Some Photos of JICA Training course in Japan

My first earthquake experience

I attended a JICA training course on wetlands and migratory birds in Japan way back in 1994 (picture below). It was a 6 weeks course on wetlands and migratory birds conservation. Not sure whether JICA is still organizing the course now, but if they still organize it, do make it a point to attend the course. This is for Rahmah and gang who are involved in migratory birds studies. You'll get to see how the Japanese scientists are doing their work especially their dedication. Not forgetting the local community involvement in conservation. Above all, you get the opportunity to travel around Japan. I've been to Japan for quite a number of times over the years, mostly to attend conferences and meetings on wetlands. And I enjoyed every single trip. The people are friendly and warm. Anyway, it was during the course that I experienced my first earthquake...real earthquake. The second one was in Taiwan. Hokkaido experiences tremors every now and then. The port in Kushiro has a wall which will close in the event of an earthquake to prevent Tsunami from hitting the city.
I was resting in my hotel room watching TV when I started feeling slight tremors in the room. I thought it was normal but the tremors started getting stronger until I feel the whole room shaking. When I looked outside my window I saw the TV antennae on the building opposite my room shaking vigorously. The hotel was shaking badly and all my things on the dressing table started falling to the floor. I crawled and sit under the dressing table for safety until the tremors subsided. For your information, all hotels in Japan has a notice on what to do in the event of an earthquake. Even if you don't understand Japanese, just study the diagram and follow the instructions. Unlike in Korea, the hotel room that I stayed has a gas mask and a rope for you to climb down from the window. There is also a notice which started with " Due to the close proximity of our hostile neighbour......". During the tremors, an announcement (in Japanese) was aired. Later I found out that the announcer asked all hotel guests to stay calm and stay in their room until the tremors stopped. The elevator will stop at the nearest floor and will open automatically to let the guests out. There are several "safe locations" on each floor that you can seek shelter should you not able to get into your room. After the worst was over, our course interpreter went to each of us to make sure that everyone was okay. So, this is how an earthquake feels, I told myself. Later I found out that the magnitude of the earthquake was 6.4 in Kushiro. All TV channels showed emergency program, only announcements and a map showing the magnitude of the earthquake in various locations on the island. The wall around Kushiro port was closed until the tremors were over. The hotel that I stayed in Kushiro was still in one piece, no cracks at all. Only the ground around it cracked, forcing the management to put a plank to enable guests to go out of the hotel. After a couple of days, the cracks around the hotel were repaired and no sign of earthquake was evidenced. ....We continued staying in the hotel until the end of the course. Everything is back to normal. Apparently, my hotel was constructed with a huge absorber to withstand strong tremors. Later in the week, during our trip to places outside the city, we witnessed destructions of roads and railway tracks. In some places, you can even get into the cracks (picture). But I supposed earthquakes are normal in Japan and the people are used to this unlike us in Malaysia. A slight tremor can create panic. So, if you want to experience real earthquake go to Japan, Taiwan, Philippines or Indonesia ( I recommend Japan because their buildings are much safer compared to Philippines or Indonesia). It's a good experience, make you appreciate life and humble (if you survive the earthquake). Cheerio

