Excursions in Shangri-La Rasa Ria

In our recent 3D2N stay at Shangri-La Rasa Ria Hotel, Sam signed up for two of the hotel's outdoor activities - "Night Walk" on Day 1 and the "Nature's Little Buzzers" on Day 2.

Night Walk which was guided by the Resident Naturalist promised us an encounter with rare species like bearcat, mouse dear, civet cat, slow loris, stick insect, reptiles and so on. In the end, after one and half hour walk, we did not see these rare species. We were led to see only species we are familiar with - some partially hidden scorpions illuminated by hand-held UV flashlight, a sleeping hornbill perched high up on a tree branch and a few green pit vipers.

From the lone hornbill sleeping on its own, I learnt a unique love story about Hornbill from the Naturalist which I did not know before. 

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Once a female Hornbill responds to a male Hornbill's call, the pair forms a thick bond for life - love until death. Hornbills are fiercely protective of their families. Hornbills look for very high treetops or the highest tree on a high terrain to build their nest with plant pieces, mud and their saliva. The saliva helps in plastering and fortifies the wall. 

The female gets inside before the nest is completely sealed. The pair are now separated except by a small opening on one side of the wall. The male brings food for the female and feeds her through the small opening. This feeding process lasts for four months and during this time, the female would lay eggs, incubate them and then raise the chicks. At this time, the female also sheds her old feathers. At this period, the male chooses to sleep far away from the nest to avoid predators from knowing the nest location.

The feeding continues until the nest is too small to accommodate the mother and the chicks. The mother bird then breaks open the nest and from then on, the parent pair continues feeding the chicks until the chicks are big enough to survive on their own.

If by any chance, the male is hunted, killed or has dies, the female and her chicks would just stay put and eventually die inside the nest. To the female, the world is dead without the male. She chooses to die inside the nest the pair has built together. This is truly a tragic case of death through starvation and the agony of loss of love!

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Briefing by the Resident Naturalist just before the Night Walk.

Nice sunset just before the commencement
of the excursion.

Green pit viper.

This is where we saw a lone Hornbill asleep and perched near the tip of a tree branch. According to the Resident Naturalist, the Hornbill deliberately chooses this area with a purpose. In the event of an approaching predatory creature either from the main tree trunk or from the air, the vibration caused to the thin branch will instantly wake him up and he will fly away.

We were surprised to see a traditional hut built with bamboo that houses the Kulintangan. Olivia and Maddie had their first experience playing this traditional instrument!

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The Nature's Little Buzzers on Day 2 proved to be both interesting and educational. This tour focused entirely on the stingless bees commonly known as Kelulut in Malaysia.

I recall having seen these tiny bees typically 4 to 7mm length (more like little house flies) in my old village house, my old school buildings and even my mango tree at the back of my current house. I have seen them in hollow tree trunks and crevices in house wall.

At the end of the briefing, we were led to a shaded area placed with a number of Kelulut bee houses. Each visitor was given a chance to taste the raw honey either fed with a syringe or to suck directly from the honeypot using a straw.

We were told that stingless bee honey is less sweet, a bit sour and even slightly bitter. Stingless bees store their honey in honeypots which are made of cerumen, produced from bee's saliva and mixed with pollen, plant resins and flowers. All these have an effect on the taste. But the raw honey I tasted was mildly sweetish and hardly sour or bitter!

Typical Bee House.

Stingless bee honey is said to have medicinal and therapeutic benefits. Many kampong people are now involved in stingless beekeeping and sale of the harvested honey.

We are now very tempted to buy one or two of these bee houses and place them under our mango tree. Hopefully, this initiative will become a reality and one of these days, our grandchildren can suck raw honey at our backyard! :)