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 ...