bukitrengit

The veiw of the junglefrom the house. We used to watch monkeys in this tree.

MY PLACEMENT

TAPIR TRACKING AT BUKIT RENGIT

Zaidi is another student doing a project on bird distribution. We would go with him into the jungle at night to get birds out of the nets he put up and helped with identifying them. It was prety scary in the jungle at night because when you turn your torch off it is pitch black and the noises make it a very creepy place really. It was also exciting though trekking at night as you couldnt see where you were going and it was very easy to get lost.

Scorpions were a big feature in the placement. It started with just a small one in the living room, which set me and James in a slight panic, especially when Siti said they always travelled in pairs. Sure enough, that night we met our second one. It fell on James bed at night! Luckily it went onto the floor, he said he felt it land which woke him up and then he heard it rustling in a plastic bag. He woke me up (my bed was on the florr so I was pretty scared) and I had to get Siti to come a kill it as neither of us wanted to go near. Even though we blocked up every hole a scorpion could crawl through in our room, I was still jumpy whenever I heard a rustle and James put up his mosquito to prevent any more falling from the ceiling onto him. After a while though we found scorpions were actually good fun, so we went out and look under the log to find and play with them. Theyre actually quite cute in a way.

Seeing as this trip was my first time away from home I was understandably a little nervous, though also extremely excited. My first trip on a airplane was as thrilling as I had expected- from the moment it first accelerated down the runway, the force pushing me back in my seat, to watching all the cities and countries go by as I flew 38000 feet above them. I will never forget how beautiful I thought they all looked in the night- the city lights shining out amongst vast areas of darkness.

When I arrived at KLIA, I was taken aback by how stunning this airport was- all the marble and glass mixed with areas of jungle and when I walked out the doors I was hit by the heat, it was so hot! I was totally shocked, having never felt anything like it! The whole of the journey to Kuala Lumpur I simply stared out the window amazed by what I was seeing- I was in a tropical country! And it was so beautiful. I arrived in KL at night, catching my first glimpse of the Petronas Towers as the lit up in the night. I was, for want of a better word, gob smacked at the beauty of this city, and still whenever I went back to the city after the first meeting I was still entranced by the way it mixed the modern splendor of the Golden triangle with older, slightly rundown, yet still charming China Town. After settling down in the hostel we were placed in- a rather disgusting place unfortunately, I went out with my group to find some food. My first taste of Malaysian food was Roti Pisang, basically a type of bread cooked with banana in the middle. It was delicious and is still one of my favourites.

Originally I was to be placed in Kuala Gandah elephant sanctuary but it turned out that I would be working on a project with bats, but for the first placement week there was trouble contacting the leaders of the project so me and my placement partner, James, stayed with the elephants until something could be sorted out. This was a memorable week;
One of my first experiences in my placement was that of a Malay food market when James and I went to get the weekly shopping. Seeing all the fresh produce, bargaining, and riding a bus to a place where there was no other foreigners was something to remember. The thing that most stuck in my mind was the way we were treated. I was expecting the people to have a negative attitude and stare at us, but it was totally the opposite! The people were so friendly, helping us find our way to the bus, telling us which foods were the best, and smiling at my attempts to speak Malay.
Even though I was told to keep a low profile at Kuala Gandah because I wouldnt be staying, I couldnt resist going to see the elephants and I instantly fell in love. The were such amazing animals! So huge and powerful, they would snap massive bits of bamboo as if they were toothpicks! I did a lot with the elephants, riding the biggest one, Methompian, feeding them and playing with the 18-month-old baby, Mawar, who needs lots of stimulation and who is the cutest elephant you could ever see, she used to love it when I blew down her trunk and used suck on my hand like a baby, which actually hurt a lot and when she got excited her ears would start to flap wildly and she could drag you around like a rag doll, even though she was so young. I still cant believe how strong those beast are.

One of the most memorable events of the placement was the Malay wedding I was invited to, a very different experience to a traditional English wedding, as it lasts 3 days, all of which are a celebration. I got to dress up in the tradition Malay costume, the Baju Kerong, and join in all the food preparation, prayers and ceremony. It was great fun.

Being invited to spend Hari Raya, the Muslim celebration at the end of Ramadan, with Siti and her family was something very special that gave me a fantastic insight into the lives of Malaysians and their culture.

