Sarawak Visit 2026

June 2026 sees Simon back in Sarawak working with our wonderfull partners the Sarawak Orchid Society (SARORSO) and MRSM School Kuching. This visit will include some very exciting work with some flagship Sarawak orchid species, continued development of in-vitro sustainable orchid production and awareness raising sessions across Sarawak....and lots of other things too. Each day Simon will post the latest news and below the latest posts.

You can read all about the history of the Project so far and a detailed diary of Simon and Annie's October 2025 visit here

June/July 2026 Sarawak diary

26th June 2026 - A day in MRSM School (part 1)

We have had a really bust first day here in Kuching unpacking orchids and seedling I brought with me from the UK. The plants have arrived very safe and healthy with their CITES permits, Export certificates and Phytosanitary certificates, and import permits.

The forst plants we worked with were seedlings in-vitro from our Portland Lab of Cymbidium dayanum.

The MRSM lab is making real progress with some great Sarawak seedlings coming on from seed collected in the schools licenced mini botanic garden (see below)

The Cymbidium dayanum plants are perfect for learning deflasking techniques and beginning to learn weaning skills.

Orchid seedling flourishing in the MRSM propagation laboratory

Students deflasking Cymbidium dayanum

22 pots of deflasked Cymbidium dayanum

26th June 2026 - A day in MRSM School (part 2)

We then moved on to sorting, planting and planning projects for the flowering size plants from the UK.

The three species, all targeted as flagship species for the Sarawak Schools Orchid Project are Phalaenopsis bellina, Dyakia hendersoniana and Dimorphorchid lowii. All three will be grown to produce seed for the MRSM propagation laboratory.

Students open the box and get to know the three flagship species

Phalaenopsis bellina flowering at our nursery

Phalaenopsis bellina is the state flower of Sarawak and is known by most Sarawakians although it is now sadly rare in the wild. It is however very common in cultivation.

Dyakia hendersoniana was pained in Kuching by Marianne North in 1876 and 1800 (the pink orchid in the middle) where it was once common. It is now very rare in Sarawak

Dyakia hendersoniana was first collected and exhibited in London in 1873 and the following 153 years of collecting and export have removed almost all the plants - it is however relatively common in cultivation. In 1986 Eric. A Christenson established the genus Dyakia honouring the Dayak peoples of Sarawak. The Dayak include diverse ethnic groups including the Iban, Bidayuh, Kenyah, Kayan, Kedayan, Murut, Punan, Bisayah, Kelabit, Berawan and Penan. As a Dayak, Benison (above) thinks that Dyakia is a great name for the orchid.

We have seen Dimorphorchis lowii in Sarawak and it epitamises the dramatic diversity of Sarawak' orchids with its remarkable habit of producing two very different flowers (yellow at the top and red lower down) on its extravagant 2m flower spikes

Students spent time looking for suitable places to plant each of the three flagship species amoungst the other orchids in their School Mini Botanic Garden. Careful note was made of the success of previous plantings on different trees around the school campus with different teams of students responsible for planting the different species.

the plants will recieve no special attension but their progress will be monitored weekly so that students can intervene if progress suggests that the chosen sites are not suitable in any way.

All the orchids were planted in positions where hand pollination can be carried out as soon as plants flower.

Dyakia hendersoniana plants planted attached to their existing mounts to reduce root damage

Phalaenopsis bellina with new roots facing the trunk of its host tree

Dimorphorchis high enough to allow for its long flower spike.

27th June 2026 - MRSM and Orchid hosts

A second day of activities started with a morning in MRSM School.

Students worked on preparing for an expo to share their work with teachers and other school pupils programmed for the week after next. Different teams are preparing to present their laboratory work; preparing growing media, sowing orchid seed and growing seedlings in the growth room, as well as explaining the School's mini Botanic garden and data from 4 years of detailed monitoring.

This was followed by a hands on pollination workshop especially for the Batch 6 students

In the afternoon we took the remaining majority of flagship orchid species plants toexpert grower and SORORSO member Laila. She will look after the plants until facilities are ready at the SARORSO headquarters in Kuching and ensure that seed is produced for the school laboraties.

