Butterfly photos from Taman Negara, June 2011
I spent two weeks at Taman Negara before I met the others and headed out to the Maliau Basin. Taman Negara is a fantastic national park and is one of my favourites with its lowland, dipterocarp rainforest. This was my fifth visit but I still saw several new birds and of course, many new butterflies that I had not previously encountered. Diversity of about everything in the park is high.
I don't know why but butterfly and moth numbers were much lower this year when compared to my visit in June, 2010. Unfortunately, I did not yet know about baiting with shrimp paste so I no doubt missed a few species. The weather was mostly overcast with just a few hours of sun each day. There were several days when the sun did not emerge at all.
I travelled to the national park by bus from Hotel Istana in central KL to Kuala Tembeling and then by boat to Kuala Tahan. There is a new road to Kuala Tahan but this would not be nearly as interesting as the three hour trip up the river. While in transit on the river, I sometimes see Oriental Pied/Black/Wreathed/Rhinoceros Hornbills, Blue-throated Bee-eaters, Stork-billed Kingfishers, Long-tailed/Pig-tailed Macaques and other animals. Butterfly sightings usually include the large black and yellow birdwings, various crows and occasional groups of puddling swallowtails and pierids. The trip on the river is always productive.
Here are a few shots while in transit to/from the park.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/habitat1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/habitat3.jpg
These colourful flowering vines were often seen on the journey.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/habitat4.jpg
I always stay in the hostel of the Mutiara Resort. The resort has a range of options for accommodation but I find the hostel to be perfectly adequate since I am usually out on the trails for most of the day. I had the room to myself most of the time. It also was cheap and the price included a tasty buffet breakfast. The resort borders on the national park so I could go for walks anytime that I wanted either during the day or night. Birding and butterfly photography were good right on the grounds of the resort. Here are shots of the chalet type accommodation:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...aMutiara-1.jpg
An absolute must-do activity is to take a boat from the headquarters up the Tahan River to Lata Berkoh. I did this twice and the journey was so beautiful. The boat passed beneath giant Neram trees (Dipterocarpus oblongifolius) that overhang the river and form a tunnel in places. On morning trips, I heard the lovely song of White-handed Gibbons. Birds were also good and included nesting Black-and-Red Broadbills, Tickell's Blue Flycatchers, Lesser Fish Eagles, hornbills and many other species.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../habitat10.jpg
Lata Berkoh was a good place to search for butterflies. I found several interesting species on the sandbar where the boats stop as well as on rocks above the falls.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../habitat13.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...lataberkoh.jpg
The walk to Bukit Indah along the Tembeling River was fairly hard going but it did produce a few interesting butterflies, especially where there were tree falls or disturbed areas.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/habitat6.jpg
A nice story and great photos
David: Most interesting. Thanks for all the photos. Your individual shots are really excellent. William
