Melingkung Success

Today was the first in a two-day second attempt to survey the kerangas forest at the top of Bukit Melingkung. This time, we found a couple of guides who knew the area well, and we planned to stay the night in the forest to allow more time for research. After a long trip to the foot of the mountain, we took a very different path to the plateau at the top – it turns out the walk is rather short, only ~2 hours. Once on top we confirmed that the forest was indeed kerangas (classically, with white sand soils and small trees very different than the clay-soil Dipterocarp-dominated forest that we had been walking through on the way to the plateau). Marion and I grabbed a bite to eat then headed to the forest to do some assessments, while our guides began constructing our camp for the night. We returned to camp to see that they had built a hut from poles, twine, and a tarp – in just two hours! Sleeping on poles in a mosquito-ridden forests was not terribly comfortable, but at least we were warm and dry through a long night of rain. Marion, our national park guide, and I had mosquito nets and got some sleep, but our two village guides stayed up all night slapping mosquitoes and complaining about the weather. I always thought the locals were less bothered by the mosquitoes here, but apparently I was wrong.