Laila's plants are ones that SARORSO has resqued under licience from development sites and they are without question the best cared for and healthiest rescue plants I have seen in my travels across the tropical world. It was a treat to see Laila's plants and I will post some interesting species tomorrow.

Laila, Ena and Jana with Dyakia hendersoniana plants

Dimorphorchis lowii plants hung with extra shade for acclimatization.

Some of Laila'a rescued orchids

28th June 2026 - A walk in Kubah

I had a free day today apart for preparing for community events on Monday and Tuesday and so decided it was time to immerse myself in rainflores. Kubah National Park is only 20km from the centre of Kuching and is the dark green forested mountain south of the city. We were there with school students in 2019 and got absolutely soaking wet by the sky looked clear at 6.30am so I headed out to catch a bus.

Buses are a really cheap way to get around and having one that stops outside the national park is brilliant - and it only costs about 50p each way.

The waterfall at Kubah

Kubah has several well marked trails and I decided to take the Waterfall - stopping to spot orchids as I went (and butterflies and squirels and giant earth worms)

There were quite a few orchids, mostly high in trees or on fallen branches including several familia species and genera including Coelogyne, Eria, Appendicula, Agrostrophyllum, Bulbophyllum and Dendrobium. The top find was this lovely species in flower. It is new to me and I haven't yet identified it - probably Trichotosia sp. I will keep you informed.

The walk was lovely but just after I reached the waterfall the heavy showers turned into a tropical downpour and thunderstorm that lasted over an hour (I took my phone from its waterproof bag for the quick snap below) Needless to say, for a second time, Kubah left soaked . I dripped all the way home on the bus feeling invigorated and refreshed by the rainforest.

29th June 2026 - Awareness raising in Sibu Library and Bukit Lima Nature Reserve

Up at 4am this morning for a short internal flight to Sibu a district capital in the Central region of Sarawak. We went straight to the State Library ready for presenting 'Sarawak Orchid Conservation and sustainable innovation awareness programme'. The programme has been developed by our friends at SARORSO and linked to the state libraries community engagement teams.

A packed hall heard about the work of SARORSO from Pira, the orchids of Sarawak from Ena and and international perspective with stories from me.

The session was well recieved by the audience of community leaders, goverment department staff and public. The story of Dyakia hendersoniana generated a lot of interest. Special thanks must go the Ms Nur Amanina Mastani coordinating the event and leading the Community Engagement Team.

Next stop was Bukit Lima Nature Reserve in Sibu. This remarkable reserve is the first Peat Swamp Forest Reserve inside the boundaries of a city.

We met the staff team and gave them a Dyakia which they will have an important visitor plant withy them next week.

The reserve has fantastic deep peat that is wet all year around. The reserve is full of birds and has some orchids although most areas are regrowth. We spotted a bulbophyllum at the entrance and Dendrobium and possibly Vanda high on a distant dead tree.

30th June 2026 - Part 1 Awareness raising in Mukah

Our second awareness raising session was in the coastal town of Mukah. We arrived yesterday evening just as the sun set and managed to see the sun go down over the South China Sea on Mukah beach

Then an early start to set up at the Library. The Mukah session was even more inspiring that yesterays excellent session at Sibu. The audience was very inclusive with councillors, government agency workers, university students, community leaders and the public. Congratulations again to SARORSO and the State Library's Community Engagement team at Mukah.

The audience response to the session was very enthusiastic with committment to push things forward in Mukah from both local government (with a particular drive on sustainability) and individuals with 12 signing up to become SARORSO members on the spot which opens the oportunity of real action.

It was lovely too to meet and engage with university students studying horticulture and agriculture and really keen to get involved in orchid conservation. We were rather late leaving due to the many questions and photographs at the end!

30th June 2026 - Part 2 Dendrobium crumenatum day in Sarawak

An auspisious sign for todays session in Mukah Library was the abundant flowering of Dendrobium crumenatum on city trees all around us. I had noticed the buds last night and so was up extra early to enjoy the Dendrobium crumenatum festival outside our hotel

It is clear that in Mukah the council does not scrape orchids from the city trees as the council in Kuching does. The wonderful abundance of white orchids is truly breathtaking and a reminder of the importance of common orchids to inspire and engage.

