BIOCOP members who were rich enough to make the trips.. huh??
A thin corrdior of riverine forest where most wildlife accumulate..
It's always a great feeling to see a healthy orangutan in the wild, feeding on figs here.
When we saw the elephant footprints on riverbank, we screamed (softly) with excitement!! We knew it was a matter of time to actually spot one in the wild..And there's our baby.. ah yo i can still remember my excitement now le.. can't wait to go back there.
Few years ago, a group of us from the Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BIOCOP) decided to organise a study trip to the famed lower Kinabatangan river.
The Kinabatangan river is situated in the Sabah state of Malaysia, and it is the longest river in Sabah. The lower part of the Kinabatangan river has long been established to be a hotspot for biodiversity conservation, and in 1999 the 26,000 hectare Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary was declared Malaysia’s first Gift to the Earth. In 2001, the sanctuary was gazetted as a Bird Sanctuary, and work to gazette the area as a permanent wildlife sanctuary is currently underway.
To reach Kinabatangan, we took a plane from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan. The flight took 40 minutes and we were all in high spirits! In the Sandakan airport, we met the owner of the Sukau Tomanggong Riverview Lodge, Jesse. Sukau Tomanggong Riverview lodge is a simple lodge catered for wildlife photographers or birdwatchers as they have good experienced guides armed with such skills.
From the airport, it took us approximately 2.5 hours to reach the small fishing village of Sukau. The last hour of the journey was horribly bumpy and dusty, and makes one wonder is it worth the trouble to visit Kinabatangan at all?
After the one hour torture, we reached the lodge feeling tired and extremely shaken, literally! Jessie suggested for us to rest for an hour before starting our first boat ride. The accommodation was very basic with 2 persons sharing a wooden chalet with its own attached bathroom. Across the very narrow road is the riverview lodge, which has a spectacular view of the towering Tomanggong limestone outcrop and its undisturbed forest across the river.
After a nice cold shower and much needed rest, we were introduced to our guide and boatman, Adi and Samsul. On this trip Adi and Samsul took us downstream the Kinabatangan river towards Sungai Rasong and the cool breeze from cruising along in the boat was a welcoming break from the stifling heat. The wildlife was just astonishing. In the first 30 minutes going downstream, we spotted two Rhinocerous hornbill feeding on figs, three Pied hornbill flying across the river, four Jerdon’s Baza perching at different trees, and a pair of Black hornbill. Adi and Samsul are really the best guides a person could ask for. They are extremely good in spotting wildlife. Whenever anyone of us spotted something, Samsul would cut off the engine and we’d drift past silently.
We were ecstatic that we spotted so much wildlife in such short time, but Adi told us the best is still to come. They took us to a narrow tributary called Sungai Rasang, and true to his word, there were more wildlife here than in the main river. That could be due to less tourist traffic in this side. We spotted a harem of proboscis monkeys with its alpha male, several families of pig tailed macaque. But personally for me the highlight was the arrays of birdlife! In that short narrow tributary alone, we observed 16 species displaying in their natural habitats. That was real humbling to my soul!
After two hours of constant marvels, we returned to the lodge for our evening meal and wait for the sun to set before heading out for our night trip. After sunset we headed out on the boat again towards the same stretch of river. It was a calming feeling to be speeding down the river in the dark, watching the bright starry sky. We slowed down the boat regularly to spot for possible wildlife. But as we all had a long day, not everyone enjoyed the ride.
The next day, we left for another boat ride, spotting more birds. This place is a must for birders out there. Here you don’t have to spend any energy trying to look for the birds, the birds are readily available everywhere you turned! We spent the whole morning bird-watching and marvelled at the amazing wildlife of the lower Kinabatangan river.
After lunch, Adi and Samsul were highly excited and warned us to be ready for some big actions! We knew it must be the pygmy elephant! With heart pumping fast and adrenaline rushing through our veins, we got into the boat. Samsul steered the boat closer to the bank along the river and Adi told us to keep our ears and eyes opened wide! Immediately after he said that, we heard a loud roar! For me, that is the most magnificent sound I have ever heard in my life. I had always been waiting for this moment to see the pygmy elephant, but on the other hand, I was worried that the elephant might charge towards us since we were so closed to the bank! That’s life, so full of contradictions.
