Back to Gopeng – Part II

Continue from Part I ..

We saw lots of interesting and rare butterflies.  Below are some butterfly photos from the trip.

Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing (Troides brookiana albescens), very common at Gopeng and forest reserves in the state of Perak. They can even be seen at Adeline’s Rest House and Villa.
Male Malayan Birdwing (Troides amphrysus), not uncommon in the state of Perak,

Female Common Birdwing (Troides helena cerberus).
We saw Banded Peacock (Papilio palinurus palinurus) on 2 separate occasions.

Female Great Mormon form esperi (Papilio memnon).

White Dragontail (Lamproptera curius), locally common.  We saw > 10 individuals this trip. A lifer for me !

Red-Spot Marquis (Bassarona recta monilis) – Another lifer.

The Siamese Black Prince (Rohana parisatis siamensis) - This is different from the Tokin Black Prince (Rohana tonkiniana siamensis) I saw in Thailand. Another lifer.

Orchid tit (Chliaria othona) - This uncommon lycaenid was photographed at Adeline’s Rest House and the Villa. Another lifer.

Dark Cupid (Tongeia potanini), Another lifer.

The Banded Angle (Odontoptilum pygela)

Great Orange Awlet (Burara etelka) photographed at Adeline’s Rest House.

 

 <== Go back to Part I

Back to Gopeng – Part I

Last week, a few of us went back to Gopeng for butterfly watching.  We stayed at Adeline’s Rest House and later move over to her ‘new and improved’ Adeline’s Villa.

The Rest House consists of wooden huts on stilts. They are simple, rustic and comfortable. That is me taking a rest under our hut.

The villa is catered more for those who want to enjoy nature without compromising urban comfort. The villas have attached bathroom, hot water and are air-conditioned !

  

View of the villas at night.

A new large and spacious kitchen that allows Adeline to cook up a storm.

A very spacious and bright dining area that can easily accommodate more than 50 pax.

Panoramic view of the  dining area with villas on the left.

The new common washroom with a cascading waterfall entrace ! 

The food at Adeline’s place is superb as usual.  I’ll let the photos do the talking :

Now is the Durian season and Adeline’s Rest House and Villa are surrounded by Durian trees. Every morning, we went looking for Durian and we had Durians during breakfast, tea and supper everyday !

Continue to Part II =>

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=> April 2009 Rajah Brooke’s trip - Gopeng
=> July 2009 Rafflesia trip - Gopeng

Butterflies of Gopeng

Gopeng – Fraser’s Hill Trip , Jun 2009 Part 2/3 

Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing

Burara etelka – Great Orange Awlet, my lifer at Gopeng!
It is huge, almost twice the size of Orange Awlet.

Kallima limborgii – The Leaf Butterfly

Faunis kirata – The Broad Striped Faun, one of the more uncommon Faun.
 

Xanthotaenia busiris – Yellow Barred

Yellow Barred caterpillar


Mooreana trichoneura – The Yellow Flat


Pseudocoladenia dan – The Fulvous Pied Flat

=> Go to Part 1/3 - “Gopeng - Rafflesia, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and Durians”
=> Go to Part 3/3 - “June Fraser’s Hill adventure”

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’

To see the Rafflesia we had to hike 600ft up
Along the way we saw a wild Begonia 
a plant with bright purple underside
and a few RBB caterpillars

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

as we moved on we saw many Rafflesia flower buds on a vine !

and finally one that just bloomed ! Yahoo !!

A close-up shot of the flower bud.

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

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.

We also saw a few stick insects:

Stheneboea repudiosa eating the leaf of Asystasia gangetica.

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

one with a bright blue lateral stripe.

and many frogs and toads

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