Plants coordinate flowering by bursting exactly nine days after a rapid afternoon drop in temperature caused by heavy rain - we remember the afternoon rain on Day 7. So I clearly missed heavy rains in the week before my arrival. Flower stems reflower several times but I feel very fortunate to have seen this wonderful flowering in both of my last two visits to Sarawak

1st July 2026 - Visiting the Mayor and SARORSO

The Mayor of North Kuching has wide responsibilities for what happens in Kuching including its drive towards sustainability and today we were welcomed to a meeting with him in his office to talk about the possibilities for orchid conservation and community action in Kuching. We found him very interested in SARORSO's projects and captivated by the story of Kuchings Orchid, Dyakia hendersoniana, returning 150 years after its first removal from Kuching to London.

After a wide ranging discussion we headed outside to symbolically tie a Dyakia to one of the trees outside the Mayor's Office and let the media record the auspitious moment. Seeing the impact of just one Dyakia hendersoniana we look forward to the impact the first 10,000 seedlings will have.

We then headed to SARORSO headquarters. A lovely leafy spot in Kuching where SARORSO are building a hub for orchid conservation. It was lovely to help finish the propagation laboratory that will be opened tomorrow with the arrival of students and Teachers from YSIS School Kuching - the second school to join the project.

An enjoyable sessions with SARORSO members allowed some creative thinking of future plans and opportunties with a focus on skills and capacity building. This included an impromptu and jhoyful training session on orchid botany and pollination using the rescued Arundina graminifolia that surround the building.

2nd July 2026 - Developing laboratory orchid propagation skills with Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School YSISS

Today we were back at SARORSO headquarters in Kuching working with YSIS School students and teacher Ms Hanisah binti Hossain. Over the past two days the SARORSO team have been working hard today to get the propagation laboratory set up and today it was packed with peoplelearning new skills.

The three students Tiara, Afif and Moses were delighted to get stuck in after making a batch of growing media (above), sowed three different Sarawak Orchid species in-vitro (below).

Seed was sown using the green pod method, surface sterilizing almost ripe seedpods, slicing them open and then scattering seed in the growing media.

Teacher, Hanisah was very keen to have a go too, and once YSISS had finished SARORSO members learnt and used the same techniques.

After sessions on orchid botany, orchid diversity and orchid conservation students and SARORSO members learn orchid re-plate skills transfering seedlings from one jar to a fresh jar. The seedlings came from MRSM School.

It was lovely to see the new propagation lab up and running and the results look impressive.

3rd July 2026 - Continuing laboratory orchid propagation skills with Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School YSISS

In our second day of orchid lab workshops skills covered were sowing dry orchid seed in-vitro and de-flasking.

The YSISS School team and SARORSO Community members learnt how to sow dry seed in-vitro using the syringe method. Seeds of Cymbidium dayanum and Spathyglottis plicata were sown allowing the methods for floating and sinking orchid seed to be mastered.

Next came de-flasking Cymbidium dayanum seedlings brought from the Isle of Portland Orchids Lab.

Followed by developing skills in establishing orchids on trees using Dyakia hendersoniana and even a pollination workshop.

It has been an absolute privilege working with these committed students and community volunteers. The two days have been intense but new skills now cover all key aspects of producing and growing sustainable orchids from seed and everyone is excited for the future.

3rd July 2026 - Historical links for Dyakia hendersoniana conservation.

I have already mentioned (on 26th June) the importance of the Marianne North painting of Dyakia hendersoniana in Kuching, proof of the visibility of the species in Kuching in 1877 compared to the extreme rarity of the species here in 2026.

The historical links between Kuching and Marianne North are documented in Kuching's Museums and with an hour free I revisted the Ranee: Margaret of Sarawak Museum.

The museum follows the story of Magaret de Windt who married the second Rajah of Sarawak and left a lasting legacy.

Ranee Magaret with the Sarawak Ladies who became her friends

The museum includes this wonderful painting by Ranee Margaret of Marianne North painted in 1877.

In her journal Ranee Margaret described the intrepid artist as a source of great friendship and inspiration.

Marianne North painted wonderful views of Kuching such as the one below as well as her botanical works but part of me hopes that Marianne was finishing her painting of Dyakia hendersoniana when sketched by Ranee Margaret.

