This is my first trip to travel as a
Sabah Young Tourism Ambassador. Not bad for a good kick start, the finalists
and ambassadors visited Green Connection and gained our knowledge.
Mr. Eric Yu was the one who guided us in
Green Connection. He is the acting Head of Education and he has accompanied us
from the beginning of our tour until the end before you say ‘goodbye’.
I remember that the very first animal
that we met was the Plumbeous Water Snake, which located right before the
entrance into the small cave called the Cave Fauna. The Green Connection is
displaying the few types of insects that can be found in Malaysia. Bear in mind
that the cave is a man-made cave. You should try to hold it when you are there.
Interesting piece of art!
Mr. Eric has a great and wide knowledge for
the creatures that can be found in Malaysia, may it be the marine life, or wildlife
creatures that live in the jungle.
After a short tour in the Cave, we came
to the aquariums and Mr. Eric was explaining to us and to let us know how many
endangered species here in Sabah. I have to agree that back in 1950, the forest
is wide and there are enough space for the endangered species to stay in the forest.
Now, and later in 2020, the forest was expected to be less than 30% what we
have in 1950. Now, Sabah still has about 40 rhinos, 1500 pygmy elephants, and
11000 orangutans.
Just a personal reminder, if we don’t
help them to secure the forest, the endangered species will extinct soon. I
remembered when I did my thesis about Orang Utan and Proboscis Monkey, you will
be shocked how the numbers of both primates gone lesser and lesser.
Well, after sometime, suddenly Axel
appears. It is the Borneo Short Tail Python and this is my first time placing a
python around my neck. I didn’t see it coming thou, suddenly they just placed
it on my neck. Wow.
By the way, I have decided to upload
a picture and do you know why there is a thorn at its tail? I will not tell the
answer yet but you need to find out from The Green Connection during your
visit!
Other than fishes, there are actually
more that you can see in The Green Connection. You can visit my Facebook anytime you want for more pictures.
After the outdoor tours, we came to the
hall where there will be a showcase of fish feeding. I was so excited when I
saw one of the staff were diving and fed the fishes, sea turtles, stingrays, and
shark, because I am a diver too. So, I asked Mr. Eric whether is there any
packages for tourists to dive in The Green Connection, and he said yes! As for
the price, it’s below RM200, if I am not mistaken. But you can call them
anytime to their office for clarifications.
As the talk goes along, Mr. Eric started
to ask the ambassadors and finalists to pledge for “Say No to Shark Fins”
campaign. For me, this is not my first time pledging and it is a good campaign and awareness for the public and
tourists. To tell the truth, there is no nutrition from eating shark fins but
it contains mercury and it’s bad for health when you eat it most of the time.
Human who killed the sharks should feel ashamed when you see the displayed
pictures that can be seen on the walls. It’s really sad to see from 50 sharks,
and left 1 shark in the future, or none. Do you want to see such wonderful
creatures to extinct in the future and there will be no chances for the future
generations to know about sharks? Well, I do not want this to happen as I have
witness a baby white shark during Project Aware, it was a magic. Miracle! Trust
me. There are harmless, unless you harmed them.
We had some tea time after the pledge
and we had some photo sessions in a group. Funny moments when we are taking
pictures because we need to wait for the turtles or fishes or stingray be in
the pictures as well as they swims.
The last point for us before we said
thank you to Mr. Eric is where we can see starfish, some corals and crabs. I
just knew that the Crown of Thorns is dangerous as they will kill the corals.
So, this is it. I hope you will visit in
The Green Connection and do share with us for your experience there. Thank you
The Green Connection for hosting us and thank you Mr. Eric for teaching us, and
guiding us along the tour.
Here is the contact!
Mr. Eric Yu, Acting
Head of Education at Aquatica
Aquarium & Discovery
Centre Sdn Bhd
Kompleks
Badan Sukarela
Lorong
Bunga Matahari 2
Batu
2, Jalan Tuaran, Likas
88450
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA
Mobile:
+6016 823 3850
Email:
ericcoralinquiry@gmail.com, inquiry.aadc@gmail.com
