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Air Itam Education Park - 21st January
2004 -
Lai Fong
having seen a report in the local daily informed me that the Park is gone for
good! I couldn't believe such news as the last time I visited the
place was April 2003. That Park was a tiny sanctuary where I
had seen a good a variety of birds such as the Great slaty
Woodpecker, Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, Ruddy Kingfisher and the Black
& Red Black Broadbill.
Charles and me left Penang
rather early that morning. By 7.30 am we were at the parking lot.
Good we were ahead of the ticketing booth opening time. We
crossed the suspension bridge. There was a gate there but it was
left unlocked. A series of loud calls in 2 direction attracted us
immediately. Unmistakably, was that of the Lineated Barbet. It
didn't take long, one flew near to investigate us as intruders. Then
a Banded Woodpecker was busy hacking away a spot on the tall Ficus
tree at the entrance. We spent a little more time admiring the
wild ginger plant that was flowering. I looked ahead the boardwalk
and something was not right. Debris were strewed in the way ahead
and some dark shadows too. Walking past the Nipah forest, I could
see that most part of the walkway had disappeared. There were even
attempts by the locals to use the fallen planks to bridge the gap of
the flooded forest floor.
There was no use in
circumventing the huge gap to cross over the immediate obstacles. It
was obvious that timber used for the whole boardwalk was already in
the advance stage of decay. The whole system of trails must be in
the same conditions and not passable.
We were so sad to see the
demise of such a wonderful birding destination. On the other hand,
it was good that the habitat was once again returning to its
previous glory of being a near perfect sanctuary.
25th May 2004 -
It has been a while that we were at the park to check out for any new
developments. It was a bright sunny morning when we left
Penang Island. Very soon we were at Sungai Dua. From
this little town onwards, development on both sides of the road were
progressing at feverish haste. After 5 kilometers, there the
main signboard for the Air Itam still stood clear and bold. The
rice fields which could hardly be seen for a while, at this point
too, almost camouflaged by semi-finished building. Gone are
the chances to see the rice fields and the Chinese Pond Herons that dominates this
field after each harvest.
In contrast, the
narrow but straight access road to the Park remains
untouched and clear. On arrival the iron grill to the bridge
was latched but unlocked. We passed through the suspension
bridge. It was serviceable though on many spots the wooden
planks showed signs of deterioration. After the bridge the
boardwalk appeared to be in good and normal condition. The
platform for the first shed was in varying stage of breaking away.
We walked the boardwalk for
only a hundred meters to pass the Nipah Forest. As had seen in
the last visit, the boardwalk
from there onwards was still missing. Meaning the damaged boardwalk
from this segment onwards had not being attended to. We hang around this
short stretch for an hour or so. We cannot say that we were disappointed and
during this time a Stork bill Kingfisher kept us company. Perching
just 40 feet just above
the waterline. Later at canopy level a Lineated Barbet was
foraging the branches for breakfast. A Gold whiskered Barbet
calling from the nearby canopy for awhile drop by momentarily to
check out our presence.
Most of all, a
Mangrove-blue Flycatcher flew to branch overhead, 8 feet away, Stood
there for quite a while, changed position. I was frustrated at it
was fast approaching 10.00 am, limited on the boardwalk, I can see
the bird against the sun.
Later Rahman and
his nephew, local residents, came by and in our conversation came to
know that the work to replace the broken planks had started. That
explained for the nice looking first stretch up till the Nipah
Forest.
Ummm! By the method
and speed adopted by the contactor plus knowing the quality of the present day's timber, I could see an
unending job of non-stop replacement. Still we are looking forward
to a entire safe walkway.
On the bright side,
if the efforts to restore the boardwalk is failing, then, the good
repercussion would be, regular traffic to the Park will not be seen.
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