Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Ruxs
Posts: 373
Joined: November 23rd, 2011, 8:26 am
Location: London, United Kingdom

Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Ruxs »

In many ways I was looking forward to the 8th of July, but in other ways, not so much. It marked the beginning of our nine night herping trip to Malaysia, but also reminded me that this would be my last for a while and when I got back to Thailand there would be a lot of work waiting.

It was also a travel day, which started badly when our minibus to Hat Yai Airport blew a tire. Luckily, this was Thailand and everyone from the minibus got out and helped out with lifting the bus and fitting the tyre on with rusty tools, which, if anything, spared us boring waiting time at the airport. Then, while attempting to acquire our already booked hire car from Hertz at KLIA, they informed my father that, without reason, they could not except his card - the same card he used when booking online! We tried the other car rental places around the airport, but no one else had a dropoff point at Alor Setar, where our journey was scheduled to end. My dad went back into Hertz to negotiate more and, to my joy, came out with a smile on his face and car keys in his hand, just as I was about to call Tom and explain that the plan will have to change.

'Tom', as in Tom Williams and his friend Nick, who would be my companions for this trip - or rather - I would be their companion. They had planned the trip; I was only joining them for the mainland part of it and acted as a tour guide for the places I had been before. My repayment was amazing companionship and a higher herptile yield!

Let's introduce characters!

If you don't know already, this is me, Rupert, from London, England:Image

This is Thomas 'Tommy 2 Hooks' Williams ('Tom' from FHF), also from London:Image

And this is Nick 'Tyrone' Kersley, yet again from London:
Image

Finally, my father, Richard. He's not really part of the herp team, but there is no way we could have found some much stuff without him and he's still a valuable and fun member of our party - from London, of course:Image

One of the reasons I loved being with Tom and Nick was that they're from absolute opposite end of the spectrum: Tom just graduated Oxford University doing a dissertation on the Malagasy Giant Hognose and Nick is an electrician on a building site (Heathrow Airport). Nick's work place has made him talk like a right south-london geezer and I just loved listening to him talk about snakes and their husbandry in that accent. Brilliant.

Smog from Sumatran crop fires over Kuala Lumpur:Image

Anyway, we didn't go a single day or night without finding a snake this trip. In fact, one of our best days at Fraser's Hill (our first and foremost destination) was the evening which we arrived, which included Tom and Nick finding an incredible Dendrelaphis cyanachloris and my father and I finding one of our biggest targets, Lycodon butleri, on the drive up the hill!

Blue Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis cyanachloris), not a target for the trip, but a snake I seriously wanted to see before I left Asia.Image

In my opinion, this species makes one of the most incredible transformations seen in any reptile. If alarmed, it puffs up it's fore body and shows off the interstitial skin, sending a ripple of brightest sky blue up it's anterior third, which remains until it's calmed down.Image

A big adult Mountain Wolf Snake (Lycodon butleri), thought endemic to the highlands of Peninsular Malaysia until one was found at the top of Khao Phanom Bencha, Krabi, Thailand, during an expedition. I expect it's probably present in sub-montane forests throughout southern thailand. We missed out on this species during our last stay at Bukit Fraser so it was great to tick in off so early this time round.Image

After dinner, we headed out for a night walk around what I previously called 'one of the easiest trails'. However, I did not know Nick well enough then to realise his shocking sense of direction and it wasn't long until we pronounced ourselves lost. Still, after battling our way through a lot thorny shrubs and a lot of retracing steps, we found our way back to the trail and a lovely Mountain Slug Snake - a species Tom had earlier expressed his interest in finding.

Mountain Slug Eater (Asthenodipsas vertebralis):Image

Get money, get beetles:
Image

The next couple nights weren't as fantastic for me, but the weather at FH was absolutely beautiful so we got in some great daytime endeavours.Image

Oh, I forgot to introduce two other characters in this story; our two personified automobiles! This is Nigel in front of the abandoned golf clubhouse. Nigel was the Proton Saga which Tom and Nick were so proud of at the beginning of the trip, but seriously went off towards the end, mostly because of it's excruciatingly small petrol tank which needed filling up at least once every two days.Image

'Sorry, you still have to check in...'Image

Nick, strapped up with sunnies and a GoPro:Image

More shots of this amazing place:Image Image

Nick was so impressed by the grandeur of the clubhouse that he though he might take up golf back in England. In fact, he got so into the idea that he organised a golfing trip for us the next day!

