Birds, Nature Trails And Honey

June 28, 2006 09:55 AM

Birds, Nature Trails And Honey


FUN RACE… Bird watchers compete against each other in sighting, identifying and recording the most number of bird species within the boundaries of Fraser's Hill. Pix: Zainol Bidin

By Zulkiple Ibrahim

FRASER'S HILL, June 28 (Bernama) -- The scene: Tens of vehicles including coasters and four-wheel-drives traversing the early morning mist, snaking up the 8km tortuous route from "The Gap" before reaching this hilltop resort.

Upon reaching this colonial-styled hill station, the vehicles circled the town's main landmark, the Clock Tower, before slowing to a halt near the Bukit Fraser Sports Complex.

Scores of people disembarked from the vehicles, and most of them made a beeline for the sports complex.

The occasion: The Fraser's Hill International Bird Race Competition 2006 jointly-organised by the Fraser's Hill Development Corporation (FHDC) and Tourism Malaysia Pahang in collaboration with several government and non-governmental organisations like the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

BIRD RACE

The Fraser's Hill International Bird Race was initiated by the MNS' Selangor Bird Group and FHDC in 1988. Since then, the event has turned into an annual gathering for bird watchers and nature lovers from all over the world.

According to bird-watching expert Sanadure Kartar Singh, the term bird race is a misnomer.

"Many people have the impression that a bird race is an event where birds actually race or are raced against each other.

"It is actually a fun race where teams of three bird watchers compete against each other in sighting, identifying and recording the most number of bird species within the boundaries of Fraser's Hill," the 46-year-old research officer told a group of journalists covering the two-day event.

This year's race, the 19th of its edition, drew 150 competitors in 50 teams including three trios of foreigners.

According to the competition's organising committee member Ishak Mokhtar, bigger number of foreigners took part in past editions of the race.

"It could be due to the World Cup 2006 finals (in Germany) where some of the bird-watching enthusiasts who are regulars in this competition decided to give this affair a miss.

"We experienced the same situation in 2002 and that year, it was also due to the World Cup finals (in Japan and South Korea)," said Ishak who is with the Kuantan- ranch of the FHDC.

ENDANGERED SPECIES

Fraser's Hill is often referred to as one of the premier bird-watching spots in the country as this highland paradise is home for some 270 species of wild birds.

Migratory birds from as far as northern Siberia in Russia and remote islands of Japan have been spotted here. They fly to Fraser's Hill to search for food and escape the freezing winter in their homeland.

These birds would stay around Fraser's Hill for several months before migrating southwards to places in Australia and New Zealand. They would fly home to the north in March and April when the weather gets warmer.

Sanadure, who was one of the arbitrators in this competition, said many rare and endangered bird species were frequently sighted here, including the endangered local species like the Wreathed Hornbill (Enggang Gunung) and Rhinoceros Hornbill (Enggang Badak).

Among the other species spotted here are the Black-crested Bulbul (Merbah Jambul Hitam), Silver-breasted Broadbill (Takar Tanah Hujan), Grey-chinned Minivet (Mas Dagu Kelabu) and Rufous-browed Flycatcher (Sambar Rengkong Putih).

"One need not be an expert to do bird watching. All a person needs is a bird book, a pair of reliable binoculars and a torchlight," said Sanadure.



NATURE TRAILS

Fraser's Hill is unique for its nature trails, each with a distance of about half a km to five km. These trails are perfect for bird watchers and nature lovers to indulge in their passion.

There are six popular trails -- Bishop (a distance of 1,500 metres), Abu Suradi (500m), Hemmant (1,000m), Maxwell (1,800m), Mager (1,000m) and Kindersley (750m).

The other trails are the Rompin (500m) and the longest, Pine Tree (5,000m).

Some of the trails were created in the early days of Fraser's Hill as there were no roads then. With the trails, commuters were able to save walking time by about half.

HONEY SELLERS

Lately, Fraser's Hill has become a favourite spot for honey sellers. Most of them are found at the town centre near the sports complex and clock tower.

"I came all the way from Lanchang to sell the honey. On good days like weekends, I can sell 10 to 15 bottles. On other days, if I can dispose of about five bottles a day, that is good enough," said 47-year-old Ali Borhan.

Lanchang is about 100km away from here.

Ali said he sourced the honey from Orang Asli villagers in Bentong, Temerloh and Bera and sold it at RM15 a bottle of about half a litre.
"There are three types of honey depending on the colour -- yellowish, light brown and dark brown".

When asked why, he explained: "The honey is harvested from different species of bees that create structurally different-sized catacombs in their hives. Hence, the honey produced is different from one bee species to another."

Ali was met in front of the paddock, which is one of Bukit Fraser's attractions where visitors get to ride horses, shoot arrows and blowpipe darts and play woodball.

GUEST-OF-HONOUR

Raub District Officer Datuk Baharudin Mohd Yusop flagged off the participants at the Fraser's Hill Sports Complex at noon last Saturday, while State Executive Councillor for Women and Family Development, Culture, Arts and Tourism Datuk Maznah Mazlan closed the event at the Pekan Bungalow the following afternoon.



Guest-of-honour Austrian ambassador Dr Donatus Koeck gave away the prizes.

HISTORY

This hill station was discovered by Louis James Fraser who later disappeared without a trace in the early 1900s. It was rediscovered by a group of clergymen who went looking for the missing Fraser in 1917.

As the years passed by Fraser's Hill became increasingly popular, especially after the British expatriate community began building bungalows and other retreats in this cool highland, to escape the unbearable heat in the lowlands.

Today, Fraser's Hill which stands at 1,524m above sea level and is 103km from Kuala Lumpur via Kuala Kubu Bharu , is among the popular hill resorts in the country.

The drive up to Fraser's Hill is slow and winding. Before reaching the summit, travellers have to pass through "The Gap", a section of the road that used to be accessible in one direction at a time.

But a new road, built in 2001, allows smoother travel up the hill and the old road turned into a one-way passage down.

The hill resort is also accessible via Raub in Pahang.

-- BERNAMA