A Kayaking and Birdwatching On Aishah's Birthday

I was excited to hear Aishah's idea of having to do some kayaking with me on her birthday. Aishah, a friend of mine from the Raleigh International Kuala Lumpur (RIKL) wanted to do something out of KL city and made a trip to Langkawi with most of her sisters and another RIKL friend of ours, Michelle. Aishah's cool idea of a birthday celebration is to do outdoor stuffs. And so these city gals decided to take on Aishah's challenge.

I have known them for many years and it is always delightful to see them again on Langkawi doing nature stuffs. This kayak excursion would be the second time for Aishah and Michelle.

This time around, their kayaking starts from Tanjung Rhu and into the mangroves. Their photos below will show how much joy they had in the mangroves on the kayaks.

Aimi all gung ho to paddle on the kayak with me

One of the twins clicking away

...and I was clicking away too

Journey into the salt water forest

Giving some mangroves facts

Reversed "Limbo rock" 

Not easy to tip over with these kayaks

Somehow...these gals managed

The city gals having fun in the rain. I wonder if the rain in Langkawi is tastier than in KL city. I would think so

At the end of the kayaking journey, they admitted that they actually exhausted. I am glad their faces did not show that they were tired. Must be the mangroves greenery and fresh air that kept their smiles on their faces.

After a great workout on the kayaks, I offered them a relaxing excursion the next morning to watch hornbills on the hill. The challenge for them is to wake up early.

And they did!

The gals were excited to see the Great Hornbill through my scope

The Raleighians from left: Michelle, Aisalli, Jun and Aishah

They were rewarded with nasi lemak bungkus for waking early to watch the hornbills

I had a fun weekend with all of you. Thank you so much for spending time together. The next adventure in Langkawi awaits you. Or maybe I should join them elsewhere... hmmm...Borneo!

Please contact Wendy for private Langkawi kayaking tour and birdwatching tour.

Tree of Life

If you type these words, "tree of life meaning" on your search engine, you will find many different meanings to it. Tree of life can be related to religion, biology, literature, sculpture and even movies!

Reading these different references of tree of life can be so complicated and leading to deeper confusion. And so I found a true meaning of tree of life by chance in a simpler way, on a lucky drizzly morning.

Tree of life from afar

 Click on to see the tree of life zoomed in...

Can you see the blobs? Can you count them?

Closer still... I bet you can see them now. I counted about sixteen altogether on this tree

The closest object my camera can zoom into

From the angle I was standing looking at this tree of life, I counted about sixteen Great Hornbills (Buceros bicornis) having an enjoyable time feasting away. There were no other disturbances on that morning. 

The great whooping sound of the wings as they flapped, hopping from a branch to another. Plucking a fig gently and tossing into the air before diving into the throat of a Great Hornbill was a wonderful snapshot that will stay in my memory. 

A male Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) tossed a fig before swallowing 

Some of them perched and had their wings spread open while preening away. I watched with glee while sipping my hot cup of coffee and munching my sandwiches. I stayed on with the whole scene for more than one hour. 

A Great Hornbill preening 

The local pakcik (an elder) came along with his motorbike and stopped to watch the scene too. He was delighted to see them on this tree of life. His comments were "When there are tourists around, no Great hornbills. And when there are so many Great Hornbills showing themselves, there are no tourists". I laughed at his comments and nodded in agreement with him. I told him that this wonderful event was meant for us to experience.

My simple meaning of the tree of life in a rainforest is when a strangling fig tree (Ficus genus) began to fruit bountifully, it brings abundance of live and joy. A couple of Asian Fairy Bluebird (Irena puella) were fluttering around and there were others that came joined the party such as...

Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) peeping through the foliage

Black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor) ... and it thought that it could get away without being spotted!

Calls and screaming of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) were heard from below the tree of life. The pakcik said that these macaques were below scavenging the leftovers. What an easy way to feast without climbing the tree! I bet these macaques were also eating the insects that also came to feed on the leftovers.

Strangling fig trees are vital for all in a lowland rainforest and huge birds like the Great Hornbills are in great need of such habitat for their survival. Langkawi is blessed with the richness of flora and fauna. This has made her really special to those who has the genuine heart to witness what she has got to display.

Chilades putli And Our Gifts

It was a clear sunny morning on the spot where we decided to head out to explore an area before breakfast at Pantai Cenang. We got off from my car where it was next to a scrubby area. As I was preparing my camera, we heard Gary exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, these are different!" I turned over to look at where Gary was standing and he was looking on the ground. I went over to check it out and there were just some few tiny weeny brown butterflies fluttering over a scrub.

Gary Ruben was inspecting these butterflies so closely that he suspected that these were new species on the island. Curiosity has led him to catch one for closer inspection to confirm his thoughts. One need to be sacrificed for the sake of science. He was even more excited after that.

Since Gary didn't have a camera and so I was given the task of a photographer which I gladly took it. I only had my 300mm prime lens attached with a 1.4x Extender and no macro lens. I was not bothered to remove the extender. It was challenging to shot them when these tiny butterflies were non-stop hovering and if they stopped, it was only less than two seconds. 

Somehow I managed to get some shots which were good enough to be used for identification purpose.

With Gary's skill, this plant was identified. A Chilades putli on Indigofera suffruticosa. 

With the samples and photos, Gary made contact with Dr Laurence G. Kirton to confirm what he thought they were. Within that week, I received Gary's email confirming the species as Chilades putli, a new record in Langkawi and as well as Peninsula Malaysia. 

Gary Ruben who dedicated his time in Langkawi researching on butterflies

At the same time, a second edition of Field guide to the Butterflies of Langkawi book by Dr Katsutoshi Kato was scheduled for printing in weeks away and Gary asked if my photos can be used for this. I gave him the permission and it was subjected to Dr Kato's approval. With that same week, the good news came and my photos were accepted and included in this second edition. 

Being an amateur photographer myself, it was indeed an honour to have my photos accepted to be published. I also felt accomplished that week as to be able to contribute a tiny part of their work in butterflies of Langkawi.

Slightly over three months later, I was called by Gary to meet Dr Kato himself. It was supposed to be a surprise but it wasn't a surprise when Gary told me the purpose of the meeting.

And there it was ... the moment I was anticipating...

Standing from left to right: Mr Terutoshi Suetsugi, Mr Makoto Izawa, Dr Katsutoshi Kato, Mr Shuji Muraoka and with me sitting

Arigatou gozaimasu to Gary and Dr Kato's team for the experience and a precious gift that I will cherish.