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Searching For Nepenthes In Borneo - Part 3.1 Mesilau Nature Centre - N. Rajah


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Hi guys

Here's part 3.1: The Mesilau Nature Centre and N. rajah in its natural habitat.

The Mesilau Nature Centre is a beautiful location where a reserve has been set up for the preservation of a natural N. rajah site. N. tentaculata is also endemic to the site, plus you can see plants of N. burbidgeae, N. fusca and the hybrid between those two N. x burbidgeae x fusca. These plants have been transplanted to this location.

Surprisingly it's ownly a couple of hundred metres to reach this site, but you must book and have a ranger take you to the site. But it's a must to visit.

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The Mesilau Nature Centre with Mount Kinabalu in the background.

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The Mesilau Nature Centre.

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A view of the natural habitat from the bridge where N. rajah and the other Neps are growing. Landslide are also a common occurance here.

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N. rajah; one of the first pitchers we saw.

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A huge N. rajah pitcher.

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Me with the N. rajah pitcher. This one measured around 35 cm in size.

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Another huge pitcher. This one must have had close to 1.5-2 litres inside the pitcher as it was extremely heavy.

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N. rajah

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A nice new pitcher that had recently opened with stunning vivid colouration.

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An older pitcher of N. rajah. As the pitchers get older they generally get darker in colour and the peristome can become a deep red brown.

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An impressive N. rajah male flower spike.

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Me with a couple of massive adult plants with huge pitchers. The leaves on these plants were at least 50 cm long. It makes you wonder how old some of these plants actually are.

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Me again with one of the huge pitchers

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An upper pitcher of N. rajah, a rare occurance.

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N. rajah and N. tentaculata growing side by side.

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Some N. tentaculata plants endemic to the location.

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A close up of one of the stunning dark pitchers of N. tentaculata.

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A view of the Nepenthes habitat coming back down, it didn't look that steep going up!

More to come soon.

Part 3.2 - Mesilau Nature Reserve - N. burbidgeae and N. fusca

Cheers

Steve

Edited by Fredders
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Wow! Great photos Steve. Absolutely spectacular.

Thanks for sharing your photos. It's always nice to see habitat photos so we can appreciate the sorts of conditions our beauties hail from. So, based on the way you (and some of the other people in the photos) are dressed, the ambient temperatures were fairly pleasant? ie. not too cold? And the soil looks sort of loose and clay-like.

thanks!

David

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oh my god. Is that what heaven looks like? man!! can u please please please give some higher resolution photos of the rajah. those are fantastic. WOW! :biggrin: damn thats cool! :smile:

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