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Giant river toad

Night walk in Poring rainforest

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It was an exciting night in Poring rainforest. I finally found the insect that I had been looking for years. Many friends are also very impressed with this insect. Please read on to see it.


I suppose Poring rainforest is an ideal site for night walk due to its rich flora and fauna. Surprisingly, no tourist asks for a night safari in Poring, so I had to hire a nature guide to start one at 7pm. The fee is about RM70-100 (?USD20-30) per hour. We have a happy start when we spot a white wolf spider with red mouth.


Above: A litter frog that has big head, cute..


Then we saw a giant river toad, which is endemic to Borneo and famous for its foul smell. I didn’t smell anything though. There is a myth that this toad will laugh if you tickle its belly.

We rub its belly gently with a twig. You may watch the 1-min video below to see if it laughs:


There are quite a number of big spider around, like the leopard spider above. It is easy to spot them coz their eyes reflect our torchlight.


Small spider waits for prey in fungus cup.


A very long stick insect. The guide says the village kids are used to eat the eggs of stick insect because its eggs are big and look like chocolate.


Fat stick insect on tapioca leaf. Seem like stick insect loves tapioca leaf coz I found a few more.


Here comes the highlight of my night walk. Can you spot anything in the photo above?

Can’t see it? Below is the answer. It’s a Leaf mimicking Grasshopper (Chorotypus gallinaceus) that perfectly camouflaged as a dead leaf.

I had heard about this insect. I’m so glad to see one. When I was busy taking its photo, suddenly it just played dead and dropped itself to the ground. The guide and me shouted, “Oh sh*t!” because it would be very hard to spot it among the foliage. Luckily we located it again.


We also saw a big snail near Kipungit Waterfall. So far it’s the largest forest snail that I’ve ever seen.


Above: Giant bent-toed gecko on tree trunk.


There are some tiger leeches lurking in the bush. They were so excited when they sensed our heat.

Another highlight is the mating of two tiger leeches. It lasts for quite a long time and both leeches caress each other like crazy. You may see their action in the 1-min video below:

Click Here for bigger video

Our night walk ended at 11pm, just before the heavy rain came. I can’t wait to go back there again one day. If you love such activity, Poring is highly recommended for night safari.

More Photos

You may check out my photo album on Poring night walk for more nice pictures:

Related posts:
Night Walk in Miki Camp
Night Walk in Crocker Range Park

Other articles about Poring Hot Springs Park:

  1. Poring Hot Springs bath
  2. Poring Canopy Walkway
  3. Gardens of Poring
  4. The Most Expensive Orchid in the world
  5. Accommodation at Poring
  6. Jackie, orangutan who owns a house
  7. Waterfalls of Poring

Photos taken in Poring, 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

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 7 of 8

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Night Safari

Night jungle trekking is the most exciting activity of Uncle Tan’s adventure. The forest in the dark is a busy world. Our night safari started at 9 PM, the time where all the creepy creatures such as snakes, spiders, scorpion and centipedes come out to hunt for prey. Our camp area is both a jungle and a flood plain, so the forest floor is wet and muddy. We had to wear rubber boot.


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Don’t touch the leaves and branches in the dark, as there might be something poisonous hiding in it. We were walking in the dark with torch light. To look for animals, just scan the surrounding with the torch light and look for the relection from animal’s eyes. From the colours of the eye reflection, you can tell what type of animal it is. I’m not sure if I remember correctly. Red colour is small mammals, green colour is snakes, white colour is spider.


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

We saw a lot of frogs. It is a good sign. That means there are plenty of bugs. If there are a lot of frogs, it will attract snakes. Too bad we didn’t see any snake that night. We found whip-tailed scorpions in the tree holes. The guide said if he caught a scorpion, he would put it on our hand. Yes, he meant it. This is part of the experience.


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Our group moved slowly in the dark. The guide is really good in spotting animals. Sometimes you have to look above your head. We saw the big Ghost Spider. We also found birds such as Kingfisher and Heron. They rest motionless on the tree branches. They were so near that we could catch them by hand, but they didn’t flee, as long as we kept quietly. I tried to take more photos, so I was left behind the group a few times. I wish I could stay longer for more.


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Leech is not so common there. I was bitten by leech before. They can crawl into your shoes without alerting you, until you feel a bit cold and itchy between your toes (leech sucking blood). They say you need to be “lucky” to get one there. Somehow the fear still made me felt that there was something crawling on my legs. Later a guide showed us a tiger leech he caught. Beautiful, isn’t it?


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Another “exclusive” experience of this camp is to take shower with the river water. The water is pumped directly from the river. Its colour is a bit yellowish but consider clean. I used it to take shower and brush my teeth, just like other villagers living next to Kinabatangan River. Though I have a weak and sensitive stomach, I didn’t get sick. Of course, you have to filter and boil it before drinking.


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Next day we saw every house along the river got the thing below, hahaha…


Click Here to see more photos of Night Safari >>

Photos taken in Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Borneo Tarantula

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Is this a Tarantula (Common Name: Bird Spider)? I saw it many times on the TV, but this was the first time I spotted this big and famous spider. One day I was trekking in a forest on a hill. I decided to stay around after the sunset, coz I knew I would see very different world in the evening, the time most creepy animals came out for meal. The only price I need to pay is to be the free buffet for swarm of mosquitoes.

