hello people!
i was given the opportunity to join a very exciting nature conference, the Kenyir Bird and Nature Quest 2016 happening at Kenyir Lake Resort, Tasik Kenyir, Terengganu! thank you, my great friend, for inviting me to join this conference. i appreciate this chance very much!
departed from Batu Pahat with my friend at 11pm and drove straight to Kenyir like zombies with no sleep and a few short stops at the RnR and KL, making us turned into power rangers with Channel eyebags duhh hahaha. so we arrives at Kuala Berang for breakfast, where the locals looked at us as if we were aliens duhh we knew we were straight out strangers here but hellooo why the big eye popping?
then we continued our adventure to Lake Kenyir and burst into the room at 9.30 am ahahaha the conference had started halfway already oh my God hahaha so both of us just sat down quickly and listened to the presentation given. there were several presenters with different topics respectively regarding eco-tourism in Terengganu. it was awesome, i know!
Running around with the elephants.
Miss Wong Ee Phin was a PhD undergraduate currently doing research about elephants together with the Perhilitan and i just loooveee her session! i was practically jotting down everything she said about her elephants, coming from the jungle around Terengganu like the Taman Negara and Belum-Temenggor. i really wanted to go to Belum -Temenggor because the adventure smell from that place is just way too strong to resist! i learn a lot about elephants conservation, their habits and attitude towards their surrounding and i felt that elephants really deserved to be referred as the Old Man of the jungle because they contributes a lot to the jungle in their silent, subtle way. if one elephant died, the rest of the elephants from the herd will gather around to pay their last respect to the dead elephant. wasn't that totally beautiful and touching?
Miss Wong told us about the elephants that she was monitoring during her field study and i think it was very heartwarming to know that the elephant called Mek Jong delivered a baby during the whole monitoring process was going on. there were also some issues involving the human-elephant conflicts that came into the discussion and i was so glad that steps are taken to ensure that this human-elephant conflict could be minimized, if it could not be stopped at once. frankly speaking, i envied Miss Wong because she got to go into the wild and observe all the elephants. even watching her holding up the elephant's poops got me so excited! i hope the awareness for elephants conservation could be spread widely across the continent, especially here in Malaysia. we must always remember that we have a responsibility to ensure the well-being of the animals did not came second no matter what. good luck, Miss Wong!
Where the birds roam free.
Mr Annuar McAfee was an English lecturer and avid birder and he's been involved in so many bird-watching activities in Terengganu. he talked about the birds that we can find all around Terengganu, especially the protected endangered hornbill species. i was practically new to birding but i can't help but admire his passion and enthusiasm in encouraging the conservation and development of bird-watching activity especially among his students. i learn quite a lot about the birds roaming across the Terengganu sky and was particularly interested in the many species of hornbill that we can find in Tasik Kenyir alone. i remember watching a few oriental pied hornbill flying across the resort as if its the most natural thing to do on Earth, when the truth was that these hornbills were facing extinction and efforts to conserve these species were absolutely vital in ensuring their long-lasting survival.
in all his presentation slides, i was particularly interested in two species of bird which were the Brahminy Kite and the Black Baza. i think both were extremely handsome and majestic creature so i'm gonna find out more about them. by the way, Mr Annuar's son, Muhammad, was also a tour guide and despite his lanky, Canadian appearance, he spoke Malay with a Terengganu slang like a local yo! most impressive!
Into the cave to explore the dark.
Mr Khairul Abu Bakar was named Best Nature Guide twice and he was selected to lead a team of climber to explore the Bewah Cave in the Taman Negara via Kenyir Lake. the four of them were the pioneer team of climber to explore Bewah Cave and mapped out the cave for geological purpose. listening to his experiences exploring the cave amidst serious injuries and many explainable encounters was enough to trigger the curiousity in me. talk about bumping into cave racer snake on a daily basis is just too exciting!
i've always dream of going caving and explore the dark holes but i never get the opportunity to do so. not yet, maybe. so listening to his talk was very inspiring and he seems to be one of those guide that you could trust your life with because he talk the real deal here. not to mention, his spooky encounters kinds of added up the interesting value in his talk.
we had a nice dinner where we watch the traditional performance of local gamelan players and listen to folk song in the Hulu Terengganu dialect. the food was nice and i made new friends in the form of Kak Eta, her husband, her younger sister and her husband. they were a merry family and i'm so grateful for this meet up.