There are only a few tigers in Krau wildlife reserve, which are seen very rarely yet one day while I was standing on the bridge over the largest river I heard a huge splash, looked around and saw the magnificent creature swimming across the water. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was so brightly coloured, so powerful looking and I only saw it for a minute until it disappeared into the jungle but that is a minute that will be etched into my mind forever.

ANIMALS I SAW

16. Arrived at KLIA.

23. Went to Kuala Gandah. Played volley ball.

OCTOBER

1. Day in Mentakab waiting for train to johor.

2. First day in Sitis house. Made cakes with Sitis mum called Haji roll. Went to local night market and bought fireworks.

3. Made more Haji roll and set off fireworks.

4. Had fun with fireworks blowing up stuff like ant hills, banana tree stumps and a pringles tube. Helped Sitis mum make the Hari Raya rice things made of woven palm leaves.

5. Blew up a brick and a bucket of water with the fireworks and visited some of Sitis family.

6. Hari Raya. Spent the day visiting people.

7. Went to nature park. Went bowling and came 3rd and 1st, I got 1 strike.

8. Visited Rafiqa and other people.

10. James birthday.

12. Left Bukit Rengit.

DECEMBER

4. Went fishing and saw tiger. Also caught a turtle and tried my first rambutan.

26. Went shopping for Baju Kerong. Went to Siti's fiances sisters wedding.

27. Was at wedding. Saw civit and big scorpion. Had a huge storm on the way home.

28. Was at Kuala Gandah and swam with elephants. Help Zaidi to bring in his birds from nets.

29. Went fishing and saw otter.

23. Caught the lizard that surprised me in the toilet.

24. Radio tracked for tapir and found her.

25. Went to Lanchang and saw whip snake. Did a night trip and saw mouse deer.

12. Went fishing. Went to the night market and saw leopard cat.

SEPTEMBER

Poor James, he spent his birthday on the train- standing up for most of it and it was very crowded. Mind you- being his birthday meant that I had to be the one who fought their way through to the food cart to get our lunch. But he did have a bit of a party at 12 midnight where we gave him cake and presents, which was nice.

Catching the tapir was one of the most thrilling things that happen in the placement. Siti had left for a conference in Penang so another guy was in charge. The tapir was so big, much bigger than I expected, and I was very pleased I was there to watch it be drugged, colloarded and released. My job during the process was to film it, which I was chuffed with as the film was pretty good considering Ive never used a camera before. I was fascinated by the vet preparing all the knock out drugs, of which a lot was giving to the tapir but we waited about 25 minutes before she went down and during that time she was trying to get out of the enclosure had to hold her by smashing the boards held up by 2 of the guys, she very nearly flattened them! When she went down I filmed them putting the collar on and administering the wake up drug. i also got to touch her which was a thrill, her skin felt very warm and soft but also thick and hairy. Watching her go back into the jungle was cool too as even thought she was so big, she just vanished into the undergrowth like magic. Over the next few days we tried to radio track for her but she had disapered somewhere, probably on the other side of the hill. We traced the signal after a week or so but didnt see her.

The first time I went to check the pits was exciting as I didnt know what to expect. I was lead 10 minutes into jungle crossing a log bridge and trying to remember the trail, then I was shown how the pits were constructed and shown footprints around by the salt lick it was placed by, one was a tapir the other a leopard cat.

Coming back from Lanchang after a bad day in Mentkab the car we hire to drive us the Bukit Rengit got stuck in the mud track. We had to walk to the compound and get someones pajero to come and tow the guy out the mud. It was funny though because it served the guy right really because he ripped us off.

After a few days of staying in a rather bare house (no cooker- we lived on biscuits) we met the project leader, a Malaysian student called Siti, who we became very good friend with during our 3-month stay. This placement was nothing like I was expecting. As the project, a tapir tagging and tracking one, had only just started there was nothing to do until a tapir was caught in one of the pitfall traps, something that didn’t happen for a month so until then we didn’t do that much.
Kareoke- Yes, I sang. I dont usually do singing but it just had to be done as all the guys were begging us to. Me and James did a duet to Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard and Yeasterday by the beatles. After that we weren't ask to sing any more, I wonder why not...

One of the best points in this first week was that I was lucky enough to get the chance to do some work in the jungle, spending 2 hours with the Orang Asli cutting a grid for the bat project. This was a totally new experience for me so I did as all newbies to jungle trekking did- took a bag with med kit, water, spare clothes… everything I thought I might need.

