Tg. Similajau

Rocky shores

Tg. Similajau

All covered up in the hot sun.

Tg. Similajau

Golden Beach. We took a boat there and took some time checking out the little critters in the area. We saw quite a number of trails on the beach.

Tg Similajau

Maye and Pat croc spotting

Tg Similajau

Crocodile spotting in sg likau ... we saw 4 youngins 30.12.09.

The 'professor' and the ancient mangrove

We reached Tg. Similajau 1545 hrs 29.12.09 after almost 8 hrs walk from Kuala Nyalau. The next three days spent in well-deserved respite in Similajau NP.

Tg similajau

Rocky shores alternating with sandy beach. Brave women.

Tg similajau

Hermit crab orgy hill. A reasonably healthy invertebrate population exists along the entire stretch from k nyalau - tg similajau.

Xing Sg. Selungun

Lucky fro us by the time we reached Sg Selungun, the tide was still xtremely low. Someone was here back in June or July checking out the wildlife nearby and we were warned of sightings of several baby crocodiles near the river mouth. Good that the tide was low, no mama crocs in sight, the water level was non-threatening as opposed to the many rivers we crossed the past few days. Had the tide been a just a few centimetres higher, we would have had second thoughts about crossing Sg Selungun ... by the looks of it, the river seems very wide from one bank to the other, defiinitely more so at 1.0 meter tide. We are in Sarawak afterall.

In the distance is Batu Gajah.

Xing Sg Haik

Still at it after this while ... we lost our network coverage from Middle Camp1 until Kuala Nyalau. Batteries for the Sony Ericcson also went dead after Middle Suai Camp1, no updates possible since then. Several more deep rivers after, an additional campsite, a boatride to Suai Bridge, several crocodiles , a taxi and 4WD ride later we were dumped at Kuala Nyalau Resort ... full of blisters, burnt, tired out, hungry but still determined to walk.

Kuala Nyalau Resorts provided the needed respite ... buffet lunch, dinner and breakfast. And fresh clothes. Warm beds, proper freshwater shower did a good job at lifting our spirits.

Though we were still slightly dampened by our inability to complete the planned Kuala Suai-Tg Payung-Kuala Nyalau leg, we were determined to tackle Nyalau onwards the next day. Then the storm came early at sunrise if you could ever call it that since no sun was visible, courtesy of Tg Payung spirits ready to derail our journey onwards. We slogged on in the rain towards Sg Haik, ready to turn back if the weather continue to fail us.

Fortune be with us, the weather turned for the better by the time we reached Sg Haik. Rewarded with great views of the rocky shores and the many little creatures amongst the rocks, we forged onwards.

Middle Suai Camp

Welcome to Hilton Suai, four tents and surrounded by tall grass near a ricketty abandoned hut. We had freshwater courtesy of a well nearby. This was deemed the best site to camp because by the time we reached our river-crossing it was late and the river was already chest deep with determined big waves crashing in relentlessly, highest tide 2.02metres that evening. Not a spot near the river was suitable for a camp ... pandanus all around, with green sandflies all too eager for a free buffet.

Middle Suai Camp

The 'professor' preparing a dish of sun-hock in lemon. We had to camp away from the river in nearby a small abandoned julap. Tall grasses, an abandoned fresh water well and a ricketty hut. We set up camp, made fire and grilled the fish. The nite was drizzly and cloudy. Plenty of birdcalls leading up to sunset and sunrise. Hill myna, pitta, sea eagles and other birds were heard. We saw a civet roaming around the tree tops not far from our well, it had yellow eye-shine.

Niah

LUNCH!!! A betutu who lost it's way into our camp fire! A great addition to our fare of biscuits, oats, nuts and tuna mayonaise.

Walking in the rain

Walking in the rain after a short crossing across Sg Niah, the weather sucks big time. All day it rained! Not a ray of sunlight anywhere, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle all the way to our first camp. Only good thing is we weren't getting sunburn.

Sg Niah

Waiting for our ride across the expansive Sg Niah, our eyes were wide open for any signs of crocodiles. We did spot a few logs floating past, other than that not much else. Maybe crocs hate rain as much as everyone else.

Sg Niah

At a distance, a sandbar across Sg Niah that holds high potential as out basecamp to explore Niah and surrounding riverine estuary. We could camp out on the sandbar or lodge at an SFC house not 20 minutes away into the village. Believe it or not a surfaced road leads right into the front porch of the SFC house, used to house officials during the hey-day of logging in the area.

Boatride

25.12.09

Xing sg sibuti

25..12.09

Rest

25.12.09

Bungai Beach

Sibuti river is just around the corner, a perfect way to spend X-Mas morning.

Halfway sibuti

Expansive beach

Kpg bungai

Morning light 25.12.09

Tg bungai

Pak bujang' place 0138350558.

Bekenu town

Deviating from our normal sweet sour river prawn and steamed siakap, we settled for typical bekenu malay food. Yawn!!!

Tg Bungai, Bekenu

Big waves during the incoming hi-tide at Tg Bungai, common during the landas season. Calmer waters expected though during morning low tide ... ideal condition for a beach walk. Hi hopes for tmrw!

December Long Walk 25th Dec-01st Jan

Our route, the beautiful Sarawakian Coast:
A-Tg Bungai, B-Kpg Kuala Sibuti, C-Kpg Kuala Niah, D-Middle Suai, E-Kpg Kuala Suai, F-Kpg Kuala Nyalau, G-Tanjong Similajau, H-Similajau National Park Headquarters.

The route chosen lies along a segment of the Coast which has no real infrastucture in place but facing the greatest development challenge in the form of coastal palm oil plantation, and arrival of dirty heavy industries from SCORE.

Run-off from forests clearing are already affecting some portions of the coast while potential harmful effluents from chemical plants, refineries, deep sea port and the like post a serious threat to the health of the coastal ecosystem. Already now, washed away sediments resulting from rain and exposed soil during clearing of forest cover for oil palm plantation are affecting water clarity due to increased amount of floating particulates.

This trip hopes to expose the participants to the challenges ahead and raise their awareness with regards to the future Sarawak’s coastal beaches.

Participants:

Nazeri Abghani, Sara Wong, Maye Yap, Muhammad Ali Syed Husin, Rabani HM Ayub, Roslee Kassim, Ruslan Lano, Yee Kwai Hoong, Indarani V, Jackie Foong, Radhika Bala, Ellie Hwong, Norzie A Sani, Sim Yuh Thin, Jia Jun Law, and Ajay Mehta.

Several others will be joining us post walk to explore Similajau National Park, which is also not immune to the affects of impending developments.

Keep updated with the news from the Coast between 25th December - 01st January here!

Common Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher at Kuala Baram, I heard it first and I saw it flitting about near a makeshift hut by a body of water near my usual beach haunt. Nice little birdie digiscoped with hi-iso on a fiddly (now I know why) oversized video head in dissappearing light by the beach. Best I could do with the opportunity presented to me.

I was glad I left photography and birding for a while back in 2001-2004. The $30,000, 600mm pitfall seemed loomingly close, so I quickly switched to shooting with 50mm and vintage cameras and occupied the time with medium format. Birding was using the scope for the occasional oystercatchers, ducks and avocets, no pictures! Photography was 50mm, vintage cameras and black and white.

Now with waders, digiscoping, the marriage between telescopes and digi-cam seems ideal! It's only in situations like fast moving birds that don't sit still that sometimes you wish you could raise the bar on image quality just slightly so. Good technique helps, but sometimes all the odds are heavily stacked up against you. Id of far away birds is a synch, but making pleasing images is still an on and off thing. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't.

The $30,000 nightmare is coming back ....

Oh, the video head: it's fiddly because the thread from the Gitzo didn't go far enough inside the the head! Duhhh! Only noticed it when I unscrewed the head yesterday. Will test it out when I return from the December walk in January.

Animal tracking anyone?

Or spoor-ing, as they say in South Africa?

It was intended initially as a bird watching trip along an old disused logging trail near Lambir for a few folks who we thought would like to learn more about birds and birdwatching in general. No one turned up! (There were a couple family, but we didn't know they were coming!)

Initially we saw pig tracks, then something smaller ... little baby pigs. We saw several of what could be those from a monkey? But a monkey in Lambir? Then a squirrel and then something slightly larger ... a civet perhaps.

Two bigger cat like tracks were further up the trail ... one with rectracted claws and one not. Could be dogs? Could be cats? We also found a site with bigger cat-like tracks trying to climb or jump over a knoll ... claws were clearly out to provide that extra push perhaps.

All these tracks rekindled my childhood memory of following a tiger' s paw prints in the sand when we were playing around in the forest around 10 or 11 years old back in the family's orchard near the border between Pahang and Trengganu. We had several dogs then, boy, they were keen. There were big paws ... sometimes you see them on the beach too.

I think I may have found another hobby, spoor-ing and making plaster casts of animal tracks. Wonder if I can get the kids interested in this? Would they be?

Incidentally our birdlists for the day:

Little Green Pigeon, Black-bellied Malkoha, Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Red-bearded Bee-eater, Yellow and black Broadbill, Black-thigh Falconet, Brown Barbets, Hill Myna, Ashy Tailorbird and Creamy-vented Bulbul. Plenty of calls that we couldn't id ... there's definitely one cuckoo in them bushes somewhere.

