Saturday, June 4, 2016

A good morning jungle trailing

Wild Ixora
Location : Provinsi Licuala, Zone I

Climber with maroon red young leaves
Located at  an elevation of  between 150  - 300 feet  above sea level, the jungle back door is a gem of a tropical rainforest ecosystem.  This morning,  I decided to explore further the Licuala Provinsi area which is named after the many stands of Licuala palms in the locality. It is one of the highest point in the park with steep slopes and many small hills surrounding it  making trekking a difficult and exhaustive  workout.  The forest is originally  a lowland dipterocarp hill forest ( in latin Di = two, ptero = winged, carp = fruit) .  Here can be seen many exportable jungle trees e.g. 'meranti' and 'kapur'.  The Kambatik jungle here supports a very diverse range of plantlife as well as wildlife because of the niches accorded by the jungle ecosystem.  I have therefore the opportunity to watch a unique climber (unidentified) which have strong stems and producing maroon red young leaves. Within the Provinsi Licuala I stumbled upon a wild Ixora plant with orange flowers.  My exploration this morning was well rewarded with the sighting of a big clump of Pandan 'palms' growing along a small stream.   This pandanus variety is sought after by the local Melanaus as the natural material for making mats and other types of handicraft items.  Other interesting encounters this morning was the fiddlehead of the 'Paku Kelindang' (Iban) - Blenchnum orientale and a green stick insect.

Licuala palms along the jungle path
Location : Provinsi Licuala


Maroon red young leaves of a jungle climber.

Jungle climber spiral up a tree

A green stick insect

Pandanus 'palms' situated along a stream
Location : Provinsi Licuala, Zone I
Fern fiddlehead, belonging to the Blenchnum orientale (Paku Kelindang - Iban)

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