It didn't start or finish well and we managed to lose all ten balls we paid for. I'm pretty sure the hangover from a late night's herping didn't improve our hand to eye co-ordination, either. Somehow, I don't think Nick will be pursuing a career in Golf anymore.ImageOf course I was the only one suitably dressed for the fairway...Image



By the way, this is the car hired by my father and I, named 'Morpheus'. Partly because it's a Hyundai Matrix and partly because it changed colour twice during the trip (once where our original white one was recalled and replaced by a newer, black coloured version and once where it got caked in dust and became white again). Without too much disrespect to Nigel, the Hyundai Matrix is a brilliant night cruising (or regular driving) car and I breathed a sigh of relief every time I stepped into it instead of the afore mentioned... Image


Whoops, I almost forgot the herps from those two nights!

I haven't mentioned how dry Malaysia was during our stay! We got literally two rain showers the entire time which meant we got pretty bummed out for frogs. Still, the second night at the hill yielded a couple of the awesome Jade Flying Frogs (Rhacorphorus prominanus).Image

We also encountered a good few of these Calamaria schlegeli during our stay at the hill. Tiny and very wriggly little buggers which take serious effort to photograph.

Pink-Headed Reed Snake (Calamaria schlegeli):
Image
I must admit they are rather cute, anyhow...Image

Nick, not as versed in Asian herping as Tom and I, had never seen a wild elapid before so the boys were mightily pleased with a road-cruised Bukit Fraser variety Striped Coral Snake (Calliophis intestinalis lineata).Image

I was pleased too, but not as much as I was with this fantastically coloured (and rare) Dark-Headed Cat Snake (Boiga nigriceps):Image

My Canon 550D worked magic with the colours of this snake so I whacked up the shutter speed and took one of my favourite shots of the trip.Image

As a massive fan of the genus Boiga, the night that yielded the nigriceps and this guy here was just perfect...

White-Spotted Cat Snake (Boiga drapiezii) - green morph:ImageThis drapiezii had gone blind in one eye and the other seemed to be going the same way - lucky it's nocturnal and doesn't really need them for hunting.

Recently described Cyrtodactylus australotitiwangsaensis (Grismer et al. 2013):Image

Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus were as numerous as ever...Image

Fraser's Hill endemic species, Sphenomorphus bukitensis, which I planned on properly photographing until it hopped off my hand and disappeared. Image

Obviously, our nights weren't uneventful. However, it seemed like all our finds were coming in the first 1-3 hours of the night, but when it got colder at midnight we were getting seriously skunked, which left us with the feeling that we'd been less successful than we had. It was only at the last minute that we realised we should spend the first couple hours up at the hill and then go down the gap later at night. It was a pain we noticed so late, but a learning curve nonetheless and will certainly improve our yield next time.Image

We're not sure if this had something to do with the dry conditions, but the amount of mammals we saw during this trip was actually ridiculous. I had my 18-55 clipped on so I rarely got mammal shots but over the nine nights spent in Malaysia we saw a few Civet Cat species, Leopard Cat, very large mongoose, several Wild Boar, Dusky Leaf-Monkeys, Silver Leaf Monkeys, Short and Long Tail Macaques and more I can't remember.

The temperature was also much colder this time than my previous trips to Fraser's Hill, but that definitely doesn't mean the place wasn't as mind-blowingly beautiful as ever.

Image

Image

Image

It seems like when I trip to Malaysia there is always an invertebrate day, this time it was our fourth day at the hill where we got a ton of sunny daytime driving done.

We talked a whole lot of bollocks and got slightly delirious during the innumerable hours of driving we got done, however, I was quite proud of a list we devised as a group entitled 'The Five Rules for Herping in Malaysia':

1. Don't get bitten
2. Don't get bitten
3. Don't crash the car
4. Don't crash the car
5. Don't die

Someone informed there was a list similar to this in a classic book about some guy who travels the world to see a bunch of endangered species and meets a herpetologist who gave him a list of rules, but trust me, none of us had read that - we're not ripoffs!

"When I'm behind the wheel, you call me Tyrone."ImageSince the mountain roads are so windy up at FH, I'm pretty sure Tyrone has really done a rally driving course now.

