a private small
group trip organised and led by Adrian Hoskins
a trip report by
Adrian Hoskins
Our first destination was Tapah,
in Perak state, on the Malaya peninsula. At nearby Kuala Woh park
we found 5 mud-puddling groups of
the stunning Rajah Brook's Birdwing
Trogonoptera brookiana, each
with as many as 30 of these huge and very
beautiful creatures, their
iridescent green and black wings outstretched and overlapping
those of their neighbours. Some of the puddling spots were
difficult to locate and access, but luckily I was able to edge
down the riverbank and find myself standing in the
midst of a
group, with one sitting on my finger, several more at my feet, and
groups of 4 or 5 circling around me in follow the leader fashion.
Absolute bliss !
Most other species at Kuala Woh
were only present in ones and twos, and needed to be searched for. These
included the long tailed, bright orange
hairstreak Eooxylides tharis, the gorgeous
Euploea radamanthus,
Appias lyncida, Tanaecia iapis, and the
rarely sighted female of brookiana, which did a fly past as I
crossed the suspension bridge.
There were
also a few
brookiana
at Tapah Hills,
where we also saw the
impressively large
Satyrine Neorina lowii, the
golden Birdwing
Triodes helena,
the spectacular 5-bar Swordtail Pathysa antiphates, and
several transparent
Dragontails Lamproptera meges, which
"hawk" like
dragonflies in flight, but are members of the Papilionidae. The
many other butterflies included Ideopsis gaura, Drupadia
ravindra, the monstrous Zeuxidia aurelius, Polyura
athamus, the Autumn Leaf
Doleschallia bisaltide,
the brilliant copper Sunbeam Curetis tagalica,
and the Neptune Swallowtail Pachliopta neptunus. The latter is black, with red
patches on the hindwings reminiscent of a
neotropical Parides,
but with an almost
luminous golden yellow abdomen. When flying in dappled sunlight
the black areas of the wings disappear against the dark forest
background, and all you see are the red patches, and the
gleaming golden abdomen floating eerily in the
darkness.
One day we went up to the
Cameron Highlands - great fun hurtling around those hairpin bends
! At the summit of Mount Brinchang we found the
rare cloudforest Danaine
Parantica
sita, and near Tanah Rata saw about 30
Long-tailed Blues
Lampides boeticus,
but the weather was dull and cool, so we saw little else. On the
way back to Tapah we stopped at one of the very few accessible
tracks on the endlessly snaking road, where I found a full
grown larva of an Oriental Deaths Head Hawkmoth
Acherontia lachesis feeding on a
nightshade.
After returning
our vehicle to Kuala Lumpur we
flew out to the Malaysian province of Sabah, on
Borneo. From the plane we could see that virtually the
whole of lowland Borneo was covered in oil palm plantations. Upon
arrival at Lahad Datu we transferred to the beautiful
Danum Valley, one of the very few remaining areas of natural
forest. The 2 hour journey to
our lodge took us through the Danum Valley Conservation Area
where we
encountered several gargantuan trucks laden with enormous tree
trunks bound for Japan. The only remaining areas of primary forest
are a few hundred hectares surrounding the lodge.
The rest of
the so-called "conservation area" is divided into
various concessions:
"reduced impact logging zone" ( about 80 percent of trees felled ),
"agro-forestry zone" ( alien species planted for timber ), and
"reforestation zone" ( clear felled land replanted with selected
native species ).
The lodge has a stunning
setting on the banks of a wide meandering river, with
steep forested
hills opposite, reached by swaying suspension bridges; and an
impressive canopy walkway. The area was entomologically
disappointing however, with only one very distant
Birdwing seen,
unlike on our previous
tour, when several
black and gold
Triodes species
were constantly attending flowering bushes adjacent to the lodge.
The
unseasonably dry
weather had delayed the emergence of most species, although we did
see Papilio nephelus, Papilio memnon, Euploea
sylvester, the Great Orange tip Hebomoia glaucippe,
Pareronia valeria, Chersonesia rahria, Parthenos
sylvia, Charaxes bernardus, the Red Lacewing
Cethosia hypsea, Dophla evelina, Drupadia theda,
the Tree Nymph Idea lynceus, Jacoona anasuja, and
the brilliant metallic green Arhopala eumolphus. Commoner
species included Ypthima fasciata, Junonia atlites,
and the little fly-like skipper Taractrocera
ardonia.
Butterflies were only part of
the story though - an orang utan appeared at the edge of the road,
as did a wild boar, and a monitor lizard. Daytime walks produced
maroon langurs, long-tailed macaques, green fence lizards, flying
lizards, hornbills, kingfishers, herons and woodpeckers. There
were some fantastic dragonflies, with brilliant red or purple
abdomens. Significant, but a little less exciting, were piles of
elephant dung, and rhinoceros footprints. In the evenings we had
the chance to go on guided walks or night drives, and saw a great
variety of creatures, including mouse deer, common palm civet (
with young ), and flying squirrels gliding from tree to tree.
We also saw a huge hairy huntsman spider on a tree trunk,
and the deadly Borneo Pit Viper, which looked exactly like a
small bit of twisted
tree root, and led to nervousness on the trails next morning !
The
Danum Valley forest was alive with wonderful sounds - during the day gibbons
melodically whooped, grasshoppers chirped, and magnificent
rhinoceros hornbills whirred and clattered overhead. At dusk the
siren wail of giant cicadas, and the croaking and chirping of
myriads of frogs filled the air with music. Unforgettable !
Our final destination was Mulu
national park in Sarawak, a province which thankfully still has
vast remaining areas of virtually untouched forest. The longest
trail which we attempted at Mulu was the one to Clearwater Cave, which
entailed a 420 step climb, and a 5 minute crawl through the unlit
Moonmilk Cave that resulted in heads colliding with stalactites (
"mites" grow up, "tites" come down, as they say ).
Upon exiting the cave we then had to descend 400 slippery steps to
reach the entrance to Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave, where
we saw the
huge "dead leaf" butterfly Amathuxidea amythaon, and an 8
foot water snake.
The best place for butterflies
was the plank-walk to Deer Cave, where I
succeeded in photographing the lovely
Papilionid Pathysa delessertii, the
Plum Judy Abisara saturata,
and the huge and
graceful Tree Nymph
Idea lynceus, which circled around our heads for
several minutes.
Unfortunately I failed to photograph an out of reach and very
beautiful purple and pink Terinos clarissa, as I had left my 300mm lens back at the lodge.
Near the
cave entrance we saw a little Allotinus that was feeding on
aphid secretion, in company with several ants.
We also saw an amazing
little white aphid which looked exactly like a
tiny bit of lichen
on legs; some nice stick insects, mantises, hemipteran bugs,
and a variety of brightly coloured centipedes and millipedes.
After returning to our lodge that night, we found a Giant Atlas
moth Attacus atlas, one of the
largest species of moth in the world, with a wingspan of 10
inches. Later, one member of our group
unintentionally invited in a
night visitor that came tapping
on his window - a gigantic cicada that had a wingspan of over 9
inches, and made more noise than an outboard motor
!
Borneo is a wonderful destination that I would
highly recommend to any naturalist, and I'm very much looking
forward to my next visit to this fascinating land.
