Been back in Singapore for awhile but I’ve been too busy to sit down and go through the 18GB of photos in my portable drive, let alone write the trip report!

Pretty eventful trip i must say…. a mixture of the good and the bad.
Here’s and inkling of what to expect from this trip’s photography…

The star of the whole trip was a herd of about 50-60 Bornean Pygmy Elephants, crossing the river during a heavy downpour. My boat was the only one there, i suspect it’s because of the rain that no other boats were around ( unlike my previous encounters whereby dozens of tourist boats would have crowded around the river bank, thus blocking the elephants of their path to cross the river ). We kept a distance and tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible. The elephants were clearing pretty much all the vegetations in their path before making their way down the river ( stumbling, sliding and some even slipping down the mudslide and into the river with a huge splash! ). The best part has to be the new born calf ( just over a week old ), tucked in between the two females, learning to swim across the river. As seen in the last photo, the river was very deep. Even the adults were just an eye above the water. It was such a heart-warming sight to see the adults encouraging the young elephant to swim across and finally reaching the other side of the river safely.

On the 3rd day, was out shooting on the boat for the whole morning. It was so scorching hot, i felt like a baked toast, i could eat myself. When we finally docked, i took out the camera and went on land. Feeling too tired to carry my heavy tripod along, i stupidly left it on the boat, unattended.
Not too long after, another boat past by ours and the big waves caused our boat to rock. Alas, my tripod lost it’s balance and fell into the river below. The tripod, including the Karingphochi ballhead and Wimberley sidekick cost me 1k. Everyone’s jaw dropped when they realized the cost of my carelessness.

Nobody saw the tripod fell in though, but i guess that’s what happened. No one is to blame really, except myself. Accepted the fact that i can never get my tripod back and moved on ( the river was too deep and current was strong that day ). I was more worried about the crocs, that they may accidentally choke on my tripod or something… sigh.

Hand held my D200 + 80-400mm + SB800 throughout the rest of the trip.

On a brighter side, my skin has turned bright red… now i feel like a tomato, i can eat myself.

On our last day there, met up with Dr. Marc Ancrenaz, one of the world’s top veterinarian and conservationist. He left France 10 years ago and with his wife, came to Borneo to help the orangutans. Since then, he had set up a research camp by the Kinabatangan River. He had offered us a ride back to town to visit Sepilok in the morning. It’s really interesting and fun talking to someone with so much knowledge about the orangutans, as well as the many other wildlife that lives by the river. I deeply respect him for the work that he has done.

to be continued…

“The tiger, largest of all cats, is one of the most charismatic and evocative species on Earth; it is also one of the most threatened. Only 5,000-7,000 remain in the wild, most in isolated pockets spread across increasingly fragmented forests stretching from India to south-eastern China and from the Russian Far East to Sumatra, Indonesia. In the past century, the world has lost three of the nine tiger subspecies. The Bali, Caspian, and Javan tigers have all become extinct … and many scientists believe the South China tiger is “functionally extinct”.”

- WWF

Add your photo to the tiger photo mosaic. WWF will publicly present the mosaic at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting and show the world’s support for tiger conservation.

Let’s all do our part in supporting the end of the tiger trade.

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” - Helen Keller

A promotional package that contains newsletter and postcards that i’ve designed to promote C.S.Ling Photography.

Newsletter click to read

Postcards

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My heart just drop onto the concrete ground with a thud.
http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk

10 years have just been reduced to 5 years. 5 years and the orangutans might just go extinct. 5 years, i haven’t even reached 30 yet. Maybe my children may never get to see a wild orangutan in their lifetime.
I can’t tell you how infuriated i am to see rows and rows of neatly planted oil palm all over M’sia. Even leading up to Fraser’s Hill! It’s everywhere! Everywhere u turn, u see oil palm….

Please, do check the ingredient labels on food products before you buy them. Anything that says palm oil or even vegetable oil, don’t buy it. Which is pretty much most of the food u find in supermarkets these days. Sigh… Try to get products that use other oils such as sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, etc…

Sigh, i don’t know what else i can do at this point of time. What can i do? I don’t know why i’m getting so emotional about this…. but 5 years is pretty much a death sentence for the orangutans if nothing is done to stop the habitat destruction. 5 years… how many more trips can i make back to Borneo before i see the orangutans one last time?

I don’t know how my photos are doing any thing to help change the world… what can i do?

OK, i just thought of something… thanx to kisetsu, i’ve just got a brilliant idea.
I shall mass print my postcards and sell them and donate the profits to a good orangutan rehab center. Sounds good? I’m not sure if the amount in the end would be substantial enough to even sponsor just one orangutan for a year but let’s try and see how it goes, ok? People, i need your help! Please spread the word! If you are interested in my postcards, please let me know! thanx!

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