An Amazing Trip To Piasau Nature Reserve

I have been to Piasau Nature Reserve twice in the past few weeks hoping to photograph the hornbills there but on both occasions, I failed to spot the hornbills. I went there again at about 8am this morning after getting tips from Josephine Lim, my ex-colleague in Brunei, who had successfully photographed the hornbills.

After parking my car at the car park of Piasau Boat Club, I made my way to the wooded area behind the office of the forest rangers. My eyes combed the branches of the trees for signs of the hornbills. Luck again seemed to elude me for I could not see any hornbills.

Despite feeling disappointed, I told myself that I must exercise patience, so I stayed put and continued watching the trees. Suddenly I saw a couple of hornbills flying over the tree tops. I was not in time to photograph them. I noted the direction that they had flown to and made my way in that direction.

As I walked, I kept a sharp lookout for the hornbills. After a few minutes, I spotted three hornbills sitting high up on a casuarina pine tree. A feeling of elation took hold of me as I started clicking my camera. It is a pity that the sky looked so gloomy with the clouds and haze. How I wish the sky was deep blue in colour for that would give my photos a better background colour.

After several minutes, the hornbills took flight again and this time, I could not find them again though I tried. But I was one happy man as I had captured quite a lot of photos of the hornbills.

I then explored the reserve. The demolition of old houses in Piasau Camp is on-going. There are now clearings amidst the trees where the old houses used to be. I went to explore many of these clearings. It was rather quiet except for the occasional chirping of birds.

Being the only person in the area, I was overcome by a feeling of serenity and calmness. The whole place looked quite scenic with all the vegetation and flowers. I took a lot of photos of the flowers that I saw and was pleased that I managed to capture images of a bee hovering near a flower as well as on the flower.

Luck was with me for I managed to spot a hill mynah or talking mynah (Gracula religiosa ) sitting on a palm tree. This bird, in captivity, can be trained to “talk”. When I was a kid in Bintangor, my dad had such a bird and it could make whistling sound and say words like “hello” and “chia par boi?” (meaning “Have you eaten? In Hokkien).

It was with a great sense of accomplishment that I finally left the reserve to go home.  But I will be back again!