Probably the closest I’ll ever come to Borneo’s hairy, singing rhinos.
Borneo Fieldwork
I have a long-standing interest in how we can improve the management and conservation value of heavily logged forests in Northern Borneo. Since 2015, I have spent most of my summers in Borneo, particularly around Danum Valley Conservation Area. Working inside these forests I have had some of the happiest and most formative experiences of my life. As part of my own research, I have investigated ways to speed up the recovery of logged forests by macheting vine tangles and replanting seedlings in the understorey. As part of this, I helped setup an experimental restoration project in a tract of heavily logged forest in 2018 and 2019. I have also led or been a part of projects exploring the impacts of logging on dung beetles and birds
Reaching the summit of Gunung Danum
Osou has the endearing quality of always saying “I’m old and tired” right before powering off at breakneck speed up a forty-five percent incline, machete in hand, slicing open a fresh trail as he goes. I grin, shake my head, and take off after him…
Trekking through the land of giants
There-s a very special place in the world where the tallest tropical trees grow. This is our journey into the heart of that place.
Into the heart of Danum Valley
Into the Heart of Danum Valley
What I’ll miss most about living in Borneo’s rainforests
One week ago, I landed back in surprisingly sunny England after a month and half spent in the rainforests of Northern Borneo. We were continuing our previous work looking at how macheting vines could be used as a strategy for speeding up the recovery of heavily logged forests. For me, […]
This is what extinction looks like
Three days after the tragic death of Tam, the last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia, I travel two kilometres down the logging track to the only place nearby where I know I can still come close –at least in spirit –to a rhino. Here, surrounded by the logged and old-growth […]
Using poo to sample biodiversity in tropical forests
Mammal camera traps are sexy and butterfly nets make you feel like a Victorian scientist. But nothing beats the gruesome realities of catching dung beetles. Dung beetles are just about one of the most important and cost-effective animals you can sample, whether you’re doing so to test the impacts of […]
The rare jungle cat that thrives in degraded forest
My nostrils has already been assaulted by months of trekking through the Bornean rainforest with an Aldi bag-for-life full of my own poo. Such is the price of conducting research on dung beetles. The one bonus? I thought I had become immunised to bad smells. But the putrid stench of […]
Borneo: Life After Logging
Once upon time, the island of Borneo was blanketed by dense and pristine rainforests. Ancient dipterocarp trees pierced the canopy, towering over a sea of treetops like parasols. These noble giants were the first to go when the chainsawing started. When industrial logging came to Borneo, it struck with an […]
Machetes and seedlings: the key to saving Borneo’s logged rainforests, or the next phase in their degradation?
It’s 1998, and as Borneo’s rainforests are being ravaged by some of the most unsustainable logging the world has ever known, one timber company is bucking the trend and investing in its future. Twenty years later, the results of Sari Bumi Kasuma’s (SBK) foresight are clear to see. Elsewhere across […]