Sabah Society
The Sabah Society
On 1st and 2nd May 2009, 13 members of Sabah Society's Sandakan branch visited Danau Girang Field Centre.
The Sabah Society is a non-governmental organisation that was founded in Kota Kinabalu in 1960 by a group of enthusiasts eager to record and preserve interesting and important aspects of the history, culture and natural history of Sabah which might be lost in the increasing surge forward towards modernization. A sub-committee was formed in January 2002 in Sandakan.
Among the notable achievements of the Sabah Society and its members are the establishment of the Sabah Museum and the Sabah Parks. Today, the Sabah Society is recognised as an important NGO promoting the conservation of Sabah's natural heritage and advising the state government on such matters.
The participants were welcomed at DGFC by Dr Benoit Goossens who gave an introduction on the history of the field centre. After dinner, he also gave a presentation on his work on orang-utan and elephant conservation genetics in the Kinabatangan and Sabah. The next day, the Society members were taken on a morning river cruise to observe birds, primates and other wildlife. They also took the opportunity to visit the forest restoration site and the eco-camp of the community-based conservation and ecotourism cooperative, MESCOT, an organisation which is based in Batu Puteh village.
* Photograph taken by Arthur Chung, member of the Sabah Society, Sandakan.