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holding sea snake

Snake Island of Pulau Tiga Park

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My day 2 in Pulau Tiga is as exciting as first day. Today I’m going to Snake Island (Pulau Ular or Pulau Kalampunian Damit) of Pulau Tiga Park. I’ve seen the video of dozens of highly venomous Yellow-lipped Sea Kraits or Banded Sea Kraits (species: Laticauda colubrina) roaming on this island. The poison of this sea snake is 3 to 4 times more potent than cobra!

Snake Island (Pulau Ular)

The trip to Snake Island is optional. You can pay RM40 (≈USD12) to visit two islands (Snake Island and Sands Spit Island) of Pulau Tiga Park. The tour also includes a snorkeling trip off the island, so it is a good deal.


We depart at 9am and reach the Snake Island after 15 minutes. They only allow you to go during good weather.


According to a legend, Snake Island is the resting place of a heart-broken princess, whose lover is turned into rock by black magic of her sisters. The angry king penalized the evil sisters by turning their islands into mud volcanoes (Pulau Tiga).


Snake Island is so small that you need only 15 minutes to walk one round of the island.


Besides a jetty and a shelter, there is no other facility on Snake Island.


Pic: a warning sign. Watch your steps! You must be accompanied by a guide. We are happy to have Mr. Mohammad Syaheer, the “snake catcher” from Pulau Tiga Resort, to go with us.


Though Snake Island is tiny, it has interesting plant such as tall Pisonia tree, which has smooth bark and grows well in sandstone, limestone and shale of Snake Island.


At first glance, Snake Island looks like an ordinary island with rocky shore. I saw the feather and dropping of white-bellied sea eagle, a bird that preys on sea snake.


Actually the sea snakes are sleeping in the crevices between the rocks. Mohammad is so brave to pull one of them out of the hole. I can’t forget it’s one of the most poisonous snakes in the world!


He even let us to touch and hold the sea snake. Surprisingly, its skin is dry and feel like plastic. We only saw two sea snakes. The guides say probably it’s not mating season and most sea snakes go hunting in sea during daytime.

You may watch the 2-min video below about Snake Island:

Click Here to see wider video

Sands Spit Island

After the visit to Snake Island, we stop briefly on Sands Spit Island (Pulau Kalampunian Besar), which is only a few Kilometers away.


Pic: old aerial photo of Sands Spit Island (Source: Sabah Parks)

Sands Spit Island was used to be a sand bar in the sea (see photo above). Technically, it didn’t look like an island.


However, over the years, some vegetations such as Casaurine trees and salt-tolerant creeping vine (Beach Morning Glory) set foot on Sands Spit Island, giving this white sand bar a green cover. A new island is born…

Personally, I think Sands Spit Island has the BEST Beach in Sabah. The white sandy beach is long and unspoiled, and the sea water is the clean crystal blue color.


Pic: you can see Pulau Tiga from Sands Spit Island

We enjoy every moment on this lovely island. Our footprints are the only human trace on Sands Spit Island. I don’t mind staying there whole day long, but sadly, we have to leave…

You may watch the following 2-min video of Sands Spit Island:

Click Here to see wider video

A new video taken at another end of the Sands Spit Island:

Click Here to see wider video

Snorkeling

As the last activity of the island tour this morning, our boat sends us to Tiga Trail, a snorkeling point near Pulau Tiga. In lucky day, you can see sea turtle there.


Pic: the dark area in the sea is coral reefs rich with marine creatures


The water is warm and only 1 to 4 Meters deep. The weather is nice, so the visibility underwater is very good. The corals are in healthy state, with many reef fishes foraging among rich variety of seagrass and hard & soft corals.


FYI, you can rent snorkeling gears (snorkel, mask and fins) for RM30 (≈USD9) per day, if you don’t have any. For those who are not a good swimmer, they can use the life jacket from the boat.


Pulau Tiga Resort also has a dive center on island. To go deeper to see more marine creatures such as nudibranchs, cuttlefish, bamboo sharks and marbled stingray, you can arrange with the resort for scuba diving trip in Pulau Tiga Park. For non-divers, they still can experience diving in Discovery Scuba Diving programme (RM200≈USD61 per person, RM300≈USD91 for two).

You may watch the following 1-min video of snorkeling in Pulau Tiga:

Click Here to see wider video

Reptile Paradise

Besides rich marine ecosystems, Pulau Tiga Park is also rich in terrestrial flora and fauna. In fact, Pulau Tiga is first protected as a forest reserve, before it is turned into a marine park. To me, Pulau Tiga is the Kingdom of Reptiles. Other than sea kraits, I saw many other reptiles such as the Yellow-ringed snake below:


Again, Syaheer the snake catcher is in action. Yellow-ringed snake is almost a guaranteed found if you do a night walk in the jungle of Pulau Tiga, especially after rain. Some says its poison is mild and cause only serious headache, but some says it’s fatal. Well, the only way you can find out is to let it bites you, just kidding.