However, I was surprised to see this hairy spider stayed motionless on a grass. I quickly took a few pictures of it. To get different shooting angle, I carefully moved the grass where it rested. Even though I heard no Sabah people died of spider venomous bite, I didn’t dare to touch it. Once threaten, Tarantula will detach its hair and launch it to the air, which will cause serious irritation if it gets into your nose (by breathing), eyes, or skin.

Luckily it was a shy predator. It tried to run away and hide from me. Soon the day was getting really dark and my camera had problem to focus (XYZ the ISO400 limit), so I used a mini-LED table lamp to light up the place.

Does it look BIG in the photos? Haha… actually its body only an inch long (2.5 inches if include legs). But I am not sure if it will grow to a palm size, like its cousin in Americas. Anyway, I beat these are rare pictures coz I haven’t seen the photo of “Borneo Tarantula” in other books and web sites.

Update (Apr 14, 2007)
Last week I found a place where you can spot more than 50 Tarantula spider in less than an hour. Don’t believe me? Let me show you how. Go to Kinabalu National Park around 8 PM or 9 PM. Look for the wooden fence next to the main road. Check out the holes in the wood. Very likely you will find Tarantula with its body partly exposed outside.

All of them are bigger than the one I found in KK. Their size ranges from 3 to 4 or 5 inches.

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Ant-mimicking Spider 2

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Seeing the photo of “red ant” below, your first response would be “Stay away from it. It will bite you!” Most Malaysians had experienced the painful pinch of this aggressive red weaver ants, which are so commonly found on the trees. If you think so, you have been fooled by an ant-mimicking spider. It is a spider, NOT an ant.

This is the third ant-mimicking bug I would like to show you, besides the ant-mimicking beetle and ant-mimicking spider that I introduced in my earlier blogs. So far this is the MOST impressive ant-mimicking bug I found. It is so real that even if I say it is a spider, nobody seems to believe me.

You will need sharp eyes and some luck to spot this type of red ant-mimicking spider. Look around the red weaver ant territory that has established for years. Instead of dating and hanging around with other red ants, this red spider would wander around ALONE nearby. Interestingly, ant-mimicking spiders only live near the type of ant that it looks alike.

Below is a picture of the “real” red ants. Are you able to find the differences between them?

The pictures below shows how this spider uses its palps to fake the shape of ant jaw (mandible). Also note the big eyes of this spider. Nobody wants to move their faces close to the red weaver ants (if you don’t know why then try it. Hint: acid bullets), so this spider is rarely seen.

The ant-mimicking spider is not only look like ant. It also tries to act like an ant, to attempt to make predators back off. Spider has 8 legs and ant has only 6 legs. So how the ant-mimicking spider “hides” the extra 2 legs? The solution is simple. It just lift its 2 front legs on top of its head to fake a pair of ant antenna (and swing them up and down actively, just like an ant). Smart huh?

Still not convinced? I will always show them the strongest evident, if my friends still insist that it is an ant. Then I will enjoy watching their mouths open widely. Click Here to see how I make the spider exposes its true identity.

More suspects… (will add more as new faked ant found)

Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

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Ant-Mimicking Spider

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Girls… be careful if you find an ant on your dress, it could be a SPIDER!!! Hahaha… scare or not? This cool ant, no… I mean sipder, is also found in Sabah Borneo. It looks and moves like a normal ant, even the REAL ant also cannot tell the difference. We should call it “SPY-der” instead. If I am not mistaken, this is a type of jumping spiders (family Salticidae) belonging to the genus Myrmarachne.

I discovered it because I was taking some pictures of ants, otherwise I wouldn’t find it. At first, I noticed a funny ant that has a BIG head. Curiosity made me to examine it more closely. It was alerted, so it jumped quickly and hide behind a leaf. I never saw any ant with such agility. And it got 8 legs! We all know that insects such as ant only have 6 legs. This spider is less than 1 cm, so I had to use an additional close-up len to magnify its funny face.

There are two reasons it masquerades as an ant:
1) Most animals do not dare to upset ant, which will risk calling a whole kampung (village) of angry ants to beat them up. By acting and looking like an ant, the ant-mimicking spiders have better chance of survival, as most predators will avoid them like plague.
2) It uses ant disguise to hunt ants. Its deceptive look allows it to get closer to ants.

The long “nose” of this ant-mimicking spider seems like the one owned by arthropod Pinocchio who told lie. Malayan Naturalist, Vol 51 No. 1, August 1997 has an interesting description about it:
“This ‘nose’ is in fact a pair of chelicerae (jaws bearing sabre-like fangs) which are normally held together. These oversized chelicerae are a second sexual characteristic… These fangs are also used for killing prey. Spiders normally paralyse their prey by injecting them with venom through ducts inside their fangs…

However, due to the exaggerated length of their fangs, Ant-Mimicking Spiders have lost the ability to inject venom to immobilize prey. They resort to the less elegant method of holding down the prey and stabbing it with their fangs. Also because of their unwieldy chelicerae, feeding is a messy business for the male spiders. They have to stab their prey repeatedly in order to suck up nutrients through the holes.”

To me, this nose makes it seems like it is carrying a short gun (but function more like a knife). But don’t worry, to other ants, it looks like it is carrying a baby ant. I believe there are other types of ant-mimicking spiders around. I will update this blog if I find any new species.

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

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