Malaysia & Singapore
Last year’s trip to Borneo and Cambodia had once again illustrated some of the delightful creatures to be found in that part of the world - they had been great trips but as usual there was unfinished business preventing me from looking elsewhere on a world map. I felt I had become pretty familiar with Southeast Asian snake species, I knew a few good herping spots, I’d been given a couple of hints regarding other sites and, of course, a Mangrove cat snake (Boiga dendrophila) was still top of my list of things to see. All of this added up to the inevitable: one last Asian trip (at least for now anyway!).
This is Part 1 - Malaysia & Singapore
Part 2 - Borneo
This is Part 1 - Malaysia & Singapore
Part 2 - Borneo
Malaysia
As I am not blessed with the ability to sleep on aeroplanes, flying halfway around the world is rarely even remotely enjoyable. I must, however, mention that ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ is an outstanding film and almost compensated for nearly 20 hours of travel time. By ‘almost’ I obviously mean ‘not at all’ – but it was a great film nonetheless.
Bukit Fraser
So, Paul and I (to be joined by Jill later in the trip) eventually touched down in KL on November 13th, picked up our Proton Persona and then, under Paul’s careful navigation, proceeded to drive around KL in circles for a few hours before swapping seats so that I could finally direct us out of the city and onwards to Fraser’s Hill. Arriving in the dark, we did a spot of fruitless road cruising and explored a golf course, then rested up ready for our first full day in Malaysia.
We left our hotel only to find all the trails had recently been closed due to wet weather, but we followed some local advice and may or may not have gone on them anyway. We were also able to locate an abandoned golf clubhouse, which we checked out by day and returned in the evening after each eating a large mound of rice. Within minutes of arriving in darkness, we’d spotted a nightjar on the roof and our first snake of the trip: an Oriental vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina).
So, Paul and I (to be joined by Jill later in the trip) eventually touched down in KL on November 13th, picked up our Proton Persona and then, under Paul’s careful navigation, proceeded to drive around KL in circles for a few hours before swapping seats so that I could finally direct us out of the city and onwards to Fraser’s Hill. Arriving in the dark, we did a spot of fruitless road cruising and explored a golf course, then rested up ready for our first full day in Malaysia.
We left our hotel only to find all the trails had recently been closed due to wet weather, but we followed some local advice and may or may not have gone on them anyway. We were also able to locate an abandoned golf clubhouse, which we checked out by day and returned in the evening after each eating a large mound of rice. Within minutes of arriving in darkness, we’d spotted a nightjar on the roof and our first snake of the trip: an Oriental vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina).
Onwards we wandered, about to squeeze past a bush mindful that vipers may be present, then realising that there was indeed a snake in said bush, a brown, viper-looking snake. Incredibly, there turned out to be two snakes in the bush – both of them being Common mock vipers (Psammodynastes pulverulentus). Elated to have a few snakes already, we were even more surprised to find our third species of the night, a Thai peninsula pit viper (Popeia fucata) on the move just a few metres from the mock vipers.
Down from the clubhouse we explored some old buildings, a pond and a river leading to a waterfall. Further sightings comprised frogs, a bent-toed gecko and a palm civet which briefly joined me on a bridge before continuing on its own night search.
Taman Negara
The next morning, passing a DOR Painted bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus), we headed for Taman Negara, a place I had visited in 2014 and had since been encouraged to check it out again. After a few hours in the car (I, Goose, was of course on navigational duty as Paul had made himself Maverick by default given his inability to read maps) we’d arrived at Malaysia’s oldest national park and apparently the world’s oldest rainforest.
We stayed here for three nights, with hopes of commandeering some sort of kayak or boat to explore the rivers by day and throwing in a bit of night searching when we could. However, the boat situation was a farce – no kayaks were available and the motor boats were apparently only used to quickly get up the first section of river towards some sort of swimming area. On one day we did manage to get a boat driver to take us a bit more slowly upriver, but water conditions were not great, overhanging branches were sporadic and all in all daylight hours at Taman Negara were a colossal waste of time. We therefore ended up with a bit of time on our hands to sit back and watch the birds and squirrels from our veranda, and also to check out a few of the trails in order to plan how we would spend the hours of darkness. With some promising streams to wander up and a good few km to stroll, we were soon heading off into the night.