Yellow-ringed snake is passive, so it is never a problem to the guests. FYI, its yellow color will fade if it’s very hungry. Python also lives on this island but I saw only its abandoned nest. I spotted the small Lizard Snake twice, but they flee so fast that I can’t photograph them.


The main predator of Pulau Tiga is Monitor Lizard. You can find a dozen of them wandering at the kitchen area behind the resort. Most of them are 4 to 5 feet long. Normally they stay away from human so they never pose a danger to tourists (as long as they don’t provoke the lizard). Below is a 1-min video of them:


Click Here to see wider video


Monitor lizard lives happily on Pulau Tiga like a king. If it lives in city, it’ll just become one of the road kills or have tyre mark on its long tail.


Skink and lizards are just everywhere. To name a few, I saw or heard Rough-backed ground skink, Striped tree skink, Brown skink, Green tree lizard and Tokay gecko.


Pic: near the coastal area, hermit crab is also everywhere.


You can see Oriental Pied Hornbill early in the morning (6am-7am) around resort. I also saw 4 of them perching on a Casaurina Pine in a night walk. They told me the guide and guest saw a white hornbill 2 years ago, probably an albino. Other birds that you can see on Pulau Tiga are Megapod, Frigate Bird, Magpie Robin, Blue-naped Parrot, Great Egret, White-breasted Woodswallow, Nightjar, etc.


Pic: a crab-eating frog in the mangrove stream outside my room. It’s one of the few frogs that can tolerate saline environment.


Long-Tailed Macaques are present in the island, but they prefer to stay in the wood. They can become a major nuisance if tourists feed them.

Monitor lizard and python also prey on this naughty monkey. You can ask the resort staffs who witnessed the terrible scenes of monkey being consumed alive by those reptiles. I hate monkey, so their stories sound awesome to me, especially the part that monitor lizard swallows the head of a baby monkey. Yes, I’m sick, whatever. Anyway, the island needs predators to control the monkey population.


Pic: Ranggu and Keruing trees dominate the island forest
There are 8 nature trails of different length in Pulau Tiga (see map below). The resort tells me they find pangolin and coconut crab in the forest.


Pic: Putat Laut tree (Species: Barringtonia asiatica) only grows on undisturbed beach. Its huge drift seed can survive for 15 years.

Just walk around the beach, you will see some interesting trees such as Putat Laut, Ketapang (Umbrella Tree) and Penaga Laut.

There are so many more to see in Pulau Tiga. I stayed there for 3 days 2 nights and explored only one-third of the island.

More Photos

You may check out my photo album on Pulau Tiga Island if you would like to see more nice pictures:

Related Posts
Pulau Tiga the Survivor Island
Accommodation on Pulau Tiga
Sands Spit Island

Photos taken in Kuala Penyu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Game Meats (Bushmeat) of Sabah

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Sabah is blessed with abundance of wildlife and many enjoy that with their mouths. Consumption of game meat (meat of wildlife) is common here, especially in rural area. In fact, hunting of wildlife (game species) is permitted in unprotected forest, if you get the hunting license from Sabah Wildlife Department (of course you also need license for owning a hunting rifle in first place). Below are some popular game species of Sabah:


The bearded pig is on top of the list. Muslims don’t take pork, so there are still quite a lot of them in the wild. However, the number is comparatively lesser than a few decades ago. In the past, hunters ambushed the wild boars at their migration path and they could see hundreds of wild boars at a time. Today you only can see such marvelous scene in National Geography channel. Due to shrinking and fragmented forest, wild boars venture to villages for food crop, making them more vulnerable to hunting.



Above: wild boar meat for sale at a roadside stall.



Above: wild boar meat for sale at tamu (native open market)

The trading of game meat is a million-dollars business, but not heavily commercialized. The meat is mainly for local consumption and not exported. I tried wild boar meat and it is not really taste better than domesticated pig. Most wild boars are hunted in oil palm plantation, so their meat has unpleasant smell because oil palm fruit is their main diet, some say.


The photos above is Sambar Deer, locally known as Payau, the largest deer species of Sabah.


When I was a little kid, I was used to see them when I was playing in the wood nearby my grandmother house in Kepayan (near Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1 today).


Above: “Payau” soup


Above: payau (deer) meat sautéed in soy sauce and zesty sliced ginger.
Deer meat is the most well-received game meat, and most Sabahans had tried it at least once. It tastes like a mixture of lamb and pork.


Above is barking deer, locally known as “Kijang”. It is about the size of a dog but its meat is more tender than Sambar Deer.


