Monday 21 March 2011

Waterfall Lodge


Located within one of the valleys in the resort, Waterfall Lodge has several self sufficient units nestled within the canopy of the rainforest.


The third waterfall supplying the main river is just beside the lodges. You can hear the soothing sound of the waterfall from the lodge.


The river is at the doorstep of this unit.


Looking out from the balcony, you can see the river passing through the valley.


The access bridge to the lodges gives you a very good view of the river from the top.

Saturday 19 March 2011

Laut Torrent Frog

This is the typical habitat of the Laut Torrent Frog. This is the stream that flows from the waterfall at Waterfall Lodge to the main river. It is lined with native flora comprising mainly of ferns, moss and some yam plants.

The Laut Torrent Frogs emerge at about dusk and you can hear their chirps as they get active through the night. They also like to congregate in pairs, sitting on leaves just above the water.



The view of the habitat of the Laut Torrent Frogs at night and in the day time


A pair of torrent frogs sitting on a leave overhanging the fast flowing stream water below.

Crickets

Once the sun goes down, you can hear the crickets sing. This picture of a cricket 'singing' by rubbing its pair of wings together was taken at the waterfall lodge

Native Flora - Plant with purple flowers

This plant is a native of the region. When we first cleared the land for development, this plant was one of the first plants to settle down on the disturbed land. It was intentionally cleared away from the resort by the development. However, we managed to preserve the last few specimens on the resort and are in the process of integrating it back into the landscape of the resort.



Fungi In The Forest



Millipede



This is a common sighting in the forest trek. These millipedes are about 10-15 cm long and are not afraid to be handled. Always a crowd puller for any forest trek group.



Another interesting millipede is this 5cm long species that curls up into a round ball when disturbed.



Crown Of Thorns (Euphorbia Milli) Moth Caterpillar

Mother of Thousands (Bryophyllum daigremontianum)


This Bryophyllum species is aptly named as it reproduces very rapidly. A native of Madagascar, this plant reproduces vegetatively via plantlets that grow from the spurs on the so called leaves of the plant.

The plantlets also survive a long time after being detached from the mother plant, allowing them ample time to set root and grow. When removed from the mother plant, the plantlet immediately starts to produce roots.

The area around the resort is prone to bushfires in the dry season. We are experimenting with using this plant as a fire suppression belt at certain areas of the resort. The plant is invasive and will displace surrounding vegetation. This makes it effective as a fire suppression belt.


Moth On Tea Leaves



Rhinoceros Beetle

Lynnette found a Rhinoceros Beetle at the Waterfall Lodge today. We decided to keep it as a pet.


Here it is enjoying a freshly picked strawberry. It makes a loud hissing sound when you try to take the strawberry away from it.



Cicada

We have Cicadas at the resort. Some of them congregate at certain locations along the jungle trail and you can hear them singing in the day time. 

We get the green coloured ones and also the dark brown ones.

* The cicada set free on the trunk of a pine tree. If you don't look carefully you might not even see it.

Friday 18 March 2011

Earth Day 2011 - 22nd April

Just in case we get too caught up with school and work with Earth Day just round the corner, we decided to do our bit right here in Taman Simalem Resort.

We planted nearly 80 seeds in the plot of wasteland just beyond the playground at Kodon Kodon cafe. Hopefully in a few months time there will be some results.

Right now the area is a ripe spot for new pine seedlings to germinate. We keep finding new pine saplings there each trip. We relocated them when they are big enough as this plot will be developed in the future. The saplings will get a chance to grow up at some other location within the resort.

Karyn and Lynnette busy planting Crotalaria seeds

Marcus doing his bit for Earth Day 2011

Crotalaria Moth - Utetheisa Lotrix


We found this specimen at the open disturbed grassland at Tongging Mart, just to the right of the amphitheater. There are a few Crotalaria sp plants growing there and the last time I remembered seeing some caterpillars on the plants. 

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Welcome

I have decided to start a blog to document some of the interesting flora and fauna that can be found at the Taman Simalem Resort.

Hope all the visitors to the site find it interesting and hopefully it will be of use for visitors to find out more about the animals and plants that they encounter at the Resort