14.7.11: Sungkai Wildlife Conservation Centre

At 2.50 pm, I drove out to the Sungkai Wildlife Conservation Centre. I had depended on my GPS but strangely my GPS said that it was 29 km away and I had to exit the Sungkai toll and get on the highway. Forfunately, at a traffic light leading to the toll, I glanced left and saw a large billboard showing the Sungkai Wildlife Conservation Centre and the arrow directed me to go straight on, not turn right (into the toll and highway.)

I drove on and on, following signs to the Kawasan Perhilitan. I didn't realise that it was quite a distance away from Felda Residence Trolak. It was 3.15 when I arrived and I had to sign in at the guardhouse. I was told that the area would close at 4.15 pm. "We would only have a short time here," I thought, feeling disappointed. 

I was told to drive right to the end, and that's where the bird aviaries were.

I drove the car along the narrow tarred road. The place was isolated and I had the luxury of stopping my car in the middle of the road, winding down my window pane and snapping pictures of the deers in their enclosure.

 

Finally, I reached what seemed to be their administrative office. I parked the car and we walked to the office which contained taxidermy displays of animals. It was dark and there wasn't anyone there. I switched on the fans. 

This is a skeleton of a tiger. 

Musang and a huge elephant's leg

Skin of a snake

Various types of eggs

Ostrich egg 

After that, we walked outside to the aviary. On the way, we passed another building which said "brooder". I think this is where they hatched their eggs. We couldn't see anything from the outside and the worker there just ignored us, so, we went to the aviary instead.

The birds were housed in these large cages.

Counting the squares

After that we went to see the birds in the aviary. It wasn't interesting as there were only a few birds and one of it was the Great Argus Pheasant. The nice part about the place was hearing the sounds of the insects (sounds of nature). The whole place was so isolated and hardly any visitors.

After that, we turned back and headed for the car. While walking back to the car, I heard a thud behind me. It was S, who ran after me and had fallen down on the road. He cut his knee quite deeply and fresh blood started oozing from his wound.  It was a deep open wound. I didn't have any antiseptic with me, just plasters. I washed his wound with water and stuck a plaster on his knee.

As I drove back, I saw the signboard to Sg Klah Hotsprings and on impulse made a detour there. I had planned to go there the next day, but I thought that the hot springs water could perhaps clean his wound and heal it faster, since I didn't have any antiseptic and I did not come across any pharmacy in the vicinity. After all, this was a small town. (Next time, I need to pack a first aid kit, you never know when it might come in handy).