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Published: December 5th 2010
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Christmas leaves
We found this on one of our survey streams and it made me think of Christmas! I love the contrasting colors. 29 Nov
On the way to our stream transect tonight, I spoke a bit with our Research Assistant Tambi about his plans to marry his girlfriend. I like learning about how relationships and marriages in other cultures work, and I hadn’t thought about Sabahan relationships in a while. He mentioned to me that in order to marry his girlfriend he has to save up money (about 10,000 ringgit, or about US$3000) to give to her parents. Ideally, the money will be used by the parents to throw a wedding party (like a big wedding reception), but they aren’t obliged to do so. He also told me that since his wife is Muslim, he would have to convert in order to marry her, since she as a Muslim cannot convert to another religion. I didn’t realize that was the case, and had always assumed that here in Sabah the wife would just convert to whatever her husband’s religion was. In talking about his potential future marriage, he mentioned that maybe he would have two water buffalo (to eat) at his wedding, and I said that would be good because I could eat an entire one myself. heehee
30 Nov
This
Flying squirrel
A cute little flying squirrel we found sleeping in a tree while call-recording nearby. morning on my way to lunch, I heard a sound that seemed very out of place—a motor of some kind. My first thought was logging equipment, but my second thought was boat—which it turned out to be. It was strange to realize that I have become so accustomed to the ways of the forest that a motor here seems so strange and foreign. When I travel into town, I’m not at all phased by traffic jams or cars or crowds, but any of those things here definitely throw me for a loop. For a split second when I saw the boat with its outboard motor, I imagined what it might be like for indigenous peoples to see these things for the first time, and I thought about what it might be like to have such a strange thing arrive on your doorstep.
2 Dec
Tonite on our survey stream we were treated to TWO kingfishers—one female blue-banded, and one male blue-eared—and two snakes (Lepturophis borneensis and Psammodynastes pictus). On top of that we found a species that we hadn’t yet seen on that stream (Rhacophoris pardalis) as well as a species that we have only seen a
Blue-eared kingfisher
I love seeing these on the streams--you can get right up next to them! couple of other times (Ingerana baluensis). It was great because the survey started a bit slow, and I figured it was going to be one of those nights where we just didn’t find much, but we ended up with our 2nd highest number of frog sightings on that stream (93). I love it that the forest here continually surprises me.
3 Dec
We officially leave 2 weeks from today, which seems painfully close! While we were doing our forest plots this morning I asked Rachel what she would miss the most about being here at Danum. She said she would miss the sounds of the forest—hearing the gibbons and all of their crazy-amazing vocalizations,the honking calls of hornbills and air loudly moving through their wings as they fly overhead, and all the various insect sounds. When she asked me what I would miss the most I got choked up and couldn’t respond for a minute. I realized that I am going to miss this place so acutely because I have felt here so many things that I haven’t felt in a very long time.
I feel relaxed in a way that I hardly ever do in any city. I am not constantly rushing to get somewhere, and that allows me to enjoy and savor what is going on around me. When I’m walking to my plots, or to a stream transect, I can literally smell the flowers even when I can’t see them, and my favorite ones smell like grape kool-aid. I have been very conscious of the fact that my time here is limited and I have made a point of staying in the moment and not looking ahead too much to my next step, which has made all of my experiences here a bit richer. I have enjoyed each stream survey, each frog encountered, each leaf turned over in the plots because I am not always worrying about what I have to do next. I have saved my planning-ahead for weekends, which has allowed me to relax, knowing that I have my tickets back to Singapore, or have touched base with my Sarawak counterparts, and I can focus on the here & now the rest of the time. Because this place is so amazing biologically, visually, aurally, and olfactorily, I have found that I am intensely happy, and that has allowed me to be creative in ways I haven’t felt in many years. I had recently begun to think that creativity (in terms of coming up with new or unique ideas, looking at data in an interesting way, or even just making jokes) was something I didn’t have anymore. I used to paint and cross-stitch, and when I was first here in Sabah many years ago I choreographed a dance for my work-mates and I and decorated our house for each season. Two months ago I couldn’t imagine having the time or the ideas to do any of those things. I don’t know what it is about Danum that has freed up my creative mind again, but I love having it back and I don’t want to lose it. I hope I can keep the Danum spirit alive in me even when I return to the hustle and bustle of city life.
I hope this finds you well, and I look forward to getting your comments and questions! I'm off to record some calls and soak up some more awesome.
xoxo
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