Two Malaysian Mountains

Though hardly more than a thousand metres above the surrounding monocultured plains Fraser’s Hill offers a glimpse into a bygone era in more ways than one. It gained prominence initially as a colonial-era hill station due to the cooler climate and beautiful natural environments. More recently it has been the nature itself that has bought fame, the birdwatching is truly excellent, but now it is the weird and wonderful insect life that draws naturalists from around the globe.

Our accommodation is right in the forest and runs its own light traps! Every night these are full of some of the insect world’s most beautiful and impressive insects. The elegant long-tailed Malaysian Moon-Moth is a frequent visitor and so too huge Archaeoattacus malayanus, one of the world’s largest species with a wingspan reaching 25 centimetres. Hawkmoths are many and varied and we can expect to see exceptional numbers of these iconic moths around our hotel notably Mango Hawkmoth, Jade Hawkmoth, Yam Hawkmoth, Cinnamon Gliding Hawkmoth, and the wonderfully camouflaged Megacorma obliqua. Also the Greater Deaths-head Hawkmoth, Amplypterus mansoni, Marumba spectabilis, and the elegantly striped Marumba tigrina. Amongst the more spectacular species are yellow Loepa lampei and the equally brilliant Loepa siamensis. We’ll see stunning red and mustard Barsine rubricostata, the magnificent Hearsey’s Owl Moth, vibrant red Alompra roepkei, plums and custard Plutodes flavescens, and lots of lovely red, orange and white Cyana moth species. Scopula divisaria is studded with emeralds whilst Calymera picta looks like a particularly striking Victorian brooch. We’ll marvel at the fabulous leaf-mimic Tridrepana subtusmaculata, and enjoy the beautiful moss-dusted Maxates thetydaria and absurdly ornamented Callopistria ludovici.

The lights don’t just bring in moths, there’s all manner of other wonderful invertebrates such as the impressive Atlas Beetle Chalcosoma atlas, Giant Honey Bee, and cobalt-blue Cerulean Carpenter. In the forest around us we’ll find the weird Assassin Bug Epidaus famulus, the extraordinarily beautiful Long-tailed Semi-slug, and an abundance of butterflies including the Blue Admiral and Malayan Jezebel. Spiders include the Malaysian Purple-femur Tarantula and we’ll hope to find the Malayan Flying Frog. Birdlife is excellent with many fine species such as Blue Nuthatch, Red-bearded Bee-eater, Red-headed Trogon, Silver-eared Mesia and Fire-tufted Barbet.

Gunung Trus Madi is after Mount Kinabalu the second highest of Sabah’s mountains, its peaks rising to 2642m with only stunted Rhododendron bedecked forest at the top. Indeed Trus Madi’s biological diversity is legend partly as a consequence of having a such a variety of forest types in close proximity to each other – lowland mixed dipterocarp, hill mixed dipterocarp forest, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, and summit scrub. Sitting right in the middle of it all is the amazing Trus Madi Entomology Camp deep in lush forests at just over 1100m above sea-level. Tens of thousands of hectares of the mountain here are fully protected as a Class 1 Forestry Reserve.

The Trus Madi Entomology Camp (and by the way, we use the deluxe rooms!) is perhaps unique in that it specialises in insects and other flying invertebrates with more than 12 permanent light traps strategically positioned at the edge of mountain ridges or at the sides of the mountain, all overseeing vast forested areas. Over ten thousand species of moth have already been recorded here!

The light traps are operated nightly from 8pm until 5am and every night they are covered! This is one of the mothiest places in the World. Sitting pretty amongst an abundance of weird and wonderful smaller species are a great diversity of Hawkmoths and bigger still the fabulous Atlas Moths Archaeoattracus Staudinger and Archaeoattracus atlas. After our time on the mainland we’ll by now be familiar with many of the main groups of insects which will stand us in good stead as here are so many new ones! There’s chocolate in custard Plutodes cyclaria, various luminous lime-green Agathias, Eucyclodes gavissima whose green wings are crossed by forked lightening, and the lovely Barsine moths, all complex patterns of red, yellow, orange and white. We’ll marvel at gorgeous lichen-mimic Tambas, whilst Locharna limbata’s terrier-hairy head is made even more bizarre by the shimmering blue eye-spots within. Masca and Claterna moths sit facing you looking like they are going to jump up and argue the toss. There’s exquisite little Cossidias, double-winged Ortoplas and intricate and brilliant Siglophoras. Sinna floralis is all bright yellow and red. Weirdest moth prize though might in the end be taken by the Sacadas that look more like a bird or a robot than a moth,

Butterflies are varied with many highlights, notably Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and the Green Dragontail. We’ll find colourful Lantern bugs. Cicadas are ever-resent and one of the loudest and most beautiful is Tacua speciosa. Giant Three-horned Rhinoceros Beetle, Chalcosoma moellenkampi, is one of the more common beetles that came to the screens at night. On rocks we’ll find the extraordinary Paraphyllum antennatum, a pygmy grasshopper that mimics dead leaves. Some of Borneo’s more unusual mammals can be seen around the accommodation, notably Maroon Langur, Whitehead’s Squirrel and Masked Palm Civet. There are hides so that we can watch and photograph some wonderful game birds such as Bulwer’s Pheasant, and Crested, Red-breasted and Crimson-Headed Partridges. Other highlights will be Rhinoceros Hornbills, Bornean Banded Pitta, Nepenthes reinwardtiana pitcher plants, and if we are lucky with the timing, the remarkable huge blooms of Rafflesia pricei!