I got a call from fellow conservationist who’s doing a project in one of Peninsular Malaysia’s last remaining freshwater swamps south east of Johor. Wetlands International, her office, has been assigned to carry out a survey to assess the biodiversity of that forest so that it could be turned into a Ramsar site to further protect it. Of course we would have to sell this idea to the authorities, showing them (in RM) the value of this forest if it was kept.

So it began, our expeditions into this part of Malaysia with several other teams including FRIM who carried out the floristic survey. We at ATAR (Akuarium Tunku Abdul Rahman), were given the task to assess the aquatic fauna and flora. It was a real exciting! Not only would we be collecting fish for the assessment but we would also be collecting specimens for our Malaysian River Journey Project back at the zoo.

Upon arriving at out hotel and checking in, we were amazed to see that just in front of our chalet was a small mangrove stream filled with various fiddler carbs, mudskippers etc. Wow! another collection site just outside our door. Soon Din (my staff) could resist and got out his net franctically trying to scoop a mudskipper or two…and that wasnt at all easy. Those guys are really fast, not to mention the knee deep mud he had to go into.

That night, we had a fabulous meal and then discussed the itinery for the next day. Shin Shin and Sinor (Wetlands Int) got out the map of the area and we all discussed the logistics for the next day. FRIM in one boat, and we in the other…wow, boat rides, this is rather uncommon for us. The expanse of the swamp forest was unbelievable. We were just excited!!! That night, I was keeping my fingers cross for crypts so I asked God to somehow shows us areas that would be filled with them.

The next day we drove through some villages before we reached our  boats, docked at the village jetty. Our boat man for that day was a young chap by the name of Adi. After organizing ourselves and our limited equipment on board both teams took photos of each other..for the before and after albums!

The journey started at a mangrove swamp, and slowly meandered its way up to nipa forest. All the way for about 4km, we meandered through beautiful lush nipa forest, occasionally stopping at certain sites to take pictures of the surroundings, of fruits, flowers and other floristic features of the forest. The water still tasted a bit salty although its colour had now become more blackish.

Slowly but gradually the nipa forest was soon replaced by Pandanus strands. Soon we were entering a completly different part of the river system. It was exactly like the streams around Tasek Bera, with tall lush and thorny Pandanus overhanging the river course. Occasionally we stopped to photograph Pandanus fruits and other swamp trees. We started fishing once we reached this area as it was now completely freshwater. The harvest for this first recce trip was pretty good. Loads of Rasbora dorsiocellata, R. trilineata and R.einthovenii suffaced as we threw in pieces of bread. Others included several barbs, half beaks etc..but I still wasnt that excited.

Then as we moved along, I heard this voice telling me to just stop the boat and survey the forest itself. Din and I got off and began our search, and not even 10 minutes into our search, we came across our first batch of crypts! Not knowing what they were, we collected as many as we could. They were growing in dark muddy substrate but not peat, with loads of leaf litter all around. The planst themselves were covered with mud, making it rather difficult to spot them at first, not to mention the dark forest covering. Well, we were excited.

We got on our boat and headed upriver….and then there they were…clinging to the roots of tress and carpeting the banks of the river! It was the most beautiful site of crypts I have ever seen…so pure and wild. Boy, was I drolling. Even before the boatman could dock the boat, I had already jumped off onto the crypt carpets trying to find a flower or two. This added value to the swamp as well and soon Sinor of Wetlands was snapping away, taking as many pictures as he could, before the crocs come by…or yeah, did I mention the crocs? Plenty of them…and no I’m no crocodile hunter, just a crypt hunter.

These are some of the shots we got and as I moved further in, my tongue was just hanging out ( I think I might have just licked a few crypts clean along the way!).

Note: After days of searching, here I found some photo – Josh

To be continue….