Forest Dweller: Field Trip To Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre, Beaufort

There and back again. I'm back with my true nature of me. On October 11, 2013 I had a field trip to Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre which is located at Klias Peninsula, Beaufort, Sabah. This is my very first field trip in Sabah since the arrival from Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah. Thus, I think this is a very good opportunity to make another kick start of my forest dwelling nature.

The story began when my colleague Emilia Enggoh had mentioned me about the peat swamp forest which is located at Klias, Beaufort managed by Sabah Department of Forestry and it is a good area for field trip even she didn't be there yet. That news triggered my forest-dweller instinct and I want to go there by all means. As usual, since Emilia Enggoh has no further information about this place, I had a little help form my e-pal, my still working and in "ok" condition Acer Travelmate 4060, searching for the information related to tha forest area.

Thanks to Allah, the Almighty, I found this spot in the internet at last. Voila! The Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre! Oh my, what a very fascinating and informative station it could be. By not wasting the time, I hurried to make a contact and again, Emilia Enggoh come to help. She gave me the contact person, Mr. Christopher Matunjau, the Centre Manager, what a wonderful world I thaught!

In a blink of eyes, everything is settled, Mr. Christopher said to me that my request has been granted and just email him what should I need. He told me to deal with his assistant Mr. Nur Zaili for the tentatives. Everything is just set! Off we go matey!

The trip to Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre took about 3 hours to get there. At 6.00 p.m. me and my student just arrived at River Park Hotel located at Beaufort new town, a quite nice looking hotel. I've informed by Mr. Christopher and Mr. Nur Zaili that the centre offers no meals at night and I have to take a contingency plan to prevent any unwanted occurrence being take place. After checked-in the hotel, I ordered my student to have their dinner and buy some rations right away before we proceed to the location.

After we had our dinner now it is the time to move on. We arrived at the centre at 7.15 p.m. and the sky just turned completely dark, the arrival of night. The Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre is surrounding by Klias Forest Reserve and oil palm plantations. A nice place for a visit if I may say.

Information Counter at Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre

In front of information counter.

Klias Peat Swamp Forest Field Centre backdrop at information counter.

From left: Rasidah, Sumarni, my daughter Sayyidatun Nurulfarahiin, Bibiana and Noradzianah.

We were welcomed by Mr. Christopher himself and Mr. Sulaiman as Mr. Nur Zaili out-stationed. The panorama at this place is very soothing and cool under the deemed corridor lamps while sniffing the night wind. After a short brief by Mr. Christopher, my student headed to the hostel which is located adjacent to the information counter. What a surprise when Mr. Sulaiman offers all night long karaoke at the dining hut. Well, well, well! I couldn't imagine how happy my student could be singing and relaxing in the middle of the night while enjoying the meals. Just give them a break as long as nothing bad thing occurs. Me and Mr. Edi Shahril then move to our hotel to get some refreshment before the big day tomorrow. I settled at 9.30 p.m.

On the next morning (11 October 2013), I took a light breakfast with my daughter, Sayyidatun Nurulfarahiin, oh! I forgot to mentioned my daughter at my early para. My daughter, Sayyidatun Nurulfarahiin will be my successor I might say because she loved the way I brought her into the forest since she was 6 year old. I still remembered my first trip with her at FRIM having jungle trekking and canopy walkaway together.

I arrived at the centre around 7.45 a.m. when Mr. Christopher had must already been there. He told me that he wants to take for a boardwalk trekking first followed by the briefing about the centre. You're the boss and I have no offend for the tentative. I looked for my student at the dining hut and I can clearly see them eating and drinking happily after a very long karaoke night. I ordered them to make it quick and gather around at the information counter for the trekking. Aye, aye sir!

After a short brief by Mr. Christopher, we started our trekking right after leaded by himself and reared by me and Mr. Sulaiman. My first attention went to the tea-coloured reservoir on my left side while passing the boardwalk that always be the major character of the peat swamp forest. This is my third visit the this type of forest since 2001. At that time I had a trip by invitation of Jabatan Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia in conjunction of World Forest Day celebration.

Tea-coloured water of peat swamp forest.

