Climbing limestone hill in Serian

[kuching]

This is a short climbing trip on Sunday morning.

2 years ago, when i was reading a local map, I discovered a "secret" country road in the interior of Serian area but I only managed to find that road last Sunday. There are a few limestone hills that I never climbed before as this was my first time to this remote area.

So my outdoor friends & I decided to explore one of a small limestone hills. when we're clearing our path using machete (parang), one of my friends shouted "NORTHIANA!!!". we looked up and saw something like pitcher plant growing on the cliff. As the cliff is too high that we hardly could identify what plant it was, we're arguing whether it is Nepenthes northiana (pitcher plant) or not. As N. northiana is only found in Bau & nearby areas, we have very big question mark about the pitcher plant in this location so far away from Bau.

It's not too hard to climb this razor-sharp limestone hill. There is a 50 degree slope (about 1.5m wide) which we need to climb before reaching the summit. We need to climb slowly & carefully as our right side is a vertical drop about few hundred feet from the ground.

When we reached the summit, we found out the whole area is covered by a species of pandan plant which got the thorny leaves! I hardly could see the vegetation on the edge of the cliff.

As expected, wild orchids are everywhere....but where the heck is the pitcher plant? Unfortunately, the rain cloud was forming on the east side, so we were forced to descend as quick as possible.

We'll go back there with binoculars next time.


A limestone hill near Serian.






Limestone cliff:






Paphiopedilum stonei (slipper orchid):





Helmet orchid is flowering in this area too. (Corybas crenulatus)

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Dendrobium sp.




Jewel orchid, Dossinia marmorata.




Malaxis metallica (orchid).





Tiger orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum. One of the largest orchids in the world!





The habitat of tiger orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum. (on the big tree)

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Begonia sp.




Nepenthes reinwardtiana found at roadbank.




Nepenthes reinwardtiana is common in this area:





Nepenthes ampullaria (upper pitcher); this plant got a lot of upper pitchers!

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N. ampullaria (upper pitcher):




N. x kuchingensis (hybrid):





N. x kuchingensis (upper pitcher)
:



Very big plant!!! (N. reinwardtiana)