The next morning, passing a DOR Painted bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus), we headed for Taman Negara, a place I had visited in 2014 and had since been encouraged to check it out again. After a few hours in the car (I, Goose, was of course on navigational duty as Paul had made himself Maverick by default given his inability to read maps) we’d arrived at Malaysia’s oldest national park and apparently the world’s oldest rainforest.
We stayed here for three nights, with hopes of commandeering some sort of kayak or boat to explore the rivers by day and throwing in a bit of night searching when we could. However, the boat situation was a farce – no kayaks were available and the motor boats were apparently only used to quickly get up the first section of river towards some sort of swimming area. On one day we did manage to get a boat driver to take us a bit more slowly upriver, but water conditions were not great, overhanging branches were sporadic and all in all daylight hours at Taman Negara were a colossal waste of time. We therefore ended up with a bit of time on our hands to sit back and watch the birds and squirrels from our veranda, and also to check out a few of the trails in order to plan how we would spend the hours of darkness. With some promising streams to wander up and a good few km to stroll, we were soon heading off into the night.
The first evening provided another A.prasina within an hour, but it was slow-going from then on other than a mouse deer, some tree shrews and a surprise porcupine wandering through the trees. Night two incorporated a short bit of road cruising on the other side of the river, then back into our already impressively muddy, damp and smelly walking boots for a few more hours of jungle wanderings. We re-spotted what was probably the same vine snake, saw some pretty interesting invertebrates but saw little else for what seemed like eternity. Finally another snake was spotted about 10ft above us on a tree trunk. We could make out dark and pale bands and suspected it to be Bridled (or Dwarf) tree snake, but as Paul attempted to scale a mound of earth to get a closer look, the little snake flicked itself off the tree and somehow seemed to vanish on the forest floor. The frustration was beginning to set in.
We hit the trail in daylight prior to our final night, getting ourselves alongside a promising stream which we wandered up once light had faded. We soon found what we believe to be a sleeping Blue bronzeback (Dendrelaphis cyanochloris), the first time I've observed so much colour on a bronzeback. Continuing back along the trail for a few more hours, Paul managed to spot a snake moving along the forest floor a fair distance away. Before I knew it we were both sprinting off, hurdling vines and ferns towards the spot he’d pointed at where, on my arrival, a black tail was heading off behind a log. Tailing it, the head came into view and I was thrilled to be holding my first ever Yellow-striped rat snake (Coelognathus flavolineatus). The hours of sliding about on muddy trails were starting to pay off and the awful smell of our socks in our lodge was turning into a scent of success. Well, maybe not the latter, it was truly disgraceful.
Tasik Chini
The next morning we hit the road for Lake Chini, prowling along in the Proton hoping for a petrol station en-route in order to get our fill of Mister Potato and Tiger ‘Biskuats’.
We arrived at the ‘resort’ via some potentially good night cruising roads and had a short walk along the edge of lake as frogs leapt from branches into the water as we approached. After another mound of rice for dinner (whilst watching some amazing squirrels – maybe Callosciurus prevostii), we returned with torches to the lakeside before turning to the Proton for more tarmac action. A minor design flaw of the Proton was that dipped headlights lit the road a few metres ahead, but changing to full beams meant you could illuminate the next village but not the first few metres of road. We soon clocked-on that by driving along with the one hand constantly pulling on the flash lever (which seemed safe enough driving at 25km/h) you could get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately for a number of hours all of the promising sections of road failed to deliver, then we hit a horrible short stretch of roadworks with big red metal fences, bright lights and a reticulated python right in the middle!
The next morning we hit the road for Lake Chini, prowling along in the Proton hoping for a petrol station en-route in order to get our fill of Mister Potato and Tiger ‘Biskuats’.