With much anticipation, the elephants finally showed their faces. We were all extremely excited and took tonnes of photographs. But one sad thing here is how inconsiderate some tour operators were. They drove the boat so closed to the bank and the elephants were scared off like that.
In the interval of three days stayed in Sukau, we spotted a wide range of wildlife. That should be a happy feeling right? Wrong. The only reason why wildlife was so readily spotted along the Kinabatangan river is a sad one. Much of the forests along the river had been replaced by oil palm plantations, leaving a narrow stretch of forest habitat corridor for the wildlife to live in, and that’s the sad truth behind the easily seen wildlife.
The problem of development and human encroachment into prime forests are constantly seen everywhere in the world. But Brunei is very lucky in the sense that we are not depending on forested goods as our main source of revenue, hence our forests are still relatively undisturbed. To keep the forests in such stage, we should put in more effort into forest conservation.
Some of the older members of the Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BIOCOP, BNS)
Some of the new BIOCOP members
Two years ago when I started doing my Ph.D. in Biology in UBD, Dr. Joseph Charles introduced me to three young second year UBD students. They were from the BSc. Biological Sciences and BSc. Education Programmes and they volunteered to help me in my fieldwork. These girls wereare tough and they survived well in the forests with the high humidity and the ever-present mosquitoes. Later on they introduced a few of their friends to my work and those are now my most trusted volunteers. Over time we have become the best of buddies.
A year later, a great opportunity came for us to spend few weeks in the Kuala Belalong Field Studiesy Centre helping out in the ASEF (Asia-Europe Foundation) University programme. All the volunteers in my fieldwork and me were assigned to help out in different research projects. We worked in the forest most days from morning till late afternoon helping the lecturers in conducting and supervising university students from around the world. When night fell,s thatis wasis the time when we all foundwould find ourselves gathering togetheraccumulating in the labs and talkinged about everything under the sun.
One night after enduring many days of hard-hitting heavy fieldworks in the beautiful forests of Belalong, we were all feeling a bit down about the miserable state of the environment in Brunei Darussalam. Here we are, living in a country where most of the forests are still intact and in their pristine conditions, and not many people understands the beauty of it and appreciate the aesthetic values of our heritage. So we all felt pretty depressed ad helpless as to what willould be the future of Brunei’s grand forests. Then came Dr Charles the wise man! He said why don’t we the young Bruneian students start a program that teaches people about the value of our own forests.
We were thrilled about the idea of actually doing something positive about the environment! And all of us agreed to be involved in this programme, each playing a part in ensuring the programme will run well. After much discussion between us and Dr Charles, we came up with a name for this environmental programme. We called it the Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BIOCOP), and decided to request the incorporate it as part of the BBrunei Nature Society (BNS) to incorporate it as one of its activities. , which tThehe President of Brunei Nature Society NS kindly agreed to take the programme under its wings and obtained approval from the Natural History Section of the Brunei Museum for this group to carry out various research projects in Brunei..
With Dr Charles as the advisor for the BIOCOP conservation programme, we began to identify potential started to work on various research projects of conservation value. We liaise ourselves with the Natural History Section, Brunei Museum so that we can help them to carry out scientific research in Brunei. ThroughWith the implementation of BIOCOP, we hope to inculcate conservation awareness to the general public on the importance of protecting and managingconserving Brunei’s wild flora and fauna.
There are two stages in the ConservationBIOCOP programmes. The first stage involves the collection of scientific data by volunteers, analyses of data and the sharing of scientific information withto relevant government agencies e.g. Brunei Museum. The second stage involves presentation of the collected data and information to different villages and schools to raise awareness on issues relevant to the area.
