I find myself horribly lazy since I returned from our one month marathon and the many miles we walked over varied terrain, most of it rough. I have stopped taking painkillers, so my arthritic joints (which are just about all of the joints I have) immediately began to screech their protest. I am resisting resorting to the anti-inflammatories again now that I am once more relatively sedentary, but they won’t lie down and be quiet, alas.
And I am endeavouring to write up the project report, but somehow it seems dull after the real thing. Who wants to write about marketing rainforest avitourism when the reality of the forest – the hot, sweaty, damp moulder of the fecundity, the glorious profligacy of the exuberant growth, the fragile perfection of the minutiae of the little things, the sheer wondrous beauty of it all, is there in memory. How can you reduce it down to dry words for a government report?
So what am I doing instead? Putting photos of Danum up on my blog, that’s what… Sharing it with you.
There’s the road into Danum, and the wonderfully lazy bearded pig who wandered out of the rainforest one day and decided that kitchen scraps are much tastier than earthworms rooted for along the forest floor.
Enjoy!
Seems there’s a symbolism there – that you love the wondrous colourful beauty of the living rainforest, but you have to translate it into black and white figures for govt. officials who are primarily interested in how to make money out of it. And, like Scheherazade (sp?), you know that if your story doesn’t keep them interested, the rainforest could suffer a far worse fate than being pimped for tourist income. 😮
I do love that bearded pig, btw.
Oh, and do hope the arthritis quietens down very soon. *hugs*
My two-sen: birding in Malaysia may almost be considered 2 destinations, Peninsula and East Malaysia. The Peninsula is for those interested in ease of access and facillities (compared to Borneo and the rest of Sunda birding). The traditional triumvirate of Taman Negara, Fraser’s Hill and Kuala Selangor. Of course Royal Belum and surrounds may be even better (I’ve not been myself). Main competition in the region probably Thailand.
Borneo Malaysia for the endemic chasers and those wanting a more ‘exotic’ holiday. Main competition probably Indonesia, maybe Vietnam. But they have much less developed infrastructure.
The details of the promotion and expectations would depend on the different markets. Eg local and South East Asian birders, ‘Western’ birders, the Japanese. The self organised vs the professionally guided from abroad and those that seek out local guides. The permutations more complex.
Additionally is how we can promote responsible nature appreciation amongst locals (and hope against hope, politicians). They would potentially dictate the nature of available facillities and form of government input and action in the longer term, sustainable or otherwise, in the overall context of nature conservation. To (mis?)quote an old tune, “To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia”.
My simplistic views. I’m sure you know all that already-lah.
Smathi