Putrajaya Botanical Garden

On October 11^th 2009, I attended a field trip to The Putrajaya Botanical Garden. The Putrajaya Botanical Garden is located at the heart of Putrajaya which is less than an hour drive from city of KL. The Putrajaya Botanical Garden was the brainchild of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Bin Muhammad. It was from his idea that Putrajaya City should established a botanical garden to suit "the city in the garden” theme which its synonym with nowadays. This approach will provide a strong foundation in developing city environment in the future based on maintaining “ecoculture”, sensitive and care with the health of the environment (Mahathir, 1995). The botanical garden was opened to public on February 4^th 2003.

Putrajaya Botanical Garden is established on a 230 acres (93ha) land what was a former agricultural land planted with oil palm. The botanical garden contains over 700 species of plants from over 90 countries of the world (2009). The botanical garden is divided into 5 different themes of vegetations, namely; The Explorer’s Trail, Palm Hill, Floral Garden, Sun Garden, and The Lakeside.

'Floral' tiles welcome visitors at the entrance of the garden

Explorer Trail is located nearest to the entrance of the botanical garden. A canopy bridge is built to enable visitor to observe the tree from top and bottom that once unreachable. The bridge platform is made from Cengal wood (Neobalanocarpus heimii), a native Malaysian tree. Some of the trees planted along the canopy bridge are Saga (Adenanthera bicolor), Terap (Artocarpus sp.), and Melembu (Pterocymbium javanicum). At the end of the bridge are Heliconias plants such as Blood Banana (Musa sumatra), Calatheas (Marantaceae), and The Traveller's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis).

The Canopy Bridge, the starting point

The tour guide explain about The Blood Banana (Musa sumatra)

Proceed on and you will reach Vine Garden, where a variety of vines such as Tecomarias, Bread Flower (Vallaris glabra), and Blue Trumpet Vine (Thunbergia laurifolia) can be found here. The scaffoldings are also made of Cengal wood, fortified with steel bars for supporting the sheer weight of the climber plants.

The Vine Garden

Palm Hill is the next theme on The Explorer Trail. It is located at the highest point of the garden, where visitors can view some of the landmarks in Putrajaya. There are more than 50 species of palm trees planted here, and by walking along the walkway, visitors could see palm species such as Feathery Cabbage Palm (Roystonea oleracea), Royal Palm (Roystonea regia), Clustered Fish Tail Palm (Caryota mitis), and Buri Palm (Corypha utan).

The Palm Hill Trail

Sun Garden as its name implies is a collection of plants that grow well in bright sun. The uniqueness of this section of the park is showcased by its plant collections, in which plants in this area react differently with time of the day. There is a obelisk-like-statue built at this section of the park, equipped with sun clock to symbolize relationship between time and the plant realm.

Floral Garden has a collection of plants introduced from region such as Africa, America and Asia Pacific region. Plants such as The Flame of the Forest (Saraca indica), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), and Plumbago are some of the species that originated from the African region and was introduced in Malaysia during the pre-colonial era. The Peacock Flower and Frangipani come from the Tropical American region which is brought into The Malay Archipelago by the Portuguese and Spanish pioneers during the 16^th century. The Ficus tree from the region of Asia Pacific is a major source of food for the wildlife in Asia. The garden also features few attractive resting spots for visitors such as the Ficus Shades, and Bouganvilla Tunnel.

The Flame of the Forest (Saraca indica)

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)

The Bouganvilla Tunnel

Lakeside has a collection of Ixora and Hibiscus of various colours planted just beside the seafood restaurant. The Pandanus (Pandanus sanderi & Pandanus dubius) can be seen here as well as Cannas with its colourful and big flowers along the shaded path. As the trail comes near the end, you will be able to see the some ferns, which have been said to be in existence more than 200 million year.

Walkway leading to The Lakeside

The Putrajaya Botanical Garden is designed as a state-of-the-art research and conservation centre for floral aspect in Malaysia. It also become as the best centerpoint/representative in floral research and conservation study in the country. This centre aims to collect and establish a high class collection-exhibition for plants. Putrajaya Botanical Garden hope to find and introduce more local rare plant species in the future, to be conserved and protected by trained specialists for inventory and for other related studies. The Putrajaya Botanical Garden also have planned for further expansions in years time and anticipate to grow as icon for horticulture and botanical research, as well as the pioneer of lanscaping techniques in Malaysia.

Once the centre have establish all the steps envisioned, it is now time to promote the centre to the world. The botanical garden also listed as a unique tourist-attraction destination in Malaysia aside of national parks and conservation centre. The Putrajaya City management have dream that The Putrajaya Botanical Garden will become a must-go place in Malaysia for the next few years. They hope the place will turn out to be an attraction for tourism because of its plant collections, beautiful scenery, systematic park managemant, and quality services all the time for the tourists’ need. This approach will someday put Putrajaya Botanical Garden and Malaysia especially in the highlight of holiday destination around the world.

