The Wallace Experience ...

On 9 April 2009, as part of a work, a few of us met up with some other people to discuss how we could work on a collaboration that will be a win-win situation for everyone. And the meeting point was at the Dairy Farm Nature Park at 100 Dairy Farm Road and it was an interesting drive to the meeting spot. Was really nice because it was all trees for a good 5 minute drive. But do note that currently the place is out of bounds unless you're with the people working on the area so wait till the place opens up properly before visiting ya.

Above: Drive to the Centre

The area used to be a dairy farm (as implied by the name Dairy Farm Nature Park *grins*) and it's being converted to house a learning lab and a visitor centre cum exhibition area to capture the history of the area.

Below: The Washroom Facilities

Below: Original Cow Shed that has been converted to house exhibits.

Above: The Learning Lab

There are also trails being identified for the public to go on and that's the exciting part as it's really an awesome area and rich in flora and fauna so here's a sneak peek of what I saw as we had a sample of one of the trails. And the funny thing is this. I didn't expect to go on the actual trail so I was in my work wear and thankfully flat shoes. First time ever, a couple of us in the group went on a trek that lasted about 1.5hrs in our work wear! People back in the office weren't too impressed because I left a trail of sand and mud (my pretty shoes were covered with them mud from the trail!).

Anyways, back to the trail. The one that I went for was called the Wallace Trail. The trail was named after Alfred Russel Wallace, (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) who was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. He is best known for independently proposing a theory of natural selection which prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own theory. It seems that Wallace was around in the area to pick samples so it was a suitable name for the trail and it's hoped that when one goes on the trail, they would have the 'Wallace Experience' *grins*. Unfortunately, am not able to put some of the photographs of the interesting part of the trails as there are others in the shot and it's not right for me to put those without their permission. So will have to make do with just these for now ya ....

Above: One of the lil streams we came across.

It rained earlier before we went on the trail so there were muddy patches all around but for most of the trail, it was flat land. Just a few points where we had to slide down or climb the slope but with proper shoes it will be okay. Below is a bridge that was built using recycled wood and it crosses that little stream you see above.

Further along the trail, we came across another stream and the water looks crystal clear. Really beautiful.

The forested area is made up of secondary forest so it's not very dense. There will also be points along the trail where you see evidence of human residence from before. An abandoned refrigerator taken over by vegetation. The clearing you see below used to be a vegetable plot. Am not sure if you can see from the picture but the land is undulated (bumps) where the vegetables were planted on.

Below you can see an abandoned well that broke up because of the vegetation that took over. It's pretty deep and water from the well flows out as the stream through the trail.

Unfortunately we had to rush through the trail, I didn't get to stop as much to take pictures of what was around me. The leaves below are the betel nut leaves or 'sirih' where in the olden days, the women will chew on them (chewing gum from the past?) and it would stain their teeth yet protect them from getting decayed.

Hmmm, dunno what fruit that I took below but just thought it looked interesting. Any ideas anyone?

Isn't this gorgeous? The fungi growing on the rotten log. Am sure there are other creepy crawlies in there too.

What is interesting about the photograph below is of a fallen tree. The tree has buttress roots which is typical of trees in the rainforest because the trees grow real high and the roots provide a strong support. But the roots are shallow (as you can see from the photography) because in the tropics, water and nutrients can be found on the top soil so the trees don't have to grow deep roots to obtain these.

The guide shared the name of the plant below but didn't quite hear what she was saying and before I could ask again, we had to move off ....

We finished the trail and the photograph below shows the end of the trail where we exited from.

And this house used to belong to the 'manager' of the area and it's available if anyone wants to purchase it. But alot of work needs to be done because the infrastructure is not very strong. So if you have $250,000 just to purchase this house, it's yours! *grins*

And during the trek, we thought we were the ones checking out the flora and fauna around us. But little did we realise that there were probably others checking us out too ....