A limestone hill @ Siburan

[kuching]

The inter monsoon season brought heavy rainfall at the end of October and cleared the hazy sky of southern Sarawak for 2 days. However, when the rain stopped, the haze comes back again. The water level of most of the rivers are pretty high except the streams in Siburan. There is not much rainfall in Siburan & I was shocked to find out one of the streams near a "secret" limestone hill of Siburan dried up completely. I guess all the fish living in that stream are dead.

In this trip, I decided to learn how to take the macro shot with my new Tamron 90mm macro lens. So, I decided to photograph the tiny looking insects in Siburan area. I was told there are some limestone hills in that area. I found the limestone hill after 15 minutes of entering into the secondary forest / plantation.

More on this link:

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/siburastone.htm




A limestone with a hole in the middle.






Interesting limestone formation. This limestone hill was formed by ancient coral reef when this area used to be a shallow sea. (in the ancient period)





The entrance of a small cave. There is a subterranean stream inside the dark cave. According to a caver, there is life deep inside the dark under world of Borneo. One of my outdoor friends told me that their cave exploration team was stuck in one of these narrow caves in this area. They thought that they won't be able to come out alive as they were struggling for exit for very long time. However, they managed to come out from that cave at the end.

[kuching]

The limestone forest in the summit of the hill. The leaf litter is very thick at the summit. I have to walk very slowly at the summit as there are holes which covered by the leaf litter.







Cymbidium sp. ??? (orchid) This species found abundantly in the summit area. All of them are growing on the east side of the cliff of this limestone hill. Most of the wild orchids prefer to grow on the east side of the limestone hill.






Close up of the flower of Cymbidium sp. ???





Right now is the flowering season for this species. I found so many inflorescence at the summit area.

[kuching]

Unidentified species of orchid with very tiny flower.




The flower is slightly bigger than the mosquito on the left!





Bulbophyllum sp.

[kuching]

Bulbophyllum sp.




Alocasia sp.





Unidentified species.





Inflorescence of a wild ginger.

[kuching]

Club moss. It is not a moss but a related species to fern.




Native tree snail, Leptopoma (Trocholeptopoma) undatum.
Family: Cyclophoridae. (Described by METCALFE, 1852) Take note that "Leptopoma" is the full genus name and "Trocholeptopoma" is a sub-generic placement. Thanks to Sow Yan for telling me the name of this species.







Moth bug ??? (Order: Hemiptera; Family : Flatidae ???)

[kuching]

Totally no idea what is this strange looking insect.




Unidentified species of beetle.





Fruit fly. (order: Diptera; Superfamily: Drosophiloidea; Family: Drosophilidae)

[budak]

looks like Alocasia reversa.

[kuching]

looks like Alocasia reversa.

yes, u r right. It is only found (endemic species) in Bau & Padawan limestone formation.

I just got the ID of those plants. Will update the name tonight.

[kuching]

As the flowers of Bulbophyllum is not opened when I found it in the field, so I have to bring it back home. Today, the flowers are opened. My mom never seen such an orchid before as nobody is selling this type of orchid in the market.

Probably Bulbophyllum acuminatum





Close up:




I really love this orchid!!! So strange looking flowers & yet beautiful !!!

[hwchoy]

this one very hard to get enough DOF for clear shot.

[kuching]

Just got the ID of the plants which I photographed last Sunday from a botanist:

This is Appendicula sp.






Alocasia reversa; endemic to the Serian and Padawan limestones hills (near Kuching).





Justicia sp. introduced from South and Central America.





Probably Coelogyne brunnea.

[kuching]

this one very hard to get enough DOF for clear shot.

What is DOF??

[kuching]

Lycopodium sp. (Club moss)