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Heart of Borneo Expedition


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So I spent a little over half of June and all of July of this year in Borneo and Australia. I flew quite literally, around the world and it was absolutely incredible. I flew from RDU to JFK where I spent eight hours sitting around on the airport floor. Then I flew directly to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Singapore which has the most incredible airport ever btw. From there I flew to Kuala Lumpur and then to Kuching where I began my Borneo journey on my own. I spent my first 24 hours resting and trying to get over the jet lag seeing as I was exactly 12 hours off from what I normally experience. Day was now night and night was now day, a rather difficult thing to get used to. My second day in Kuching I took a bus to Bako National Park where I was hoping to take a quick day hike to see N. rafflesiana, N. gracilis, N. albomarginata, and if I was lucky my favorite species N. ampullaria. I made it up to the summit of the relatively short, but steep trail but man it was hot! I've experience the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast and Eastern NC but I've never been so overheated, exhausted, and miserable in my life! I was out of water by the time I reached the top and there was no way for me to refill my water bottle. I sat down in a little bit of shade and rested for a little bit. I just couldn't seem to cool down so I stood back up, took a couple photos of the few plants around and then hiked back down to the park headquarters where I chugged water and ate a little food before getting back on the boat to the mainland. I decided a lot of rest was in order with my two days left in Kuching before I flew to Kota Kinabalu to meet up with the rest of the group to begin the Heart of Borneo Expedition.

 








15926240755_7bf431b090_b.jpg5V4B1102 by mcmcnair, on Flickr








 

After resting for two days at the lodge I was at I was pretty severely dehydrated, hungry, and sick. I had a severely upset stomach having to visit the bathroom nearly every hour. Also with the world cup going on the lodge/bar/hostel I was staying in was anything but quiet. The day for me to fly to Kota Kinabalu arrived and I knew I needed to see a doctor to get whatever was wrong with me taken care of. So I flew to Kota Kinabalu and after picking up my luggage I took a taxi directly to the hospital where I received an IV of saline and some anti-biotics and I slept peacefully for the first time in days for around 4 hours. I then took a taxi to the Best Western Kinabalu Daya hotel where I met two of my group members, one of which happened to be a doctor and we went out to dinner where I had the first substantial meal I had in days. The next morning our group was supposed to leave for Gunung Kinabalu, but with my current condition I wasn't sure I could do it. When I woke up in the morning I felt 1000x better and decided I wasn't going to miss this chance to climb this incredible mountain. So I packed up my bags and we took the van to the base of Gunung Kinabalu where I got my first look at the mountain from the distance.








 

Lots more to come...

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15925440892_7ceffbb401_b.jpg5V4B1232 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15738785740_3d35caec0f_b.jpg5V4B1233 by mcmcnair, on Flickr


 

We spent a full day at the summit camp, i had altitude sickness so I rested most of the day. Then the next day we snapped a few photos in the morning and began our descent.

 




 

We descended using the Mesilau Trail

 















 

To be continued

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15931286542_4793945b38_b.jpgN. tentaculata by mcmcnair, on Flickr



 

After lunch we went off to visit the Mesilau Gardens which is a natural site for N. rajah, N. burbidgeae, and a couple others.








 

We then rushed to see Rafflesia keithii at a little roadside site that also had N. gracilis and N. mirabilis next to it.

 






 

And then we road in cars all the way back to the Best Western Kinabalu Daya Hotel for an evening of relaxation. The next day we had off to relax and recover and then the next day we left for the Maliau Basin, the main reason I wanted to go on this trip. 

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After our relaxing day off in Kota Kinabalu, we flew to Tawau where we were picked up in 4 wheel drive vehicles and driven about 4-5 hours to the entrance of the Maliau Basin. It was truly disheartening to see how devastated much of Malaysia is. Palm Oil plantations covered nearly all of the roadsides until about 10 minutes away from the entrance to Maliau Basin.

