Volunteer Life- MNS Hornbill Volunteer Programme

Did you ever imagine living a life without smart phone, internet, laptop, Tv and all the electrical devices?
Well, I  ditched away my smartphone, laptop and internet for 12 days and yet I still "ALIVE"!
Well, the story began with my internship with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) where I joined the MNS Hornbill Volunteer Program in Belum-Temengor Forest Complex.

P/s: That was Elephant poops~~

Belum Temengor Forest Complex is the second largest remaining block of unprotected rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia.
PS: It is approximately 130 million years old!!!!!

It is home to some of Asia’s most spectacular wildlife including tigers, elephants and rhinoceros, and something very special; possibly the world’s largest seasonal congregations of hornbills. 

P/s:  There are 10 species of Hornbill in Malaysia and all 10 of them can be found HERE!!!

During my internship with the Malaysian Nature Society, I joined this volunteer programme in the Belum –Temengor Forest Complex, Perak for 12 days.

 We were here to monitor the Plain-pouched Hornbill as a part of a national conservation effort where we help to conduct important daily flight census and collecting data.

To get into the Belum-Temengor Complex, we need to travel to Gerik town, Perak  and from Gerik to Banding Jetty. 

The Jetty is located below the bridge of East-West Highway.
Then from Banding Jetty, we traveled into the Kampung Tebang, Belum Temengor by boat.

The forest is flooded into a manmade lake for dam water supply.

We settled down in the bamboo hut built by Orang Asli just beside the Temengor lake. 

Breath taking scenery from the hut~

My bed.. Well... It was a volunteer program so we just slept on our sleeping bed...

Our food supplies for a week~

 Hornbill census was conducted twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. 

This valuable information on population numbers will be used to advocate for the protection of Belum-Temengor, especially in addressing the logging threats.

Bird counting even during raining days...

Everyone in the counting group was ready with their binoculars at the birding site and waited for the Plain-pouched to come.

After a helicopter sound like was heard, Oh My God!!! It's the Plain-pounced flying above us!

The Helicopter sound was actually the flapping sound of their wings.

It was so amazing!!!!

Wait a minute, Don't Just Stand There!!! Quickly start counting!!!

Flock 1- 1,2,3,4,5,67...

Flock 2- 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8...

My eyes get blur when so many of them flew together... @.@

But after some practice, you will get use to it and bacome good in counting too~

Say hello to Plain-pouched Hornbill~~

You can clearly see the colour of their pouch where blue is female while yellow is male~

P/s: This is a globally threatened bird where you can't see it in Borneo.

The most incredible scene of all was when hundreds of Plain-pouched  Hornbill flew across the sky in V or U shape formation.

Beside counting, we also have activities during our free time.
We hiked around for birding, experiencing the Orang Asli life, and did some social work with them.

This Orang Asli lady demonstrated the traditional way in preparing Orang Asli dishes.

And she has a Rooster that act like dog!!!

The rooster in Kg Tebang will " crow" fiercely when strangers come near their owner's house!!!

And they can fly up to the tree tops and roof top to crow during the sunrise...

Then you will know there are how many of them actually around Temengor when all of them take turn to crow... @.@

Paip blowing demonstration by Orang Asli.

They claimed that there are no cure for the poison that applied on the dart..

So, becareful while handling!

Well, my favourite activity during my leisure time was "spying" on the life of Orang Asli~

Their kids were shy but they really have a different lifestyle from city kids.

They were free to play at all time and made themselves dirty all time.

This is what the city kids are not allowed to do...

We have to carry water from the lake up into the house for daily usage...

@.@

Too bad that I didn't manage to see the blooming Rafflesia... The flower was still in bud form.. 

Lastly, I really did enjoy the life living around the Orang Asli!

I got my chance in trying many new things here such as fishing, washing beside the lake and bathing beside the lake too!

But the best thing of all was enjoying the silent night with fireflies dancing around the lake under the starry night~

This is the magical moment that we will never experience in the city....

Planning to do something meaningful while having holiday?

Why not try enrolling yourself in a volunteering programme?

Why not enhancing your life experience while lending a hand in helping our mother earth?

For more information, visit http://mnshornbillvolunteerprogramme.wordpress.com/about-mns-hornbill-volunteer-programme/

The Felling Tree of Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah

Its's a Field Work Post again!!

It's been a while since my last Field work during last semester.

During this October semester break, I followed my course field work to Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah.

Deramakot Forest Reserve is located in The Heart of Borneo where 6 hours of travelling from Kota Kinabalu is required to reach there.

It is a Class II forest which means a commercial forest reserve where the trees here are logged for commercial usage.

Being a well managed forest, Deramakot Forest Reserve is the 1st tropical rainforest in the world to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  

What is FSC?click here

FSC is the most respected-setter in the world where they give certification to forest that attain good forest management and quality management under real condition.