wildlife training center part 2

The power to the whole training center was provided by a generator located behind the resthouse (the unhaunted one). We took turn switching the generator on and off. The generator was switched on from 5:00AM to 8:00AM and 5:00 PM to 12:00 AM. Our faithful jeep was used to ferry 200 litre of diesel from Temerloh every week. Switching the generator on was no problem however, switching off at midnight can be an experience. Once the generator was switched off you can hear all the sound in the forest and sometimes no sound at all, giving you the eerie feeling that something was watching you closely and following your every foot step back to your house. Nevertheless, the forest was very alive at night after the generator was switched off. You can hear barking deer along the trail to the waterfall. On several occasions, I was lucky to get near a couple of sambar deers by the roadside (near Deerland) at night. They were blinded by the lights from the Jeep and you can touch them with your hands. Leaf monkeys were also plentiful but they started disappearing once the Orang Asli started passing the center. The river that forms the reserve boundary was full of fishes including the tiger fish? ( not sure the exact name but the body has several vertical black stripes over the yellow body). I tried to catch the fish for my aquarium on several occasions but were never successful as they were really wild and fast. The waterfall at that time was more than 1.5 meters deep at several spot. The pool bottom was full of dead leaves which provide habitat for the small shrimps. We usually have our weekend lunch at the waterfall. Our maggi normally has more shrimps than noodles. These shrimps are very sweet and tasty and can be eaten raw. Try this the next time you visit the waterfall at Bukit Rengit.
The first few months were spent planting grass (the whole complex was barren with no grass), planting trees, repainting the building as the color was not what the office wanted), conducting resource inventories around the center, constructing new trails and so forth. No training course was conducted as the access road was still very bad. Sometimes we went to the Kg. Sokmek to collect cow dung to fertilize our trees and grass. The dung were mixed with water in a large tank and the mixture was then used to water the plants and grass. Nobody complained and everyone seemed to enjoy doing all the work at the center. After more than 20 years later, the fruit of our labor can be witnessed at the center up the hill. Ficus trees growing, green lawn etc. Syukran I am still alive to see changes that the center from day one. The center holds many memories especially for the pioneer group.
The standard equipment in our jeep include a cangkul, spade, chainsaw, parang, wire, nails, and hammer. Without these you wont be able to cross all the obstacles along the way out or in. There should be at least two persons in the jeep everytime we use the road. Almost everyday there will be a tree obstructing the road. You have to clear the tree before continuing your way. It normally took a longer time if the chainsaw was too small for the tree. Driving along the logging road was a real challenge for us. I improved my 4WD driving skills while working at Bukit Rengit. The obstacles that we faced were real and we did not look for them. As far as possible we tried to avoid the obstacles. So whenever I see 4WD adventures going through the jungle and crossing obstacles I usually said to myself " if only you were in my shoes when I was at Bukit Rengit, I don't think you want to join any 4WD expeditions anymore. What you experienced is nothing compared to what we had to face everyday. So don't brag about your 4WD adventures. Personally, I feel that 4WD adventures should only be allowed in a special trail built for the purpose. Travelling in a large convoy along old logging road can cause damage to the regeneration plants which in turn provides food to wildlife. (to be continued...)

Sorry I have not been able to upload the photos yet. I hope to do it this weekend..

My first trip to Myanmar 1994

I had the opportunity to visit Myanmar way back in February 1994. I attended a mangrove workshop organized by UNEP. There were three of us from Malaysia, Dr. Zaaba, Dr.Wan Sabri Wan Mansor (UPM) and me. The trip was a new experience to me although I went back to Myanmar at least 4 times after that for official business. I will write about my other trips to Myanmar later insyallah. Actually we were invited to attend the workshop by U Wai Lin who was working with UNEP Bangkok at that time. We met U Wai Lin when we organized an international course in Sabah the previous year. I supposed he was impressed with our work and decided to invite us to Myanmar. When I first step down in Yangon, U Wai Lin was there to greet us. Since the workshop was jointly organized by UNEP and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myanmar, we were given special treatment. No need to que to have our passport stamped. Someone from the Ministry did that for us. The airport was the old one which is located beside the new airport. It looked like the airport in Lahad Datu. We were taken to our hotel in Yangon. It was a small but comfortable hotel opposite a Buddhist Monastery. My room has a window facing the monastery and that's where I spent my early morning watching monks walking along the street in a straight line and the nearby residents giving them food. During my first trip to Myanmar, there were not many hotels yet. In fact our hotel was actually a double storey bungalow converted into a hotel. Forgot the name of the hotel but I think it was Green Jade or something. Exchange rate was 1 USD to several hundred Kyat. And the rate of exchange keep on getting bigger when the value of Kyat keep on falling. Almost every man I saw in Yangon wear Longyi or sarong. Even the contract workers who were building a new hotel in front of my room wore Longyi. It's amazing how the Longyi can cling to their waist despite the squating, carrying bricks, climbing ladder etc. During my 5 days watching them working, never did I see any Longyi dropped down. But I supposed they must be wearing something underneath.....

Our workshop was held at the World Trade Center in Yangon. We also had part of our workshop on a riverboat which cruised along the Irriwady River from Yangon to Bogalay. It took three days to cruise down to Bogalay and back. Our riverboat was modified to include an open air bar with karaoke and live band performance and dining area. It was an excellent trip and you should experience this if you visit Yangon. I saw a lot of waterfowls in the river during the trip. It's a wonder that big ships can reach Yangon port which is 60km upstream using this canal. Central Yangon has quite a few colonial buildings, most distinguished by large columns in front of the buildings. Most of these buildings are painted white and were used by government departments in Yangon. The interior are still the same, high ceiling fans and large open space, each separated by high wooden racks. One can imagine the scenario in the early 1900 once you stepped into one of these buildings.

Apart from the riverboat cruise, the Forest Department made arrangements for the three of us to visit Popa Mountain Park. We took a domestic flight from Yangon to Bagan. It was a Foker but was flown like a fighter jet. We found out later that the pilot was an ex-fighter pilot. The ticket has no seat number- free seating. But for the VIPs, they can send someone to book their seat before the other passengers started boarding the plane. During check-in, you have to stand on a large scale with your luggage. Usually only your luggage is placed on the scale but here both the luggage and the passenger. You won't believe how the duty free shop in Bagan airport looks like! The whole duty free shack was made of thatch and no floor. But I supposed things have changed over the years. Bagan is an ancient city, some say that it is more ancient than Angkor Wat. I called Bagan the land of pagodas. There are thousands of pagodas, big ones and small ones. Some of these pagodas are still being used to this day. Someone told me that if you were to jumped out of a plane over Bagan, the possibility of you landing on top of a pagoda is 99.99%. Don't believe me...try jumping out of a plane over Bagan. Another interesting fact is that every pagoda in Bagan has a story. Normally, the scriptures will tell about the owner of the pagoda, date built, number of slaves used for the construction and what kind of donations received from friends etc. I find this very interesting and amuzing but very informative. The trip to Popa Mountain took several hours. We passed stretches of dry and barren area. Apparently, a reforestation project was being carried out during our visit which involved the local villagers. Each household taking part in the project was given rice in place of Kyat. Toddy palms can be seen along the road to Popa Mountain park. We stopped to buy a bottle for our host. We also stopped at a village for a drink. We saw a crowd gathering around a large well filling their container with fresh water. Later we found out that the well was the only source of freshwater for the villages around the area. People come in bullock carts twice a day to get their water supply. Bagan is located in the dry and arid zone. We arrived at Popa mountain park early evening. There's a temple on top of a volcano plug which is frequented by pilgrims from all over Myanmar especially during certain months of the year. The few days in Popa mountain park were spent visiting traditional villages and handicraft centers. The houses in the village were mostly made from thatch or dry grass with a simple wall. Bagan is also famous for its lacquer wares. If you ever visit Bagan, don't miss the traditional villages (if they are still around). We finally flew back to Yangon and stayed a few more days before leaving Yangon for Kuala Lumpur. I will write more about my other trips to Myanmar in the future. I will try to post some photos of my trips. I need to scan my photographs and slides. The scanner is still under my eldest son's bed covered by dust I think. See you soon.

Wildlife Training Center 1984

Before the Wildlife Training Center at Bukit Rengit, Lanchang (currently Institute of Biodiversity) was completed in 1984, rangers training was conducted at an old bungalow located at Jalan Wise, Seremban. The building was an old wooden double storey bungalow. One side of the ground floor was used as the administration office while the opposite was the classroom. The first floor was utilized as the hostel for the participants. The hostel can only accommodate 15 participants at any one time. Several cages to keep birds and animals were located behind the building. As far as I can remember, the only permanent resident of the cage was a white-rumped vulture ( hereng tongkeng putih). It was still there when the training center shifted to the present institute at Bukit Rengit. We had a 20 seater minivan to ferry the participants around. It was an old minivan which maximum speed limit seldoms reached 70 km/hr. Imagine the van crawling up the road to Genting Highland in those days. But alas, that was the only transport that we had. Normally, the trip to Labis would take the whole day with no aircond. There's only a small fan on the dashboard for the driver and front passenger as the engine was located under the front seat. Without the fan, you'll get a hard boiled egg by the time you reach Labis. However, the van served the training center well until the very end. During that time, every one of the instructors can drive the minivan. In fact, we were the instructors and driver at the same time. When I joined the Training Division of the Department in 1982, there were only a few instructors, Zeti, Bob, Zubir, En. Mohamad Nor(Wildlife Assistant), Dr. Abdullah and Rahman Ismail. Cik Zaiton Aman was the Division Director then. When the Wildlife training center at Bukit Rengit was completed in 1984, the bungalow was still used as a transit for wildlife.

When the training center at Bukit Rengit was completed in 1984, several families moved there. Myself and Zeti (we got married before the center was completed. So the DG decided to send us there), Norizan (PIW) and family, Hamidon and family, En. Mohamad Nor and wife, the late Ismail Singah, Ramli Deris the chargeman, and Rafar. The other PRA quit as he could not stand the remoteness of the center. The only access road to the center was a logging road used by the contractors to built the center. There were more than 40 potholes or gullies along the road ( from the junction to the top of the hill). The only vehicle that we had was an old Jeep CJ4. By the way, the area was still a black area and we had to get a permit from the District Police Station in Temerloh to stay at Bukit Rengit. The permit had to be renewed every 3 months. Apparently, the PKM members used the ridge above the center as their highway. The police came and visited us only once. They came in a 3-ton truck fully equipped with firearms.....and that was their first and last time to Bukit Rengit. The center was just completed when we moved in. Every family was allocated a quarters. The rest house was only used by guest lecturers. We spent the first 6 months planting grass and plants around the complex, repainting the building and constructing trails around the complex. There were no regular training course yet as access was difficult especially during raining season. JKR was still widening the road to the center and it became extremely slippery after a brief rain. Wildlfe such as sambar deer, barking deer, leaf monkey, birds and fishes were still abundant. You can easily meet these animals along the road even during daytime. You can hear barking deer around the complex almost every night. That's how remote the center was in those days. The bridge across the river was made of logs tied together using cable. The log bridge was swept away during one of the floods and we were cut off from the outside world for a few days until a contractor was called to rebuild the bridge. The only communication that we had was a Simonsen ATUR phone used by NATO. (to be continued..)

This is the article that I wrote in the Asian otter webpage on my experience capturing the elusive hairy-nosed otter in Thailand. It was the first hairy-nosed otter caught alive and we did it. Unfortunately the two otters managed to escape from the enclosure after I left Thailand. We ( Me, Din Stone and King) went to Patani, Thailand to assist my Thai counterpart, Budsabong to capture the hairy-nosed otter with Sasaki from Japan. Stayed there for a couple of weeks until we managed to capture the otter. I will post more pictures as soon as I managed to locate the diskettes containing the photos. Those days we used Sony digital camera with diskettes ( one 1.2 MB diskette can capture a few digital images. I normally brought several boxes of diskettes for photography. How lucky you people nowadays.....Nikon D60, Canon etc. Capturing the elusive Hairy-nosed otter by Burhanuddin Hj. Md. Nor, Department of Wildlife & National Parks (Perhilitan), West Malaysia "I was in Narathivat, southern province of Thailand recently to capture the elusive Hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana).This species was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered by Budsabong Kanchanasaka from the Royal Forestry Department, Thailand. Her study on this species led us to Narathivat province in southern Thailand. The Hairy-nosed otter is currently confined to the Maleleuca swamp near the beach. Our capture team consists of Hiroshi Sasaki from the Otter Research Group, Japan, Budsabong and two of her staff, King and Stone who assisted me in the capture program. The first thing that we did was to locate fresh signs of otter ie. through their faeces and footprints. Once we located the two most recent signs, the traps were set. We used softcatch traps (a modified leg-hold trap) to catch these otters. The signs indicated that there are three animals in the area. We set a total of 4 traps, 2 at the toilet sites and the remainder along the trail. A telemetry device was attached to the traps using nylon string. The transmitters act as an alarm once the traps are closed. The traces of the traps were hidden using mud and leaves gathered from the surrounding. We took turns to monitor the traps via the transmitter receiver. Nothing happened during the night. But to our surprise, we found two Hairy-noed otters caught in the traps the next day around 1100 hrs. The two staff who had monitored the traps during the night informed us the they saw the three otters in the vicinity but did not expect them to get caught in the traps. As we approached the traps we heard the otter call. Approximately 50 meters from the traps we saw all three otters at the toilet site. Close observation showed that only two were caught in the traps while the other one was trying to free the two caught otters. Seeing this we knew that we had to act fast as the day was geting hot. The two assistants went back to the truck to bring back the net and cage while we prepared the drug (Zoletil) to sedate the otters. Our group was divided into two groups of three persons. Two person would cast the net over the otter while the third would try to inject the drug into the animal. We approached the animal at the same time reduce the anxiety and stress to the animal. Everything had to be done in the quickest time possible. As we approached the two otters, the third one sneaked back into the swamp. Finally we managed to sedate the otters in less than 5 seconds and the drug took less than 5 minutes to fully sedate the animals. Once they were unconscious, we removed them from the traps and checked for injuries to the animals. Luckily we found no serious injury except for swollen palms due to the traps. The otters were then measured and blood samples taken before being kept in the cages that we had brought.We took the otters to the captive breeding center belonging to the Forestry Department of Thailand where a veterinarian was called to treat the swollen palms. Apparently, the otters that we caught were the only two in captivity in the world. - from Burhanuddin's webpage

Left, squatting - Burhanuddin Nor; Standing w/light green uniform - Budsabong K; standing w/camera - Hiroshi Saski (photo courtesy of Burhanuddin Nor, 12 Sep 1999) Close up of head, Lutra sumatrana (photo by Burhanuddin Nor, 13 Sep 1999)

big foot on gunung benom?

I was involved in the wildlife inventory in the Krau Wildlife Reserve somewhere in late 1990s if I am not mistaken. As usual we were divided into small groups comprising between 4-5 people in a group. Our group was made up of yours truly, zaaba, Din stone, engku from trengganu (who always pretend to carry a machine gun and going after the predator like Arnold Schwezeneger) and a ranger from Lembah Klau (forgot his name). We started trekking from the last PPRT in Lembah Klau. It was climbing all the way up as soon as we left the rubber plantation in Lembah Klau. The trail was not clear and we basically depend on the topo map and GPS (early Magellan model) and our guide who had been to Gunung Benom several times. Since not many people climb the mountain (except survey dept staff and wildlife dept staff), the trail was not regularly maintained except during a climb. So we basically cleared the trail on our way up to the mountain. After several hours of climbing, we finally reached the ridge. The view from the top was superb. You can see Lembah Klau and the surrounding areas clearly. I supposed you can only appreciate the scenery once you are on the ridge. One thing about climbing Gunung Benom is that there is no water source at the top. You have to bring water supply with you. So each of us brought 4 litter of freshwater with us. The last point to get water was a couple of hours before reaching the ridge. Sometimes you can hear water rushing but could not find the source. We later found out that the river flows underground and only surfaced at several locations along the way. So, if you are planning to climb Gunung Benom, don't be fooled by the sound of rushing water as it could be flowing underground. Get your water supply from the last designated point or you'll run out of water once you're on the ridge (unless you don't mind taking water from small pool with frog eggs). The ridge is always misty most of the time especially after 11 am. Wind will blow the clouds to the ridge hiding the trails from time to time , just like Mt Kinabalu. The plant are mostly twisted and hardy as an adaption to the windy environment on the ridge. The ground is mostly covered with leaf litter, not much soil. The ground on the ridge however is mostly covered with moss, appearing green all the way. The ground is soft and moist and you will definitely leave your footprint when you walk. An existing trail, regularly used by wildlife can be seen on the ridge. The trail has turned into a shallow drain due to the continuous use by wildlife. This is common especially on ridges elsewhere like Gunung Bintang Hijau in Perak. We followed the trail as we do not want to create new trail on the green carpet. This would make the place full of foot steps and they will be there for quite some time until the green moss started growing over it. We also pitched our tent on the trail. In those days, we traveled light. We use flysheetor ponco as tent as it is more convenient and lightweight. Night and early morning was extremely cold especially after a spell of rain. 10 AM seems like 6:30 AM and it's very difficult (lazy actually) to start the day. You basically have to force yourself to get up and start the day. It seems that everyone prefers to stay inside the comfort and warmth of their sleeping bags. The story about bigfoot in Gunung Benom started when our group found a set of footprints on the ridge where we spend the night. The footprints looked like they belong to human but the size is bigger than the average human footprints. And there's only the left footprints all over the place, no right leg footprints. So we told the rest of the inventory group of our encounter with the footprints and that's how the teory of bigfoot in Gunung Benom surfaced. Luckily, nobody was asked to go up the mountain again to investigate the story. We checked with the Orang Asli community living around the mountain and found that they seldom go up the mountain as they are afraid of the spirit living up there. So, who made the footprints that we found on the ridge? We checked the footprint size with everyone in the group and found no match. Why was there only the left footprints? It's very difficult to climb up the mountain with one leg. Until we get the answer, the report of bigfoot in Gunung Benom remains a mystery.............

First trip to Endau Rompin

I finally got the opportunity to go to Endau Rompin. Mr. Abdullah Mohammed (now Dr. Abdullah Mohamed of UPM) asked me to follow a group of wildlife rangers into Endau Rompin for map reading. However, I have a problem as I don't have a haversack to put all my stuff. So I decided to use my sling bag instead. The trip to Labis was ok. I met Ranger Mat Rashid (now retired) in Labis and start trekking to our first destination, from Kg. Air Tenang( if I can still recall) to kem Selai. The walk was not bad, no steep terrain except for the many river crossings. The forest was still in its prime state, no signs of encroachment or logging. The ground layer is clean, no undergrowths at all as the canopies were touching each other. No direct sun and this made walking easy. However, my sling bag started to give me problem after a couple of hours. The sling kept on entangling with the rattans and branches. Finally, Che Mat Rashid cut a couple of vines and tied them to my sling bag, turning it into a makeshift haversack. Amazingly, the makeshift haversack managed to last until I went back to KL. We finally arrived at the first base camp after eight hours of walking. (The site of our first base camp is now accessible by car). The first group of rangers finally arrived around 6:00 pm while the last group arrived around 9:00 pm. Apparently, they lost their way after being stung by a colony of wasps. They deserved my respect and admiration as they depended solely on their map reading skills and ability to use the compass. I wonder how many of our young staff can do this as most depend on GPS. Although GPS is easy, I still feel that map reading and compass reading skills are important.
My next destination is Kem Segenting kura, around 4 hours away from Kem Selai. We walk in shallow stream most of the time. By this time, signs of rhino presence were everywhere, old wallows, foot prints, and dungs. This is the area where Prof. Tajuddin (UNIMAS) started his study on the Sumatran rhinoceros with Rodney Flynn (American Peacecorp) if I am not mistaken. This time I followed one senior ranger En. Abdullah. When we finally reached the camp, I decided to remove my shoes and dip my feet in the pool. A few minutes later, to my horror, I felt something nibbling on my toes. When I pulled up my feet I saw a school of fish right under me in the pool. Apparently they have never seen human toes before. That was my first time having my toes nibbled by fishes in a pool. Nowadays some spas provide fish therapy.. and you have to pay for it. For me, I got it free, it comes with my job.

First assignment with DWNP

My first assignment came two days after joining the Department. I was assigned to accompany En. Jasmi to Penang where he was to deliver a talk on wildlife (forgotten the topic) to a group of university students and NGOs and conduct interview for new intake of wildlife ranger. We left Jalan Duta in the afternoon in his Fiat. First stop was Air Molek, Melaka (his hometown) and then proceeded to Penang. Since it wasvery late, we stopped overnight in Tapah and continued the journey the following day. We stayed at the YMCA in Penang. The talk and interview went well and we left Penang after two days.

15 February 1982

15 February 1982 was the day I reported for duty at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia. The office (then) was located at Block K19, Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur. The office was entirely made of wood (most people called it " Blok Kayu") and located next to the Federal Territory JPJ office. I have no new shirt or pant or shoe to wear when I reported for duty that day. Fortunately, my late cousin ( god blessed his soul) loaned me his leather shoe. My best long sleeve shirt was the one I got from Mokhtar pendek which I called baju Arrow nelayan because of the fish design on it. My late cousin sent me to work on the first day as I didn't know the location of the office and what bus to take. All I know is that I have to take the Sri Jaya bus from Chow Kit road. Looking forward to the job. At the same time, I also received job offers from SAFODA (Sabah Forest Development Corporation- based in Sabah), Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (based in KL) and PERNAS Holding (if I am not mistaken)- based in Hong Kong.

Welcome 2009

I have always wanted to create my own blog to share my experiences managing nature especially wildlife in Peninsular Malaysia and in the region. After serving the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia for 26 years, I feel that perhaps it's time for me to share my experiences and memories working in this field. I will start with my early days working with the Department in 1982. Hope you'll enjoy reading my experiences ...