However, when I saw a poor Kijang being hunted in the wild like photo above, I don’t think I want to eat it again..



Monitor lizard is also part of our menu. It’s so easy to catch them and they are everywhere, in river, drain and even dumpster. People usually “fish” them with chicken intestine as bait. I was told that their meat is good for skin. Well, this reptile eats rotten meat and live in dirty swamp, I would not recommend you to eat such creature which is full of bacteria.


Above: photo of “bakakuk” (home made rifle)
As a matter of fact, even today, villagers living adjacent to a forest usually hunt, just like villagers next to river are usually fishermen. And they have been doing this for centuries and that has become part of their traditional lives. Many own a “home made” rifle. Under Malaysian law, owning an unlicensed rifle is a serious offense and you can be jailed not less than 7 years, or fined more than RM10,000, or both. However, most local authority keeps one eye closed. Occasionally we hear from the news that hunters shot at the moving shadow and killed their buddies by accident.

I once followed a trip in Sabah interior and have the chance to photograph how hunters cook the game. Even clever animals such as mouse deer can’t escape the bullet of hunters. Poor deer..




They removed the fur and cut the meat into pieces, then they cooked the meat in a pot with onion.


When having lunch in a restaurant in remote area, I found a Chinese restaurant that serves variety of wild meat. Besides the usual wild boar and deer dishes, they also cook squirrel and… hmmm.. bat, which I guess might be flying fox (fruit bat).


Above: squirrel waits for its turn to be eaten..


Personally I’m not really fond of eating wildlife, as there is no way I can tell if the meat on my plate is from licensed hunter or illegal poaching. Probably nobody remember that Banteng (a wild cattle called “Tembadau” locally) was once a very common animal in Malaysia. I read a old story of a Borneo hunter who says he can easily find the herd with 100 Banteng. Due to poaching, Banteng is extinct in Peninsular Malaysia since 1950s and Sarawak in 1980s. There are only a few hundreds left in Sabah so they are highly endangered. But there are still bastards who don’t care about this and say Banteng is delicious and is a must-try meat.

Some may say Sabah has thousands square Kilometers of forest and we still have many wildlife. But bigger mammals need about 10 square Kilometers to survive, so our forest is not big enough to host that many wildlife to fulfill the appetite of everyone. Do you know Tapir and Tiger once existed in Sabah thousands years ago? It is the earliest case of extinction caused by hunting.


Above: porcupine meat. The seller said they were trapped by snare in the plantation, not that they hunt them.


Above: snake meat for sale

Just look around us and you will see many overweight people, we are not short of protein supply, so there is no need to turn to wildlife for meat. I don’t want to encourage people to eat wildlife, so I’m sorry that I can’t disclose the locations where you can find those meals.


The only sustainable game meat I can think of is the crocodile meat from crocodile farm. Sandakan Crocodile Farm opens a restaurant that sells Crocodile “Bak Kut Teh” (herb soup). For those of you who are curious how this man-eater tastes like, you can try it at Shen Loong in 1Borneo Hypermall, LOL.



Above: Crocodile meat. Note the fried crocodile egg.


Above: did you see the crocodile claw in the photo?

The crocodile meat is a bit chewy but not bad. No, I don’t work for Shen Loong.. I brought home some crocodile eggs and my mom screamed, “ILL! Throw it away!!!” Haha..

Photos taken in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Crocker Range Park (part 3 of 4)

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Continued from Part 2…

(You may start reading from Part 1)

Here comes the highlight of my trip in Crocker Range Park, the night walk! I did two night walks, 1st night in Insectarium, and 2nd night in 2.036KM Crocker trail. You see nothing much in both places during daytime, but they turn into a busy world when night falls. If you are interested in night walk, you can arrange in advance with the Park at Administration Office or Crocker Nature Center during office hours. They will send a ranger to guide you. Usually the walk starts at 7:30pm.

Night Walk in Insectarium


For my 1st night walk in Insectarium, the Park sends two ladies to accompany me, wow. They asked, “would you mind if the guide is female?” I smiled and replied, “No… Of course not” (why should I, hehe..). Oh, by the way, the lady at the left is Tomomi Kan, a Japanese volunteer from JICA. At the right is Lucy Suin, a Sabah Parks staff.


No kidding… these girls have sharp eyes. They started to discover bugs the moment we stepped into Insectarium. Normally girls will scream when they see bugs. However, these girls are so happy to find creepy creatures in the dark, like enjoying a treasure hunt. With the aid of torchlight, we search every inch of Insectarium and left no leaf unturned.


One by one, the bugs reveal themselves under their torchlight. I wonder how they did it. Probably they are so used to insect collection. Crocker Range Park has over 400 species of insects, making the Park one of the best spots for collecting specimen.