I hope that Marianne North and her good friend Ranee Margaret would be delighted to hear that her paintings and story are inspiring new efforts in conservation and sustainability today. Here is a link to the Mayor's Facebook page on our meeting two days ago. It is wonderful to see cooperation for conservation and sustainability so warmly embraced.

4th July 2026 - Exploring proposed Orchid Botanic Garden location, Santubong

This morning I had the exciting task of exploring the site of a proposed Orchid Botanic Garden near Kuching that would be developed in partnership by SARORSO the Forest Department and others.

The land is a section of forest at the foot of Santubong National Park just north of Kuching. The forest here has been largely untouched in living memory but appears to me to have been selectively logged in the more distant past given its easy access from the sea and lack of really old trees (like those found in Mulu National Park)

I joined knowledgeable local Park Ranger Wak Aristman and we crossed a small river and made our way up through the forest which was steep in places.

The lower section was much better quality forest than I had expected next to a road with some beautiful streams and pools.

As well as some iconic orchids including this very large Grammatophyllum speciosum (below) the world's heaviest orchid species

As we fought our way up through the forest it became denser and then more open and steeper as it changed into a boulder forest with giant rocks fallen from the mountain above.

The forest is not heavily populated in orchids but we spotted three Bulbophyllum species, Coelogyne, Acriopsis and Apendicla cornuta (below)

Other plants included pitcher plants (Nepanthes species) Ratan Palms (don'g grab a Ratan if you slip!) Pandan, ferns, hoyas etc.

Nepanthes species

Ratan species

I also spotted a beautiful 3m long brown snake - I am not sure of the species. It glided away from us and then decided to come back to have a good look at us. This is not a great photo but the first metre of snake is moving along the diagonal branch with its head hiden by a leaf.

Here is the orchid Acriopsis indica

Overall I feel the site has great potential for an sympathetic orchid botanic garden which will add to this lovely forest and keep negative impact on its biodiversity to a minimum.

5th July 2026 - Mount Singai

I first visited Mount Singai in 2019 when I was impressed with this intact forest around a sacred Christian Site and Church.

Today I travelled with SARORSO locals Alia and Susan (in the photo below) and we climbed slowly up the hundreds of steps to the church and on into the forests beyond.

The forest is rich in orchids but most are right up in the tree tops so a pair of binoculars and an excellent camera zoom are really useful. The Branches below have orchids including Strongyleria pannea, Dendrobium subulatum, Coelogyne sp. and Bulbophyllum sp.

The Aerides odorata we had seen in flower in 2019 were not in flower but some lovely and interesting species were including Bulbophyllum vaginatum (below)

And a terrestrial that was new to me - Corymborkis veratrifolia (below) with its first flowers open and lots to come

The biggest and oldest orchid we encountered was a giant Grammatophyllum speciosum on Mount Singai - giving a much better photo of this majestic orchid than yesterday's photo.

After the forest we headed to Alia's brother's place for a late breakfast of Durian fruit. A delicacy renowned as the world's smelliest fruit but one I have developed a taste for just like my Sarawak friends.

After breakfast we followed Alia's Brother (Tuk) into his local forest to look for wild Durian and had fun spotting orchids too.

Massive thanks to my hosts for a lovely Sunday outing.

Back in Kuching I spotted Bulbophyllum purpurescens flowering on a tree near my favourite cafe. We have seen Bulbophyllum purpurescens almost everywhere we have been. It is very distinct with its compact habit, purplish leaves (hence the name) and small pseudobulbs. It may be common but it is really lovely. It is interesting to have it here on the same post as Bulbophyllum vaginatum which has flowers on a similar theme but a very different growth habit and so you would never confuse the two.

6th July 2026 - Graduation

Today was a special day featuring the 3rd SARORSO Graduation, bringing together particpents from the three SARORSO projects, their supporters and advisors.

The three projects are; JIVOM the Juma'ani In-vitro Orchid Micropropagation programme, JOCCoP the Juma'ani Orchid Conservation Community Project, and PERANTIS creating opportunties for entrepreneurship and lifelong learning.

Certificates were handed out by Hajah Nancy Haji Shukri, Government Minister of Women, Family and Community Development. The wide range of academics, politicians and government officers present demonstrates the breadth of support SARORSO now has for developing community orchid conservation in Sarawak.