We arrived at the ‘resort’ via some potentially good night cruising roads and had a short walk along the edge of lake as frogs leapt from branches into the water as we approached. After another mound of rice for dinner (whilst watching some amazing squirrels – maybe Callosciurus prevostii), we returned with torches to the lakeside before turning to the Proton for more tarmac action. A minor design flaw of the Proton was that dipped headlights lit the road a few metres ahead, but changing to full beams meant you could illuminate the next village but not the first few metres of road. We soon clocked-on that by driving along with the one hand constantly pulling on the flash lever (which seemed safe enough driving at 25km/h) you could get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately for a number of hours all of the promising sections of road failed to deliver, then we hit a horrible short stretch of roadworks with big red metal fences, bright lights and a reticulated python right in the middle!
The next day we dragged ourselves out early enough to get our included ‘breakfast’, but unless we wanted another mound of rice or some strange meat-filled dough-balls there was nothing, not even Mister Potato – that is until we drove up the road to a petrol station where we could feast on the King of Crisps all we wanted. Throw in a cappuccino flavoured muffin and some sort of cream-filled bread roll and we were laughing. We then had the rest of the day to make full use of the resort’s facilities…
That night lightning illuminated the skies all around us and we could see dark clouds of rainfall over the hills. As we readied to hit the road, a large shape flew in front of our balcony and landed on a tree a few metres away. Sneaking up to the tree I was absolutely delighted to see a Colugo (or flying lemur) looking back at me.
After this unexpected excitement it was time to move off, chasing the rainfall until we were finally slowly cruising along a black, steaming road. Then it was down to Paul, with a level of night-vision belying a diet solely consisting of pastry-based goods, who once again produced another admirable snake spot. Rushing from the car we were greeted by a feisty little White-spotted slug-eater (Pareas margaritophorus), its red collar confusing me a little from the white neck I was expecting. This little guy was quite fond of the snake-hook grip and was more than happy to let us remove him from the danger of the road using this.
From here the mood of the evening dropped. The road was pretty quiet, but as we retraced our route we had the misfortune of being a few minutes too late, as whoever was in front of us appeared to have hit pretty much everything that had attempted to cross the road. The trail of destruction included a Calliophis intestinalis, two cobras, another slug-eater and, to make matters even worse, a juvenile Mangrove cat snake.
From here the mood of the evening dropped. The road was pretty quiet, but as we retraced our route we had the misfortune of being a few minutes too late, as whoever was in front of us appeared to have hit pretty much everything that had attempted to cross the road. The trail of destruction included a Calliophis intestinalis, two cobras, another slug-eater and, to make matters even worse, a juvenile Mangrove cat snake.
In the early hours, as we neared the turn-off back to Chini, we finally found another snake - a slightly larger Reticulated python which we were able to photograph and send safely on its way again. By now, every time we stopped the car the white road lines kept on moving. This seemed a good enough reason to return to the resort, rest our eyes and stuff our horrendous pile of laundry into our rucksacks ready for the journey back to KL in the morning.
Singapore
Jill joined us at KLIA the next day having managed to sleep most of her way through the journey. She has been known to drift off on a tuk-tuk, so I guess snoozing on a 777 isn’t really a big deal. Anyway, we made the short hop to Singapore in the afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel in Bukit Timah, arriving in time to grab some dinner (whilst watching Newcastle United defeat dirty Leeds) before having a quick stroll around the block. Within 15 minutes of walking around the corner from our hotel, we found a dimly-lit street running near a golf course and managed to find 3 snakes within 5 minutes of each other.
The next day there was really only one thing that needed to be done: laundry. This is also where we realised just how expensive Singapore was going to be. After taking out a mortgage to fund 3kg of dirty clothes, we were on our way to Pasir Ris to check out the mangrove boardwalks. Here we enjoyed some cracking views of an Oriental pied hornbill, an Asian koel, kingfishers and monitor lizards.