 




15747660157_e5ecc1fcb3_b.jpgThe Maliau River by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15907609616_1a3f6f3523_b.jpgTree Walk by mcmcnair, on Flickr


15751350198_224454796d_b.jpgAgathis Tree by mcmcnair, on Flickr


15938117072_d82890d5a5_b.jpgBird by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15753015587_a14c78de0a_b.jpgFly by mcmcnair, on Flickr

 

During the ride to Agathis Camp in our 4WD vehicles we stopped along the roadside to visit a beautiful population of N. reinwardtiana. One of the many things I learned during this trip is that N. reinwardtiana almost never produces lower pitchers in situ.













15747354999_6b0eafb7f4_b.jpgAgathis Camp by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15933378035_944f5d43d2_b.jpgHawk Moth! by mcmcnair, on Flickr

 

We spent the night at Agathis Camp and then the next morning we hiked to Nepenthes Camp where along the way we saw N. hirsuta, N. stenophylla, and a couple N. veitchii. We did see dead pitchers of N. fusca on the ground but the plants were so high up in the trees that we couldn't see them.

15746087470_b75f07cb95_b.jpgCool Fungus by mcmcnair, on Flickr
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My favorite day of the entire trip was the day we spent hiking from Nepenthes Camp to Ginseng Camp. The hike was not terribly difficult but the first hour of hiking had all of the Nepenthes and by far the most beautiful forest. These are my favorite photos from the trip. I'll start this post out with my favorite photo.

 


 

Now for the rest...

15946140841_30595c14a7_b.jpg5V4B1592 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15760797320_c08416b949_b.jpg5V4B1593 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15948091255_4db135d683_b.jpg5V4B1594 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15922290126_0fa203880e_b.jpg5V4B1595 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15762049089_3e10322310_b.jpg5V4B1598 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15760779100_80804d1a11_b.jpg5V4B1599 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15922274166_5a032dd884_b.jpg5V4B1600 by mcmcnair, on Flickr

15328436553_84d5313464_b.jpg5V4B1601 by mcmcnair, on Flickr






15325764194_c7b1a8c86f_b.jpg5V4B1618 by mcmcnair, on Flickr









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15922040246_6d51d90f05_b.jpg5V4B1718 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15947831315_a69f8f92f6_b.jpg5V4B1719 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15760399188_82f3a2169a_b.jpg5V4B1728 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15762081927_1ba82c5233_b.jpg5V4B1729 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15328180683_da3ae13937_b.jpg5V4B1730 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15945849531_1b800bcfee_b.jpg5V4B1732 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15761770259_f85f6c772d_b.jpg5V4B1736 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
 
15945839091_46abae5624_b.jpg5V4B1741 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15760492700_087fb31638_b.jpg5V4B1751 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15760366208_3186b08bdb_b.jpgWolf Spider by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15325508234_2a1fc13e54_b.jpg5V4B1758 by mcmcnair, on Flickr
15947774015_a862e08cc3_b.jpgAwesome Katydid by mcmcnair, on Flickr
 
That's it for the Maliau Basin folks! However, after that, I went to the Sepilok Orangutan preserve as well as a Proboscis Monkey Preserve. We then flew to Mulu National Park which I will post pics of soon.

 

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After the Maliau Basin we went to two different preserves for Orangutans and then Proboscis Monkeys but non of those photos really turned out the way I wanted so I'm skipping those for now. After that we flew to Mulu National Park where I attempted to climb the Pinnacles and Gunung Mulu and I was not able to make it to the plants unfortunately due to illness, so I never got to see N. faizaliana, N. muluensis, N. lowii, or N. tentaculata on those mountains.

 



15464080743_ea166278e8_b.jpgDeer Cave by mcmcnair, on Flickr

16083745845_d8d1db9327_b.jpgDeer Cave by mcmcnair, on Flickr


 




















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And finally, the only Amorphophallus I saw blooming  while in Borneo.

16081827661_9357ce9b1f_b.jpgAmorphophallus julaihii, Mulu National Park by mcmcnair, on Flickr

 
After this trip was concluded I continued onto the ICPS Conference in Cairns where I gave a lecture on Sarracenia Taxonomy and then attended the after conference tours which I will post about eventually.
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