I just got back from the Philippines (DUW)

[Dexenthes]

Hey everyone. I just returned from a two week trip to the Philippines last night. I had the wonderful opportunity to see 9 species of Nepenthes in the wild and countless more hybrids, orchids, insects, and other critters. It was an unforgettable experience for sure. I will now post for you, many of the highlights of the trip, though this does not even remotely account for the number of pictures I actually took.

Starting off towards Mt. Victoria - heavy rain



N. philippinensis







We had to cross the river many times



Weird ant-plant



Jungle Moon



U. striatula







The view from my first campsite



More N. philippinensis

 

[Dexenthes]

U. heterosephela





















Leech lovers



The sap is valuable to the locals



Horned Toad



A glimpse at the pre-summit trail





N. attenboroughii habitat



N. attenboroughii

 

[Dexenthes]

Seedling



Growing sympatrically with D. ultramafica







planarian



U. heterosephela





These next pictures are from Mt. Mingan















N. alata

 

[Cthulhu138]

Love the shot of the Megophrys. Their call is probably the most frightening of any frog I've heard. A horrific screeching sound mixed with a baby crying. Must make the blood run cold at night in the jungle if you don't know what it is. Hell, made my blood run cold in my basement when I knew exactly what it was.

 

[Dexenthes]

This is thought to be a new species, described as being half-way inbetween N. ventricosa and N. sibuyanensis





















These pictures are from Mt. Kiamo

N. mindanaoensis







Parasitic flower

 

[Dexenthes]

N. pulchra









There was a single plant of N. siragaoensis



N. cecilae





There were innumerable hybrids on the mountain. Here we have N. pulchra x cecliae and N. pulchra





Moar N. pulchra





Very red N. pulchra







There were just a few plants of N. truncata

 

[Dexenthes]

I think this is a truncata hybrid of some kind



Complex cecliae hybrids were quite nice...










Anyway thats all for now folks! Enjoy

 

[amphirion]

Trips like these are always exciting. glad i didnt have to deal with leeches!
thanks so much for sharing, the plants look amazing!

 

[pokie22]

Nasty little suckers. I try to avoid leeches, if possible. There are just some places they don't belong so I am living the experience vicariously through your pictures. Thanks for sharing

 

[Ambanja]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing! Loved those Pulchra!!!

 

[mato]

Although it's been pretty stale lately, I check this forum in hopes of seeing threads like these. Those are some of the nicest examples of attenboroughii I've seen. The same can be said about most of the plants in this thread. Thanks, Dex!

 

[Dexenthes]

Love the shot of the Megophrys. Their call is probably the most frightening of any frog I've heard. A horrific screeching sound mixed with a baby crying. Must make the blood run cold at night in the jungle if you don't know what it is. Hell, made my blood run cold in my basement when I knew exactly what it was.

Yeah that was probably the coolest amphibian I saw on the trip by far. Its hard to say if I even heard them. The jungle was so loud at night, there were so many noises; it was hard to tell what was an insect a bird or an amphibian.

Trips like these are always exciting. glad i didnt have to deal with leeches!
thanks so much for sharing, the plants look amazing!

The trade off was that there weren't too many mosquitoes, so yeah they weren't too bad. You just have to be vigilant about picking them off!

Nasty little suckers. I try to avoid leeches, if possible. There are just some places they don't belong so I am living the experience vicariously through your pictures. Thanks for sharing

Well I am glad I could provide that service for you.

Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing! Loved those Pulchra!!!

Although it's been pretty stale lately, I check this forum in hopes of seeing threads like these. Those are some of the nicest examples of attenboroughii I've seen. The same can be said about most of the plants in this thread. Thanks, Dex!

Not a problem guys! It's always fun to share these things with you peeps.

 

[swords]

Excellent shots! That "weird ant plant" is hilarious - for reasons I'd rather not type here...

 

[hcarlton]

Great shots! N. attenboroughii is always a showstopper, but the color on the pulchra are fantastic! Those are some FAT truncatas, too. By the way, the creature you labeled as a planarian is actually a hammerhead slug. Interesting animal nonetheless though....

 

[bluemax]

Beyond awesome. Thanks for photographing, and posting, the amazing biota there.

 

[Dexenthes]

Excellent shots! That "weird ant plant" is hilarious - for reasons I'd rather not type here...

Oh well then you would probably find the upper pitcher of N. surigaoensis quite interesting.

Great shots! N. attenboroughii is always a showstopper, but the color on the pulchra are fantastic! Those are some FAT truncatas, too. By the way, the creature you labeled as a planarian is actually a hammerhead slug. Interesting animal nonetheless though....

Thank you thank you, noted.

Beyond awesome. Thanks for photographing, and posting, the amazing biota there.

Any time I have the chance!

 

[corky]

double post

 

[corky]

that looks like an awesome experience ,great to see in situ pics,attenboriughii has got to be my favorite ,love all the critters too ( was this trip organised through Redfern)

 

[Dexenthes]

that looks like an awesome experience ,great to see in situ pics,attenboriughii has got to be my favorite ,love all the critters too ( was this trip organised through Redfern)

Yes this was a Redfern expedition. Glad you enjoyed!

 

[RL7836]

Dex,
Thanks so much for sharing pics of your trip!. Feel free to share more - neps, non-neps, non-cp's, critters, landscapes - anything that represents pieces of your journey. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about the trip - while they're still fresh - impressions from the travel, the cities, the villages, the hiking, the prep, the temps, etc, etc, etc.