The Star, Malaysia : Irshad Mobarak - The natural naturalist

Saturday, May 24, 2003

Irshad Mobarak - The natural naturalist

By DEEPAK GILL

IF THERE’S one human figure that the wild animals of Langkawi are familiar with, it’s got to be Irshad Mobarak.

The 44-year-old naturalist spends his working days and free time creeping around the forests and mangroves. Besides being a resort guide, he’s also an experimental farmer – he cultivates mushrooms.

According to Irshad, the yield from a little 5m by 5m plot in the forest makes him more money than a farmer who has a 1.6 hectare rubber plantation. He said he tried farming to see if it was possible to do it commercially without clearing the land or causing any damage to the surroundings.

“I found a little space on the forest floor, and planted oyster and abalone mushrooms. They started sprouting after a month, and peaked at three months. I could collect 10kg a day for the next three months.” He sold the produce to a resort for RM6 per kg, making him between RM1,200 and RM1,600 each month.

Irshad did not use pesticides, chemical fertilisers, or clear any trees. As a growing base, he used organic stuff like sawdust and rice husk. He cultured his mushrooms on a platform so animals could move freely beneath it. To repel pesky squirrels, he built a cage with a mosquito net.

“It’s a great way for a local villager to supplement his income,” said Irshad. He has other ideas too. “You could use different levels of the rainforest – orchids can be farmed up at the canopy, and I’ve successfully done that. And you could also do bee-keeping for wild honey.”

He added that it would be great if permission is given to rear mouse deer so that the wild ones aren’t hunted.

The point of Irshad’s experiment is to show that farming need not be monoculture. There are many alternatives to large-scale forest-clearing. Irshad’s low-damage, high-yield concept is sometimes known as precision farming. “Why cut down four acres (1.6ha) of rainforest when you can make money by mimicking the intelligent forest system?” he asked.

Irshad has been employed at the Datai Bay Resort for the last 10 years. This knowledgable Negri Sembilan native felt uneasy when he moved from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur many years ago. He worked in banking for five years before realising the lifestyle didn’t suit him.

A vacation in Tioman Island became the turning point for him – “I realised I needed to be closer to nature. I then quit my job, travelled and ‘bummed’ around for a couple of years.” Then he found Langkawi – and his new home. “I saw the potential for nature-related work. I got a job as recreation manager at Datai, and at the same time was involved in conservation work. I bring up issues on the needs of the island to the authorities.”

After two years in this post, Irshad offered to be a guide for nature walks. It was so popular that a new position was created for him – that of a naturalist, a first for Langkawi at the time. Now, several other resorts too have naturalists, including one trained by Irshad.

He normally has two nature walks a day: Rainforest Awakening in the morning and Langkawi After Dark in the evening. “During the walks, we spot lots of birds as Langkawi has recorded 190 species. I talk about the trees, medicinal plants, and point out animals like monkeys and insects. It’s a sensory experience – not just sight but sound, smell and touch.”

“The reactions are always positive, with a lot of compliments. The tourists are very appreciative of these sort of things. Their stay becomes more meaningful, they are more aware of their surroundings, and their minds are awakened.” He said initially most clients were older Britons and Germans, but these days there are young Scandinavians, Japanese and Singaporeans. Irshad also does mangrove tours in kayaks or motorised boats. He said many repeat guests do the nature walks more than once.

At the moment what concerns him is the fragmentation of habitats. “What was once one vast ecology has been fragmented into zones. Animals on an island are more vulnerable to extinction, especially when they are isolated and unable to move around.”

Irshad feels core ecological zones need to be identified and permanently secured. He is also worried about the eagle-feeding sessions where tourists are taken on boats into the mangroves. It is quite a sight to see dozens of large raptors circling over you, but Irshad feels it’s bad for the birds.

“What’s going on is that you are habituating a wild animal to take feeds from humans. These animals (white-bellied sea eagles and brahminy kites) usually feed on fish. Now they are given chicken gut, and these are from farmed chickens that carry antibiotics and hormones, which is unhealthy.”

A potentially disastrous result could be the decimation of the island’s eagle population. “If the chickens have any diseases, it would be easily spread to the eagles, as it would be a bird-to-bird transmission. Contaminated feeds could kill a lot of birds, as each feeding attracts between 50-100 birds.” He predicts that someday such a tragedy would occur.

Irshad’s been on the beautiful island for a decade, but has no plans to leave. “I’m lucky because I enjoy my work. It’s all the same – my work, my hobby, my passion – they are fused into one.”