More adventures on the second day!
i thought the exciting part was done but the second day affirmatively made me fall in love with Terengganu!
in the morning we ate breakfast at the resort before proceeding for our adventure of the day! we went to Bewah Cave in Taman Negara and went on the most awesome trekking to the biggest Melunak tree in Taman Negara! i was literally floating to heaven with happiness! my team for this adventure consists of Kak Eta and her family so i really had a great time during the super fast one hour plus boat ride into Taman Negara. the scenery was divinely breathtaking with limestone cave adorning the lake, birds flying across the sky under the beautiful morning sun. for someone who lovesss boat ride, i was jubilant the whole time. one can never resist from observing with awe when one is among nature.
goodbyes and beautiful memories.
Miss Wong told us about the elephants that she was monitoring during her field study and i think it was very heartwarming to know that the elephant called Mek Jong delivered a baby during the whole monitoring process was going on. there were also some issues involving the human-elephant conflicts that came into the discussion and i was so glad that steps are taken to ensure that this human-elephant conflict could be minimized, if it could not be stopped at once. frankly speaking, i envied Miss Wong because she got to go into the wild and observe all the elephants. even watching her holding up the elephant's poops got me so excited! i hope the awareness for elephants conservation could be spread widely across the continent, especially here in Malaysia. we must always remember that we have a responsibility to ensure the well-being of the animals did not came second no matter what. good luck, Miss Wong!
Where the birds roam free.
Mr Annuar McAfee was an English lecturer and avid birder and he's been involved in so many bird-watching activities in Terengganu. he talked about the birds that we can find all around Terengganu, especially the protected endangered hornbill species. i was practically new to birding but i can't help but admire his passion and enthusiasm in encouraging the conservation and development of bird-watching activity especially among his students. i learn quite a lot about the birds roaming across the Terengganu sky and was particularly interested in the many species of hornbill that we can find in Tasik Kenyir alone. i remember watching a few oriental pied hornbill flying across the resort as if its the most natural thing to do on Earth, when the truth was that these hornbills were facing extinction and efforts to conserve these species were absolutely vital in ensuring their long-lasting survival.
in all his presentation slides, i was particularly interested in two species of bird which were the Brahminy Kite and the Black Baza. i think both were extremely handsome and majestic creature so i'm gonna find out more about them. by the way, Mr Annuar's son, Muhammad, was also a tour guide and despite his lanky, Canadian appearance, he spoke Malay with a Terengganu slang like a local yo! most impressive!
Into the cave to explore the dark.
Mr Khairul Abu Bakar was named Best Nature Guide twice and he was selected to lead a team of climber to explore the Bewah Cave in the Taman Negara via Kenyir Lake. the four of them were the pioneer team of climber to explore Bewah Cave and mapped out the cave for geological purpose. listening to his experiences exploring the cave amidst serious injuries and many explainable encounters was enough to trigger the curiousity in me. talk about bumping into cave racer snake on a daily basis is just too exciting!
i've always dream of going caving and explore the dark holes but i never get the opportunity to do so. not yet, maybe. so listening to his talk was very inspiring and he seems to be one of those guide that you could trust your life with because he talk the real deal here. not to mention, his spooky encounters kinds of added up the interesting value in his talk.
we had a nice dinner where we watch the traditional performance of local gamelan players and listen to folk song in the Hulu Terengganu dialect. the food was nice and i made new friends in the form of Kak Eta, her husband, her younger sister and her husband. they were a merry family and i'm so grateful for this meet up.
with all the presenters!