Above: this might be a Malaysian Earth Tiger (Cyriopagopus thorelli) tarantula spider


Above: a cricket disguised as the tip of leaf!

There are more bugs discovered when we moved closer to the pond and stream areas. It was such a joyful experience!


Above: an agamid that can change color in minute


Above: a very long stick insect found by Lucy, the highlight of the 1st night walk.

It started to rain at 10pm, so we had to stop our night walk and said goodbye to each other. Anyway, I’m really happy to bag so many good shots.

Night Walk in Crocker Trail

Because of the exciting experience, I decided to arrange another night walk in Crocker Trail (2.036 KM) next day. This time the Park sends Mr. Rosandy Angkusup to guide me. I feel sorry to make them work until late night in fasting month (Puasa), so I tipped all the guides. Same as the lady guides, Rosandy has a trained eyes to beat the smart camouflage by bugs, especially stick insects.


Above: a moulting cicada. The moulting was so slow that we couldn’t wait until it finished.



Above: the cotton-like substance is a group of Wooly aphid insect, amazing…


We saw at least 3 fireflies in the jungle.

It is so impressive that crickets can look so different to one another.


Above: this alien-like cricket was shown in National Geographic channel before. The Crocker Trail is far more promising because the trail is inside the real forest.


Besides bugs, we also saw a Shama bird sleeping on tree, a mouse deer, heard the loud barking of a barking deer (probably smell our presence) and 2 civets at the edge of primary rainforest. We would get some if we carry hunting rifle, haha. Of course, poaching is prohibited in national park.



Above: giant river toad

Stick Insects

Rosandy is so professional in spotting stick insects (I always miss it!). I never saw so many stick insects in one night, nor do I know stick insects have so many species and variety. Some can play dead and some can release foul smell as a defense. Some can fly while some can’t. But all of them have one thing in common – they look like stick.


Above: very long stick insect

We moved so slowly that the night walk ended at 12:30am and our torchlight was almost out of battery. This is the best night walk I’ve had. I’ll be back one day.

WARNING: I know this blog would attract insect collectors. Please be informed that collection of any flora & fauna in national park without a permit, whether the subject is dead or alive, is a serious offense. You will be fined heavily or even jailed for illegal collection. Crocker Range National Park is NOT a place for you to look for toy pet!!!

Click Here for Next Article (part 4)

More Photos

You may check out the photo album of Crocker Range Park for more nice pictures:

All Articles

Part 1: Crocker Nature Center, Insectarium, Fern Garden & Rafflesia Plot
Part 2: Crocker Trail, Pine Trail & Observatory Tower
Part 3: Night Walk (this article)
Part 4: Accommodation in the Park

Photos taken in Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Night Walk photos:
Miki Survival Camp

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 2 of 4)

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Continued from part 1…
(You may Click Here to start reading from Part 1)

Sepilok Laut Reception Center (SLRC)
Here I was in Sepilok Laut Reception Center (SLRC), deep inside the pristine Sepilok mangrove forest, which makes up nearly 30% of Kabili-Sepilok forest reserve. SLRC is 5.5 KM away from the popular Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.



>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

SLRC is managed by the Sabah Forestry Department. The Center is for researchers to study the mangrove and rainforest, as well as schools and tourists who want to have recreational tour here to enjoy the natural mangrove environment. The Center is a wooden stilt house built on the mudflat of the mangrove, and it also serves as an enforcement station to prevent intruders from stealing the wood. There have been some illegal Filipino immigrants trying to steal the bark of mangrove tree for making liquor.

SLRC consists of two main building, i.e. reception building and staff quarter, connected by a boardwalk.

You can watch the 5-minute video below to tour around SLRC, without reading the rest of my lengthy text description:

Click Here to watch bigger video

1. Reception Building

SLRC has no electricity supply during daytime, but the staff turns on the power generator every day after 6pm (or whenever necessary) until morning.

The Reception Building has two dormitory rooms. Each room has two bunk beds and able to take 4 people.

The dormitory room is quite basic and only has a fan and wardrobe. Pillow and blanket are provided for each bed. The room is quite clean and new.

Outside the rooms is a shared bathroom. Water heater is not available but it’s ok, consider our climate is warm throughout the year.

There is a big living room area, where you can watch TV. Astro, the satellite TV channel, is available.


>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

You may sign the guest book at the reception counter or call your dad for money. They have a satellite phone (No: +60-89-676306).

As there is nothing much to do, you may check out some display items and information.


>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

You can see the nice view of mangrove forest outside the window.

It was raining so I sat inside to stay dry and warm, and enjoyed the river view.

There are crocodiles around here, some are big enough to become man eater, so don’t go swimming in the water. The staff says you would see them during high tide at night. Just few days ago, they witnessed the fight between a monitor lizard and crocodile. The crocodile won and grabbed the tail of the lizard that tried to escape. It sounds like a dinosaur fight in Ultraman TV. Too bad I miss the show.

