Tioman Field studies - Day 2 and 3

On Day 2, we went to the freshwater streams in Paya's forest for the field studies. There, we performed were armed with hand nets and buckets, doing the 'rain dance' which includes trempling and jumping on the rocks and riverbed, disturbing the substratum so as to bring up hidden shrimps and crustaceans, and even some small fishes liek the juvenile half-beaks and some gobies. On the best catch, we can catch up to 100 over shrimps, and it was a headache counting and identifying them. haha..but we rewarded ourselves at the end of the day by immersing ourselves in the cool mini waterfall and having a dip. Latiff was 'forcing' each of us to have a go...haha.

Freshwater stream at Paya

Catching the shrimp




On Day 3, we went to the terrestrial walk to find amphibians and reptiles. Well, we found quite a few interesting stuff, but the highlight is climbing the tree called 'mother willow'. This tree is very old and very special because it grew on a huge boulder and stretches 2 storeys high. Its roots stretched down to the bottom of the boulder, making 'stairs' for people to climb up to the top. There was a ladder there but its old and broken at some parts. MING and some of my group members were courageous enough to attempt the climb up. It seems quite fun, but I was a little reluctant to go. So I explored the area, and found just below the overhang of the boulder, there was a man-made alter..very simple, with cigarettes as joss-sticks, water bottles, and glasses. Well it was a little creepy...Lat told us that people pray to the spirits of 'mother willow', and the nymph eggs that filled the surface of the rock was thought to guard the spirits of 'mother willow'. Yah, its creepy indeed.

Mother willow

At the streams and boulders searching for reptiles.



The resident monitor lizard

The chameleon




Colugo

Night walk, MING brought us to climb boulders at a small island. Terrifying!

Cute sea star


The red-eyed reef crab

Resting on the huge boulders