Kota Kinabalu's Unduk Ngadau 2012 (Part 2)

Unduk Ngadau owes its origin from the part of the KadazanDusun genesis story which pertains to the sacrifice of Huminodun, Kinoingan's only daughter. The Unduk Ngadau which derives its name from Tunduk do Tadau which means "Zenith of the Sun" crowned in the 'afternoon' completed the meaning of the Kaamatan (Harvest) Festival as the Unduk Ngadau is indeed the Tunduk which can grow and be the new shoot.

To this day, the KadazanDusun people have included the Unduk Ngadau Pageant as a grand part of their Kaamatan Festivals. It is a manifestation to the deep sense of respect and admiration that the KadazanDusun people have for the legendary Huminodun.

Here is the Part 2...the next 7 KK Unduk Ngadau Finalists.

Contestant No. 15 - Colleen Ineme Bernard

 

Contestant No. 14 - Jun Mitchelle Maisi

 

Contestant No. 13 - Fenney Doimis

 

Contestant No. 12 - Rounnah Beb Robert Sylvester

Contestant No. 11 - Vanessa Samantha Manih

Contestant No. 10 - Fiona Anthony Lijua

  

Contestant No. 9 - Frederica Fabian Peter

All Pictures Copyright @kotakinabalutourism.com

Kota Kinabalu's Unduk Ngadau 2012 (Part 1)

The KadazanDusunMurut (KDM) Kaamatan festival (also called Harvest Festival) is perhaps the most indigenous and grandest festival in Sabah. Merry celebrations are held at all levels commencing from the kampong (village), then the district and climaxing at the state level.

To the KDM, the Kaamatan festival is particularly significant as it marks the occasion to thank God for their bountiful harvest and for His generosity in prolonging life on  earth. It is also an occasion where the promise of friendship and brotherhood is renewed through mutual forgiveness as manifested in the open-to-all sharing-caring Kaamatan festival.

In every Kaamatan festival, the Unduk Ngadau (beauty queen)  Contest assumes the highlight of the day's occasion. To the KDM, it is the culmination of all the activities undertaken as symbolic response to Kinoingan's ever-bounding love for his people.

The Unduk Ngadau Contest for the City of Kota Kinabalu this year, 2012, was held on the 18 of May  at the City Hall and 15 beautiful contestants (all finalists) had participated in the contest.

The Unduk Ngadau was commenced with a brief speech
by  Datuk Abidin Madingkir, Kota Kinabalu's Mayor

Let's take a look at  the contestants for KK Unduk Ngadau...

Contestant No. 8 - Anjelica Gantasim

 

Contestant No. 7 - Charlyn Sylvester Sherman

 

Contestant No. 6 - Debra Maclene Sylvester

 

Contestant No. 5 - Natasha Aprillia

 

Contestant No. 4 - Samantha Natasha Miles

 

Contestant No. 3 - Cassandra Devi

 

Contestant No. 2 - Vera Ginsu

Contestant No. 1 - Petronas Pitoro

All the 15 KK's beautiful Unduk Ngadau contestants...Round 1

To be continued...


All Pictures Copyright @kotakinabalutourism.com

Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) 2012

Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) is an annual event in KK and this year, 2012, is its 4th year. KKIFF states that this year it will be organizing an even more exciting and memorable event. The event, to be held from 08 to 14 June, will provide to the people of Kota Kinabalu exciting opportunities and be able to enjoy various international and local movies while increasing their knowledge on film-making.

Firstly, it will be showing several foreign films from countries such as France, Japan, Germany and the Philippines. Secondly, a filmmakers’ competition called ‘Links5’ (which it has already announced and will end on May 9) in which 3 cash prizes totaling RM8,000 will be presented to the winners. This competition is opened to Malaysians who live in Malaysia. A workshop for the ‘Links5’ Filmmakers’ Competition will be held at which reviews and comments will be made for chosen entries.

This year the Sabah Film Forum, held over the weekend of 09 and 10 June will present four workshops: ‘Story-telling’, ‘The Work of the Producer’, ‘What a Cinematographer’s Work Involves’ and ‘How to Write Proposals to Get Funding for Your Movie’. The workshop front runners will come from KL and beyond -  famous people in the film industry. There are no fees charged and anyone who is interested in film-making can attend these workshops.

Also for the first time, KKIFF 2012 welcomes short film submissions from Malaysian movie makers and selected submissions will be shown for free on 10 June from 7.30pm-9.30pm. There will be Questions and Answers session after the screening of each film so that people at these workshops will have a better understanding of what each director is trying to express through his work.

The video above is one of the short films submitted for the 'Links5' competition. The film "Treasure" is directed by Dulie Hamdan and acted by Artorbelly Evali, Robinson Ken, Jeremy Alsten and Nathasius Julian.

Borneo Pygmy Elephant

Borneon Pygmy Elephant

When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) carried out a DNA analysis in the year 2003 on the pygmy elephants, it was proven that pygmy elephants are distinct from elephants in other parts of Asia and therefore was recognized as a subspecies. However, scientists are still doubting if the Borneo Pygmy elephant is an animal endemic to Borneo island. They made a speculation that these elephants could originate from Java which they believed was abandoned by the Sultan Sulu in the seventeen century. The Javan elephants has long been extinct on the island of Java.

Borneo pygmy elephants are smaller and are significantly less hostile than other Asian elephants. The males may grow no more than 8.2 feet, while other elephants grow up to 9.8 feet. They have rounder faces, bigger ears, and tails that reach nearly to the ground and are more rotund.