2. Staff Quarter + Kitchen

There is no restaurant in SLRC, so you must bring your own food. You may cook your food and boil drinking water in the kitchen next to the Reception Building. Since I only stayed one night, I brought only canned food.

You may have your meal in the dining area. Cooking gas stove, wok, plates, spoon, cups, etc. are available in the kitchen.

But be careful of the naughty monkey. They would steal your food.

If you come with a group a friends, you can BBQ here too. More fun..

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

If you think you desire better accommodation with air-conditioning, you may book the chalet which can host 8 guests.


Above: there is a lookout tower not far from the building on higher ground. They say some mobile phone line may get coverage there, but not Digi. In terms of line coverage in Sabah, Digi sucks real bad. This is what a frequent traveller like me can tell you. Maxis is the best so far.



You can get a nice view of large mangrove area from the lookout tower. SLRC is in intertidal zone, so you get different view in low and high tides. During low tide, the mudflat under the river will expose.


The mudflat of mangrove is a busy world. I stood on the boardwalk and saw many activities down there.


The fight between two colorful male fiddler crabs.


Mudskipper, a peculiar fish that can walk on land.


Monitor lizard is the second largest predator (next to crocodile) in mangrove.


The main mangrove species here are bangkita (Rhizophora apiculata), tengar (Ceriops tagal), nyireh(Xylocarpus granatum), and geriting (Lumnitzera littorea). These trees are adapted to harsh saline and anaerobic water-logged soil in this area.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest


In late afternoon, I noticed movement in the wood nearby the Center. It was a big long-tailed macaque. According to the forestry staff, it’s the King here…

Read Next Article (part 3)…

Update (Nov 2012)!

Now Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) has a new boardwalk in mangrove. You may want to read the new upgrade and latest change of SLRC facilities here.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau)

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Last time I blogged that Tawau is an ecology desert and its ecotourism is over. Actually Tawau still has the last remaining natural heritage, Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau). After a few days of exploring this park, it turns out to be one of my favourite sites, and I will go there every week if I live in Tawau, which is so near to the park. Gazetted as a State Park in 1979 and 24KM away from Tawau town, Tawau Hills Park is an important water catchment area consists of five major rivers, i.e. Tawau River, Merotai River, Kinabutan River, Mantri River and Balung River. The park covers an area of 27,972 ha (about 280 sq. KM).


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Last month I took an express long-distance bus from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, which was an 8-hour journey (one way ticket costs RM45, about USD12). Taking a flight will only take 45 minutes. But sum up all the fees such as flight ticket, baggage charge, airport tax and transport from airport to Tawau town, it will cost over RM100 one way, too much for a poor traveller like me. From Tawau town, you need to get a taxi to the park, which costs RM30 one way, and there is no bus going there. The taxi driver may offer RM50 to pick you up for returning to Tawau. FYI, you can book such transport for RM30 at the counter of the park. Don’t waste your money.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

By the time I reached Tawau Hills Park, it was about 5PM. I saw many long-tailed macaque monkeys were moving from the nearby oil palm plantation to the park. The park became their playground and they were free to loiter around. They screamed, they f**ked, they fought, they chased one another, and they swam in the river. For unknown reason, I hate long-tailed macaque, probably it bite me before.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

The photo above looks like a happy monkey enjoying soaking in the cool water. In fact, it was screaming and beg for forgiveness from alpha male, after he lost the fight and escaped into the water.


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My late grandfather was used to keep a pig-tailed macaque as pet in his house in countryside. Though also wild, pig-tailed macaque is friendlier than long-tailed macaque. Villagers seldom keep long-tailed monkey as pet as they are more aggressive and tend to bite people. If you are lucky, you will see red-leaf monkey (maroon langurs) in the park. Further inside the jungle, you would see other primates such as Borneon gibbon, grey-leaf monkey and slow loris. Rangers say they spot orangutan very deep inside the hill forest. The rare white leaf-fronted monkey is only found here (too bad I didn’t see any, though a sighting was reported during my stay).


