#lantern bugs

names of pics in order:

the fellas

leaf eaters

Malaysian lanternflies or lanthorn flies ( Fulgoridae )

Hock Ping GUEK/Kurt  photographer

THREE and a half hours away from Penang – just 3.5 hours – is how near I am to an under-explored tropical rainforest jungle. A lowland dipterocarp jungle, to be more botanically accurate.

I was privileged to discover Ulu Muda a couple of weeks ago, Earth Lodge, to be exact – since this is the only place in Ulu Muda that one can visit as a tourist/visitor.  It was a so much better jungle experience than Taman Negara!! In my short 2D1N trip there, I came across fresh elephant tracks and the pachyderm's droppings – as big as bowling balls, fibrously packed but not odorous. An evening glide down the river showed us many birds – including hornbills and sea eagles. Our afternoon was punctuated with the mating call of the great argus, and we woke up to the happy hoots of gibbons at dawn. But the most exciting was a visit to Sira Air Hangat, a steaming, sulphorous salt-lick covered with fresh animals prints of a mama elephant and a baby elephant, sambar deer, tapir!!, wild boar and numerous other small animals.

To get to Earth Lodge, you have to take a long-tailed boat there from the KOPAM jetty, which is just a km or two from the entrance to Muda Dam. Before that, you have to get in touch with Hymeir Kamarudin (earthlodgemalaysia.webs.com) to arrange the trip as he and Irshad Mobarak - both Malaysian Nature Society members - are in charge of Earth Lodge. Here, the witty Hymeir is giving our group a brief of the area before we start our 1.5hr ride on long-tailed boats to Sungai Labua.

Hymeir has been taking campers to Sg Labua since the late 90s, and being a caver, has surveyed the two moderately large caves in Ulu Muda – which Hymeir thought never existed, given the geological profile of the area. (and I think he won't be insulted that I note that whatever he lacks in height, he more than makes up in his personality!)

The WWF is now doing animal surveys in Ulu Muda and also helping Earth Lodge develop a nature trail that will show the endemic flora and fauna of the forest.

Ulu Muda comprises forest reserves and three large man-made lakes (Muda, Ahning and Pedu) which supply water for Kedah, Penang and Perlis. Greater Ulu Muda's forest area is 160,000ha – about twice the size of Perlis. Another useful point of reference is Singapore, which is 70,000ha. (As WWF staff, Surin Suksuwan noted, Singapore is useful as a unit of measurement!)

The year 2003 was the first landmark scientific expedition by the Forestry Department to Ulu Muda and there's hopefully a good possibility that the area is designated as a National or State Park which will accord it more protection. But as you can imagine, there's much to Ulu Muda yet to be discovered. I really hope there'll be another occasion soon to visit the place – just 3.5 hrs away from car and boat.

The 1.5 hr boat ride across Muda Dam and into Sungai Labua... this was formerly a valley/mountain range/forest, flooded for the dam, and also formerly logged area.

the white bellied fish eagle.. (I think)

here we are, trying to identify the birds we see!

macaques suspended among bamboo

the view from my sleeping bag & bunk in the morning ...

morning at earth lodge ...

our chef Nasir cooking by candle and headlamp. Nasir runs his restaurant, Tiga, on Langkawi (on the way to Datai) when he's not at Ulu Muda

Our morning visit to the Sira Air Hangat

Fresh elephant dung on the way to the salt lick

comparing my foot to the elephant's print

the steam coming from the natural hot water @ Sira Air Hangat. The 'balls' on the sand would be dried elephant dung

the size of a tapir's print

making a plaster cast of a Sambar deer print

the charming lantern bugs making their way up a Meranti tree..

a showy caterpillar...

More facts:

*All ten species of hornbills in Peninsular Malaysia has been spotted @ Ulu Muda. Which is incidentally more hornbill species than recorded in Sarawak

*this is the place for mega fauna, and scientists suspect there might be the Sumateran Rhino wandering around somewhere, as well as the elusive clouded leopard and panther

*Seladang (wild cattle) has been sighted here

*there are 260 bird species here. birds I sighted in one evening glide down the river: oriental piped hornbill, black-capped kingfisher, stork bill kingfisher, black-thighed falconette, greater racquettail drongo (very pretty!), hill mynah, grey-headed fish eagle, little heron

*conservationists have mounted two successful "Save Ulu Muda" campaigns - to prohibit further logging

In case you need to know, Earth Lodge has no electricity, no wifi/internet andno mobile or landline which makes it a perfect get-away - really.  After all, there's running water at certain times and flushing toilets (seated ones, not squatting!)