Tag: dipterocarp (page 1 of 1)

30 September 2012 / 0 Comments

Coming home to Danum: A Borneo interlude

The song of the whistling thrush in the cloud-covered mountains. A chill in the air in the hills of the elephants. The river in-between the hills—the Naduar—whose white swells over the rocks he can see through his window, whose rich, sibilant sighs carry through the clear air all the way up to him. To him at his table by the window, from where he hears, he feels, he sees.

  • Through the window
  • Dipertocarp forest at Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo
  • Road through logged forest, Danum Valley
  • Orangutan in Sabah, Borneo
  • Tree in rainforest
  • Fern in the canopy
  • Rock bees on Koompassia excelsa
  • Logging in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
  • Large scale monoculture, oil palm cultivation in Sabah, Borneo
  • Clearing for oil palm plantation, Sabah, Borneo

… This post first appeared in the Rainforest Revival blog on 30 September 2012. Read the article in Fountain Ink, Coming Home to Borneo.

20 December 2010 / 0 Comments

The tall tree

The tree stands tall—head and shoulders above the rest. Its long round bole reaches straight to the sky. Its branches hold out firmly, even as the leaves toss around and whisper with the wind. With its first branch at over a hundred feet and the uppermost leaves nearly half as much higher, the tree is one to reckon with—even a monkey would need to work hard to climb it.

High above, the tall tree’s branches hold clusters of red-brown, two-winged fruit. A gust of wind tosses the high branches and a couple of winged fruits with their package of seed take to the air and go whirring in the wind. In evening light, they are like fiery butterflies pirouetting in an aerial ballet.

The tree is a landmark, for those who choose to see it as one. In the distance, the weaving tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra courses through a winding dip in the land. The forest around is dwarfed by the tall tree. Across farms and scrubby undergrowth tangled with vines, only a smattering of trees meets the eye, and there are none so large. The tall tree is special. What does it stand for, even if it stands alone?

… This post first appeared in the Rainforest Revival blog on 20 December 2010. Read more in The Wild Heart of India: Nature and Conservation in the City, the Country, and the Wild.

4 May 2009 / 0 Comments

Earth-scar evening

The road winds through a disfigured landscape of tea plantations. It skims the contours over the open reservoir with its sloping banks of naked red earth. It passes the checkpost with the inevitable tea stall, and only then does it plunge down. Down towards the rainforest, our destination for the evening. The Nilgiri langurs, on the tree near the tea stall, watch us go.

There is a hint of rain in the air. And the clouds hang dark over the landscape.

The fallen trees by the road.

We come upon the fallen trees a short while later.
…

Read this essay in The Wild Heart of India: Nature and Conservation in the City, the Country, and the Wild.

This post first appeared in the NCF blog, EcoLogic, on 4 May 2009.

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