We have proposed a 10 years proposed programmejects as follows:
2007 – 2008
Wildlife biodiversity in kerangas forests in Brunei Darussalam
2009 – 2010
Wildlife biodiversity in peat swamp forests in Brunei Darussalam
2011 – 2012
Status of the lesser adjutant, an endangered stork species in
Brunei Darussalam
2013 – 2014
Status, distribution and abundance of tarsiers in Brunei Darussalam
2015 – 2016
Status of the proboscis monkey in Brunei Darussalam
So far we are actively involved in scientific activities conducted by UBD and the Brunei Museum. Some ofBelow are the various projects that we have conducted so far:
2005
• Setting up of BIOCOP under Brunei Nature Society
• Asia Europe Foundation University Programme (Small mammal trapping)
2006
• Egret surveys along Brunei Bay
• An educational trip to Kinabatangan and Mt Kinabalu (self-sponsored)
• Release programme organized by the Natural History Section, Brunei Museum
• Wildlife surveys using camera trapping in various Kerangas forests
2007
• Egret surveys along Brunei Bay
• Wildlife surveys using cage and camera trapping in various Kerangas forests
• An educational trip to Pulau Selirong
• Some of the volunteers participated in the Heart of Borneo Peat Swamp visit
• Release programme organized by the Natural History Section, Brunei Museum
• A workshop on Turtle Conservation in Brunei Fisheries Department
• Bushy – crested hornbills observation in Bukit Patoi, Temburong
• Bird sighting competition in Bang Nalud, Tutong
• Preparation for wildlife exhibition to be held mid 2009
• A conservation presentation given to UBD students and general public
2008
• Wildlife surveys using cage and camera trapping in various pristine and disturbed
Kerangas forests
• Some of the volunteers participated in the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary Expedition
in Sarawak
• Preparation for wildlife exhibition to be held mid 2009
• A conservation presentation given to UBD students and general public
Right at this moment i think Dr Charles has finally made his decision as to whom he's bringing to Sungai Ingei as volunteers.. Hope there's no more changes as i have also made up the list of people sharing tents...
There are so many things to get for this expedition e.g. sleeping bags, tents, glow sticks, basket for wee wee (he he he), more leech socks ..... and so many more. Need to prepare a list of things for people to bring..
Am really excited, don't know why?? I mean we've just came back from Lanjak expedition 3 months ago, and now everyone is excited about going for another expedition.. I heard Andery has even got his new parang ordered.. that's super efficient!! Well I have also bought new leech socks which are longer than what i have, so i am also kiasu bah..
What a motivated bunch we are huh?
This post is dedicated to Dr Charles who was in Oxford one full year for his commonwealth scholarship workng on crows (Charles, J. K. 2008). He has never set foot in this museum which is only 1o minutes walk from the Zoology Department, University of Oxford.
Entrance to the museum, admission free too. hurray!! Prof. Ben Sheldon whom i worked with insisted that i should visit this place as this is one of the best natural history museum in UK.
Students of Dr Charles should be familiar with this species Branchiostoma lanceolatum..oi old man no point talking and talking bah.. need to show how it looks like one le.. like long grain rice lo??
My favourite extinct species - the dodo bird. This bird was heavily featured in the storybook Alice in Wonderland as the author Lewis Carroll was a lecturer in the university. And the museum has a section dedicated to the author showing old manuscripts, photos of the real Alice, her relationship with the author etc.. must see for Alice's fans..
Real ammonites preserved for million of years
If you want to know how Aristotle looked like?? Anyone??
The museum is also famous for its intricate roof design..
Weird creatures. i would love to see this sheep species myself.. would i freak out?
Entrance to the gift shop.. lovely door.. i think dr charles should keep this design in mind when he builds a house later.. no one can enter bah.. not even the strong men around him now..
The tomb of St 'Someone i forgot the name' who was buried inside the church..
This is the kind of window i want for my house..
Christchurch courtyard
Makan place for students staying in the christchurch dorms.. so artistic and surrounding the tables are paintings of historical people staying in the same place before. imagine having your meals and eyes staring at your back.. huh?
Prayer place for the general public
Official entrance to the Christchurch,,
Christchurch courtyard 
Christchurch dorms