During my last trip to Cambodia you may recall how I missed out on seeing a flying snake as it explored around our eco-lodge. Well imagine my delight when I looked towards a palm frond looping towards the boardwalk and saw a Paradise flying snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) looking back at me! This was an absolute gem of a snake which somehow scared a couple of locals walking past. Of course, we took this opportunity to explain how delightful and interesting this critter was, and within minutes they were taking photographs and carefully running their fingers along its tail.
During my last trip to Cambodia you may recall how I missed out on seeing a flying snake as it explored around our eco-lodge. Well imagine my delight when I looked towards a palm frond looping towards the boardwalk and saw a Paradise flying snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) looking back at me! This was an absolute gem of a snake which somehow scared a couple of locals walking past. Of course, we took this opportunity to explain how delightful and interesting this critter was, and within minutes they were taking photographs and carefully running their fingers along its tail.
That evening we walked on trails near the Rifle Range and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a surreal experience of exploring awesome looking forest with the background noise of busy roads. At one point we left a mountain bike trail into a small stream and followed this for a hundred metres or so in each direction. Here we spotted another vine snake and watched Paul repeatedly fall down as he attempted to clamber up a muddy slope to retrieve it. On closer inspection we realised this was a Malayan vine snake (Ahaetulla mycterizans), the first time we’d seen this species.
MacRitchie Reservoir is where we headed the next day and, clearly riding our luck, almost immediately spotted a Twin-barred flying snake (Chrysopelea pelias) on a waterside boardwalk. We were then brought back to (some sort of) reality as some Chinese men walked past on what seemed like an organised exercise event, shouting extremely loudly to each other (as often seems to be the case) and beating the boardwalk and surrounding foliage with large sticks (which was something entirely new to me). What these guys were playing at I don’t know, but given that these paths are within nature reserves and often closed at night (presumably to protect wildlife?) I don’t understand how it’s acceptable for this behaviour to go on unchallenged. I also can’t help but think what would have happened if we hadn’t reached the snake first…
Later that evening we went back to Pasir Ris to try to locate some Dog-faced water snakes (Cerberus rynchops), and that’s what we did. From the elevated boardwalks we could see numerous serpent shapes below, so Jill and I commanded our mangrove slave, Paul, to jump down and deliver us some better views. Never before have £9 Converse knock-offs been tested so severely! The laundry may have been sorted, but from now on these shoes would really bring something extra to the table.
We also bumped into some fellow herpers (as you do in these parts) who even returned a few minutes later with a large Oriental vine snake as an extra gift for us!
We also bumped into some fellow herpers (as you do in these parts) who even returned a few minutes later with a large Oriental vine snake as an extra gift for us!
Early next morning, we’re talking 0500 here, Paul and I took a taxi to a trail nearby hoping to spot some blue coral snakes. Unfortunately the reality of herping returned and we came away empty-handed, not even with a glimpse of a vine snake or a bronzeback. As usual though, it was good to get out there searching, so thanks again for the advice Lou (LouB747), always much appreciated.
After a bit of a sleep we all headed up to Sungei Buloh, a wetland reserve crawling with monitor lizards but where shore pit vipers frustratingly evaded us. We did, however, spot another Paradise flying snake in-between twitching some whimbrels and storks.
Our final day in Singapore involved a leisurely stroll around Marina Bay and the Botanical Gardens before heading to Upper Peirce Reservoir Park at dusk and ‘road cruising’ some of the surrounding roads on foot. Unfortunately, all that was found was a Thelyphonida (I think they call these vinegarroons!) and a DOR C.pelias.
Our final day in Singapore involved a leisurely stroll around Marina Bay and the Botanical Gardens before heading to Upper Peirce Reservoir Park at dusk and ‘road cruising’ some of the surrounding roads on foot. Unfortunately, all that was found was a Thelyphonida (I think they call these vinegarroons!) and a DOR C.pelias.
Now that our species count was getting heavier and our wallets lighter, it was time for our final part of the trip, a return to Borneo.
Thanks to Peter, Matthieu and Ruggero for your Malaysia advice!