BIG TREES

(picture taken by Dr. Irene)

     25th October 2009, Sunday – 6.00am, the weather was excellent. Dr Irene and students of BEAPCA went to the ‘Big Trees’ to do the last jungle trekking activity. At first, I thought this will be a dreary activity since we had been doing trekking for 3 times continuously. But I was wrong. It was a pleasurable hiking activity.


     It was located somewhere in Kota Batu which took about 20 minutes to arrive from University of Brunei Darrusalam. We were divided into 3 groups. I was in group 3, lead by Nazz and the sweeper was Ziman. I was the photographer for that day. Ziman lend me his camera to me since I don’t have one.

     My job was to take photos of the spree and to publish those photographs in BEAPCA’s groupmail. I took some pictures of students, lecturer, different kind of insects, wild orchid, trees, shrubs and etc. However, I did not manage to upload those pictures since it was with Aziman (the camera’s owner). Fortunately, Aziman was very kind to assist me to publish those photos.

     We began our trekking with a nice view. Nazz explained that our routine will be like a lollipop; straight, and then go round a circle. That was interesting. She also explained that the rock contain Iron Oxide and taught me how to identify a dead tree. She clarified that a dead tree will either have no leaves or it will have dry and wilted leaves and the trunk colour of a dead trees are dull.

     In this last hiking activity, I am happy to learn few names such as wild Ixora, resam ferns, spike vines, tarap trees and etc. It was amazing to see wild pitcher plant, an unknown butterfly-looked insect and a few of unknown gigantic trees (saw it for the first time in my life). It was also very surprising to know that the tree took 12 people (holding hands together) to surround it. Dr Irene and a friend of mine explain that the seed have 6 wings which indicate that the seed is carried by wind (wind dispersal). I took a seed home with pleasure and tried to plant it but it does not grow until now.

(A butterfly-looked insect)

      Conversely, the hills were really steep and slippery which caused some of us slipped. It was unsatisfied to see a small waterfall (I was hoping to see a giant waterfall). Moreover, the hiking activity was tough.

      I supposed this activity trained our stamina, endurance, confidence and concentration. We need a lot of stamina and endurance to be able to complete the trekking. Especially leaders and sweepers need to give all their attention and awareness or they might not be able to lead the trek. Not only that, it also can improve our health.

     I will bear in mind that I should never try to go near to any endangered plants. Dr Irene explained that if we stepped on the root, it might spoil the tree. I wondered how much will this 'Big Tree' cost.

     To sum up, We had improved our teamwork skills; helping each other and work together towards our goal. It was a strenuous and challenging event but I was pleased.