This morning we’ll set out for the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre (KBFSC), our home away from home for the next eight days. To reach the Field Studies Centre, which is located in the Ulu Temburong National Park, we’ll board a taxi-boat ride and cruise along the mangroves—home to saltwater crocodiles and proboscis monkeys—ending with a spectacular longboat ride upriver. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for kingfishers, broadbills, and other birds along the river’s edge. Once we arrive and get settled in our rooms at KBFSC, take a moment to look out into the rainforest. Its pristine status is largely due to the fact that Brunei, with its rich oil reserves, has never had to compromise its rainforests for the timber trade. This afternoon and evening, we’ll dive right into introductory lectures and our first workshops, discussing approaches to field research and collecting methods. The day will end with our first night walk—if we’re lucky, we might spot mousedeer, civets, or even a leopard cat.

Kicking off our first full day in the field, we’ll dive right into more hands-on learning. Today’s workshops will examine how to catch dragonflies, collect freshwater and leaf-litter fauna, and evaluate tropical botany. After lunch, we’ll be treated to a lecture about the process of discovering and describing new species, and have the chance to contemplate names for our own potential discoveries—whether you’re a fan of monsters or a David Attenborough devotee. (After all, naming every living thing is no small task.) Tonight, we’ll set up a blacklight for attracting insects before dinner and have the chance to view the results afterwards.

Today you’ll have the opportunity to hike along the Bukit Belalong trail, walking about four miles deep into the rainforest while collecting plant samples along the way. It’s a challenging uphill trek—be prepared for a lot of sweat! If jungle trekking isn’t quite your cup of tea, you can stick around our homebase and take workshops on setting collection traps, freshwater and leaf-litter fauna, and canopy biology. Both groups will rejoin in the afternoon for processing with the plant press and lectures on amphibians, reptiles, ferns, and herbs. In the evening, we’ll venture out in search of frogs—perhaps we’ll find a distant cousin of the world’s newest pig-nosed frog or recently discovered and first known fluorescent frog.

If you’re up for it this morning, you can join a hike along the Ashton trail toward Sungai Sibret. As we follow the stream, we’ll be looking out for aquatic insects and snails. (Note that this hike will be fairly strenuous.) For the non-hikers, there will be plenty to do in the lab (sorting, mounting, pinning, and labeling specimens), as well as setting butterfly traps on the canopy walkway. The two groups will gather back together in the afternoon for a photography workshop, followed by lectures on the arthropods and venom hunters. Trip leaders will announce any new species found so far! In the evening, we’ll conduct light trapping with a mercury vapor lamp.

After breakfast, choose from an array of morning workshops; perhaps it’s time you learned how to set a baited pitfall trap? There will also be options to go on a birdwatching hike, as well as to trek upstream to a tributary of the Belalong River to collect aquatic insects—and depending on the water level, we might even get to float back using life jackets. Afternoon workshops include sorting material and describing and photographing new species, while today’s lecture will cover DNA analysis in the field. In the evening, you can choose to relax, dedicate some more time in the lab, or set out on a night walk in search of stalk-eyed flies and violin beetles.

Today will be relatively laid back. Waking up in the morning, we encourage you to look and listen for the local wildlife—gibbons, flying squirrels, and amazing bird species such as rhinoceros hornbills, paradise flycatchers, and Asian fairy bluebirds. Today’s workshops will include DNA analysis, new species identification, and watching the set-up of tree-climbing rigs. After a lecture on cave fauna, we’ll visit our insect traps on the canopy walkway. This evening, we’ll enjoy a tranquil sunset view and a boat ride back in time for dinner.

Using the rigs we saw yesterday, today you’ll have the chance to take your Borneo adventure to thrilling new heights during a guided tree-climbing workshop. Later, feet back on the ground, we’ll continue with lab work and hear a lecture on Darwin, with the chance to ask our experts every question about evolution that we can imagine. 

Today will be our last full day in the jungle. We’ll continue to sort the material we’ll have gathered over the course of the week from our collection traps, and work together on species descriptions. We’ll cap the day with final lectures on evolution and ant-mimicking spiders before packing up the lab. This evening, we’ll celebrate a successful expedition with a farewell party—during which we’ll vote for new species names! This is our unique chance to immortalize our team’s discoveries in the annals of science. We’ll also look back on our week together with a group slideshow and videos.

This morning, we’ll travel back to Bandar Seri Begawan by longboat, bus, and taxi-boat, arriving in the early afternoon. From here we’ll part ways, whether for flights back home or onward travels. While we’ll soon have returned to different corners of the globe, we’ll be sure to stay in touch to share updates on post-trip developments, such as DNA results and new species published in scientific journals.