Finds included a couple Tarantulas, this one roadcruised:Image

One we tempted out of a hole in the roadside bank:Image

We also got an absolutely massive millipede and an equally impressively sized Heterometrus:Image

You should fear the pincers on these far more than the sting...Image


Well, nightfall finally came which meant it was time to hit the road. We could see rain lower on the mountains, but it never reached us at the top.Image
However, before we went out I realised I needed to grab some fruit from the apartment. My father and I drove up from the restaurant and when we were about to go inside when I spotted some static squiggle on the edge of the road, right outside our apartment block. I was almost certain it was going to be some crap, but I remembered the wise words "Every stick is a snake until proven otherwise" (my words) so hopped out and took another glance. It still looked like nothing but just as I was about go inside I had a change of heart and ran up to find it was actually a snake!

At first I thought it had overheated on the road, but when I touched the little snake it practically backflipped and hauled tail to the edge of the road when I pinned and quickly picked it up by the tail. I was pretty sure it was going to be a Reed Snake, but it would not stop twisting and turning for a second and the venter looked very Coral Snake-esque.Image

When we tried to get some voucher pictures, it bit tom. He wasn't dead the next morning, so I posted an ID help request online. We got an ID and were pleased to find that this is a very rarely seen mountain morph of Calamaria lumbricoidea which Evan Quah (lad that got the ID) had to dig back to Tweedie (1953, 1954, 1956) to identify.

Calamaria lumbricoidea - mountain form: Image

Later that night, we cruised a nice White-Banded Wolf Snake, the first of many we would encounter on the trip, but otherwise we just found roadkill.

"I like my women how I don't like my snakes; DOR!" - Tommy 2 hooks

White-Banded Wolf Snake (Lycodon subcintus):Image

Image

The next day rolled around and so did our first rainshower of the trip! We took this opportunity to get out on the roads and after a while we saw something green and scaly sitting in the gutter. I quickly hopped out and called "Ah, it's a DOR Pope's", but when Tom and I got a little closer the lopsided serpent raised it's head. Once we realised what was wrong with it, it was time for high fives and cries of joy! On the first night of the trip, I had promised these guys a Popiea (one thing you should never do as a herper is guarantee things), luckily, we found one on the last day.

Turns out, this greedy green-viper had just raided a bird's nest and had five chicks in it's stomach and neck, creating a look like it had been run over by a wheel.
Image

Nick goes a bit primal when he sees a good snake, hence the ape look. Image

Peninsular Pit-Viper (Trimeresurus (Popiea) fucatus):Image

After enjoying a brilliantly overpriced final meal at 'Ye Olde Smokehouse', we got back out ad found another Asthenodipsas and a Calamaria shlegeli, but it wasn't until later in the night when I spotted a Gecko leg it across the road and decided we should get out and take a look. The gecko seemed to have disappeared at the base of the bank so I kicked a pile of leaves and saw some purple and yellow wiggle underneath. Knowing exactly what it was, I called "Cecilian!" and less than a second later something went flying past my face; it was Tom, making a goalkeeper style dive before it disappeared.

The guys had been buzzing about finding one of these throughout the trip so in many ways this was the highlight of the night!

Yellow Striped Caecilian (Ichthryophis glutinosus): Image

That was our last night in Bukit Fraser and we had originally wanted to break up the long journey north to Alor Setar with a night at the Cameron Highlands. However, we had all got a little tired of the nippy mountains and thought 'f**k it, let's blast straight up there tomorrow'.

This would have usually been a boring seven hour journey, but this time I got to meet up with the awesome chinese-malay herpetoligist Evan Quah near Butterworth to give him the Calamaria lumbricoidea specimen (Evan is doing his PHD on sub-montane snakes) and a lucky SatNav defect near Kuala Kubu Bharu rewarded the crew with this beast!

Sumatran Spitting Cobra (Naja sumatrana):Image

Usually large Cobras (extremely persecuted by other animals and people) look absolutely gnarly when they reach one meter, but this one was glossy blue-black like you've never seen!Image

Finally though, we arrived at Kuala Nerang, near the Thai border. I wasn't expecting to see much in the way of 'lifers', since it's so similar to the Trang area, but there's some fantastic road cruising which we couldn't wait to start!

(The area we would be herping each night)Image

One problem, Nick went and locked the the car keys in Nigel. This sneaky picture I took of Nick making the embarrassing conversation with Hertz was quite possibly everyones favourite shot of the trip.Image

As it turns out, they don't get much in the way of foreigners in Kuala Nerang and when we went to dinner the paparazzi showed up. That takes me onto another problem we faced: ramadan!

Sure, everything opens up as soon as it gets dark, but us asia herpers live a very nocturnal life - as in we're out hunting as soon as the sun begins to set; not helpful! Anyway, we made it out to the Lake in Morpheus and began the night's herping.

