Danau Girang, Kinabatangan wildlife haven for photographers

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DANAU GIRANG: The wildlife in Danau Girang and in the Kinabatangan region is just so magical with its abundance and diversity and is a haven for wildlife photographers.

For Robert Colgan, 21, a Cardiff University undergraduate student presently a volunteer at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), it has been an incredible opportunity to have been allowed to stay in a place like Danau Girang for so long and gets to see so much.

“And I have been here for so long and I still find some things that are amazing,” said Robert.

He has been at DGFC for over a year, helping researchers with their projects as well as help conduct field surveys and field courses.

During the course of his stay, he has learned the cultures of the Sungai people that reside at the Kinabatangan, acquired a liking for spicy food served during Hari Raya Aidilfitri open houses as well as gotten a brand new camera to record all his experiences while in Sabah.

His pictures, mainly on the wildlife of Kinabatangan, are amazing.

He believes that he has snapped up more than 16,000 pictures of wildlife since getting his camera last October.

“On average I shoot several hundred pictures a day, particularly when we go out into the forest at night,” he said.

Having the camera has been beneficial.

It has allowed him to have a database of wildlife pictures he and his peers had encountered during the course of their work, he said.

Yet more importantly it has allowed him to practise taking pictures on some of the really exotic subjects in Danau Girang.

Wildlife photography, said Robert, is a lot more interesting and has allowed him to learn about the habits of the animals.

“I have captured mostly monkeys, western tarsiers, five of the eight species of hornbills such as the rhino hornbill, white crowned hornbill, black hornbill, oriental pied hornbill and wrinkled hornbill. I try to get a good picture but by the end of the day, it has to do with luck and being at the right place and the right time. It is awesome,” said Robert.

He has a picture of a caterpillar that no one at DGFC has seen before.

Concerning the caterpillar, he said that he would have expected to see something like that on a reef and not in the rainforest.

“Yet there it was.”

“So little is known of this caterpillar as there is no reference (book) on Borneo caterpillars as of to date,” he said.

He added that he was happy to use the camera to help in his work and hopes having the thousands of pictures will help him achieve his dream for the future, which is to get more people interested in conservation due to the abounding biodiversity that surrounds them and the need for preservation.

Eventually, he hopes to get involved in fund-raising activities and awareness campaigns for conservation.

Robert believes that the Kinabatangan and Danau Girang have so much to offer to wildlife photographers and that a tourism sector focusing on this niche market could be developed and expanded.

“There are amazing wildlife pictures to be made,” he said.

Photographers who opt to stay for more than a day trip could put up at homestays at Bukit Garam and Sukau.