A Trip to FRIM

When I first I heard that my young learned friends (YLF) wanted to plan for a nature walk at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) I expected it to be in the day, so I thought that should not be a problem. After agreeing to be the official escort for them, it turned out to be a night walk!

The last time I went in the day walk at FRIM, I came back with leeches bite…I couldn’t imagine what it would be like in the night! More ever it has been raining lately!

I was contemplating of waiting in the bus for them but then it would be a 3 hr wait!
So I decided to joined them on the walk…of course being the oldest in the group. I guess the guide knew that as he kept shining his torch light on the path way for me. We were not allowed to bring any torches with us but with technology these days most hand phones were bright enough to light the way!

It was an interesting walk. We started off with the Keruing Nature Trail followed by the Salleh Nature Trail and lastly the Rover Trail which took us through the Waterfall and finally ending up at the Picnic Area.

My YLF either had their hands tied up or were blindedfolded for the first 100m of the walk. All 48 of them were tied to each other at the waist. You could imagine the amount of commotion that went along the way!

The walk provided a ‘window' for us urban people to see a simplified rain forest ecosystem. On one of the trails, we could smell the offensive odour that came from the fruits of a Kulim (Garlic Tree) scattered on the ground. The guides also pointed out to us the glowing fungus in the forest, spiders and butterflies…though it took us a while to figure out where he was pointing to.On the way we saw roots of trees that took dramatic and artistic forms. We were told that this was so that they could function effectively as anchors for the tree.

The guide showed us a tree (can't remember its name) which we could use to shelter ourselves if we were lost in the forest and how by hitting the tree it produces sound to alert the search party.

The highlight of the nature walk was when we were told to look up! We could see "puzzle-like" pattern of the individual tree crowns separated by gaps and outlined against the sky. This phenomenon is called crown shyness. Like a magnet, the leaf tips of kapur, Dryobalanops aromatica , appear to be shy towards their own kind, hence forming the gap.

Many step into this world expecting venomous snakes at every turn, leeches at every step but with 40 odd energetic YLF, the animal world would have been wise to stay away!

Even the leeches also stayed away… I received this sms on my way home at 1.55 am
“No leeches Mr Mike! Hehe…nite nite!”

Visit http://info.frim.gov.my/cfdocs/ecotour/index.html for more info and don’t miss on the canopy walkway, a walkway system and the platforms at vantage points from which one experiences a panoramic view of the forest. FRIM has one such walkway that has proved to be extremely popular with visitors.