The night yielded two adult Sunbeam Snakes (Xenopeltis unicolor), which seemed surprisingly common in the area.
Image

Bag 'o' Sunbeams:Image

Also, I finally got my Spiny Turtle! As found:
Image

First (and final) Geoemyd of the trip; Spiny Hill Turtle (Heosemys spinosa) - massive adult which has lost the spines with age:Image

For size: Image

Later in the night, I spotted another cool snake on the road.

Striped Coral Snake (Calliophis intestinalis lineata):Image I had been dying to see a lowland form of this species for a while, I must say, I was very surprised by the difference in behaviour to the highland forms I had observed before. These bit our hooks a lot, often without proper provocation - quite unlike other members of the genus Calliophis.

That wrapped up our evening, but the next day we were rested and ready for breakfast! I was alright since I had stocked up on fruit and veg earlier on the trip, but the guys, no matter how much they hunted about, seemed to (reluctantly) always find their way back to KFC. I absolutely loved watching them eat horse meat and laughed my ass off every time we found ourselves in there. No idea why Tom didn't appreciate this...Image

We decided to spend the first day visiting the Perlis Snake Show in the next state north, which was rather disappointing, but Tom had decided we should take the long route there and back. The road was good quality first...Image...but quickly turned into a rugged, dusty track with logging trucks every minute, caking Morpheus in chalky dirt. Image
Still, we enjoyed the drive so took in again on the way back. This time, we were really looking for snakes!Image
I was expecting something along the lines of Coelognathus or Ptyas. However, the only snake I saw along the route turned out to be something quite unexpected.

Another Striped Coral Snake (Calliophis intestinalis lineata), worming it's way across the road in bright daylight!Image

As soon as I touched the silly snake it flipped upside down:Image

This one was a little prettier than the last, but just as bitey.Image

Those hills mark the border with Thailand:Image

Awesome shot I took of the terrain in which Kuala Nerang is situated:Image

After discovering a nice little place to eat, we all headed out Pedu-way. Definitely the best find from that night was a massive Scarce Wolf Snake (Lycodon effraensis); I had only seen the tiny black and white juvenile of this species before, so this deep brown, gold flecked adult was an extremely welcome find!Image

I've said this before at some point, but it's not often you find snakes close to their largest recorded length, I'm sure this one could have topped the size record for this species - easily. However, Tom and I have no interest in flimsy size records which are incredibly inaccurate unless the snake is put to sleep or euthanised.Image

Agressive little bugger this, but it makes for great photos - and videos?

We also caught Tom and Nick's target species for this area - two of them, actually.

Malayan Pit-Viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma):Image

For those that don't know, despite this species only occurring in the northern part of Malaysia, it still claims more lives each year than any other snake.

Despite how many I have seen over the last year, I still love that gleaming eye they have.Image

Habitat of Calloselasma rhodostoma:
Image

(Photo by Tom Williams)Image

On our final day we decided to check out the abandoned resorts along lakeside, but again, it had got incredibly overgrown and it was hard to find suitable flipping material. Still, these places never cease to amaze.Image

I didn't take many habitat shots as I was under flipping duty.Image

After hitting the resorts with nothing to show but giant centipedes, we went down to the lake itself for the first time.Image

Great view from the lakeside of the area we would herp in the evenings:Image

Enjoying our last afternoon drive in style:

Since this was our final night together, we were expecting some kind of grand finale. King Cobra? Krait? Blue Coral Snake?

Two Lycodon subcintus later and we weren't so optimistic...
Image

During the many hours of walking and driving without success, we would say ludicrous ambitions like "C'mooooooon, kingcobra" or "C'moooooooon, bluecoral" and sometimes, if we got a bit daring, we would say "C'moooooon, pangolin"... well...
Image

We honestly couldn't have asked for a more spectacular finish. Seriously, throughout the entire trip we had been joking about finding a Pangolin because this kind of stuff just doesn't happen! But no, it did...Image

Apart from 'surprise', I didn't include this in my previous list of mammals seen because Manis javanica is an honorary reptile. The best mammal possible for a reptile lover, that's for sure! It was definitely worth the half-hour wait to see this golden plated abomination on the move: Image

"Ridiculous night, bruv"
Image

My father and I waved an emotional goodbye in the morning and spent a chill day around Kuala Nerang and the Pedu lakeside.Image

Then ate lovely meal at the only decent eatery we could find at KN:Image

I didn't really mind if we didn't find anything and my father had no plans on staying out late. However, as soon as we got out to our area I spotted my first lifer snake from the area!