The forests which are certified can have a FSC logo on their product. 

Well, in simple term, having a FSC logo on your timber is just like having a LV logo on your bags.

So, Deramakot Forest Reserve as a FSC certified forest is famous for its Reduce Impact Logging(RIL).

I was there to have a look into their forest management and how to protect the forest while harvesting it.

Ok~ Stop mumbling bout The Intro and lets begin our journey~

Different from past field trip, we traveled by van to Deramakot for this field trip.

Well, seem like we had a ride on the Van of HELL as the driver speed all the way and drove dangerously.

But, I still manage to sleep all the way.. XP 

We stopped by Kundasang to wait for the others so we just took this opportunity to Snap some crazy photo.

Just love the chilling air of Kundasang...

Too bad I only managed to pass by it for quite some times but never stop by and visit the Moo moo cow farm.. :(

 Let's Jump!!!

Crazy me~

The weather in Deramakot was nice when we reached there.

We even saw double rainbow there and one of them even had the complete colour from red to purple!!!

We were briefed by the officer as we reached there.

Really amazed that they reused the logging waste where normally they will be left to rot in the jungle.

The logging waste are turned into sawn timber that is used in making furniture.

They make an interesting imej when they are collected together.

It was already noon when we finally reached our camping site.

I took the single tent to sleep~

A air blow pillow, a sleeping bag and a mat are what you need if you wan to have a good night sleep while camping... (p/s: although the floor is super hard)

And not too forget apply lots of insect repellent too!

I must have my small pillow where ever I sleep.. :)

The bad thing about this trip was the toilet was so far away from our base camp!!!

This is quite a long road for us to take before we reach the toilet...

Suffering!!! No night pee!!!

The 2nd day started early for me as our group had to prepare breakfast and dinner for everyone that day..

We started cooking at 4am cause we were cooking for more than 30 persons.. @.@

Don't underestimate guys!!!

They were the main chef in preparing the food~

Well, I'm just the little helper for the breakfast preparation~ :)

Keep sapping picture here and there~

But I do cooked for dinner~

After the breakfast, we grabbed a safety helmet and off to the forest~

We eat quite alot of "sand" while travelling to the trail as we sat behind the Hilux..

The officer briefed us about the importance of Reduce Impact logging which minimize the impact of logging to the top soil and sivilculture which cut down the competition of other scrubs.

We were shown on how the tree was cut with directional fall.

The felling of a almost 100 years old big tree shaken the ground like earth quakes. 

So, pleass cut down the usage of paper and recycle it...

It's take a short time to cut a tree but it takes almost a decade to grow a big tree...

The residue produced during the cutting down of tree.

After the tree fell, the stump and the end of the log will be craved with identification number.

By doing this, the product from the log can be traced back even to its stump!

After that, the log will be carried out with crawler track.

We also went into the forest to search  for mineral salt lakes.

It is actually a pool of water logged besides stones with minerals.

Mammals will stop by to obtain minerals needed by their body by drinking the water.

 During the night, we have night Safari tour around the forest.

Deramakot Forest Reserve is rich with wildlife such as Clouded leopard, Pygmy elephant, Orang Utan and so on.

It is also a Bird Watching Paradise as once you held your head high, you can actually see Hornbill flying pass your head~

Standing at the back of Hilux during the night was scary yet fun~

Too bad we did not manage to find any wild animals that night.

But we do enjoy chatting and the night breeze at the back of the car.

We spotted the Pygmy Elephant's foot prints on the ground!!!

And their POO too~ xp

And Now lets have a look at some random photo that I snapped~

A special leaf of a tree where they have Eyes at the end of the leaf.

Fungus on a tree

Random shot of  Mimosa pudica while walking into the forest.

A pool of water logged on a fungus~

This is my favourite shot~ Branches of Darah-darah tree~

It's bleeding!!! xp

This is a hit among my coursemates!!!

Everyone is crazy bout this Cheesy Rich Biscuits~

So Yummy!!!

Some Photo with my coursemates:

Please ignore my Fugly face.... 

Results of not enough sleep and Life without mirror for 3 days!!!!

 Group photo~

If you are interested to visit Deramakot Forest Reserve,

Accommodation: RM40 person and per night

Food: 3 meals a day @ RM90 per person including coffee and tea or prepare your own food.

(visitor will be staying in the guest house with air-con room and toilet with heater)

Transportation: own transportation

However, to visit Deramakot Forest Reserve,

ones need to obtain approval and consent from the Director of Forestry.

Approval/permission: Datuk Sam Mannan,

Director of Forest Department, Locked bag 68,90009 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

Tel: 089-671306 Faks: 089-671303

email: sam.mannan@sabah.gov.my

www.deramakot.sabah.gov.my

 This is a quite different field work for me as this time we learn the way of managing a forest with sustainable usage of the resources.

It was tiring but I do learnt a lot from this trip.