Graduates from MRSM School and the communities were very excited to take part in the day and I was delighted to have a photo opportuntiy with the MRSM graduates.

The extensive media interest generated by the high profile people present at the graduation will help to grow community awareness of community conservation in Sarawak

Despite the complex level of organisation needed for such an event the day had a relaxed feel and was a lovely oportunity to renew friendships and share experiences. Congratulations SARORSO.

Tomorrow we are back to the forest at Baco National Park.

7th July 2026 - Orchid ID in Bako National Park

We have had a really fun day at the wonderful Bako National Park with SARORSO members learing to ID orchids from vegetative characteristics. This method allows people to quickly name a forest's worth of orchids to genus level and so get a good idea of what they have. Naming all the orchids to full species level is really hard without flowers and of course most orchids in the wild only flower for one month a year or so. Fortunately I know the orchids of Bako really well having been there three times before.

We explored the wonderful rage of habitats Baco has to offer

Our wonderful guide Sabariman is a reptile and amphibian expert and he quickly found us a Borneen Keeled Pit Viper (female) - Very venomous but very lazy.

On the trip we found a total of 26 orchid species from 15 genera. A real highlight was Claderia viridiflora and clanbering terrestrial species with amazing flowers (below)

..... and Eria discolor flowering on a giant rock on the beach.

Everyone enjoyed the day and said that they learnt a lot - especially Sabariman who is now an orchid expert too.

8th July 2026 - Orchid growing tips and YSISS School visit

Today is my last full day in Sarawak. We spent the morning with SARARSO's orchid growing expert Laila at her house near the coast just outside Kuching.

I was very keen to learn her growing methods as her plants are clearly well cared for. Laila has a daily routing to visit her orchids every morning and every evening to clean away dead leaves monitor progress and talk to her plants (she clearly does plenty of listening too). She supplements natural rain fall in her shade net area with rice water and Aloe vera water (traditional Asian care methods) and gives a spray of liquid feed once a week.

She observes plants carefull to see if plants need to move higher or lower in her growing area considering light and dampness. Her growing area is full of plants but is very clean.

Her orchids a growing vigorously and flowering well. Plants in flower include Dendrobium anosmum and Robiquetia subulatum below.

Laila's ideal growing conditions are demonstarted by the multitude of Bulbophyllum purpurescens seedlings established naturally on her mounts.

The orchids imported at the start of the trip are looking well established and Laila has moved the Phalaenopsis bellina plants from pots to mounts to avoid pooling of rain water in their leaves.

The deflasked Cymbidium dayanum seedlings are looking well settled and having survived their first week out of flask look likely to grow forward very quickly.

The Dyakia hendersoniana plants all have active root tips developed since arriving under two weeks ago and the flower buds are swelling ready for pollination in a couple of weeks.

Congratulations again to Laila for her excellent horticultural skills. The success of both imported Sarawak native species and deflasked seedlings gives us confidence that the project is ready to move forward.

As you will know, one way that the project here in sarawak is moving forward is the inclusion of an additional school (YSISS) and in the afternoon we visited YSISS to meet the Head Teacher, her management team, teacher Hanisah and the YSISS students. A productive meeting was followed by planting a Dyakia hendersoniana at the school and touring the school to look at the proposed Orchid Lab site in a lovely science classroom. We are all excited to see the YSISS project develop.

9th July 2026 - Heading home

I am leaving Kuching today and heading home to Portland. Before I sign off I must again thank all the members of SARORSO and students and staff at MRSM and YSISS Schools for making me so welcome.

It has been wonderful to make a small contribution to such a wonderful project not just for the Orchids of Sarawak but for the community of Sarawak.

Annie and I will be back again in Sarawak in the not to distant future and we can't wait to see how the project develops over the next few months.

The wonderful members of SARORSO next to Crinium nothianum in Baco National Park

9th July 2026 - Update

Earlier in the trip I showed this interesting orchid I came across in Kubah. It is a species of Cylindrolobus (which has been recently split from Eria) despite a lot of digging I haven't been able to identify the species as it doesn't seem to be a good fit with any of the described species I have access to - an interesting prospect.

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