Dirk Mezger's Expedition to collect ants at the Mount Mulu

Expedition to collect ants at the Mount Mulu (by Dirk Mezger): Part 4

The 24th March was the most important working day in the field. According to the plan, we had to collect the remaining 17 soil samples of the 1 m² sample sites. In the morning, the weather was on our side since the sun was shining until we sampled the last site. Just as all of us were back at Camp 4, a heavy downpour started. It was really a lot of rain coming down showing that the highlands of the Gunung Mulu are one of the wettest places on earth with 6000 mm yearly precipitation. This rain lasted for more than one hour until it stopped. Then we could care for the second task of the day: placing iButtons, small microcomputer for temperature measurement, near the sample sites to record the soil and air temperature over the next months. After this was done, we called it a day and enjoyed again the magic sunset with a view from the helipad to the surrounding mountains.

The next day, we started our way back. The trail was quite challenging since it included many steep downhill climbs, some being secured by ropes, but others were just pure climbs over some slippery roots. But the weather was fine, so I could enjoy the beauty of the mossy forest and its inhabitants from ants, flowers to carnivorous pitcher plants. Again, we had good luck with the weather since the heavy rain shower started when we were already at Camp 3. The rain gave all of us an option for some rest, and when the sun was shining I had a look around the camp in order to find some more ants. It was very interesting to observe some ants and insects of the higher elevations, many of them not being found in the lowlands. The evening was quite relaxed despite the fact that we had another tough day of going down ahead of us.

1300 meters in elevation going down! That was our job for 26th March. For my porter this even meant to carry down a heavy load of equipment and soil samples. After several hours of steep trail and climbing sections, we reached the lowlands marked by the former site of Camp 2. At this point, the three porters went ahead since they knew the trail very well and they wanted to go back to their home village. Together with my guide, I slowly walked the trail to Camp1 before heading to the very last 8 km to the HQ. Never before the boardwalk covering the last mile felt so long. But before five o'clock, I arrived at the headquarters. The porters got a message that I had arrived so they brought the equipment and samples to the research center and received their well deserved salary.

Montane flower	Sampling plot	Montane fly
Sunset	Mountains of Mulu	Pitcher plant
Upper montane forest	Spiny ant	Camp 3
Camp 3	Begonia flower	Herdsmen ants
Longhorn beetle	Camp 1	River Crossing

Dirk Mezger's expedition to collect ants at the Mount Mulu

Dirk Mezger's conference reports

Expedition to collect ants at the Mount Mulu (by Dirk Mezger): Part 4