 After concluding all my end of the semester academic commitments and other administrative works at the University, a quick dash away from this madhouse and escape back into the nature is big relief.
Prior to atttend the wedding reception of one of our nature guide Amir in Jerantut, me, Tom, Amir and Pian drove all the way up to Taman Negara to spend some relaxing, "lepak time" at the Mat Leon Village Resort in Kuala Tahan.
After dinner, we decided on having a relaxing night tracking walk in the darkness of the rainforest. But much to our dismay that night, we we caught right smack in the middle of a noisy bunch of two busloads of school children visitors doing their night trekking too.
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Armed with powerful torchlight, the night trekking into the darkness of Taman negara is the best time to see many nocturnal insects and animals
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Tom taking aim with his telephoto lens.
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Some of the beautiful mushrooms feeding on decayed wooden logs on the forest floor.
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A Tessellated Giant Stick Insect (Gargantuoidea tessellata) can be mistaken for the branch of the plant it is feeding on.
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A careful search among the darkness of the undergrowth revealed beautiful mushroom flora.
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This Soothy-Capped Babbler caught napping. Sings a pretty song of about 8 whistling tone on an undulating scale.
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A fierce looking spider on a defensive stance
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The long legs looks very intimidating to any potential would-be predator.
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The Repulsive Giant centipedes are typically solitary
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A weired looking Long-legged centipede (Thereupoda clunifera).
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Some beautiful textured insects on the leaf.
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Despite all the noise and the bustle of the crowd of visitors, we were still able to capture through our camera lense many interesting images of the nuptinal creatures of the night .
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The brightly coloured Lanternbugs (Fulgora spinolae) has that long outstanding protrusion on its head.
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Look at how the spider closes up the front two legs to look like an intimidating giant claws.
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A fierce looking female Long-horned Orb-Weaver (Gasteracantha arcuata) dangling from its web. The tiny males are hornless
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Another species of spider on the prowl
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The stripes eminates some sense of danger warning
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Pian aiming a closeup angle shot of the spider
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More elegant variety of spider species
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Very early the next morning before the crowd swarm the forest, the four of us took a boatride up the Sungai Tahan river to chill out at the Lata Berkoh rapid. The fresh air and the sweet smell of nature refreshes our spirit and soul, and the swim into the cool river revigourates our tired and aching muscles to normal again.
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Taking our own sweet time walking along the jungle trail, observing and appreciating the habitats all around us
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Pian leading the junglewalk
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Me, as usual busy capturing images on my videocamera
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Tom, always ever ready with his digital SLR camera for documenting interesting images
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Capturing the beautiful rock formation
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The clear trails that leads us to Lata Berkoh
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The sandy riverbank is perfect for picnicking
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The rocky riverbed is too shallow for boats to pass through.
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Me capturing the scenery on my videocam, while Amir inhaling the smell of the fresh air.
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Look at how beautiful the root formation, anchoring the tree firmly to the ground.
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The riverbed at ankle deep, is a perfect place for family picnicking.
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The scenery is truly awesome and breathtaking.
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Finally reaching our destination at the Rapids of Lata Berkoh
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The serene and calm natural surrounding, enhanced by the thunderous sound of the rapids is truely therapeutic to the soul.
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Amir and Tom taking a dip into the cool water after the long, sweaty, trekking activity
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The gush of the rapid massaging on the body is very comforting and relaxing.
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The beautiful rock formation developed over 1.5 million years ago.
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By evening, we return back to Kuala Tahan.
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Reaching our resort, where a heavy late lunch awaits us.
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Back at the Resort, we even tried our skills at angling till late night, but also no luck this time. It was still fun anyway. It gives us time to contemplate and experience the stillness of time and absorb peaceful surroundings
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The only fish size that got caught on my fishing line
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Amir continued fishing at the jetty till late midnight, but still caught nothing.
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A very hairy moth
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A strange looking leaf design that moves.
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Actually it turns out to be a moth upon closer inspection.
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Early on Sunday morning we left from Kuala Tahan for Jerantut town to attend Amir's wedding reception. It was quite a grand occasion, and the couple was a perfect match for each other.
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Loading our luggage into the my 4WD, before driving off towards KL.
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Along the way home, I was captivated by the unique design of the nesting of the Weaver birds, and I decided stop and pick a few old nest for our collection.
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Hanging from the tree are numerous nests of the Burung Tempua Baya or Baya Weaver, (Ploceus philippinus)
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The dewdrop like shape of the nest is perfect for repelling rain water from sogging the habitants inside.
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The distinguishing features between the male nest (top), and that of the female nest (bottom)
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The entrance to the female nest is through the bottom, and with gravity pull, it will dispelling snakes from climbing up to eat the eggs inside
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A tiny bird chick happened to drop down from the nest to the ground
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There I spotted a weak and dehydrated tiny young chick that can barely fly, that fell to the ground. I took on the responsibility to nurse it back normal.
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After consuming some droplets of water that I gave, the chick has recovered well from dehydration.
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I am now a proud parent, feeding the tiny bird with fruit worms and its heath is responding well.
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As the feathers on its wings began to grows, I left it out in our garden to freely fly amongst flowers My whole family and even our maid took turn to continue hand feeding it with fruit worms, and it was happilly chirping among the trees in our garden.
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After two weeks, the chick turn out to be a beautiful princess
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Forever hungry, demanding to be hand fed
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She finds joy in hitching a free ride on our shoulders.
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But after one stormy evening, the bird just flew far and far away, and never to return home again. Bye-bye little birdie...soar high, freely into the sky.
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Birdie is always inquisitive in what I do with my camera
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The last of her memories recorded on camera before she decides to fly off into distant yonder.
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