Bengkayang, the biotope of the yellow-finned hill stream loach | Biotopes of Indonesia

Marcel Alveri Adis Biotopes of Indonesia Leave a Comment

Bengkayang, a region in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, hosts freshwater habitats that remain exceptionally well preserved, and in the fast-flowing upper stretches of these rivers, a wonderful family of highly adapted fish species can be found.  Much like lichens can be a biological indicator of air quality, or earthworms an indicator of soil health, the Gastromyzontidae family of fishes found in Bengkayang comprise species that are often used as bioindicators of river health due to their sensitivity to subtle changes in their underwater biotopes. Species from the Gastromyzon and Hypergastromyzon genera known as the Borneo suckers or hill stream loaches are …

Biotopes of Brunei | Treasures of Temburong

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

Due to work and college commitments , I had almost no free time to do anything other than rest. With the COVID-19 situation happening globally, Brunei was also affected, borders were closed and we couldn’t travel internationally, thus I decided back to go to the jungle to release some stress. The border closures resulted in the Bruneian government opening up the Temburong bridge (now formally named as Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge). Temburong Bridge links the 3 mainland districts of Brunei with the Temburong exclave and is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia, 30-kilometre (19-mile) long. As there is …

Biotopes of Brunei | Cyprinid diversity in the blackwaters of the Lumut River

Zaheer Afie Biotope Leave a Comment

We have embarked on our next adventure, which this time around takes us all the way to the upper stretches of the Lumut River. The Sungai (River) Lumut is located in Belait District, the largest district in Brunei Darussalam and has a length of approximately 14km+ which starts at Lumut beach seems to end somewhere in the region of its arrival to the Labi road; it is an independent river and not connected to the Belait river. Our collection site is located next to the Telisai Lumut Highway in similar habitat to our previous trip to the  Upper Telamba river. …

Biotopes of Brunei | Beyond Wong Kadir

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo, Uncategorised 5 Comments

Located deep inside the Labi jungle in Belait District, our latest adventure takes us to visit three different waterfalls, each located in the upper stretches of the Mendaram River; our final research point was at the third waterfall, the location of which can be seen on the map below. On 24th March 2018 we commenced our journey at around 08:30, the sun was already shining but I assume that it rained the night before as parts of the road were wet and gradually drying. Before we hiked uphill, approximately 100 metres from the parking spot, we managed to come across …

Biotopes of Brunei | The Jewels of the Karamunting Hills

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo 2 Comments

Today, 30th April 2017, the Brunei Biotope Group embarked on another exploration trip, this time to the Bukit Karamunting (Karamunting hill), a public hiking locale connected to several other hiking trails in the area; it is situated in Subok Village. Accompanying me on this short trip was my friend and fellow member of the group, Ismail Mourad. The journey started off at around 7am in the morning, we met at Ismail’s house in Subok, the track that we planned to take was only a few hundred metres from his house and so we proceeded to walk to the bottom of …

Biotopes of Brunei | Aquatic Treasures in the Labi Jungle

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo 2 Comments

On 17th February 2017, a 3 member team from the Brunei Biotope Group including myself set off on a journey into the jungles of Labi (located in South East of Belait District in Brunei Darussalam) in search of a tall waterfall known to locals as Wasai Belulok situated along the Belulok River (4°16’32.57″N, 114°25’29.45″E). The journey into the jungle started at approximately 12 noon, until 4pm. At the Belulok waterfall, within a 50 metre span of the stream, various species of fish and one species of aquatic plants can be found. Starting from the pool beneath the waterfall, only one …

Biotopes of Brunei | Ichthyofauna of the Teraja Falls

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo Leave a Comment

On 18th March 2017, we, Brunei Biotope Group, were off again on another journey into the Labi jungle of Brunei in hopes of finding something exciting. On this trip our group of four people were heading towards Teraja Waterfall, a widely known fall along the Sungai Teraja which is frequented  by many tourists, especially those which like to go on jungle adventures here in Brunei. We started our journey from Seria Town at 09:00 AM and we had arrived at the Teraja Longhouse at about 11:00 AM. As we arrived at the Teraja Longhouse, we informed the Iban people (head …

Biotopes of Brunei | Biodiversity of the Telamba River

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo 1 Comment

On the early morning of 15th September of 2017, our group finally resembled to embark on another trip to explore the jungles of Brunei. This time we headed to our 1st lowland river trip where we would be investigating the lower Telamba River; this was also to our first exploration trip within Tutong district of Brunei. The Telamba river is a stream for most of its course and is approximately 5.5km long (possibly longer) and is a tributary of the Danau River. For this trip we started off from Seria Town, we departed at 8am and drove to our destination located at …