Before WWF came to Borneo, no one had ever carried out a study on the pygmy elephant. When their habitat becomes smaller, they get into more recurrent confrontations with people over land and food.

In June and July 2005, Dr. Christy Williams and Raymond Alfred led a study on this elephant, a joint venture study carried out by Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy proggramme and WWF Malaysia. They succeeded in attaching satellite collars to five pygmy elephants in different herds in Sabah. This was a ground-breaking challenge to understand more about the elephants and their habitat.

The collaring is part of the first scientific study ever made on this little-understood population. The preliminary data has already given information about the activity of these elephants and their use of the forests in Sabah. The information is critical in helping officials in Malaysia make land-use decisions.

Just last month (March 12), a corridor project to connect fragmented forests in Sabah to help in the survival of the elephants was announced by the state government. The 50 meter forest corridor strip, also called the Melapi Elephant Corridor in Sukau is making a huge difference in the survival of the Bornean pygmy elephants.

The elephants can now pass through the land using this corridor to travel from one key habitat to another. Before, it was a very narrow bottleneck and the elephant suffered a lot. This introduction of the corridor will also be able to greatly reduce the potential human-and-elephant conflict which happens mainly in villages and plantation.

Tarsier, the Unique Nocturnal Primate

Lad, seen here eating insects - picture via Bernama

A palm sized male tarsier (Tarsius Syrichta), a nocturnal primate, was rescued early last month, (March 7). It was found in a new oil palm plantation, on the land owned by villagers who live in the Gomantong (Sandakan district) area.

Saroto Payar, who is the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) field research assistant brought the tarsier to the centre. In order to learn about its home range, it was fitted with a radio collar.

Cardiff University student Alice Miles, who is the head of a project on the ecology of tarsier and slow loris at the DGFC, said the rescued animal was placed in a cage for a day and was given insects before it was set free into the jungle.

“We fitted him with a radio-collar and put him back into the wild. We call him Lad which is short for “ladang” or plantation in Bahasa Melayu, and which also means male in English."

“The next night, we returned to the forest and searched for him with the help of our telemetry equipment."

“Lad was seen at about 150 to 200 metres from where he was freed, looking for food on the ground”, Miles said."

Dr Benoit Goossens, the director of DGFC, said knowing the habitat needs, diet and social organisation of tarsiers is critical to developing conservation policies for tarsiers.

“We have so far, besides Lad, collared another four tarsiers in the area of the field centre in Lot 6 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary."

“A short while ago, two females were fitted with radio collars allowing us to discover their sleeping sites and map their home range. We hope that Lad will meet one of these two females in the near future,” Goossens said.

He said the nocturnal primate project at DGFC is funded by three American zoos — Columbus, Cleveland and Phoenix.

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/03/12/rescued-tarsier-to-provide-info-on-home-range/#ixzz1sMdynITQ

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Try Deep Sea Fishing in Sabah

 

Third Place in the Sabah International Fishing Tournament

There are many fishing spots in Sabah but one that is near to Kota Kinabalu and is a favourite spot for many anglers here is the sea near Pulau Mengalum, also called the "Mysterious Island". It is called a mysterious island because not many locals have been to that place and the sea there is said to be always calm.

I have interviewed one of the KK anglers. His name is Liborius Kasun and currently works full time helping his family supervise their family-owned rubber plantation at Kimanis, Papar. Fishing is his favourite hobby and together with some friends who themselves are 'part-time' anglers will plan for their fishing outing whenever they can afford to take a few days off from their work.

Second Place in the Discovery Anglers Tournament

The conversation below is based on Liborius's fishing experience in the deep sea off the coast of Sabah.

One of the big catches

KKTCom: Where is the fishing spot? (referring to the video posted here)

Lib: I'm not sure of the exact location but we went past Pulau Mengalum (Mengalum Island). So, I would say maybe a few miles away from that island. Pulau Mengalum is on the northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

KKTCom: How many days is the fishing trip?

Lib: We spent 3 days and 2 nights enjoying our fishing adventure.

KKTCom: Where do you hire your boat?

Lib: We have a friend who has a boat. He charges between RM2,800.00 to RM4,000.00 depending on the size of the boat and number of days of the trip.

KKTCom: When is the best time of the year to go for fishing?

Lib: It is usually between May - July when the sea is calm and less rainy. But it is difficult to say now because the weather is becoming very unpredictable. So I advise it is best to check the weather forecast first.

KKTCom: Can you recommend the best fishing spot in Sabah?

Lib: I am planning to go fishing at Pulau Layang-Layang with my friends. I heard there's an abundant of fish in that part of the sea. Other places I've heard are Pulau Mantanani near Kota Belud, and Pulau Tiga (the Survivors Island). There are also other many good fishing spots in Sabah but are less known.

Another big catch - a Red Snapper

KKTCom: Can you share with us some of your best fishing experiences?

Lib: In one of my deep sea fishing trips, I used a small live Baraccuda fish as a bait. We were fishing at night and to my surprise I caught one big Garouper weighing 13kg (shown in the video in this posting). It was very exciting and I had to struggle for more than 10 minutes to pull a fish of that size out of the sea. It was awesome and a very fulfilling experience.


KKTCom: Did you ever participated in any of the local fishing tournaments?

Lib: Oh yes! many from kampung (country) to state level, I have done that. The biggest win I and my angler friends have achieved so far was our participation in the Sabah International Fishing Tournament, which was held in 2010. We were placed third and we received RM5,000.00 cash reward.