Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Sunday 2 August 2015

Gunung Nuang has Siamangs

Last weekend a friend and I climbed the state of Selangor's highest mountain; Gunung Nuang standing at 1,493 metres (4,898 ft). We started early so that we could reach the summit and be back before dusk with a total trekking time of about 10 hours including a stop at the peak for lunch and numerous water breaks.  This is a good fitness challenging walk with several steep slopes with boulders to climb over and slippery mud and rocks particularly as you near the summit.  It was a great feeling to finally reach the top and to relax in the cool mountain air.


As we climbed the mountain we passed through some pretty good relatively unspoilt rainforest and were able to see some nice epiphytic orchids, tree ferns and palms as well as plenty of invertebrate life. The highlight for me though was seeing groups of siamangs twice during the climb.  I have heard these large gibbons on many occasions walking in the jungle in Malaysia but have only glimpsed them from a great distance previously.  This time I was delighted to get excellent views of two small family groups moving through the trees near the trail about an hour and a half from the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately they moved too fast for me to retrieve my camera from my bag to get any good quality shots, however I managed to shoot a few frames as they moved off through the trees at least as a reminder of the experience.





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2 comments:

  1. Unknown19 May 2016 at 12:10

    Hi Francis, your post on your encountering gibbons while on the way up Nuang has, I believe, helped shed some light on a strange (well, at least to me) encounter (for want of a better word) I had there. While coming down from Pacat to Lolo on my own, I had been spooked by the sound and fleeting glimpse of something large crossing the tree canopy overhead, from my left to my right and then, as I moved further down, my right to my left. Until I read your post, I had thought that something may have been a hornbill, flying overhead. While I think I have heard the plaintive calls of gibbons on a previous trip there, I had not considered the possibility of these primates being the something I had encountered. Have you ever come across hornbills in your climbs (assuming this one was not your first) up Nuang ? Coincidentally, before coming across your blog, I have chanced on another, which had a post about rhinoceros hornbills in the Ampang forest reserve. Regards, S.Y. Chan.

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  2. Francis Burlingham20 May 2016 at 06:27

    Hi, In answer vto your question, I have not seen hornbills on Nuang but have only been there a few times. The best place I have found to see rhinoceros hornbills is near lata kajang. I saw them a few times whilst they were nesting in a tree near the car park for the waterfall last year and also about 3 weeks ago. You can see my posts from May 7th this year and 3rd July 2015 for photographs and further info. Regards, Francis

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