Mueller's Blind Snake (Typhlops muelleri) - the first Asian blind snake I've seen in my time out here:Image

This is also the largest of Asia's Typhlops, although this was just a juvenile.
Image

That would've been fine, but once we got cruising again I spotted the unmistakeable shape of a Boiga on the road. Image

Expecting it just to be a cynodon, I was pleasantly surprised by a beautiful Boiga jaspidea! Image

Capturing the silky silver of this pleasant and uncommon snake is quite hard on my camera.Image

The photo session with these two incredibly uncooperative snakes took longer than it did to find both of them! Still, absolutely brilliant night and it's a shame that Tom and Nick missed out on it, but I'm sure they were perfectly happy on Lankawi, pulling Purps' out of the mangroves!Image

But really, it was an absolutely fantastic trip and we covered a huge spectrum of herps and felt pretty damn proud of our perseverance and outcome. In fact, we enjoyed each others company so much that 'Thailand and Malaysia 2014' is already in the works.

I would like to thank Evan S. H. Quah for his help with our sketchy ID's and also Kurt Orion G for getting me in touch with him.

The lads at Lake Pedu:Image

Total list of snake species seen (including roadkill):

Dendrelaphis cyanachloris (1) - Bukit Fraser
Lycodon butleri (1) - Bukit Fraser
Asthenodipsas vertebralis (2) - Bukit Fraser
Calamaria schlegeli (5) - Bukit Fraser
Boiga drapiezii (1) - Bukit Fraser
Boiga nigriceps (1) - Bukit Fraser
Calliophis intestinalis lineata (3) - Bukit Fraser, Tasik Pedu, Kuala Nerang
Calamaria lumbricoidea (1) - Bukit Fraser
Coelognathus radiata (1) - Ruab
Lycodon subcintus (6) - Bukit Fraser, Tasik Pedu
Psammodynastes pulverulentus (2) - Bukit Fraser
Trimeresurus fucatus (1) - Bukit Fraser
Naja sumatrana (1) - Kampung Lambak
Xenopeltis unicolor (4) - Kuala Nerang, Tasik Pedu
Ptyas korros (1) - Kuala Nerang
Calloselasma rhodostoma (3) - Kuala Nerang, Tasik Pedu
Lycodon effraensis (1) - Tasik Pedu
Naja kauthia (1) - Kuala Nerang
Typhlops muelleri (1) - Tasik Pedu
Boiga jasperidea (1) - Tasik Pedu

Anyway, I tried to capture the atmosphere of our trip as best as possible in this post, so I hope you bloody enjoyed it! Look forward to some badass posts from my last month in Thailand, coming soon to a forum near you.

Cheers,
Rupert

Contact:
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/rupert.glewis
User avatar
Dave S
Posts: 114
Joined: June 15th, 2010, 9:51 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Dave S »

GREAT POST!!! The Pangolin takes the cake though........unbelievable!!!!!!! :thumb:

Dave S.
User avatar
AndyO'Connor
Posts: 1019
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:14 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Super awesome finds.
User avatar
Terry
Posts: 44
Joined: November 17th, 2010, 6:44 pm

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Terry »

Lycodon are becoming a favorite genus of mine. Nice post!
User avatar
Ruxs
Posts: 373
Joined: November 23rd, 2011, 8:26 am
Location: London, United Kingdom

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Ruxs »

Thanks, lads!
Terry wrote:Lycodon are becoming a favorite genus of mine. Nice post!
Here's one just for you ;) Image
User avatar
krisbell
Posts: 220
Joined: September 12th, 2010, 2:20 pm
Location: Jersey, UK
Contact:

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by krisbell »

Another epic post Rupert, love the pics but particularly the commentary to go with them. Getting me very excited for Langkawi in October!
User avatar
Dr. Dark
Posts: 380
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:39 pm
Location: Concord TWP, Ohio

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Dr. Dark »

Another awesome post!!! Kudos :beer:
WW**
Posts: 240
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:32 am

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by WW** »

Great post, brought back many happy memories!

I am surprised you did not see more Calloselasma around Kuala Nerang! It used to be Calloselasma Central, and you would see 3-4 every night. I suppose the dry conditions would not have helped. What is the vegetation there now? Still rubber plantations, or have they all been replaced by oil palms?
Tom
Posts: 142
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 3:06 am

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Tom »

So Rupert's said it all really, but since me and Nick spent a couple of days before and after on islands (mainly to relax and sit on the beach), that yielded a couple of things when we could motivate ourselves to leave the bars and some of the awesome restaurants.

