for the night and pack up again the next morning. Luckily after 10 days of being house bound we managed to pass through the rivers and get safely back to Lahad Datu.

One night in Lahad Datu is all we had before catching the night bus to KK the following evening, for our flight to Australia and our final visa run of the year. How time has flown.

Below is a picture of the washing line at the forest house, something strange had found its way onto the line that day... Piggy's bath time, brown pig is now pink again :)

Expedition and Bye Bye Sipitang

The arrival of the newly modified car meant that we could get March’s expedition underway, the objectives for the month we to check cameras in Sapulut Forest Reserve and Maliau Basin and to take down all the remaining cameras in Sipitang forest reserve as our study period had finished.

We started off with the seven hour drive from our base in Lahad Datu to Sapulut forest reserve where we stayed for a few nights. Here we stay in a contractor’s camp with electric, beds, fans, running water, a toilet, a tv and even internet! Luxury accommodation!

For the first day of expedition I always feel like a drunk person, wobbling and tripping all over the place, while my jungle legs come back. Our first day was 10kms of walking along old logging roads and also replacing some cameras which were stolen in February. An early start meant that lunch was eaten at the typical 11am and we were back at base camp by 1pm!

The next day of walking wasn’t as successful with 2 of our 3 stations of cameras having been vandalised, the camera cases had been bent and the cameras removed and burnt.

After 2 days in Sapulut we headed for Sipitang Forest Reserve. Enroute to Sipitang we stopped for lunch in Keningau and whilst Jo and I were waiting for the boys the shop in front of us was receiving its rice delivery, the workers were being stacked up with 10x 5kg bags on their shoulder and on top of their head and moving them into the shop, no hands needed!

We arrived in Sipitang in muggy damp weather and left the nice new tarmac road for the dirt tracks, arriving at the plantation workers camp in the late afternoon.

The first day in Sipitang was a dry day, so we decided to head to the cameras across the river, when we set these cameras up the river level was really low but the rainy season has prevented us accessing them since. Luckily some tree trunks had become lodged across the gap between the river bank and the broken bridge allowing us to cross, just. The boys braved the walking across while Jo and I went for a lady like crawl along the trees! Some of he camera traps were put high up in the trees to get a better view of the area but this made it very difficult to get them down, especially as a colony of ants had made their home in one.

On day 2 we split into 2 teams, Rusdi and I went off on the motorbike to collect in 2 camera stations and Jo, Lee and the 2 SFI staff headed to another area to take down the cameras there. Rusdi and I had a 10km walk along narrow paths with steep landslides on the side and over the top of a crest and then down the other side of the hill and back, with some great views out over the hills.   

On other days in Sipitang we had to negotiate big landslides and broken bridges. Some of the broken bridges had been precarious in previous months but heavy rain and the digging out of the ditches turned a fairly short walk into a long day. The walking starting with a 2km uphill climb with a 300m gain in elevation, thankfully at the end of the day when our rucksacks were full of cameras it was all down hill.

A few days later we had to go back into the area with the broken bridges and ditches to access some more cameras, this time we managed to get in on the motorbike preventing an 18km walk. Rusdi and I managed to negotiate 3 ditches, the steep hill full of ruts and the remains of 2 bridges in order to get to the point where we leave the bike for the 6km round walk to collect the camera traps. At the final ditch the mud was really slippery and we had to push the bike up the bank, Rusdi asked me to push it from the back while he steered the front, this ended in a comic scene moment when the back tyre spun mud all over me!.. but we got the bike out of the ditch!

The Banteng teams long days of walking proved too much for the SFI staff who were following us, as they both fell asleep in the car journeys on the last few days.  After many long hot day of walking, carrying heavy rucksacks and pushing the motorbike out of numerous ditches Sipitang was done, all cameras removed and all our stuff packed up. Goodbye Sipitang, high altitude chilly nights, getting the car stuck in the mud, interesting encounters with hunters but lovely days walking with great views of the mountains and great camera trap photographs.

We headed back to Sapulut to stay for two nights and to go to Maliau Basin and check the cameras there and for me to assess the plants at the banteng foraging sites for my project. When expedition was done it was time to head back to Lahad Datu, from Sapulut its about 6 hours drive and after some lunch in Tawau the only way to top of another great expedition was with MacDonald's Icecreams!