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Ok, enough with the monkey, just to let you know you can see them in morning and evening. I was staying in a 4-bed room in a chalet in the park. It was only RM20 a bed/night for a room with 4 beds, 2 small tables and a fan. The toilet and bathroom are at the end of the walkway outside. That time was not peak season, so I could have the whole room, and even the whole chalet! At night you could see many small animals such as frogs and lizards around the area, which is what I like.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

During my 4-day stay in Tawau Hills Park, I tried the trails to Sulphur Springs (3.2 KM) and Bukit Gelas Waterfall (2.5 KM). Each trail took only 1 hour+ of walking. Since I walked slowly and looked for photography subjects, I took more than 6 hours to go back and forth (it would take longer if it didn’t rain in the afternoon). Due to prolong drought caused by El Nino, the trails were dry and leech-free. As this park is a water catchment area, the trails could be flooded by rivers during heavy rain. The Park HQ even has siren to warn swimmers, if the upstream station detects any flash flood.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Tawau Hills Park is a mix of primary lowland and hill dipterocarp rainforests, 60% of them is virgin forest and the remaining is secondary forest. Along the trails, you will see many giant commercial timbers such as seraya, selangan, keruing and belian. Some trees have huge buttress roots. I was told that if you were lost in a jungle, just hit the buttress with a wood, and the rescuer can hear you 1KM away. This is more effective than shouting for help. The trails are along the rivers, so it is quite refreshing.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Wildlife you would see here are leopard cats, wild boar, giant tree squirrel, clouded leopard, forest tortoise, giant river toad, etc. Sighting is not guaranteed. Sadly, I didn’t see any of the above. The first bird you will notice is the noisy hornbill. Out of 8 species of hornbills in Sabah, you can find six of them here (black, bushy-crested, helmeted, rhinocerous, white-crowned and wreathed hornbills). Three rare species of pheasants (crested-fireback, great argus, Malayan peacock pheasants) also live in this park. I saw the very beautiful Asian Paradise Flycatcher that has an extremely long tail like paradise bird. At first I thought it was a “flying towel”. When my camera struggled to auto-focus it via the leaves and tree branches, it flied away, sigh…


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

In the park, there are three main peaks in the form of extinct volcanoes, namely, Mt. Magdalena (1,310M), Mt. Lucia (1,189M) and Mt. Maria (1,067M). It takes 2 days to conquer the highest peak, Mt. Magdalena. The trail is 17 KM long and you will spend a night in Mt. Lucia Hostel (at 10.55 KM). After 1,000 M above sea level, you will enter mossy forest, a totally different vegetation from lowland forest. It is far more challenging than climbing Mt. Kinabalu. If this is too adventurous for you, you may try the 1.9 KM trail to Bombalai Hill (530M), which is a a remain of an ancient crater. The rugged volcanic landscape of the park is abundant with volcano rocks ranging in age from Middle Miocene to Quaternary. I save Mt. Magdalena for the future.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Most part of the trail is next to a river. It is an ideal spot for nude swimming, coz I didn’t see anyone tried jungle trekking. The water is unpolluted and is piped to the households in Tawau and Semporna. Ever wonder why the rivers here still flow in dry season? The rainforest serves as a water retention system for the rain water. The forest ground can hold the water and slowly releasing it to the stream, even after month of drought. If the trees in this park are sold by greedy politicians to lumbering companies, the rivers here will be polluted by eroded soil and run dry. Most Sabahans underestimate the importance of rainforest. That’s why whenever there is any serious flood and landslide, the politicians can get away easily by saying these are the Act of God and has nothing to do with the forest clearance that is approved by them. Crocker Range Park and Maliau Basin are under threat now. So, just protect our forest and stop blaming God / Allah.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

Pay attention to the small stream and you would find something interesting, like the green sucker fish below. Before that, I thought all sucker fishes were dark in color.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

The water volume of Gelas Waterfall was so small during dry season. I lost my mood to photograph it when I also saw two big logs lean on the waterfall, spoiling the whole view. Anyway, my photo album has a few nice close-up of the waterfall. It is very tempting to jump into the clean and cold water under this waterfall. But be warned that there were many cases of drowning here, especially students. Their bodies couldn’t be found until they floated on top. No survivor can live to tell how they were dragged into the water. Don’t swim there alone. As a matter of fact, all waterfall is a beautiful dead trap.


Click Here to see more photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

You would find the butterfly below sipping water in the river bank of Gelas Waterfall. They moved so fast and I only managed to get one shot. It looks like a Green Dragontail butterfly (lamproptera meges virescens).


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Frankly speaking, I felt very strong presence of spirits in the remaining 400 M to Gelas Waterfall. One of my photo even shows something like a ghost orb. Well, it could be reflection of dust or moist. After I heard the tragedy stories from my aunty later, then I confirmed there were probably unseen entity lingering nearby the waterfall area. I always had such goose-bump experience in certain jungle trails, but I don’t quite bother as I can’t see “them”.


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The thing bothers me the most is a flying blood sucker called Deer Fly. Its bite is worse than leech as the wound can stay itchy for week. The itch is under the skin, scratching also can’t help much. I encounter deer fly in almost every jungle trekking. They can follow you a long way, land on your exposed skin to look for opportunity to suck blood. I kept sweeping them away with hand but they never wanted to give up. If I sweated heavily, the smell would overexcite them and even attracted more deer flies, and I ended up having 3 or more of them following me. The only way to stop them is to kill them. I just waited for them to land on my face or hand, then hit them by palm. I don’t want to kill anything in the wild but I have no choice..


