Visit to Happy Bee Farm

Hey ya'll

I hope everyone is doing well! This update is perhaps coming a little late but it is really the first time since the middle of this month that I've had time to compose anything so here goes! Two weeks ago, for my 24th birthday, Ray and I decided to do something different and took a drive up to Gohtong Jaya (which is the halfway point to Genting Highlands. There, we decided to visit the newly opened Insect Zoo, also known as the Happy Bee Farm. The farm itself is perhaps more of a roadside attraction than an actual insect exhibit but though it was small, the trip was rather interesting in its own way! Upon purchasing our tickets at the farm's entrance (I can't quite remember how much we paid to go in) we were assigned a guide who showed us around the farm and explained the exhibits. Although quite taken aback by this arrangement at first (most insect farms do not assign such tour guides to their visitors) I grew to be quite grateful of it as the guide's help and introduction to certain exhibits were invaluable. He showed us, for example, the various equipment associated with bee-keeping from the basic smoke guns, to the more complex structure of Queen barriers (intricate barriers made out of wood that are placed between specific cells in the hive to prevent the Queen from initiating swarming behavior). It was all rather interesting and sincerely made me consider a career in apiary if the whole PhD thing doesn't work out! We were also able to visit the stingless bee hives and sample the honey fresh from the individual cells! 

The farm's European Honeybee colony (Apis melifera)

Contrary to my expectations, the farm did not have an aviary-style butterfly enclosure, but to make up for that they certain possessed a wide variety of other insects! The best part about having the guide came during this part of the tour as we were able to interact and hold some of the insects!!! There was a small cage filled with chrysalids (I counted several common papilio species such as polytes and demoleus, euploea sp., and hypolimnas bolina) as part of the exhibit and we were also able to assist with the releasing of the already emerged butterflies!  

It was IMPOSSIBLE not to fall in love with this Elephant beetle (megasoma elephas)

The farm also boasts, typical to most insect farms of such a nature, an insect "museum" featuring specimens of butterflies and beetles from all over the world. 

The best part of the entire trip, perhaps, was when we got to visit the backroom! Here they showed us all the insects they were presently breeding and specimens that were being spread and dried! They were even willing to sell us a few for the right price! Unfortunately, due to my current lack of funds and indecision, we ended up buying nothing! A few papered swallowtails caught my eye but the price was not right and they only had males besides. The farm also possesses a souvenir store where you might purchase ready-framed butterflies, insects, toys, and a myriad of honey based products.

In summation, I would say that the Happy Bee Farm is worth a visit if you are the kind of person who is into insects, creepy crawlies, and other such creatures! Though it did not boast a grand operation on the scale of what one might find at the butterfly park in Kuala Lumpur, or up in Cameron Highlands, perhaps, the friendliness of the staff and the experience of getting up close and personal with some of these insects (and not just from behind the glass box) truly made up for everything! In fact, I think I will be paying them a visit again sometime soon to maybe buy some of those papered butterflies, beetle larvae, or mantis eggs after all!!!

for more info you can visit their Facebook Page.

Cheers,
Cyren. 

We're off to see the Zoo!

Hey ya'll

Cy and Ray off to the zoo!!!

I've had so much free time on my hands lately it's absolutely sinful!!! It was a pity, however that despite all the time off I've been having, Ray is about to sit for his exam soon which means that there's not a whole lot of things we can do together either since (right at the moment when I've got absolutely nothing to do) he's so busy reading up on his psychology textbooks. Talk about bad timing! Regardless, it was quite fortunate that Ray decided  to take a break from the books yesterday and we decided to make a trip to the zoo. The national zoo of Malaysia, or Zoo Negara, is a place I haven't been to in such a long time. The last time I recall making a trip was when I was seven or eight so... pretty much over a decade ago. For Ray, this would be his first time going so I suppose it was only predictable that we got lost a couple of times, made a few wrong turns along the way and although we left my house at about 10am, we only got there at about 11.30. It was worth it, though, and from what I recall from about ten years back, I really believe that they have beautifully upgraded the place. Some of the additions include IUCN information on endangered species and various new exhibits like the flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) aviary and the insectarium and butterfly house.

At the entrance to the insect zoo

The insect zoo would have cost us an additional RM5 to enter, but thank god Ray and I bought the full package with our entry tickets so we didn't have to pay that extra. The exhibits were quite interesting I suppose with an indoor insect museum not unlike the ones present at many butterfly parks, followed by a modest sized butterfly aviary which housed rather common, but equally beautiful local butterflies. The most interesting exhibit I would say were the leaf insects, and as always the chrysalis house, where Ray and I saw butterflies eclosing from their pupae which came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from leaf green to brilliant gold.

Clipper butterfly (Parthenos sylvia) sipping nectar off a hibiscus flower on one of the butterfly feeders.

Although there were not much rare butterflies to ogle at, the butterfly aviary still provided plenty of photographing opportunities. 

Our next stop was to see the penguins. Having already watched Happy Feet 2 (mostly out of desperation) last week, Ray (who is rather obsessed with the semi-aquatic birds) really wanted to see how penguins looked like in real life and it was such luck that the zoo housed a handful of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) which amused us for awhile as they would keep following our movements as we paced from one view port of the enclosure to another.

Ray and the penguins

We saw a lot of other animals as well, on the way to the penguin enclosure, such as the Orang utans, bonobo

monkeys and camels, which I was rather wary of because of their tendency to spit and unwary passersby. Ray, however, had no such qualms and was probably more excited about seeing a camel for the first time in his life than he was worried about getting spat on.

Making kissy faces with the camel

His courage quailed, however, when we came face-to-face with this four foot long water monitor lizard  (Varanus salvator)

 The zoo also housed an indoor and air-conditioned aquarium which featured mostly river species of fish like the Fire Eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) and the giant and intimidating looking Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) which, incidentally is also a living fossil which means that it has survived since dinosaur times!!! But one  of the things which most drew my attention about our National Zoo was the breeding program they have begun to conduct in an attempt to rehabilitate certain endangered species in the wild. In addition to the near-threatened Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala), Ibises (Threskiornis aethiopicus and Eudocimus ruber) and Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus and Phoenicopterus ruber) which all had free-roam of the park's grounds, the zoo also conducts a breeding program for the Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea) which is incidentally one of the most endangered birds in Malaysia.

Ray and the Waterbird lake, which is the largest exhibit in the park

Saying hello to the Painted storks (Mycteria leucocephala)