Exploration 2

Searching for wild orchids means one need to really go out there in the wild. In this expedition made not so long ago, we were exploring one of the heath forest we thought may have something in her belly for us. For amateurs like us, there was an empirical evidence to suggest this type of forest could be a natural habitat of Phalaenopsis fuscata or a cornu-cervi or at least some orchid epiphytic alliance.

As we went through, there was neither a single fuscata in sight nor any of our previous expectation. Nevertheless, it never mean that we will came out empty handed though. Threre's a handful of nice suprises awaited inside we never knew we'd stumble upon. Firstly, we found a colony of Bulbophyllum pilleatum then followed by Bulbophyllum macrochillum and few other species to make our trip quite fruitful for the day.

There's some 'not so nice' video clips i've uploaded here for you to have a glimpse of our experience. Several other orchids can be seen also including Dipodium pictum and one of a kind jewel orchid. It's so much frustating to watch the video with the way I took them, didn't I. Nevermind, I will try my best to make some improvement next time. No more that lousy time-wasting picture snapping, ok.

Beside orchids, you can see that I had managed to photograph one of the rare insect that I think similar to the said already extinct in Belum, Perak. I'm not sure about this but it looked so much similar if you compare it with the one in display on the large billboard by the highway at the entrance of Banding Lake of Belum Reserved. One of the pecularity in the heath forest is their white sandy soil with occasional blackwater ponds here and there. Wild boars must have visited the area the night before since not a single inch of land saved from their plough in their search for small insects hiding in between the entangling tree roots. The vigorously disturbed soil then served as perfect living ground for other small insects and attracting their hunters too. In our case, we're just a few inches escape for not stomping on a rather small but deadly venomous viper crossing his way in front of us. Pheww..