At early part of this boardwalk trekking, I do recognized some of the species such as Macaranga spp., Cratoxylum spp. and Dryobalanops lanceolata (Kapur merah). Based on my experience, the Dryobalanops lanceolata is not a native species to the peat swamp forest and I wondered why it appears here and I quickly asked for help from Mr. Sulaiman. He said the D. lanceolata is brought and planted here for the forest rehabilitation purposes. At ease soldier!

Leaves of Cratoxylum spp.

A common tree of Macaranga spp.

I can clearly see vast areas with less dense stands while the dominian of understorey vegetative take place on my both sides. Something must went very wrong here I thought. My puzzle had been answered by Mr. Sulaiman. He told me that this something-is-not-right area actually caught on fire a long time ago and this forest is struggling for their regeneration process. I just want to share with my viewer that, the major threat to this kind of forest is its prone to catch fire when dry season. Unfortunately, when this forest was caught on fire, it will last for a long period before it completely recovers.

After about 200 meters of trekking I was about to enter the true nature of this formation. My first observation felled on the young tree species of Shorea platycarpa (Meranti paya, in Sabah it is known as Seraya paya). I thought it was Shorea uliginosa (Meranti bakau) at first due to the one of its green leaf has boat-shaped characters. Later on I found that only one or two leaves resemblance to the character. One more character that drive me to confirm it was the S. uliginosa is harshly stellate-hair underneath the leaf blade whereas in Peninsula Malaysia, the hair is velvety. Suddenly I remembered what C.F. Symington wrote in his very famous book entitled "Forester's Manual of Dipterocarp (Malayan Forest Records)" that there are two forms of S. platycarpa in terms of its herbarium characteristics. In Peninsula Malaysia the leaves seems velvety underneath the leaf blade but in Sabah form, it is characterised by the stellate-hairy.

Leaves of Shorea platycarps (Sabah form).

To concrete my identification I looked to another sample and I found the leaf shape more resemblance to S. platycarpa. That's it! Then, as I move forward, I encountered with quite new species to me, Dryobalanops rappa (Kapur paya) which characterized by the very distinctive scrolled-barked tree. I discovered that the bark of this species is characterized by the lenticellate feature when young and it turned to scrolled in mature stage. This feature similar to the D. lanceolata. This species is one of the dominant stands that shaped the Klias Forest Reserve landscape.

Scrolled bark of Dryobalanops rappa.

Fissured bark of Cratoxylum spp.

I also noticed the existence of Ganua motleyana (Nyatoh ketiau) which is verified by Mr. Sulaiman.

Leaves of Ganua motleyana.

Ganua motleyana.

The only understorey vegetatives that attract my attention is pitcher plant (periuk kera). According to Mr. Sulaiman, quoted from the Ph. D research by one of his friend, there are only 4 species of genus Nephenthes exist in this forest reserve. The species that ever exists in this forest reserve are Nephentes rafflesiana, Nephenthes ampullaria, Nephenthes gracilis and Nephentes bicalcarata. I managed to take a photograph of these pitcher plant by help of Mr. Sulaiman. We returned back to the information counter after completed the trip. Although it is a short trip, for me, it is a giant leap to explore new forest world in Sabah after a 12 years field trip experiences of tropical rainforest of Peninsula Malaysia. We journey back to Politeknik Kota Kinabalu at 11.15 a.m.

Nephenthes rafflesiana.

Nephenthes gracilis.

Nephenthes ampullaria.

Nephenthes bicalcarata.

I would like to express my deepest thank to Sabah Department of Forestry, Mr. Christopher Matunjau, Mr. Sulaiman and all the staff involved for the guides, very comfortable accommodation and such a precious informations. I really can't wait to have the next visit in the future.

Me, Mr. Christopher and DBK1.

From left (front): Aziana, Mr. Sulaiman, Mr. Nik Ahmad Faridzan, Mr. Christopher, Me and my daughter, Daughter of Mr. Nik (with orange shirt) and Niniey. From Left (rear): Sulfikar, Julfazrin, Azhar, Ruslan, Hamdan and Azmi.

Zaril Faizal Zaral Gaffar

Politeknik Kota Kinabalu.