Borneo Field Trip Diaries - Part VIII
A Journey to Collect Four Species of Cryptocoryne of Sarawak
by Michael Lo
of Sarawak, Malaysia
From his website: http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com
Aquarticles
After successfully cultivating Cryptocoryne pallidinervia which I had
collected in Sibu, I decided to collect a few more species of Cryptocoryne which
I had seen previously in Seri Aman area.
December 3rd, 2004
My cousin Methos and I arrived at a freshwater swamp in the upper part of Batang Sadong to
collect Cryptocoryne ferruginea. Even though it was the beginning of the rainy
season, the water level in that swamp was still pretty low.
  
We saw lots of fish fry. It was beautiful, but we couldn't stay long because there were
too many mosquitoes!!
 
Then we went to a peat swamp forest near Batang Seterap. The tree roots are growing upward
so that they can breath air in the flooded swamp. This was not a good place to collect
fish because there were too many roots blocking our way.
  
This is the same Cryptocoryne sp. that I found in that swamp last year. I think
it's Cryptocoryne longicauda.
My favourite childhood butterfly, the common bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon). It
is sucking minerals from the wet ground.
We came to Batang Seterap, a blackwater river. There is no road to the upper part of this
river so I think I'll explore it by boat or canoe next time.
 
A floating village, and a floating gas station for boats.
My favourite insect, the praying mantis.
After taking these pictures of Batang Seterap, we went to a stream by the nearby village.
There were no aquatic plants to be found there, but Methos was surveying the area and
found the common Rasbora sarawakensis. I found a Channa lucius
(snakehead) hiding under some leaf litter.
Later we headed to a small river where I had found Rasbora trilineata before. Too
bad the water level was too high and we left with empty hands.
On the way back home to Kuching, we found a road that was not shown on my map, and decided
to explore the area. We found a blackwater stream and saw Rasbora trilineata
swimming in the water. Again, we failed to catch any because the water level was too high.
This is my favourite orchid, Arundina graminifolia, growing near the stream.
Not again! The sky turned dark and it started to rain in the late afternoon. There is too
much rainfall in the rainy season!
I think I have to throw away my old map, because I couldn't find this road on it either.
We were in the middle of nowhere! We gave up trying to explore this area further because
the sky was getting dark.
  
On the way back, we found a clearwater stream, where we found Cryptocoryne striolata!!!
This is a common species in Borneo.
Beyond this mountain range is Kalimantan, the other side of Borneo.
 
Last stop, the upper part of Sungai Simunjam. I collected Cryptocoryne uenoi.
 +
On the way back I bought a box of durians from the villagers. Only Ringgit Malaysia 10
(US$2.60), cheap and smelled good! What a fruitful day !!!
Go to: The Crypt. Hunting Trip
Or, back to Part I of this series:
Kuhli Loaches Cast a Magic Spell on Me!
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