We made it! It's taken a lot of planning but we finally made it. We have arrived in Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Malaysia after a 17 hour flight, a couple of days in Kota Kinabalu (KK - see it on Google maps) and another flight and a long bus ride, we made it to Danum Valley. It is good to finally be so close to (and almost in) the forest to get started on our field work.
The team with all of the equipment, 23 bags in all (click images to see them full size)
We brought a lot of equipment with us but we also had to stock up on a few bits in KK, like string, a spade and machetes(!) - all essential tools that we will need to do our field work. We also found time to relax and discuss our plans for the coming weeks.
Relaxing in Kota Kinabalu and discussing the field work we're due to perform
We will be staying at Danum a little less than two weeks, until 24 September. While we are here we have an awful lot of sampling to do and I will be explaining all about the different methods we are using to sample insects as the days go on, but here's a sneak preview of one of them:
Our Winkler bags hanging up outside the labs
The Danum Valley field centre is very nice indeed. The food is excellent, banana fritters being my favourtie so far. There are also lots of other scientists here from all over the world doing field work so there is a real buzz in the dining hall at meal times. There are also lots of people here for the special visitors that arrived here on Saturday, 15 September (more on that in our next blog post)!
