Journey Along the Katibas River - Part 1

Boat express from Sibu town to Song which depart at 6.15am and reach Song at 8.15am.

It was a follow-up trip to the long houses along the Katibas River which is regarding the labours appointment to join us in our orangutan nest survey last June. Actually i only assist the officer from the Forest Department but as usual, i am excited because this is my first time going upper Katibas River.

My excited face on the boat just before we start our journey.

We already plan to overnight at the last longhouse which is Rh. Sapai and TR Sapai himself is our boatman for this trip. Our journey will took us more than six hours because we will be stopped at a few longhouses to deliver the letters and meet up with the locals. Somehow, the weather is not as good as we hope it will be. After our second stop, the rain was too heavy and we must reach Rh Sapai before its dark. So, we decide to skip the other four longhouses and continue it the next day on our way down to Song town.

The mouth of Katibas River

The water level is just nice so we don't have to pass the shallow water with rocky rocks in this super cool river. I imagine of the strong current but since the water level is quite high, so the current is just mild. 

Our boatman, TR Sapai. The fuel is cost about RM500 for one way trip. 

Our boatman is very experienced and skillful person and he knows all the safe route to escape the big rocks in this river. I salute him for i feel safe along the way but somehow, he was drunk on the next day after a few stops at the longhouses. Only then i start to feel scared. Ha ha ha..

The flowers of Ensurai tree (Dipterocarpus sp.) is food source of aquatic life in this river.

It was a great experienced, even though it took us six hours to reach TR Sapai's longhouse and bad weather on the first day but i amazed by the beautiful scene along the river banks especially after the second last longhouse. It was amazing to have a chance to see the flowering Ensurai trees (Dipterocarpus sp.) along the rivers and knowing that the food source of the aquatic life especially the fishes is abundant and available. 

Finally, in the end, this will be one of the experience that i will appreciate as much as other trips that i have made while exploring the Rainforest of Borneo. I am grateful to God for this great opportunity and i am still safe and sound. 

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Grateful Heart, 

Rose Ragai

Amazed by The Big Trees

As we walk through the dense Borneo tropical rainforest, I was amazed by seeing lots of remaining big trees. In my heart I was praying that, this trees will not be cut down for the next hundred years. Let it stays there until nature itself work out on it. Development must be in a sustainable way and I am pretty sure that Sarawak forests only have a few thousand hectares left for the rest is already develop for agriculture and logged.


Photo taken with Samsung Note 3 Camera

As a conservationist or field biologist myself, I easily get emotional when I see irresponsible development activities that give a very bad impacts to the forest and the living things resides inside it. I still have many things to learn from the forest and yet, too little left. If I myself didn't have a chance to discover and explore this amazing forests we have, what more left for our next generations.

Well, we who are living the moments, must think and act wisely because what we did now will give impacts to our children in future.

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Amazed by Nature,

Rose Ragai

 



The Big Tree

Do you ever encounter a very big tree when you walk inside the forest? I mean a natural forest. I found many but not so big though but still they amazed me. When i went for a field work at Danum Valley, Lahad Datu, Sabah way back in 2003, that was my first time saw a big tree in that virgin rainforest. It was great to see those big tress still standing firmly on the ground.

In my village we did not have any forests left so no big native trees standing. Its all open up for agriculture, by the local communities and also by the oil palm companies. Quite frustrating but what can i do about that. Our village located in lowland areas and its really suitable for agriculture and agriculture is our way of living. But then, if we put a sustainable practice of agriculture by put aside forested areas in our village for non-timber forest products collecting, we may still have some forests left. However, it is not our practice. Our elders seems to be very productive with utilizing all the land that they have and develop it into a sago farm or paddy field. Hmmm... that is our way of life.

Okay, i left you guys with two of big trees that i found during my field work with Raleigh International November - December last year in Pitas, Sabah. This two trees are the hard word trees. They are AMAZING right??

I love this trees... Let's HUGS A TREE!!!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY