The Malayan Nature Society/Star Endau-Rompin Expedition
H.S. Barlow’s 1985 report documents the Malayan Nature Society’s year-long expedition to the Endau-Rompin area in southern Peninsular Malaysia, situating the venture within a century of exploration history and the ongoing political struggle to establish the region as a national park. The article functions simultaneously as a field report and a conservation advocacy piece, arguing that Endau-Rompin constitutes the last extensive tract of lowland primary forest in the south of the peninsula and warrants urgent protection.
Summary
Barlow frames the expedition within a long history of exploration of the Endau River catchment, beginning with D.F.A. Hervey’s 1881 account and H.W. Lake’s 1894 journey to the source of the Endau, and passing through the establishment of wildlife reserves by Sultan Ibrahim of Johore in the 1930s. The central historical problem he identifies is the progressive erosion of these reserves through development pressure in the 1950s through 1970s, compounded by the failure of the 1980 National Parks Act (Act No. 226) to be implemented due to state governments’ reluctance to cede land to federal park designation. The article thus positions the expedition as both a scientific survey and a public awareness campaign to build political will for formal protection.
The narrative then shifts to the expedition’s logistics and findings. Barlow describes the base camp at the head of a six-mile boat journey from Kampong Peta, a Jakun Orang Asli settlement of approximately 30 households, and details the construction of a nine-storey tree tower in a giant forest keruing to facilitate microclimate studies. The scientific work encompassed botanical, entomological, and zoological surveys along the Endau and Jasin Rivers, including a 36-kilometre traverse by Tunku Mohd. Nazim Yaacob from Bekok to Kampong Jasin. The author reports on vegetational zonation along the Janing Barat Ridge, the discovery of the endemic climbing bamboo Racemobambos setifera, and the first peninsular records of several moth species previously known only from Sumatra and Borneo.
Throughout, Barlow interweaves the scientific narrative with the political context, noting that the area had been mentioned for preservation in the Third Malaysia Plan yet still faced logging concession applications in the late 1970s. The public outcry generated by a half-page advertisement in the New Straits Times of 7 May 1977 is presented as a turning point that demonstrated Malaysian public commitment to conservation.
Key Findings
- The Endau-Kluang Wildlife Reserve was established in 1933 and the Segamat Wildlife Sanctuary in 1937 by Sultan Ibrahim of Johore; the Lesong Forest Reserve on the Pahang side dates to 1906 (p. 135).
- The Federal National Parks Act (Act No. 226) passed in 1980 after 11 years of discussion, but no state government had yet exercised the initiative to request federal park designation by the time of writing (p. 138).
- The base camp, capable of holding 70 people, was constructed almost entirely from fronds of Johannesteysmannia altifrons; by the time of writing, 552 individuals had visited (p. 138).
- A nine-storey tree tower reaching 103 feet above the ground was erected in a giant forest keruing by the Malaysian Armed Forces for microclimate studies (p. 138).
- Vegetational zonation on the Janing Barat Ridge shows lowland forest to approximately 140 m above the Sg. Jasin, transitioning to Livistona palm forest extending to a plateau at about 440 m, beyond which lies swamp forest dominated by Johannesteysmannia altifrons (pp. 138–142).
- The expedition was extended from six months to a full year, with a further six-month extension to May 1986, to allow a more thorough survey and inventory of the area (p. 142).
Conclusion
Barlow’s definitive takeaway is that the Endau-Rompin area, as the only remaining extensive lowland primary forest in southern Peninsular Malaysia, is of critical importance for the survival of the country’s larger mammals and for scientific research. The expedition’s success in attracting public participation—evidenced by the high visitor numbers and enthusiastic response—demonstrates that a conservation-conscious Malaysian public exists and can be mobilised to pressure the government into formalising protection, even in the absence of legislative implementation.
Context
- The article draws on the expedition’s own field observations, supplemented by historical accounts published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hervey 1881; Lake 1894; Lake & Kelsall 1894) and R.W. Flynn’s 1980 Preliminary Management Plan.
- The piece is best understood as a conservation advocacy document published within a scholarly journal, reflecting the Malayan Nature Society’s dual role as both a scientific body and a public-interest organisation in 1980s Malaysia.