Trip To Nature Park, Kuala Selangor

Nature Park, Here We Come....!!!!

On January 23rd, me and my colleagues decided to go on a trip to Kuala Selangor's Nature Park for a field survey. The journey took about 1 - 2 hours drive from KL. It appears to me that the town celebrates this park as their landmark, since the park largely being advertised all over town. The vicinity is very quiet and peaceful, although located near town. Next to the Nature Park is the Freshwater Fish Display. The entrance ticket for the Nature Park is fairly cheap, which is just RM4.00 for adult.

Walk in the park...experience the surprises

There are 3 distinct habitat in Nature Park, which is secondary forest, man-made brackish water lake, and mangrove forest. In the secondary forest trail, you will be amazed by variety of tree formations as you walk in. But as a reminder, do bring mosquito repellent with or wear cloth that cover up the skin when you travel along this path because there is a lot of mosquitoes. That is why they called it secondary forest you know, with mosquitoes all over the area.

Dumb monitor lizard...why pick longer trail?

After the secondary forest is the trail leading to the brackish water lake, and you will notice that mosquitoes starts disappearing. The journey is much pleasant because now butterflies flying over you instead of mosquitoes, and you will also see beautiful birds singing songs of various tone back and forth among themselves.

Brackish water lake, one of bird-watching area...

The viewing tower

The view at the top of viewing tower...lake (right), mangrove (left)

Around the lake area, there are stops built such as hut and tower for the visitors. Not only these facilities serve as shelter for the visitors, but also can be used as wildlife watching spot, mainly birds. The lake is actually located adjacent to the mangrove forest and bordered by a road. There are two entrances along the road, which leads the visitors into the mangrove forest.

The pathway into the mangrove forest

Mangrove seedlings soon-ready-to-be-planted

A Long-Tailed-Macaque

Tree-Climbing Crab?

Mud skipper enjoying a mud bath

Entering the pathway into the mangrove forest, instantly we saw several species of crabs and mud skippers. Not to be forgotten is the long-tailed-macaque, which is very 'polite' with the visitors in a sense and seems to become primary residence of the mangrove forest. However we did not manage to find any silvered-leaf-monkey anywhere in the park area, which is rather disappointing. The park management regularly organize planting of mangrove trees for the public, which they provides the seedlings ready to be transplanted into the mangrove forest.

The entrance door for pathway that leads to the sea

one of mangrove species presence in the mangrove forest (Bruguiera sp.)

Young mangrove trees planted along the mangrove forest pathway

Along the U-shaped mangrove forest pathway, there is a junction for another pathway and this juncture leads to the sea. This is where the seedling-transplanting happens. at the very beginning of the pathway, we could see mangrove tree from the species Bruguiera sp., followed by other species such as Rhizophora sp. & Avicennia sp. as we travel further inside.

Viewing point at the end of the path

View of mangrove from the end of the pathway

At the very end of the pathway is a viewing point. It is an open area that overlooks the sea and showing where the starting point of mangrove forest is. It is also a good place for observing seabirds, as they feed during the early morning and late evening. This is the ending point of our survey in the Nature Park of Kuala Selangor.

A rope bridge connecting to trail leading back to the entrance...

The bridge can support 6 person at once...quite strong though

Remember: This trail is not for those with history of mosquito-related disease

The hitch-hike back from the mangrove forest to the park entrance is very exhausting, unlike the opposite scenario. Along the way back we arrived at a rope bridge, which also leads to a trail directing the park entrance. Unlike the trail we took in earlier part of the journey, this trail is different. This trail has more mosquitoes in it, as well as bends and mud puddles. After a long crossing and fights with the mosquitoes, we finally reach the entrance. Just for advice, do not use this trail if unnecessary.

The trip to Sungai Pulai, Johor

Friends in the field trip

The visit to Sungai Pulai is one of the best memory so far. It was the first time I went to a wildlife sanctuary, the first time I encountered with dolphins in the wild, and first time I ever got so close to Singapore. I have captured many memories using my camera, although I'm not in majority of the photos. Personally, I didn't really care much because I think it's a norm that the photographer (will) have least pictures in his photo album. Nonetheless, I enjoy taking photo very much and happy when people acknowledge my shoots.

Uncle Ng Sui Lin, owner of the trawl boat

We went to Sungai Pulai estuary by boarding on Uncle Lin's trawl boat. The boat consists of two groups 1) the trawl boat team - Uncle Lin and two workers and 2) us - researchers/visitors. The trawl boat team were very quiet-type of people and very focus with their work at the boat. The job description at the trawl boat is simple; the captain handles the boat; and the two workers handles the trawl net. Meanwhile our job is to collect some fish as samples to be analyse in lab. As the trawl boat team raised the fish from the water, we picked some of it for ourselves. The rest of the fish are either consumed, sold in fish market, or processed as fish food for nearby aquaculture facilities.

