Marine Conservation in Malaysia (Turtles, Dive and Teaching)

What was your funniest moment?

At the end of the week, the FUZE volunteers and interns plus a group of elder Batek women (local indigenous group) went camping in the forest together. It was an unbelievable experience. On the way out to our campsite, myself and another volunteer named Rachel were sitting in the back of the pick-up truck with the Batek. We were chatting and leisurely taking in the gorgeous scenery as we off-roaded. We started to get closer to a hanging tree branch so we ducked as we went under the fruit tree, which was covered with ants. We didn’t realize until we were in the thick of it and then the ants started biting us and we were all screaming and in the fiasco, I dumped my coffee all over Rachel who was screaming “Ants, ants, ants” and then “Ants and coffee! Ants and coffee!” The bites stung a little, but we were all in hysterics. Rachel had left her GoPro on during the drive, and the footage of the ant and coffee bit is hilarious.

Pick one word to describe your experience.

Surreal

What was the strangest thing you ate?

Durian! It’s the weirdest fruit with an odd smell. Malays LOVE it, with all due respect I think it may be an acquired taste.

What was the most surprising thing you saw or did?

One of the days we did a cave tour trek where we climbed inside and hiked through several caves. One of the caves was nicknamed the Star Cave, and when we got to the darkest and most open part of the cave, the entire ground sparkled like diamonds. It was so gorgeous, and of course looked like thousands of twinkling stars. I had never seen anything like that before (besides bioluminescence in the ocean) it was as stunning as it was surprising.

What was the scariest moment?

The cave trek we went on was a bit more advanced (there are many different options you can choose from). While I wouldn’t say it was particularly scary, there were several times on that trek that gave a rush of adrenaline! We walked in water up to our waists with bats, turtles, frogs, spiders, and snakes, crawled through tiny passages on our bellies, and even traversed between two tight walls with a 10-foot drop below. Felt very adventurous, and a little scary but in a good way!

What were the locals you met like?

The Malays we met were so kind and outgoing. Everyone was really friendly and happy to engage in a conversation to learn more about Fuze and what we were doing in the neighborhood. Generally (outside of Fuze) I found Malaysia to be a friendly, warm and safe place to travel. The locals definitely attributed to the impression the country left on me.

What was the funniest/strangest/most insightful thing a local said?

Sometimes it’s easy to forget how big of an impact American music and media has on the rest of the world. I cracked up when a Malay friend I made at Fuze knew all the words (and dance moves!) to the latest Drake song. We sang (and danced) to it all week, it made us laugh and put a smile on both our faces! (Kiki do you looovee me?)

What was it like getting there?

It’s very far from California! I definitely recommend arriving a day or two early to stay in Kaula Lumpur and get acclimatized to the time difference and weather before heading to the jungle. The bus from KL to the project site was super nice and very well organized. Really easy to use public transport in Malaysia, much easier than public transport in the States in my opinion. The Fuze staff meets you at the bus stop when you arrive to take you to the volunteer house.

Where did you stay?

Fuze has a volunteer house in the town of Merapoh. It’s the home base for the volunteers, interns and Fuze staff. The volunteer room had AC (score!) and the place had the vibe of a laid-back hostel. The roof was my favorite, great place to do some yoga in the mornings and evenings. We even had a bonfire one night.

On my program there was one other volunteer from the UK, and we met several of the Fuze interns from Malaysia, the U.K., and Australia. It was great to get to know the interns because they are stationed there for a few months and have a ton of conservation knowledge. Was inspiring to be around folks so passionate about the forests we went to visit each day.

What was your favorite part?

Camping was my favorite! It was a great way to end the week, and we had a really fun time as a group. It was incredible to see how the Batek make their local tents out of the forest and to learn how to cook traditionally -- inside of fresh bamboo that we cut down.

What was the hardest part?

This is going to sound silly. But I was kind of a baby at the beginning with all of the bugs (mozzies + leeches!) It had been a while since I’d been in a jungle like that, and I forgot what it was like to be surrounded by bugs, and well nature. It was hard for me to be comfortable with flicking leeches off my legs at first (I screamed every time), but quickly I realized that it wasn’t that bad. Just took some getting used to! For the record, leeches are totally harmless and are in fact good for your circulation. That said, Fuze provides you with leech socks and I didn't have one attach to me the whole week, in case you’re worried like I was, don’t be.

What is your favorite travel memory?

The morning i had the inspiration to start Ecoteer. I was cleaning a board walk in the forests of Borneo ready for the tourists to use and I heard this hooting noise, it was a Bornean Gibbon, but not just one it was a pair, and its very rare to see these gibbons up close but that morning they came down to the boardwalk right in front of me. Wow such an amazing privilege's and Gibbons are actually my favourite animal.

I have also seen fresh tiger footprints whilst jungle trekking and that really makes the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. Just amazing, you are in a forest where it seems empty but its not, the animals are there watching us! its an amazing feeling.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I founded Ecoteer in 2005 which later became Fuze Ecoteer in 2015. I think each day is different that I personally have learnt so many skills. When i was at school I could never have thought I would be leading a group of 12 amazing individuals which now work with us. So I think the leadership has changed in me BUT i always remember to be thankful and humble, our team are very good, passionate and intelligent, and I personally love seeing how they grow and develop.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

I don't think I have a specific story but many return saying that Perhentian has a place in their heart. One of our ex vols from 2008 has started a similar project near Bali at Gili and another is a lecturer in the UK and she brings her students to the islands every year for an Environmental Science Fieldtrip. So I think the place grabs people and doesn't let go.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

Me personally I would go on one which goes from KL to Merapoh to Perhentian. So I get to experience the Green to the Blue, the forests to the sea. There is so much natural beauty in Malaysia and the good thing is that tourism is not that big in Peninsular Malaysia so you get to go places where not many tourists go. In KL you can help with our plastic recycling project with the local community and in Perhentian you can live in the village where not many foreign tourists go. The foreign tourists would go to the beach resorts, so you get a chance to see the real Malaysia.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

We have also now started to train up the youth in Perhentian Islands, these are the kids I taught to swim back in 2010 and now they are adults and joining our actions. Its amazing to see them become divemasters and help us remove ghosts nets, it shows that our Eco Education project really works and starts the ball rolling. Also our project in KL, we are working with a low cost housing area where the people are amazing and have really taken to our precious plastic recycling project. We didn't ask them, but they have started their own recycling initiative off their own back.

I am so proud of what our team has achieved, not me, our team.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I truly believe that being humble and not judgmental is the KEY to success for conservation with local communities and I instill this into our team. We don't know what other issues and problems those people are going through, so why should we judge them that they don't recycle their plastic when they have other bigger issues such as food security or just money issues. So I instill this into the team and it works with the communities we work with. To listen and to show empathy and then we can truly see what the issues are.

So for example our recycling system in Perhentian Island, it's not perfect, it's a work in progress but we are seeing people slowly changing and starting to use the recycling bins more. This takes a lot of time and understanding. And this year we will expand it to the resorts, now the resort staff don't have time or the interest to clean and separate all the different types of waste, but they can put the recyclable items into a green bin bag and other waste into a black bin. Plus the guys who collect the waste actually do go through the rubbish to take out some of the recyclable materials to make a few extra $$$s so the system now helps them to make more money and they don't need to go through the bins and get dirty and smelly as the resorts will have already sorted the waste out into recyclable and non-recyclable. Everyone wins, that took some time to understand the problem. The bin bag solution was the brain child of one of our past local interns with Blue Temple.