Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Gopeng - Rafflesia, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and Durians

Gopeng – Fraser’s Hill Trip , Jun 2009 Part 1/3

Last month I few of us went to Gopeng and Fraser’s Hill.

I wanted to go back to Gopeng to see the Rafflesia since I missed it the last time.  The other excuse for making yet another trip to Gopeng/FH is the promise of free durians by the Gopeng resort owner and bungalow care taker at Fraser’s Hill.

I am very pleased with this trip as I finally saw my first Rafflesia, saw more RBB than I have ever seen and had the tastiest, freshest and best durians !

Here goes the photos ..

Kwok Wai Marcus and I at the ‘resort’KW Marcus Gan-MYGopeng_20090627_2841-800

To see the Rafflesia we had to hike 600ft upMYGopeng_20090628_2800-480
Along the way we saw a wild BegoniaBegonia sp-MYGopeng_20090628_3428-480 
a plant with bright purple undersideMYGopeng_20090628_2788-480
and a few RBB caterpillarsRBB cat-MYGopeng_20090628_3394-480

and finally Rafflesia cantleyi !!
Unfortunately one has past its life span and the other one will only open in a day or two :-(
Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2805-480

as we moved on we saw many Rafflesia flower buds on a vine !Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2812-640

and finally one that just bloomed ! Yahoo !!Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2814-480

A close-up shot of the flower bud.Rafflesia cantleyi-MYGopeng_20090628_3436-480

On the way back we stop by the the Rajah Brooke’s area.  There were even more RBBs than our previous trip !!!

Troides brookiana albescens-MYGopeng_20090628_3460-800

Troides brookiana albescens-MYGopeng_20090628_3467-640

The durians at Gopeng were great. We had kampong durians.  We also picked up a few on our night outing and had them for breakfast.
Durian-MYGopeng_20090628_2778-480

Durian-MYGopeng_20090629_2747-480

We also saw a few stick insects:

Stheneboea repudiosa eating the leaf of Asystasia gangetica.
MYGopeng_20090627_3536-480

A pair of Abrosoma festinatum doing their business – Sex and Food !
MYGopeng_20090627_3538-640

one with a bright blue lateral stripe.MYGopeng_20090628_3412-480

and many frogs and toadsFrogs

=> Go to Part 2/3 – “Butterflies of Gopeng

1 comment:

Martha Jin said...

do you think it'd be possible for tough 5 year olds to make it? we usually hike Gasing..but don't know if this is suitable or not. but we plan totry..