A Tripodfish (Pseudotriacanthus strigilifer)

One of common fish found in Sungai Pulai estuary is the Tripodfish (Malay: Ikan lembu). The fish is called with such name because it has three spines at the dorsal fin and pectoral fins. The spines can be folded and erected, and it is used to protect the fish from other fish such as predator fish. When I dissected the stomach, I found numerous pieces of starfish skeleton (not to mention bad smell). The fish feed on starfish and it is equipped with strong beak which it use to break up the skeleton of starfish. A friend of mine (last picture: The Masked Man) jokingly said the Tripodfish is a form of trinity; 1)its a fish, 2)the Malay name for it is cow, and 3)it taste like chicken.

Encounter with marine police

When I thought that day was like other day at field site, I was surprised when we were visited by the marine police. Well, the first thing in my mind was "Do we even look like Indonesian?". For your information, Straits of Malacca and Straits of Tebrau are major routes for illegal migrants from Indonesia to travel into Malaysia. However, there was not much issue after all. Apparently we were fishing within the forbidden area (too close to the shipping port-Port Tanjung Pelepas), although we have permit to do so. But luckily in the end, the misunderstanding was solved, we're given the thumbs up from them and the fishing continues...

The Masked Man

The Masked Man, the mastermind for the field trip. He looked so much like a pirate ready to hijack a shipping vessel through my eyes. For the incident with the marine police earlier, I blamed him for dressing up so suspiciously (haha...). But ultimately, he is a nice guy and had help me in many ways. Thanks to him and his family hospitality, we doesn't have to spend a cent in this trip for hotel accommodation. Thank you my friend...

Everyone loves...BABIES

Everybody loves… BABIES. This visually stunning new movie simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from first breath to first steps. From Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo, babies joyfully capture on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.

Ponijao

Mari

Bayar

Hattie

I've seen the trailer and I can't wait to see the movie myself. The cinematic is stunning, and the babies are all very cute though. Watch how they're raise in 4 different environments in time span of a year. I personally think that this is a good film, an eye-opener to parents which they can use and learn more about the good and bad in raising a child. In theaters on 16th April 2010...ENJOY!!!

GENRE: Documentary

DIRECTOR: Thomas Balmes

CAST: Ponijao, Mari, Bayar & Hattie

The Cove

The Cove is a 2009 documentary film of the unveiling of annual killing about 2, 300 dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Japan. The film highlights 23, 000 dolphins and porpoises which are killed in Japan every year, three times more than whales killed in Antartic each year. the migration dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats.

Ric O'Barry

The movie follows former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry quest to document the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji, Japan. In the 1960s, O'Barry captured and trained the five wild dolphins that would play the role of "Flipper" in the hit television series of the same name. It was when one of the dolphins committed a form of suicide in his arms, closing her blowhole voluntarily in order to suffocate, that O'Barry came to see it as a curse not a blessing. Since then O'Barry has worked tirelessly as an advocate on behalf of dolphins around the world.

"The Cove"

After meeting with O'Barry, Psihoyos and his crew travel to the small town of Taiji, a town that appears to be devoted to the wonder and mysteries of the dolphins and whales that swim off their coast. But in an isolated cove, surrounded by wire and "Keep Out" signs, some of the townspeople hide a stark reality. Also, among the challenges faced by the production team were the tight security and inaccessibility of the cove.

Filming is tough though especially in restricted area in Taiji

Ric's crew spying dolphin slaughtering activity in "The Cove"

Together with the Ocean Preservation Society, Psihoyos, O'Barry, and the crew utilizes special tactics and embark on a mission to get the truth on what is really going on in the cove and why it matters to everyone else in the world. To address some of these issues KernerFX, previously part of Industrial Light & Magic, contributed specialized camouflaged high-definition cameras that were designed to look like rocks. These hidden cameras helped capture footage for the film and were so well camouflaged that, according to Director Louie Psihoyos, the crew had a hard time finding them again.

The film received very positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars (out of four), calling the film "a certain Oscar nominee”. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called the film "an exceptionally well-made documentary that unfolds like a spy thriller," going on to describe it as "one of the most audacious and perilous operations in the history of the conservation movement." Other reviewers also played up the espionage angle of the film, including Time Magazine's Mary Pols who said that The Cove "puts Hollywood capers like Mission Impossible to shame". Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 95% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 27, summarizing the consensus as "Though decidedly one-sided, The Cove is an impeccably crafted, suspenseful expose of the covert slaughter of dolphins in Japan." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 82, based on 26 reviews.