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Searching For Nepenthes In Borneo - Part 2 Mt Kinabalu


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Part 2 - Mt Kinabalu

Once everyone had arrived at Kota Kinabalu the next day we headed off to Mt Kinabalu to climb the Summit Trail. Unfortunately the cabins up the mountain were already booked out, so instead the plan was to walk approximately 5.5km up the mountain until we reached the last variety of Nepenthes to see N. x kinabaluensis, which was around 3,000m in altitude, and then head back down the mountain along the Mesilau trail.

This plan sounded good in theory, but as we found out walking 11-12km, mainly up, proved a lot harder than we expected, especially because most of us weren't superfit.

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Mt Kinabalu. The view from our Balcony at the Kinabalu Rose Cabins

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Laurie with a recently deceased Flying snake, presumably run over.

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My friends getting ready for the big trek up the mountain, as we head through the Mt Kinabalu Summit Trail entrance.

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A view of Mt Kinabalu in the distance from the start of the Summit Trail.

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N. tentaculata, the first Nepenthes we saw on our trek up Mt Kinabalu

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N. tentaculata, a nice green upper pitcher form

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N. tentaculata, shooting from an old stem with a nice cluster of pitchers.

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Our first hybrid. N. x harryana (N. villosa x N. edwardsiana), an awesome plant!

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U. striatula we found growing on the side of the track in a wet area.

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U. striatula in flower, we were luck to find one in flower as most of the plants had already finished flowering.

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N. villosa, man were we excited to see this.

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N. villosa, a nice yellow-orange pitcher that had just recently opened.

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N. villosa

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The N. villosa "tunnel of love" named by Stew, because it was a small passage-way surrounded by overhanging N. villosa pitchers.

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N. x kinabaluensis (N. villosa x N. rajah)

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N. x kinabaluensis (N. villosa x N. rajah)

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N. x kinabaluensis (N. villosa x N. rajah). This pitcher measured around 33 cm in size. I could almost fit my fist into this one.

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The narrow ridge we walked along the top of on the Mesilau trail as we were heading back down.

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The view from the top of the ridge on the Mesilau trail as the clouds roll in. Notice how steep the side of the mountain is.

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Gareth carefully walking down the Mesilau trail, it was quite steep and tricky in parts and you don't want to roll your ankle.

More to come soon.

Part 3 - Mesilau Nature Reserve

Cheers

Steve

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Guest Andreas Eils

Steve,

your pictures make my heart throb much faster! :roll: Absolutely GEIL! Those natural hybrids are awesome. Oh, how I wish I could grow N. x harryana and N. x kinabaluensis (not to talk about N. edwardsiana anyway!!!)!

Thank you very much for letting us participate on your field trip!

Regards,

Andreas

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Thanks a lot for this post, seems you had a great time.

I have earlier thought N. x kinabaluensis looked quite nice but not anything special. After seeing your photos I have to admit that it is a spectacular plant.

I also realize now that climbing Mt Kinabalu at least once is a must. Thanks again.

Regards,

Christer

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