Piasau Nature Reserve hits milestone 50th Hornbill Walk

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Ting (standing, ninth left) and other participants of the 50th Hornbill Walk pose for a group photo in front of the newly-put-up Piasau Nature Reserve signage.

MIRI: Saturday was a historic day for Piasau Nature Reserve (PNR) as it achieved its 50th Hornbill Walk coordinated by Piasau Camp Miri Nature Park Society (PCMNPS), the prime mover that campaigned to help make the nature reserve a reality.

The society was among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which actively supported the government’s effort to establish a nature reserve at Piasau Camp – formerly a residential area for Sarawak Shell staff.

Initially, the Hornbill Walk – held every third Saturday of the month since December 2012 – was to drum up public support to get the government to establish the nature reserve, which was subsequently launched on May 10, 2014 by Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. It was the first community-driven nature reserve and urban park in the state.

Since then, the ‘Hornbill Walk at PNR’ has enabled Mirians and visitors alike to have leisurely walks at the reserve to appreciate nature and the environment while catching glimpses of its iconic resident hornbills, Jimmy and Juliet, as well as other flora and fauna.

Piasau assemblyman and PCMNPS chairman Datuk Sebastian Ting and Miri mayor Adam Yii, who is a member of PCMNPS, were among the roughly 50 people who participated in the walk, which started and ended at the carpark fronting the almost-completed PNR Visitors Information Centre.

The 50th Hornbill Walk was also something of a reunion for Sarawak Shell staff who used to stay at Piasau Camp.

Among those who came were Shell Wells AsiaPac (IG) Learning Hub Miri manager Landale Cranfield and wife Srimurniyati; Musa Musbah (PCMNPS deputy chairman and former nannoplankton specialist at Shell); and Jenny Wee, whose husband Klaas Willem van Luik – a Shell staff – was among the passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

After the walk, participants had light refreshments and, as usual, there were photo-taking sessions. But this time, participants were overjoyed with the newly-completed ‘Piasau Nature Reserve’ signage at the visitors’ centre and sang Christmas songs while wishing each other ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2018’.

Ting, in his brief address, thanked all for strongly supporting the nature reserve and the Hornbill Walk, and assured that PCMNPS would continue to hold the walk for as long as the public responded to it.

“Thank you everyone for today. We have reached the 50th Hornbill Walk in PNR and we will continue to organise the Hornbill Walk next year and beyond to make this PNR a truly exemplary and famous community-driven nature reserve and tourist attraction which we all can be proud of,” he said.

PNR, one of 14 nature reserves in Sarawak, spans 92.6 hectares (229 acres). It has 107 species of flora as well as 75 species of fauna comprising hornbills, 44 other species of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and butterflies.