Expedition might be over but my project involved surveying all Banteng foraging sites, this included revisiting previous foraging sites. So as I had a free day  after expedition we decided to head back to Tabin to revisit some sites. The first site was meant to be about 45 minutes walk up a hill, but the site was last visited over 2 years ago and the vegetation was extremely overgrown making a 2 hours walk. When we arrived at the site the site was too overgrown to be of any use to my projects, very frustrating. Luckily the other 3 sites that I visited that day provided some great information for my project.

Whilst in Tabin one of the boys, Lee, wanted to visit his brother at Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA). The Sumatran Rhino is critically endangered but the arrival of a newly captured female Rhino from Danum Valley had been an exciting event for the BORA team during the previous weeks. Whilst we were visiting at the BORA site I was extremely lucky to be able to see this gorgeous new rhino in her mud wallow, they have her called Iman, meaning Faith.

What a busy month, I had one day off before heading back into the jungle and on the top of my to do list was Sleep!

Here are a few more of my expedition pictures.
6am starts are not bad at all when this is the view from the kitchen.

Right- A view from the motorbike along the valleys
Below left- A great view whilst walking.
Below right- I'm glad Rusdi has good balance, I would have fallen off that plank!

February Floods and Drought!

After a lovely relaxing week in Singapore it was straight back into the Jungle for me. I was back into banteng duty with one of the Malaysian workers, Siti. Despite a very dry first few days in the jungle the weather soon turned wet and stormy, changing the quiet stream below the house into a raging river and stranding us in the house for 48 hours! The roads became streams and the metal roof of the house a giant drum, thank goodness for earplugs!

At the end of February I spent a week in town with Naomi and Jo, during this time we visited the Sen Bear and Orangutan rehabilitation centres in Sepilok. The centres rescue Orangutans and Sunbears that have been kept illegally as pets across Sabah and then teaches them the skills that they need to survive in the wild before reintroducing them into protected forests. Sun bears are the smallest bears in the world and are black with patch of white under their chin, they are kept illegally for their bile and usually confined to tiny cages where they can’t move around. At the centre they a free to roam large fenced off areas, mainly out of the public’s view. In the orang-utan centre they have a walkway through the forest where the oldest orang-utans live and they also have a viewing platform next to the forest feeding area, we timed our visit with the afternoon feed so we managed to see six of the orang-utans up close. The young orang-utans that are rescued are taught life skills in a small jungle nursery and where the carers teach them to climb and build nest, this is vital if they are going to be released as orang-utans build a fresh nest to sleep in every night. After this they are moved into the large forest area where they can practice their skills and learn to find their own food before they are released. It was really nice to actually see Sun Bears and Orangutans close up after spending so many months only seeing pictures of them on our camera traps.

After a week in town Naomi and I went back into the jungle while the Malaysian workers took their holiday. Unfortunately the water pump at the house had broken so all washing had to be done in the river, thankfully the river level was low again, but no rain for 2 weeks had nearly caused the flow to stop completely by the time we left the forest. We filled tanks of water for the toilets and doing the washing up in the house but we showered and washed our clothes in the river, not as bad as it sounds on nice hot days! Although Naomi got a bit burnt having a shower on the first day when we went to the river!

Washing my hair in the River

Clothes washing time

March 4^th meant only one thing- Pancakes! As Naomi and I were in the jungle we had to improvise slightly, so using the wok we made Malaysian style pancakes with flour and water. As we were on our own at the house for the day and pancake day in the UK is always freezing, we decided to eat them in our bikinis and sarongs.

After a week in the forest I was meant to go on expedition but a problem with the car put our plans on halt so Naomi and I swapped with the boys and headed back to town to get some more work done on our projects.

My placement project is on banteng forage so over the past few months I have started collecting plant photographs and specimens from banteng foraging sites in order to try and identify the forage of banteng.  I have also been looking at past camera trap pictures to assess the foraging behaviour of banteng between the different forest reserves we have visited. This project will hopefully give some baseline data on the banteng’s forage, which will be useful to the future conservation of the species and of the habitats where they are found. 

Me out walking one day on an old road used when the forest was logged.

Singapore Visa Run

At the end of January it was time for our second visa run. This time Naomi and I were both meeting family and had planned to meet them in Kuala Lumper airport, then fly down to Singapore together. Naomi and I caught the 8 hour night bus from the bus terminal by our house to Kota Kinabalu, arriving at 5.30am! The bus journey spans the width of Sabah and has to go over mount Kinabalu. Unfortunately the roof of the bus had a leak, so the wet weather combined with the winding road meant that water kept pouring through the roof onto the floor next to our seats, not much sleep was had! 