To the hornbills' call.
in the evening, we went to the Hornbills Valley for birding activity. it was a great experience for me as i observe so many beautiful, colourful birds chirping among the trees. i talked with Miss Wong and Mr Khairul about my passion for snakes and the wilderness and i think they really appreciate my presence at this event. it was absolutely wonderful exchanging views and sharing the same mind about what i'm passionate about with people who were equally passionate and understand what i feel. Mr Khairul himself just started learning about snakes so he was quite happy to talk about them with me since i'm also a Slytherin hehehe.
don't ask me how much that binocular cost.
i can marry right at this moment with that amount!
we were talking about elephants' poops and snakes when minutes later, we hear the sound of hornbills and we saw them flying above us! i felt like crying out of happiness!
i thought the exciting part was done but the second day affirmatively made me fall in love with Terengganu!
in the morning we ate breakfast at the resort before proceeding for our adventure of the day! we went to Bewah Cave in Taman Negara and went on the most awesome trekking to the biggest Melunak tree in Taman Negara! i was literally floating to heaven with happiness! my team for this adventure consists of Kak Eta and her family so i really had a great time during the super fast one hour plus boat ride into Taman Negara. the scenery was divinely breathtaking with limestone cave adorning the lake, birds flying across the sky under the beautiful morning sun. for someone who lovesss boat ride, i was jubilant the whole time. one can never resist from observing with awe when one is among nature.
Kak Eta's sister and her husband. i forgot her name sigh..
but she was so beautiful with flawless skin!
Trekking to the Melunak tree!
i totally dore this trekking trail because it was total jungle and we met so many interesting things along the way. we helped each other to reach the Melunak tree and my, my, i had my fair share of funny story too! i was trekking in front of this one lady who brought her handbag and since she was a bit shaky with the trail (probably due to her slightly older age), she decided to get a firm grip on my arms the whole time we walk. i pull her up the higher ground, push her to a higher ground, hold her handbag as she climb over protruding roots and branches, and i was so glad when she made it to the Melunak tree! however, i never knew her name, though. i had fun trekking with these people and was very happy to help my friend, Kak Mas overcoming some obstacles. salute to Kak Mas for not giving up despite some very nerve-wrecking moments for her during the trekking. i actually had so much fun climbing over the big fallen tree to help her. thanks to Muhammad for helping in terms of physically and emotionally.
elephant's trail love love love!
Kak Eta and her awesome rockstar husband.
once we reached the Melunak tree, there were photo session and all of us stand hand-in-hand around the Melunak tree to measure it. mind you, there were some Africans and Arabians in this conference so i was the tiniest of them all. they were all so big and strong, but still it took 29 people to successfully measure the general circumference of the Melunak tree! i felt like a little squirrel standing near the tree because we cannot see the top at all. it was a very humble moment for me to be among nature's amazing surrounding. i actually kissed the tree trunk because i was so happy!
with Mr Khairul
Mr Alex, the backbone for this event!
deep, deep water.
find me! heheh
at the Melunak tree
of cave and scary stairs.
after returning from Melunak tree adventure, we hopped on the boat and ride to Bewah Cave where i get the nerve-wreck of my life climbing the very scary stairs up to enter the cave. some of the planks were missing and if i fall down, i'd died. simply died. the cave was very cold and smell strongly of bat's poop so yeahh it was fun, people! if climbing up was a trial for me, going down was like a death penalty. i have a great fear of height and this climb is the kind of test that could literally tear my mental apart. but Kak Eta and her husband were very helpful, waiting for me until we reached the ground. Muhammad was practically singing in his Terengganu slang and telling his experience as a tour guide. somehow it helped to lessen my nerves. a little only.
Bewah Cave
goodbyes and beautiful memories.
overall my adventure in Tasik Kenyir was extremely beautiful, one which i shall cherish to the end of my life. to be given the opportunity to explore nature and meet many wonderful naturalist was the best gift ever. Tasik Kenyir was just so soothing and tranquil, i forgot the outside world. i hope i can come back here again to meet these awesome people and learn more about conservation.
thank you for a very warm hospitality, Lake Kenyir Resort. i absolutely love the room, the view, the food, every single thing! thank you to my friend, Mr Meor for giving me this opportunity. words cannot express how i feel about this place, this event and the people i meet here.
till the next adventure, people!
