Malaysia – Peninsula
From Thailand I arrived in the hustle and bustle of Pulau Penang, and island which is famous for its food and landscape. The food was brilliant and the national park visit was perfect. I saw monkeys, snakes, lizards, frogs, and hornbills. The latter is absolutely my favourite! I declared Malaysia to be my wildlife trip. The hope was not having too much rain, leeches, and mosquitos.
In Khota Bharu I took the “jungle railway” down to Teman Negara NP. A beautiful park that hosts a lot of wildlife, but in order to enjoy that I had to walk to one of the observation hides 12 km away. After strenous walking on leech infested trails I was glad to arrive at the remote hide. Tired, sweaty, and excited, with some nice food in my hands for the upcoming evening. Nobody else would stay here meaning the chances to see wildlife were greater than I could ever wish for. I set up all my gear and the fun could start. It was a night with waking up by noices and smells just a few metres away from my hide. Amazing! Almost every hour a big mammal passed by and during the first hours after sunset the rainforest “party” started! First squirrels, then wild boar. Porcupines in the evening, tapirs in the night, and even one elephant! As the morning slowly replaced the night, birds and insects took over. I felt almost at the point of collapsing, so tired I was. At the river I halted a local fisherman who brought me back to the park head quarters. During the boat trip I looked back on an unforgettable experience which I did completely solo 🙂
When I got back to the civilized world in Kuala Lumpur I applied for my new passport and got the hack out of here. Off to Borneo.
Land of the Hornbills – Sarawak (Borneo)
I arrived in the capital of Sarawak, Kuching. A laid-back town which is a perfect base to explore the nearby national parks and museums. I decided to go to Bako NP and to stay there overnight. It was the best decission ever! During the day there were hornbills, monkeys, and many tidal sea species around. As if it was just the start the night walk in the park must have been promising. And definitely it was. When the rain stopped the animals came. With a lot of luck we saw a wild cat, flying lemur, flying squirrel, mouse deer and many frogs. The goal to see wildlife in Malaysia was fruitful and more was to come in Gunung Gading NP. There I met a guide who brought me to the biggest flower on aerth: the Rafflesia flower. During the 1 hour (free!) guiding I learnt more than in 2 months of studying biology at university. The delicate life system of Rafflesia is as incredible as the flower itself. The smell is like a rotten body in the forest, almost decayed and full with muggets. The truth is that they indeed attract the flies with this smell, so they can help new offspring of Rafflesia.
Other odours I found in the massive caves of Niah NP where the naked bat resides with a fellow friend: a transparent gecko. My faith was to see both species, but the gecko was to quick to photograph. It’s fantastic to see the adaptations of species and being transparent. Glow in the dark mushrooms adapted to dark places and attract the insects to make sure the species reproduces. The fine adaptation and symbiosis keeps me busy for a long time. Every thought makes me smile. Every smile seems to bring me to the next species.
And we know all that Borneo hosts some of the unique ones in the world. Seeing them is a different thing. From TV I have heard about the naked bat and the transparent gecko. Both live in the darkness of big caves. Most of their body parts is transparent, but they are very hard to spot while in the caves. In Niah Cave NP the unsuspected happened. I saw both species and the naked bat was captured by my camera. You can imagine how glad I was, but more surprised. Just a walk to and in the large caves (among the world’s biggest) equiped with a torch and my own eyes. Especially my eyes seems to get better and better for spotting good stuff around.
With a visit to Lambir Hill NP I ended my trip in Sarawak. Here I found a couple of hornbill species and some kingfisher. One of them was the Stork Kingfisher, what a beauty. From Miri I took a bus to Brunei where I stayed for one week. About these adventures please click here.