5/17-5/19

I woke up and packed my things before heading to breakfast with Andy. It was another great meal and we just kind of hung out, waiting to get picked up at 10. I was feeling excited to get into the Parks, but I was also still a little nervous because I did not know what to expect. However, after Paul picked us up and we made the hour long drive to Inobong Substation in Crocker Range Park, pretty much all of the nervousness went away. The Substation overlooks both Kota Kinabalu and Ocean to the West. To the North are rugged hills that are constantly being swept over with clouds. It’s a beautiful place. 

When we arrived, we met with Mr Pius, who is in charge of the Substation. We went into the office to look at maps and posters and discuss both the region of Penampang, which Inobong Substation is within, and also Crocker Range Park as a whole. One thing that Andy and I found really interesting was that the park was divided into three zones of usage. Along the periphery of park is land used by villages and people who live there. Within that is a buffer zone which separates the periphery from the core zones. I cannot remember the exact names of the zones but you get the idea. We thought that this is a great way to manage the park because it allows for land use, while creating a large pocket of land that will remain pristine.

After Discussing with Paul and Pius we were brought to our little lodge called Chalet Tobobon that contains a small kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, and a kind of little living room. I had gotten it wrong. We would not have our orientation on this day, Saturday the 17th, but will instead have it on Monday the 19th. So we had a whole day and a half of free time to explore around Inobong. After we dropped our stuff in the room, we decided to do a short hike down to a waterfall. My first hike in the jungle! Although it was only about a kilometer in total and we got out of there in a hurry because it started to downpour it did not disappoint. You can hear so many birds and insects, but you can see so little because of how thick it is. The waterfall, although not massive, was beautiful. The stream forces the jungle to open up and creates a tunnel through the vegetation.  After the waterfall, we continued on but turned around shortly because of the rain. So we came back to the chalet, ate some lunch and waited for the rain to die down, then went back out to finish the short trail. It was a good little hike, but we were shocked to find out that some leeches had found away to attach to our legs and feet. I think we both only had two, but the places that they attached just would not stop bleeding! Honestly it was kind of comical, but I guess we will have to keep leeches in mind for the future. After that little ordeal we went to sit on the porch of what is called the mini hut, that offers the views of the city and ocean. We had just missed the sunset, but did see what we think were Wreathed Hornbills flying in the distance. While it got darker, it also got louder. Some birds were making noise, but it was hard to hear anything over the insects.  As Andy and I walked back, it felt like we had to almost yell to talk to each other if we were further than 20 feet apart. Once we got back I took a nice cold shower and made some tea. I started to read but only made it so far before I started to doze off, so I went to sleep around 9.

The next morning I woke up around 5 and took a short little walk down the road to look around.  The insects were still pretty loud, but the birds were starting to pick up. I didn’t walk around very long, and came back to the chalet to make some calls home. After that Andy and I decided to go back to the porch and look for some birds. We saw some, including a yellow rumped flower pecker which was beautiful, but mainly enjoyed the cool morning breeze. Then, around 9am we decided to do little longer hike on a trail called the Salt Trail. The Salt Trail is a 40km backpacking trail and the trailhead is essentially out our front door. We started and for the first whole kilometer we went up. This hike was different from the day before because we were along a ridge and gained elevation for most of it. There was a nice breeze and we got an occasional view through the trees. We went out about 3.5 km before eating a snack and turning around. Once again we heard a lot, but saw very little. Hiking in this setting is going to take some getting used to. The heat and humidity, combined with lots of incline leaves you drenched in sweat before you make it half a kilometer. As long as I remember to drink lots of water there will be no issues.

We finished the hike around noon, and for the next few hours we just kind of hung out.  Ate some food, read a little bit, and had a shower where I multitasked and did some laundry as well.  Around 2:30, we decided to go back to the porch to sit and look for birds again. This time we saw a lot of cool birds, including a Scarlett Minivet, Red-Billed Malkoha, and my favorite, a Blue Throated Bee Eater, which has way more colors than just blue. We ended up staying until the sunset around 6:30 before heading back to clean up a little and get ready for our orientation in the morning.

I woke up around 5am, packed my things, and made some phone calls home. We made our way down to the hut around 8am and people started to show up. Paul arrived with Mr. Ludi Apin, the Director of Sustainability for Sabah Parks. Mr. Ludi was very fun and easy to talk to, and was the one who ran the meeting. He covered a lot about the parks. Many of them are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and they contain both terrestrial and marine environments. Throughout our internship we will spend time in Crocker Range Park, the largest of the terrestrial parks, Pulau Tiga park, a marine park where we will learn about marine enforcement, and Kinabalu Park. Kinabalu park seems to be the signature park in Sabah because it contains Mount Kinabalu, a 4,000 meter peak with dagger like summits that penetrate out of the jungle. During our fifth week here we will get the opportunity to take the two day trek to the top and I think we are both really looking forward to that. After discussing some details of the coming weeks we said goodbye to Paul and Mr. Ludi and began the drive to the Keningau Office or Crocker Range Park, about 2 hours southeast of Inobong. About a half hour in we stopped for lunch and did some last minute grocery shopping. After driving south for another half hour or so we turned east and drove into a large valley before taking a turn and starting the climb up into the mountains. It was a fast, curvy, steep climb that would have had younger me asking to pull over so that I could throw up. When we reached higher elevations we saw monkeys walking on the side of the road and sitting on guard rails. This was my first time seeing monkeys in the wild and I was so excited to see them. When we arrived at the office we met with Mr. Billie and a few others before we were taken to the Crocker Range Rest House where we will stay for the night. It is similar to the chalet we had been staying in, but it is a little bit larger. After getting settled in, they came back to pick us up and take us to the Visitor/Nature Center. There we met with Mr. Berry and were shown around the Center and its surrounding trails.  Everyone was so kind and fun to talk to, and it was a lot of fun walking around with them. On our walk, we saw many things, but the one thing that stood out to me were all the fern trees. Literal ferns that are about 30 feet tall. I honestly had no idea that such a thing existed, and they blew my mind a little bit.

After our walk we returned back to the Rest House where we ate, read, and just hung out. There is good service here so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to make this post. Tomorrow morning Andy and I will be splitting up, most likely for the next four weeks, and there is no guarantee of having service or Wi-Fi for at least the next week. Tomorrow I will be heading to Control Post Malidang here in Crocker Range where I will be focusing on the inventory of community uses in the area. That is all that I know for now, but I will continue to write, and post again when I get the chance.