We: Steve Dexter and I.

Miri "Right-Smack-in-the" City Mudflats in front of HSBC

There's only a small puddle left behind a kongsi after the most recent dumping of sand as part of the reclaimation process by our city fathers (Jabatan Saliran dan Pengairan).

The following waders were sighted 13.12.08 at the "what-used-to-be" a mudflat in front of HSBC:

20-30 Pacific Golden Plover
2 Common Greenshank
1 Marsh Sandpiper
5 Wood Sandpiper
1 Little Ringed Plover
5 Red-necked Stint
1 Long-toed Stint
5 Common Sandpiper

as well as :
2 White-breasted Waterhen,
1 Little Egret,
1 Great Egret.

One small opportunistic biawak was also present!

Birdies at Miri Marina Beach

Within the one hour slot when the kids were tied up with piano lessons, I sneaked out to Miri Marina Beach making my way through the bushes and storm drains behind the Park Everly Hotel.

Glad I did, pretty lively back there today:
1. Dusky Munia (2)
2. Chestnut Munia (6)
3. Common Tailorbird (1)
4. Common Sandpiper (5)
5. White-breasted Waterhen (4)
6. Yellow/Schrenck's Bittern (2)
7. Little Heron (6)
8. Pacific Reef Egret (both grey and white morph) (1 each)
9. Little Egret (2)
10. Chinese Egret (1)
11. Intermediate Egret (1)
12. Malaysian Plover (4)
13. Lesser/Greater Sandplover (30)
14. Kentish Plover (8)
15. Pacific Golden Plover (13)
16. Collared Kingfisher (2)
17. Zebra Dove (6)

Quite a promising site for some digiscoping work later ... no humans in the morning aside from pesky sandflies.

Lutong Beach Waders

In several ways Lutong beach is better than the expansive Kuala Baram mudflats for wader watching tough there aren't as many waders at Lutong Beach in terms of species and count. Especially at rising tide as the waders move in closer towards the sandy beach as the water slowly rises, affording greater close-ups than those possible in Kuala Baram. The morning sun also creates better front lit subjects. Though joggers, motorcyclists, pesky sandflies can be a bother once in a while. Half hour before work, an hour at lunch seems too good an opportunity to pass.

Greening the earth in Borneo, Malaysian style.

All photos taken 14th-16th November on our way to/from Bario, numerous other logging roads scarred the landscape except in Mulu NP and Brunei.

Daily lunch date at Kuala Baram

For high protein mid day intake of nutrients most waders flock to Kuala Baram, a non-descript hardly noticed piece of extensive mudflats whose other regulars are local small timer fishermen. And then there's the waders.

Most days they'd be Malaysian Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Kentish Plover and Sanderling. Also bigger shorebirds like the Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Striated Heron. Not so regular are Chinese Egret and Pacific Reef Egret. Other non-wader birds by the shoreline Chestnut Munia, Striated Grassbird, Collared Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Brahminy Kite and others.

But we are talking waders here: other waders that have been seen here are Pacific Golden Plover, Long-toed Stint, Red-necked Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Redshank, Terek Sandpiper, Red Knot and a few others waiting to be spotted.

Kuala Baram is packed with little crabs and polycheate worms, firm favorites of it's regulars. Just the other day a Grey-tailed Tatler had a hard time swallowing a little finger sized juvvy eel, it kept wiggling itself out of the tatler's throat several times before being swallowed full.

Sick of your regular lunch dates, pop over Kuala Baram and see these waders indulge in their daily protein feast. You can leave your napkins and cutlery behind.

Waders out, shoplots in ...

From the top (22nd Nov) : Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Pacific Golden Plover.

I betcha with all the concrete canals, shoplots, exlusive bungalow lots coming up in the area, very soon there won't be many waders stopping over this once fertile mudflats (huge healthy polycheate worms) of old Miri river. We might catch one or two Common Sandpiper though. No more PGPs, no more WSPs, no more LRPs, no more KPs, no more LTSs, no more RNSs, no more CRSs, no more GSs and the WBWs (15-20 observed around here back in Feb-April 2008) will have to find a new place to hang out! All the egrets too ... and the SHs.

Evictees list:

PGP Pacific Golden Plover

WSP Wood Sandpiper

KP Kentish Plover

LRP Little Ringed Plover

CRS Common Redshanks
GS Common Greenshanks

LTS Long toed Stint

RNS Red-necked Stint
WBW White-breasted Waterhen

SH Striated Heron

Miri City Waders