I jumped at all the noises, ran from the giant ants and was totally covered in insect repellant, hoping it would repel leeches (It didn’t, I acquired 7, not bad considering I fell in the river!) Now of course I am a seasoned trekking and know, like the Orang Asli already did as they laughed at James and I looking like complete amateurs, that all you need is a sharp parang to cut your way though the undergrowth and a bottle of water. The best repellant is tobacco for leeches and mud for mosquitoes, if it washed off it was easy to find more!

We also were lucky enough to catch a bat, using our house as a light trap as the tend to fly around the lights, which we then were taught by Siti how to hold it which was amazing as bats are such cute little creatures. Not so cute though as it bit James so we had a mini panic about him having rabies.

Mawar and Ash. Methopian

Me with leeches on my leg after my first jungle trek

Ellies in the river

My bedroom in Bukit Rengit. My beds the one on the floor.

Me and Siti

The scorpion log. Also good for sunbathing on.

Sitis motorbike. We were allowed to ride it- massive fun.

Me getting henna on my hands and the kids I made friends with at the wedding

The papaya tree- we never got a papaya as bird, monkeys etc ate them all.

The waterfall. It was great to swim in on a hot day and great as a slide. Though I once slipped smacked my face so hard on the rock it left a dent and a bruise that lasted 2 weeks (I had in in Melaka so check those photos to see it)

James birthday. James opening his cards and present.

Siti and her brothers and sisters.

Group photo at departure gate- Liz, Me, James, Ash, John. UGG, I look horrible in this pic.

Unfortunately that first night I started to feel quite strange- something that I brushed off as jet lag but was to prove slightly more serious. The first week was, to be honest, a disappointment, as I was very sick. I think I had a type of food poisoning that lead to me not being able to keep anything down- even water! Which in turn lead to me becoming severely dehydrated and having to be put on a drip in a medical center. So for the first week I didn’t see any of the city, as I had to stay in bed until I was well again, which was not until I left to go to my placement

The jungle trek to Kuala Gandah was one of the highlights of my placement. 4 hours hard trek through dense jungle, with James leading the way with only a compass and a parang. We went up steep hills, through spikey bushes, through bogs and accross rivers. It was great fun, though hard work- by the time we got to Gandah we all collapsed and started picking the leeches off (I only had 2- yey!) And luckily we managed to get a lift back so we spared our poor feet the walk back.

Photo of the tiger taken from a camera trap in Krau

NOVEMBER

20. Was very ill- drip at KLMC

26. Jungle hike cutting grid, got moved to Bukit Rengit.

24. Went to the food maket.

25. Played with the elephants; Mawar and Methompian.

1. Went to Bukit Rengit- no one there.

4. Moved into house and met Siti.

5. Went to pits. Had kareoke night.

6. Went to check pits. Went to mentakab. Did some fishing. Had my first big storm.

7. Caught bat in house. Had very scary storm and saw wild boar through window.

10. Walked to deer land

The storms in Malaysia are amazing, theres so much noise from the thunder and the lightning went off at least twice a minte. Id never seen anything like it so I was loving it. One night though I got scared as I saw something through the glass doors, a huge dark shape. I figured later that it must have been a wild boar as we had trouble with one coming through the fence surrounding the compound and raiding our bin- spreading the rubbish all over the place.

Deerland is a place run by a guy called Pak Cik Abdula, it had deer and also ostriches and we used to go there to feed them bread and look at the herb walkway which was good.

The night market is great fun.

16. Caught tapir in pit.

17. Collared the tapir

19. Tried to radio track for tapir.

21. Checked the traps. Went to deerland. Helped Ziadi with his birds. Had a scorpion encounter.

It was a baby moniter, about 1m long. I dont know how it got in there but I went to the loo and it scuttled out from behind the toilet, gave me a shock! After we chased him out he often came back, scrounging for scraps around the drain.
The night trip was when we drove up the road and then and walked back looking in the jungle for beasties. Didn't see much though- just deer.

5. Went to Mentakab and Temerloh. Saw black viper and the hire car got stuck in the mud.

7. Did jungle walk to Kuala Gandah with James navigating. 8km in 4 hours.

20. Saw my first eagle.

23. Ziadi and Rafiqa visited.

24. Walked to deerland and swam in waterfall. Helped Zaidi with nets.

26. Got bit on lip by nasty flying ant thing.

28. Caught the naughty banana stealing squrillel.

29. Stayed the night at deerland and saw big frog, funky lizard and had a deadly viper on a stick .

Staying at Deerland was great.