First stop was Pulau Pangkor, which yielded two male Tropidolaemus wagleri (Wagler's pitviper):

Image

A Draco formosus :

Image

And a Gonocephalus:

Image

Along with Hornbills and the usual Calotes and selection of geckos.

Then we met up with Rupert for all the shenanigans described above. The only photo I'll upload is this one of the Pope's viper:

Image

After saying our farewells on the mainland, we headed onto Langkawi for some more sun, sea and sand. However, we could resist the night on certainty of Shore Pitvipers in the mangroves. We hired a boat and headed out, finding 3 in short order. These guys can be crazy defensive, and don't hesitate to strike and bite anything that comes anywhere near them.

Image

Image

Image

Image

The boat driver was also very helpful, and mentioned that one of the tourist caves had been home to a king cobra just 3 days before, such that they had to put a sign up telling people not to enter. No one had been in since, so we volunteered for the task of seeing if it had gone or not.

"DANGER!! DO NOT CLIMB UP..."

Image

The section of the cave was up some stairs, and very cramped with an uneven floor - not somewhere I'd particularly like to catch a king. "Luckily" it had vacated at some point in previous 3 days :cry:, so we didn't have to face that challenge.

That night the boat driver called us and said he'd just found a king cobra. Excitedly, we rushed over to see the tragic sight of a colossal but deceased Zaocys carinatus - not a king, but keeled ratsnakes are certainly cool. These were first recorded on Langkawi in 2005, and I'm unsure if they have been recorded since.

Image

It was an awesome trip - cheers to Rupert for helping us out with good conversation and his eagle eyes.
User avatar
Ruxs
Posts: 373
Joined: November 23rd, 2011, 8:26 am
Location: London, United Kingdom

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Ruxs »

Nice fill-in, Tom, that Popeia shot definitely blows all of mine clean out of the water!
WW** wrote:Great post, brought back many happy memories!

I am surprised you did not see more Calloselasma around Kuala Nerang! It used to be Calloselasma Central, and you would see 3-4 every night. I suppose the dry conditions would not have helped. What is the vegetation there now? Still rubber plantations, or have they all been replaced by oil palms?
Thanks Wolfgang!

We didn't actually do much night cruising around Kuala Nerang, so that was probably why we didn't see so many. The ones we did get were mostly on the short drive out towards the lake.

It's still rubber and rice, hardly anything in the way of Oil Palm.

Cheers,
Rupert
User avatar
fickle-minder
Posts: 100
Joined: July 17th, 2012, 5:47 am
Location: Singapore

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by fickle-minder »

Great post as always! :thumb: I'm really gonna miss your posts... You are my inspiration. And no, I'm not a gay. :lol:
Thanks again for everything. Cheers! :beer:
Once a herper, always a herper~
Image
ssssssStevenH
Posts: 13
Joined: January 22nd, 2013, 10:53 pm
Location: Wales

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by ssssssStevenH »

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
User avatar
Ruxs
Posts: 373
Joined: November 23rd, 2011, 8:26 am
Location: London, United Kingdom

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Ruxs »

fickle-minder wrote:Great post as always! :thumb: I'm really gonna miss your posts... You are my inspiration.
That's really means a lot to me, Jerome, thanks for all your support you have shown.
User avatar
moloch
Posts: 561
Joined: June 16th, 2010, 1:26 pm

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by moloch »

Excellent report, Rupert. You certainly find lots wherever you go. Fraser's Hill is such a beautiful place with so much to offer anyone interested in natural history. It is a top place for birds, butterflies and some unusual herps. I love to get up there whenever I have the opportunity.

Regards,
David
User avatar
Ruxs
Posts: 373
Joined: November 23rd, 2011, 8:26 am
Location: London, United Kingdom

Re: Final West Malaysia Adventure - July 2013

Post by Ruxs »

Much appreciated, Mr. Fischer.

It was indeed yourself that gave me the scoop on the beauty of Fraser's Hill and the fantastic variety of wildlife. Unfortunately, I carry the 18-55 'Snake Lens' around almost at all times and that is terrible for getting shots of the mammals and Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterflies we encounter. That said, thanks to you, I have found some incredible creatures and contributed some to science, which has been a dream of mine for a long time.
moloch wrote:You certainly find lots wherever you go.
I guess that's the result when you're out past 3am each night ;)
Post Reply