Moving to New Site.......

Please visit to below link to get new updates on the Odonata of Malaysia......

https://odonata-of-malaysia.blogspot.my/

Pergau Lake Scientific Expendition

I participated in Pergau Lake Scientific Expedition organized by the Kelantan Forestry Department.

Camp site

Sungai Long

Tasik Pergau

Gunung Reng

Exploration of Chamah Highlands

I had the opportunity to join the Exploration of Chamah Highlands organised by Jabatan Perhutanan Kelantan (Kelantan Forestry Department) and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan. The exploration was held on July 24-29, 2011. We all camped at a site with an evelation of 720 m from sea level. I really enjoyed the cool weather at this altitude. I was at Chamah Highlands for Odonata survey.

a banner showing a welcome message to participants of Chamah Highlands Exploration

an un-named waterfall near the camp site

one of the peaks of the Chamah Higlands


One of the things that attracted my attention is a plane wreckage at the Chamah Highlands at an evelation of 820 m from sea level. The plane named Royal Dakota was on its way to this remote forest to delivery supplies to the Orang Asli living in this area in 1950. The Royal Dakota carried 12 persons including the pilot - 11 Britons and one Malay. Unfortunately, it clashed due to its engine failure. The Orang Asli burried eight bodies near to the plane wreckage, and the other four persons were still missing. The plane wreckage was only rediscovered in 2008 by army.... the plane wreckage and the burial ground had been sleeping for almost 60 years deep in the forest before being rediscovered by people from outside.

the plane wreckage in the Chamah Highlands

A Short Report

I was in Lao PDR early of this year to attend the IUCN assessment workshop on freshwater biodiversity of Indo-Burma region. I wrote a short report of the workshop for Agrion. You may read the report here.

Kota Damansara Forest Reserve

I was on a scientific expedition at Kota Damansara Forest Reserve (KDFR), Selangor the last couple of days. KDFR is an island logged-over forest sitting in the middle of Kota Damansara township. This 600-ha forest reserve is surrounded by highway and residential areas. Nevertheless, KDFR contains some lakes and small streams which support some Odonata species. Our group (Odonata group) managed to record 48 Odonata species in KDFR.


one of the few lakes within KDFR
one of the few small streams within KDFR

IUCN Workshop in Laos

I'm back from the IUCN workshop in Vientian, Laos. What a fruitful visit indeed. I met so many regional odonatologists in the workshop. The workshop evaluated freshwater biodiversity of Indo-Myammar, and the evaluation was mainly on aquatic plants, mollucs, fish and dragonflies. The workshop attended by roughly 30 participants of different biodiversity groups, and we had a group photo on the last day of the workshop (photo below).


We were posing on the river bank of Mekong River for the group photo. It is still the dried season in Laos, and the Mekong River is almost dried out.


I was intoxicated every evening in Vientian by this stuff. Of course, I did it with some of the odonatologists!!!! hehehehehehe

I'm off to Laos

I'm off to Laos tomorrow to attend an IUCN workshop in Vientaine. I hope I could get some time off from the workshop to photograph some odonates of Laos.............

Neurothemis santaclausi

This is a Neurothemis santaclausi found in Peninsular Malaysia. This species is very seasonal, it only comes out in late December and early January annually. It totally disappears in the other months of the year. Odonatologists are still figuring the reason for this extreme behaviour!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Imbak Canyon - A Haven on Earth

I'm back from Imbak Canyon (Sabah)!

Full of excitement, full of adventures, full of joy, full of everything...... Imbak Canyon is truely a haven on earth.

Over 30 species of Odonata have been recorded within 10 days of field work in Imbak Canyon. I managed to snap good shots on few of these species, and I shall share with you in the next few blog entries......


the misty morning of Kangkawat River

another view of misty morning of Kangkawat River

the magnificent Kuli Waterfall

Crossing Imbak River to get into Imbak Canyon Conservation Area

I'm on Field Again Soon...........

In less than a week time I will be setting my feet on Borneo Sabah for dragonflies. I will be joining a scientific expedition to Imbak Canyon. This will be my first experience on sampling Odonata of Sabah, though I have done twice sampling of Odonata in Sarawak. I am really looking forward for this exciting field trip..........

Scientific Expedition - Gunung Besar Hantu

I'm off to Gunung Besar Hantu, Negeri Sembilan for a couple of days on odonate study/sampling. This is a scientific expedition organised by Jabatan Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia and Jabatan Perhutanan Negeri Sembilan. I should come back with some nice pictures of habitats and odonates...... stay tune....... :)

My Blog.......

My blog was mentioned in a small article of the Star Online by Sam Cheong on April 27, 2010.

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/4/27/central/5779461&sec=central

I would like to correct a fact mentioned in the article:

"There are at least 25 known species of dragonflies and damselfies in Malaysia....." should be read as "There are at least 250 known species of dragonflies and damselfies in Peninsular Malaysia......". The figures 25 and 250 are too much different... hehehehehe

Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, Kedah

I was away for 5 days to Gunung Inas Forest Reserve in Kedah this week. Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia (Jabatan Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia) and Forestry Department of Kedah (Jabatan Perhutanan Kedah) organised a scientific expedition to Gunung Inas Forest Reserve. I was there for odonate sampling. We (120 of us) stayed at Sg Sedim Recreational Park (Hutan Lipur Sg Sedim). Sg Sedim Recreational Park is located within Gunung Inas Forest Reserve. The recreational park by the river (Sg Sedim) is beautiful. However, the weather during the expedition was bad - Rain, rain and rain. The dragonflies were definately not happy with this type of weather. Nevertheless, I still managed to record over 30 odonate species in Gunung Inas Forest Reserve. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention, there are plenty of large leeches in Gunung Inas Forest Reserve! Of course, I got a few leech bites.

Sg Sedim
Sg Sedim
Sg Sedim
Reyau Water Fall at Sg Reyau

On Sampling.........

I'm going to Sg Bebar (Pahang) soon for Odonata. This will be my first visit to Sg Bebar, and I'm really looking forward to going there. I have been told by my colleagues of how nice is the Sg Bebar aquatic habitat - peat swamp! I am expecting something interesting from Sg Bebar.

News - Sampling at Cameron Highlands

Rory Dow, Alex Ng and I went to Cameron Highlands for Odonata sampling two weeks ago. I quite like the pleasant cold weather for field work, no annoying mosquitoes and leeches. However, we had to bear the cold nights sleeping in forestry quater at Tanah Rata. We covered areas at altitude 600-2000 m - a lot of hard work of climbing up steep forest streams. We encountered a few highland species including Calicnemia chaseni, C. rectangulata, Ortherum trinagulare, Aristocypha fenestrella (also found at low land) etc. We will produce an Odonata checklist for Cameron Highlands as soon as we have the data sorted out.

Rory (left) and Alex (right) walking along a forest stream.
Rory is submerging himself in a swampy pond looking for dragonflies.
One day we carried out our sampling at Gunung Berinchang (the peak is 2031 m high). We started from the peak by walking all the way down to the foot hill - a total of 9 km of distance. It was indeed a tiring walk...... but I managed to snap a few nice views along the walk.

view of the surrounding areas from the peak of Gunung Berinchang.
the tea plantation at Gunung Berinchang is spectacular.