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Besides tall trees, you will be amazed by the rich variety of fungi, lichens, shrubs and undergrowth vegetation. Despite my visit in dry month, I saw many types of fungus and mushroom in different sizes, shapes and colours. I think this park really can open a Fungus + Mushroom Garden, no kidding. Previous scientific field trips found that Tawau Hills Park has over 150 species of orchid, include the rare elephant-ear orchid. Most of the forest is yet to be explored, and the researchers believe many new plant species are waited to be discovered and given a name.


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There are some big fungus that I’ve ever seen. Fungus decompose dead trees and recycle the carbonic substances, so they are very important for the forest. The humid and dim rainforest is suitable for their growth.


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One fungi also looks like hair.


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Everytime I went to Tawau Hills Park, I saw different lizard. This time I spotted a comb-crested agamid. Later I spotted a gliding lizard. It thought it did a very good job to blend into the tree, so I could go very near for more close-up photos.


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Just slow down and observe the surrounding, you will see some interesting bugs in the park. Even cricket can be so pretty. Is it a “tiger cricket” below?


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When threaten, pill millipede can roll its body into ball. This time I waited and saw how long it would stay rolled. It opened up bit by bit, kept watchful eyes outside, and started moving after 20 minutes.


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The photo below is a feather bug. I passed by a tree and saw a few “bird feathers” on the trunk. A closely look revealed that it’s a bug. A few of them even mimic the movement of feather in the wind. Amazing bug…


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The funniest bug of all is the ant-snatching assassin bug (Acanthaspis sp). It collects dust, sand and soil particles, plant parts and even empty ant corpses, and stick those stuffs on their abdomen. Such heavy “backpack” is a camouflage to confuse their predators. Can you see it in the photo below? I spotted 3 of them in the park.


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Most animals come out at night, so I joined the night walk (costs RM30) guided by a ranger. We toured around between the forest and a nearby oil palm plantation, also the Bombalai trail for two hours. I hoped to see the king cobra and big ular sawa snake that the ranger told me. Too bad I did not see any, but I spotted Malayan civets, fat porcupine and firefly.

The time between 6:30pm to 11pm is the best time to look for anurans (frogs & toads), especially after rain. There are 64 species of anurans in Tawau Hills Park, 31 species are endemic to Borneo and 3 are endemic to Sabah (research by Mr. Kueh Boon Hee, University Malaysia Sabah). That means for every frog/toad that you see here, more than 50% chance it is found in Borneo only!


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Basically that’s all about my trip. Luckily the weather was good. Now I can’t wait to have another trip to climb Mt. Magdalena. Do expect me to blog about Tawau Hills Park in the future. This park has sulphur springs, lowland rainforest, montane forest, mountains, waterfalls, volcano remain, etc. The tour operators should create a package and promote it.


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Most Sabah travel agents are still lacking some creativities as they only know to demand more quota to climb Mt. Kinabalu and dive in Sipadan, as if there is nowhere else is worth to visit in Sabah. They only wait for others to develop and promote a new tourism product, when it becomes famous, only then they try to offer the same package, trying to get an easy share of the profit. They should learn more about Blue Ocean Strategy, so we can have both monkey and gold.

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Photos taken in Tawau, Sabah Malaysia

Monitor Lizard

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This creature is commonly mistaken as a crocodile when it is fully grown to 3 Metres long. Local Chinese calls them “4-leg” snake and Malay calls them Biawak. In Sabah, we can see Monitor Lizard (species name: Varanus salvator) everywhere, mangrove forest, wetlands, rivers, forest, sea and even longkang (drain) in the city.

They are good swimmer, climber and runner. Monitor Lizard is so alert and timid that they run before we have a chance to look at them clearly (many tourists thought they saw a croc). I spot them everytime I went to the mangrove forest. I consider the two photos below are something really need some luck to get.

This 6-feet lizard was less than 10 feet away from me, in an open space and under sunlight. The body, curved claws, skin texture are so clear. It was so cooperative that I doubt it was posing for my camera.

The juvenile Monitor Lizard has small and bright yellow spots all over its body, like the photo shown below. These beautiful spots will disappear once they grow up, and their skin will turn to grey or dark brown colors. They seem to eat anything, so they can live happily in urban area and become a city scavenger. Such strong adaptability makes them hard to enter the list of extinction.

