Wild Asia's Naturalists-in-the-lodge programme was set up to help local wildlife lodges improve their natural history knowledge base. ROBERT DECANDIDO & DEBORAH ALLEN, the programme's first volunteer naturalists describe their expectations and experiences at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah.

Written by Robert Decandido & Deborah Allen on 14 Jun 2005 with 0 comments. Be the first!

Sometime in the autumn of 2004, a brief note flashed across our desktop from the Oriental Bird Club email group. Wild Asia, an organization based in Malaysia, was looking for birders and/or naturalists to spend two to three months in high-end lodges in some very exotic locations in their country. Most of the living expenses (lodging, food) would be paid for by the resort. In return, those participating in the project were to work with their guides, as well as resort management, to do bird surveys, and make suggestions to improve the quality of programming provided to their guests.

Also, naturalists had to agree to provide the resort with several internet articles and some photos to illustrate them. The first resort to participate in the Naturalist-in-the-Lodge program was to be the Tabin Wildlife Resort in Sabah, Borneo. After some email discussions back and forth with Dr. Reza Azmi, the director of Wild Asia, we were selected to be the first naturalists for their program. Deborah and I were ecstatic to know that we were about to leave the freezing cold of New York City for a warmer environment for a while in early 2005.

It helped greatly that we had previous field experience in Asia and had already met some important people there. We had done much spring and autumn hawk migration work in Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and points farther west. In 2001-02, we had helped the Malaysian Nature Society with its first two years of Spring Hawk Watch Festival at Tanjung Tuan. Since then, we had become good friends with several Malaysian digiscopers and biologists, and were familiar with the Malaysian culture.

Here in our home of New York City, we are long-time naturalists accustomed to leading bird walks, and we have seen what sorts of activities people enjoy and will learn from. Through the years, we have learned how to positively interact with people, listen to others and work with people of all ages as part of a team. It was also quite good that we have much technical experience: Deborah Allen has been photographing birds and wildlife for more than a decade, and together we have published many popular and scientific articles about birds, plants, etc.

So on a frigid January evening in early 2005, we boarded a plane for the 24-hour flight from New York City to Borneo. When we arrived in Kota Kinabalu we immediately encountered all the good and bad things we remembered from this part of the world: high temperatures and humidity, and also the wonderful Malaysian food and culture. Soon we would have the chance to see the birds and wildlife of a fairly new wildlife reserve over an extended period of time. In the past, we were always frustrated to only be able to spend several days in a place before we had to leave. Now, we could stay up to three months at Tabin, making it possible to study the flora and fauna in a more detailed, systematic way. This was the most important aspect of the Naturalist-in-the-Lodge program to us.

Once at Tabin, our first goal was to meet the staff and get to know them individually. We wanted to be on a first name basis, and we made a point to emphasize that we valued their ideas, opinions and knowledge greatly. We wanted to learn as much from the guides as possible, since they are the real experts when it comes to wildlife of their home land. And, we reasoned that if we could get on the good side of the resident chef, our tummies would be much happier for the next three months as well.

By establishing a good line of communication with the staff, they came to view us as allies, and not monitors who had been imported to make their lives more difficult. By regularly interacting with the staff, we were better able to understand what their needs were, and what was (and what was not feasible) to do as part of their programming for guests. For example, by talking with the manager of the Tabin Lodge, we quickly understood that he wanted to be able to provide guests with a high quality slide show that would highlight the best trails to walk, and the birds, animals and plants guests were most likely to see. Once we understood what was needed, we were then able to spend time fulfilling those needs by making digital photographs that Tabin staff could then utilize.

Similarly, once we could see how much guests at Tabin enjoyed the night drives to look for wildlife, we worked with the lodge management to find additional ways to enjoy and appreciate the diversity of the rainforest at night. Based upon work we had done elsewhere, we suggested setting up an outdoor night light covered by a translucent sheet placed near the main dining area in order to attract a diversity of insects. When guests returned from the night drive, the guides led them to the living display, and the collective "oohs" and "aahs" we heard were a great vote for the positive effect of a visual display of such remarkable diversity.

In return for working with the guides writing articles and making digital images for the Tabin website, we were given great assistance that facilitated our experience. For example, if we suggested to the lodge management that we needed digital images of animals seen on night drives, they would make space and equipment available for us to get those images. Similarly, once the staff knew we were interested in photographing certain kinds of birds (eg., the Malaysian Blue Flycatcher or the Crimson Sunbird), they went out of their way to help us find these species and their nests. It is because of the cooperative spirit and trust between Tabin staff and ourselves that we were able to get so many good images of birds, snakes, mammals, insects, etc. And it is also why we had such a wonderful time.

Is the Naturalist-in-the-Lodge program for you? This is a difficult question to answer...everyone would have a great time staying in the lodges with which Wild Asia has agreed to work. However, we think that the best experience for both naturalists and lodge staff will come from participants who are open-minded, flexible about what they need, and can think on their feet. It requires that the naturalist temper his expertise with humility and be willing to listen to others' ideas. It requires that the naturalist be an effective communicator with strong people skills. And just as importantly, the naturalist has to have an area of expertise (birds), but should also be interested in insects, mammals and plants too.

Finally, the naturalist needs to have excellent writing skills, and be proficient with digital imaging techniques such as digital photography or digi-video. You will have to be a popular science writer who can turn ideas into articles, and a serious scientist too, to write up the results of your research. In many ways, a team of two people who can amicably share a laptop computer is needed for every lodge. Rewards are immense: the once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a truly extraordinary place and see it change over time.

Naturalist-in-the-Lodge was a special volunteer programme we designed to match keen naturalists to wildlife lodges in Asia. Learn how you can volunteer with Wild Asia..

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