Sarawak Nepenthes Summit 2007

In August of 2007, I attended a Nepenthes conference in Kuching, Sarawak, on the Island of Borneo.  Nepenthes, also referred to as pitcher plants, have an appendage on the tip of each leaf that captures insects and digests them.  Nepenthes habitat extends from eastern Africa into the western Pacific in the equatorial zone.

During the conference, we traveled to Bako National Park, Bau, and Gunung Mulu National Park (to name a few destinations).  I also traveled to an orangutan refuge (that was challenging to figure out taxis and busses) outside of Kuching, one of the few places to view orangutans in their natural habitat.

After traveling to Gunung Mulu, we visited Bintulu (where I first tasted Durian), then flew into Lawas for an 8-hour drive to Ba’kelalan, a distant rice growing mountain village.  From there we drove on muddy roads to hike up and into a series of rustic cabins to further ascend to the edge of Mt. Murud to view N. lowii.  I lost track of the number of Nepenthes species we observed in-situ on the trip, but I recollect between 25 and 30.