In wetlands, they are the second predator next to crocodiles. They are luckier than the nearly-extinct crocodiles, maybe most people do not appreciate their meat. Yes, monitor lizard is edible. I tried the “lizard soup” once but never learn to love it, though it didn’t taste bad at all. I once had a neighbour who liked to eat lizard so much. At that time, to “fish” a monitor lizard was so easy. Just use fresh chicken intestines as bait on fishing hooks, put it on a styrofoam (so the fishes and crabs can’t reach it) and let it floats on the water, very soon a lizard soup will be served on your table.

Monitor Lizard never attacks human unless threaten. Once caught by fishing hook, it will become very fierce, hiss loudly like a giant snake. The big one can reach 25kg in weight, so you have to use the strongest fishing line and be prepared to wrestle with it for a while. Its teeth are also very sharp. Some lost their fingers while catching them. If you lock it in a normal chicken cage, it would bite a big hole and run away. Probably that’s why I haven’t seen anyone keeps monitor lizard as a pet.

Biawak is not a Buaya lah.

Many are still confused…

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 2 of 8

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Uncle Tan’s Neighbours

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp is in the middle of a secondary forest. Everything is back to basic. I like the not-so-commercialised setting of their camp. As there is no power supply from 12 midnight until 6 PM, do not expect to watch TV or taking hot shower there. They will provide enough food to make you full, so you won’t eat the wildlife. All the guides are locals, they can converse well in English and are very good in spotting wildlife.


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Looking at the “scoreboard” below, Malaysian is not even in the Top 5 visitors. Most Sabahan may not know this camp, but it is one of the favourite Borneo destinations of backpackers, especially UK. Many are repeated visitors and know this place by words of mouth. I will come back next time, with a 300mm telephoto len!


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Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp is surrounded by dense forest. So… besides human visitors, you will see wild animals all the time. Some are just passing by, many are regular visitors. If you trek out of the immediate camp area, you can observe more wildlife such as Orang Utan. If you are lucky, you would see rhino. No worry, leech is not common around the camp area.


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In the first morning, someone broke into a hut and stole the food. They are the Macaque monkeys. After the trip to Tabin, I had learnt that bringing food to the wild could attract unwanted attention. These monkeys are smart but naughty. They know how to open the door, unzip the bag, and very interested in plastic bag… I followed one of the monkey groups to the wood nearby to take some photos. One of them sat on a tree branch just a few feet away from me, observing my every move.


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As the name implies, this camp was established by “Uncle Tan”. He passed away years ago. Now the “new” Uncle Tan is Eugene Tan, the son of Uncle Tan. He took a lot of excellent wildlife photos, so many that he doesn’t have the time to work on all of them. You can see some of his works in the camp and web site. During wet season (Nov – Apr), the camp area would turn into a “wetland” and become very muddy. Because of heavy logging in Kinabatangan area, flood would happen in rainy period.


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After I had my dinner in first night, I saw a big animal busy searching for food near the kitchen. “Wow! That’s really a big dog,” I thought. This was the first time I saw “Kum Kum”, a female bearded pig who visited the camp regularly, with her babies. According to Eugene, Kum Kum is the offspring of a bearded pig that they adopted years ago. Even though he was released to the wild, his 1st, 2nd generation always visited the camp. You can see them in the morning and evening. The visitors are so amazed by such “friendship” between the human and wildlife.


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Other visitors include Monitor Lizard, which is mistaken as crocodile sometimes. Pygmy Squirrel, the smallest squirrel of Borneo. I also noticed a number of Birdwing butterflies like to gather on a particular tree in the camp. I wish to take more pictures, but my batteries are all running low…


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Photos taken in Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Mangrove Skink

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Guys, I would like to introduce you a friend who has smooth skin and slim body. Happy or not? Mangrove Skink (Emoia atrocostata) is one of the most common animals spotted in Sabah mangrove forest. Normally it has smooth and brownish to grayish metallic skin. This small, short-legged lizard is usually less than 1 foot (30cm) long. Like other lizards, it can detech its tail easily as an escape mechanism.

Basically they are everywhere anytime in mangrove forest. I always see dozens of them in KK Wetland Centre, on the broadwalk, under the mangrove root, on the sandy ground, open space… It looks very much like a skink that lives in our garden. In Hakka, we call it “Choa-Ma-Sa”. Choa-Ma-Sa is smaller and got beautiful red stripes on its body, while Mangrove Skink doesn’t.

They are timid but not quite afraid of human. They always keep a distance from you. If you come too close, they would jump into the water, so I assume they are good swimmer. During low tide, you can always see plenty of them roaming on the ground to look for small crabs, insect and other food.

I notice that they use only one eye to observe something. What I mean is — they don’t look at you face to face. Instead, they turn their head to side, using only one eye to look at you. I am not sure if they are trying to act cute or what. If you don’t believe me, just look at all the photos shown here.

Other two different skink species that I saw were spotted in Sepilok virgin forest and Klias wetland. The later one is only found in Borneo.

Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo