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..)