Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: Belum National Park and Wild Elephants

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

Wednesday 3 February 2021

Belum National Park and Wild Elephants

Looking back, Malaysia was one of my favourite countries that I have visited or lived in. There were many places and experiences that I enjoyed visiting before I started this blog.

Back in 2015, I took a road trip with my family up the east coast and across to Belum National Park on the Thai border where I had one of my most memorable wildlife encounters. Whilst driving west out of the national park along a narrow forested mountain road I came across a young bull elephant some 20m or so downhill from the road. I parked the car as quickly as possible and headed back down the road and over the crash barrier to get a closer look. If the truth be told in my excitement I got a little too close for safety, but I had a good 5 or 10 mins before he spotted me, stared me down and then disappeared off into the forest. I managed to get these shots of him dust bathing before he left.

Elephas maximus Bull Asian Elephant Belum NP Malaysia

Belum-Temengor is a group of forest reserves in Malaysia's Perak state. The forest is estimated to be more than 130 million years old, which makes it even older than the Amazon or the Congo. Lying on the border between Thailand and Malaysia it occupies an interesting climate zone between the distinct wet/dry season monsoon climate of Thailand and the more regular rain forest climate further south. As a result there is a great degree of biodiversity.

Whilst visiting I stayed at the Belum Eco Resort, a collection of A frame huts on a tiny island in Lake Temengor. This lake was created by river-damming in the 1970s and this turned the hills into mini islands. As a result exploring the forest was mainly done by boat.

Journey across the lake from the eco lodge.

The grounds of the resort yielded plenty of wildlife watching opportunities. The highlight for me was this stunning paradise tree snake living in tree fern by the reception.