We arrived at the bus terminal on the outskirts of the city and like always every single local person tried to help us and tell us where to go, but we knew that we needed some breakfast and then we were going to catch the hop on hop off bus for 1 ringgit (less than 20 pence) into the city. The bus was full and negotiating it with our backpacks and rucksacks without hitting people who just stared blankly at us wasn’t easy. The next issue was deciding which stop was the closest to the city, we ended up getting off when everyone else piled off, landing us at another city bus terminal and luckily where we wanted to be! After the hassle of getting to this next bus terminal we decided that we would head straight for the airport instead of going into the centre of the city with our bags and caught a minibus for 2 ringgits each to the airport. So total for 2 bus journeys = 60p! 

With a few hours to kill in the airport we got a 6 pack of donuts, such a novelty after Malaysian food, and waited to check in and go through to the plane. The photograph shows 4 of the 6, we were too excited to eat them to get a photo of all 6!

4 of the 6 doughnuts... too tasty to wait for a picture of all of them!

In KL airport we waited for my mum and Naomi’s parents who were arriving after us and had a rapid terminal change from their flight from Heathrow. They met us at the gate to our Singapore flight, where we had just enough time for a quick hello before jumping on the plane again.

We arrived in Singapore in the evening and after saying a very sad goodbye to Naomi, who I had spent every minute with since the end of October and wasn’t going to see for a whole week, mum and I grabbed a taxi to our hotel. It was Chinese New Year so after checking in we headed out for some food by the river. We found a lovely Mexican restaurant and shared a portion of nachos and quesadillas, it was such a nice change from rice and veg and unlimited refills of lemonade just topped of the meal! After dinner it was fairly late so we decided to have a wander, the wide bridge walls in Clarke Quay were packed with groups of people sat drinking and socialising in the warm evening heat, all awaiting the Chinese New Year fireworks.

Over the next few days in Singapore we went took a boat trip to visit the bay, went for a walk in the botanic gardens and did some shopping. The 'bumboats' on the river were previously used as cargo carriers along the rivers before the bridges were built, they are wooden barges with red and green stripes on and eyes on the front which were thought to protect the boats from danger, now they are used for tours and as water taxis along the river, they have a commentary and video highlighting all the interesting buildings and history along the river and around the bay. 

There is a rule for new builds in Singapore stating that they have to offset their carbon footprint with the same area of greenery, this means that all the hotels have areas of trees and flower beds at various levels and on their roof tops. But along with greenery on top of one of the hotels in the bay  they have managed to place a giant ship model, it is balanced across three towers of the hotel with the front end projecting out of the final tower. The design and appearance of this hotel was absolutely amazing and very in keeping with all the other spectacular shaped hotels in Singapore. The hotel was linked to the neighbouring shopping centre by and underground river system with wooden paddleboats along it. It was in this shopping centre that Mum and I saw our first Chinese new year Lion performance, the groups with their lion and drummers visit many of the Chinese shops and offer oranges and money packets. The performances are very loud and can be heard through the whole shopping centre, so after seeing a few more in various places we tended to avoid them.

The Ship Model topper of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel! 

One morning Mum and I visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the year of the Horse had just begun so the gardens were littered with brand sculptures of horses, the business of the city centre was turned into quiet meandering paths in the gardens and around the large lake full of turtles and giant fish.

The use of renewable energy and offsetting of carbon footprints in Singapore was amazing, Along with the greenery in hotels rule,  the edge of the bay was lined were solar panel powered fans, large sculptures of pipes which were actually a sprinkler system for super hot days and of course the streets were immaculate due to the no chewing gum law. What amazed Mum and I even more was that at night the street stalls were not cleared away but were just covered with a blanket to prevent the weather and insects getting to the produce. Severe punishments for stealing and littering make this a very safe and super clean place to visit.

A visit to Singapore wouldn’t be complete without a Singapore sling.. or two! Unfortunately the cocktail is really nice so many were consumed over the week, although after 6 months of no alcohol one each day was plenty for me! The week of sightseeing, walking, shopping, relaxing by the pool and enjoying normal food went so quickly that before I knew it it was time to pack my bag again, this time half full with chocolate. Our flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumper was an early morning one so on the short flight we were able to watch an amazing sunrise before Mum and I landed and said our farewells for another 6 months and caught our connecting flights. For me it was back to the pothole roads and jungle and for mum is was back to the trains on strike and a very flooded uk!.. I think I had the better deal! 

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!