The 1st Scientific Kelulut Expedition - a Day We Made History

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team had arrived in Marang from Bilut Valley at around 6pm the previous day. We had requested for chalets by the beach, as all of us just love the sand and the sea. With Terengganu having some of the best beaches in the country, we were not set on coming all the way here and not see the water and feel the sand under our feet.

We didn't have very much time to enjoy the beautiful beach as much as we wanted though; we were there for something very important and very exciting, so leaving wasn't with much reluctance.  We hit the road again just after 7am in the morning, and with the help of Waze and Googlemaps, which could either be our best of friends or the worse enemies, we headed for Rusila. They decided to become the latter that morning. Thankfully we had contacted our host and had gotten accurate and clear instructions and reached our destination without any problems.

On the way in, we saw this beautiful pond which seemed to have crystal clear emerald green waters.What a sight it was.

It wasn't until we were almost at our destination that we finally saw the name of the place on a signboard - Kawasan Perindustrian Bukit Kor (Bukit Kor Industrial Area). We turned off when we saw another signboard which showed "UMT". The road leading into the site was narrow and graveled, and the excitement started to build-up.  
We spotted a shed with a group of people in the distance. As we approached the area, a fleet of 4WD's bearing the UMT insignia was seen lined up with the drivers on standby. We were finally here. This is the place where history will be made. 

A fleet of 4WD complete with drivers to take participants to the starting point on the hill. We were impressed!!

This is where the first ever scientific expedition on meliponines, organised by a team of academicians and researches from the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) in Bukit Kor, Marang, Trengganu was held on the 7th of June, 2015.  This event was part of the Le Tour de Kelulut, Jelajah Pantai Timur programme organised by Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil.

Initiated and headed by Associate Professor Dr. Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak, an extreme enthusiast of both the common honey bees and the stingless bees, the expedition was aimed at discovering and salvaging meliponine colonies, especially rare species in the forest of Bukit Kor. Bukit Kor is the site for UMT's new campus and besides stingless bee colonies, we were also on the look out for valuable herbs and plants that grow in the forest.



Among others who participated in the event were of course, Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil (read about him here), Tuan Hj Musa Yaacob formerly from MARDI, Razif Mamat from Institut Genom Malaysia, Tuan Hj. Zolkaplie Mustafa an aborist whose presence in our group is such a bleesing because his knowledge on the plant kingdom is so crucial.

Then there was Hj. Mohd Najib Rais, another extreme enthusiast and passionate lover of meliponines, meliponiculturists Ariff Amri, Nur Raziana, Zaki, newcomers Fuad and Zurita and a  good-looking research assistant from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Syafizal Omar. 


The team from UMT, besides Prof. Shamsul, comprised Dr. Wahizatul Afzan Azmi, Dr. Mohd Nizam Lani, Dr. Abdulmaula, a Marine Biologist from Libya, and research assistants Roziah Ghazi, Fatin Farhana, Siti Asma' and Muhammad Firdaus.

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team with part of the UMT team. Right smack in the middle is the over-zealous meliponine lover Hj Najib.   

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri - he'd go anywhere he hears has meliponines.

Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil or "Pak Abu" as he is fondly known in the foreground. He is a leading expert in meliponines and a forerunner in conservation efforts of these stingless bees. When he talks about meliponines, he is dead serious. And we mean, dead serious.

The women in the meliponine fraternity - not unlike the industrious meliponine worker bees which are all females.

"Where for art thou my meliponines?"

"Oh there you are!"

Specimens were taken for analysis and research.

A wonderful, huge resak tree where there were three colonies of different species nested at different levels. A Homotrigona sp. at the base, a Heterotrigona itama in the middle and a Tetragonula sp. at the top. It's sad that awesome trees like this have to go for the sake of development, but in this case, for a very good cause.

Dr. Wahizatul - she does research on meliponines as pollinators.

The firecracker in the group, Hj. Najib

Syafizal - didn't we say so?

Siti Asma' - always making sure everything is in order

Husband and wife team Fuad and Zurita with Marzia. We love this picture of them!

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team yeahh!

An ambulance on stand-by. Thankfully their services was not required but nevertheless it's presence was so reassuring.

The event was covered by major news portals BERNAMA, Berita Harian and Sinar Harian.

The t-shirt given out to participants of the expedition with compliments from UMT. Apparently, Prof Shamsul is making headlines in "social innovation" and receiving well deserving accolades for his efforts. Way to go Prof.!

Although we didn't find any species that we had not seen before, it was still a momentous occasion and definitely a major step towards our efforts in the conservation of meliponines - the Indo-Malayan stingless bees. Congratulations to Prof Shamsul and his team for organising a great event, to Pak Abu Hassan for initiating conservation efforts and instilling love for meliponines and to all the rest for their participation, support and contribution.