langkawi magazine

Nature SECTION

Scientific and Heritage Expedition Langkawi News , 12 April 2003

You may not get that rare ginger plant, but you can bet on getting a warm greeting smile from En. Jamal (see picture), the "lifesaving" F&B guy of the Mutiara Burau Beach Resort, as you start your day at the cafeteria. I wish I could name the whole cafeteria crew, the good people who wake up way before dawn to prepare breakfast and lunch, which is individually packed, for us. OK, maybe a danish roll is not everyone's idea of lunch but hey, see how tall and strong the Danes are? So again, we thank them!.

Day 3 of the Expedition. As usual, everyone was scurrying away to various study locations since early morning. Transportation is a bit of a problem as there is a limited number of vehicles and boats available. But, in the true spirit of team-work, we managed to sort everyone?s itinerary and travel arrangements.

So off they went: UKM & USM?s small mammals research team to Gua Kelawar to survey the bat population there. The UM folks were again, putting their flippers on for another fascinating day collecting seaweed. The UPM Water Quality people left in their impressive yellow 4x4, which I fondly call ?the Mean Machine? (I suspect it to be one of those Knight Rider type of autos? they probably don?t have to get off their seats to do sampling, as it could transform into a mobile sub-marine water sampler. I will investigate further?) to the rivers on the island and the list goes on. We had to wait until after dinner, after braving through the heavy rain, to hear all about their exciting day. And really, it was worth getting wet for!The UM team was booked for the night.

At 9.00 p.m, Prof. Phang went first with a presentation on her study on sea-grass distribution in Langkawi. They managed to collect a large number of seaweeds: 2 species of halimeda (see pix), udotea, javensis etc as well as la'tud, an edible green seaweed from Sg. Kilim and Sg. Kisap. Then, Dr. Azhar gave a brief round-up of their day out near Tanjung Dendang Island while Dr. Chong observed, among others that the ?ikan duri? found in abundance in Matang mangrove in Perak is rather scarce in Kilim, the island?s most important mangrove area. Then UPM shared their findings (no mention of the Mean Machine?s suspected "transformability", though) on the water quality of the rivers in Langkawi and an interesting socio-economic study on the village folks of Kg. Tanjung Rhu, near Bukit Malut which was a real eye-opener on the issues faced by this unique community.

The UKM team reported on their small mammal trapping activity and our friends from Mardi , they came looking for some rare wild ginger and failing that, found instead not only En. Jamal?s smile, but also wild nutmegs (see pix) on Mt. Matchinchang and Mt. Raya! . By the time everyone had their say about the day, it was already quite late. Off to bed we went. OK, not all of us as some were seen up and still passionately talking about their day way after midnight! But officially, Day 2 was over. So, some were closing their eyes wondering if there?ll be some fruit bats in the traps the next morning while others dream of that illusive ginger plant.

Langkawi 12/4/2003