In the sage words of Arkwright (Aka Ronnie Barker) from Open All Hours - “Its been a Funny ol’ year!”

 

Within a week of returning from my Sir Lanka Blue whale shoot in early March Malaysia announced its first lock down a week later on March 18th 2020. I was in fact very impressed by the immediacy and seriousness of their actions when many “first world western countries” and their supposed highly educated leaders were dismissing the rising COVID pandemic as just flu and no cause for concern.

 

Here in Malaysia businesses and schools were effectively shut down, travel prohibited, borders closed, only 1 person from each household was advised to make essential shopping trips. The wearing of face masks at all times in public was mandatory from day 1 and keeping a 2m social distance from all other shoppers advised whilst the rest of your family was advised to stay home.

 

With schools closed Homeschooling began!

 

It took awhile for the family to settle into any kind of decent routine with regards to homeschooling. The kids teachers were trying their level best to work out which online platform, as well as which smart apps, worked smoothly and were engaging for the kids, as well as come up with effective daily worksheets that could be accessed and printed at home. Initially these would come in at various times of the day on their school app - Class Dojo! Oh Boy! Each time we thought we had the kids settled with one piece of work then “Ping!” the phones or iPads went and another would come in on Class Dojo that needed looking into, printing or resources, arts and crafts dug out of cupboards and draws. We were lucky that by the end of the day if we had 50% completed!

 

However once we found our routine it was nice to work along side the kids and get a firm understanding of where they were educationally. As time progressed the school system became more organised and simplified, at the request of the “Class Dojo-worn-out-parents” with all of the days work now posted on a central google docs site first thing in the morning so that parents could look through, pick out what was appropriate and achievable, and then get their kids online and ready for registration by 8am.

 

I thought the first round of homeschooling went well as we were able to concentrate fully on the kids education at home as my business was effectively closed until further notice. Luckily we arranged for all our staff to be able to work from home with the company computers and hard drives and we continued with our post production projects allowing money to trickle in. My boys really loved any large scale homeschooling projects such as drawing out massive life cycles, food webs, human body systems on large posters which then covered any available wall or door space in the house. Walls were covered in multiplication tables, fractions and keyword spelling lists. I spent a small fortune on white board markers, colouring pencils and glue sticks. I inflicted multiple burns to my hands and fingers from “hot-gluing” toilet roll and cereal box craft constructions. Child size robot and alien costumes were made, cut down spray painted milk cartons festooned the back garden as homemade seedling pots with sprouting chilli, tomato, lime, and other fruit tree seeds. At this rate we were going to need a larger house and garden just to contain all of the homework and crafts projects! Unruly hair was also getting to be an issue and so I took the plunge and shaved my head much to my boys amusement!

 

But as extension upon extension was ordered and granted to the initial lockdown it wasn’t until June 9th that we were finally allowed to venture out as a family. We had already endured 4 lockdown birthdays in the house! Luckily one of our favourite parks and hill hikes through a lovely small forest is only 5 mins from the house and as soon as we could venture out we shot out there in a flash. The kids had boundless energy and shrieked, laughed and ran in the sunshine and fresh air - my wife and I were knackered!! But oh how fabulous it was to be in the great outdoors once more. This of course ended up with the kids finding stick insects, netting fish from drains, saving turtles and all their usual outdoor escapades and so yet more temporary insect cages and aquariums popped up inside and outside the house. Lime butterfly life cycles were studied as caterpillars were kept, fed, studied, allowed to metamorphose, hatch out and finally released back into the garden. Our giant stick insect family had now cycled through the first and second generation with another round of 3rd generation eggs being laid. The kids bought back and raised local stick insect species which in turn laid eggs and hatched out doubling our home population. A juvenile giant asian praying mantis was brought home and lovingly fed on live crickets as was a baby Tokay or Barking Gecko saved from a friends building site. A terrarium was built and planted for “Ollie Toolie” the  Tokay and daily feeding rituals amazed everyone in the family.

 

Home life was once again buzzing and as busy as ever and it wasn’t long until we quickly scheduled some local filming projects to try and boost the company resources. We had managed ourselves well so far and had kept all staff on but we needed jobs. First off was a mad 48hour no sleep film and photo documentary of a Malayan Sun Bear release into the rainforest reserves in the northern tip of Borneo. “Montom” had spent 5 years rehabilitation in the Borneo SunBear Conservation Centre and was now ready to be returned to the wild. You can watch the resulting short film of his release on our free online digital platform www.scubazoo.tv

 

https://www.scubazoo.tv/2020/08/03/release-of-montom-the-rehabilitated-sun-bear/

 

A few days after filming Montom we then went and filmed for a week at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre to create a new short film about the tireless behind-the-scenes work carried about by the Sabah Wildlife Department staff which run the centre.

 

Life out and about was so good and like many of the projects I film on I often wish my wife and boys could also experience the same places and animals and so I decided to craft a Borneo-Enderbys Adventure Road trip for the family and close friends of ours who also have young twin boys.

 

A couple of weeks later accommodation and guides booked, cars serviced and packed we set off in our 2 car convoy. First stop Poring Hot Springs Park just behind Mount Kinabalu here in Sabah, Borneo. At over 1000m the temperature is perfect and literally within 15 minutes of pulling up and entering our mountain chalet the boys had captured several beetles, moths as well as a stunned young bird which flew into the chalet window! Come rain or shine we spent all our time outside walking through the orchid and butterfly gardens, along nearby rainforest trails and the incredible canopy walkway suspended several hundred feet up in the primary rainforest trees. A friend of ours was developing some family land close by and the boys planted fruit trees, helped clear out the fish rearing ponds and save baby fish trapped in the receding waters and hand feed the water buffalo that was brought in to turn over the rice paddy terraces. Our road trip continued and we entered and explored Deramokot Forest Reserve on a battered old land rover. Sightings of wild orang-utans, red leaf monkeys, hornbills, wild boar, more moths, beetles and spiders to name but a few but alas although there was copious amounts of elephant poo, fresh and old, these amazing gentle giant forest pachyderms remained elusive. The road trip continued and along the way we picked up a car load of local fruits which we then took to Dr Wong at the Borneo SunBear Conservation Centre and sunbears that the boys had adopted through their school fundraising events. Dr Wong was amazing and took the boys and personally showed them the bears in the outside enclosures and explained their essential roles as rainforest architects by distributing seeds, digging out bee hives in tree trunks and controlling termite numbers. Dr Wongs second passion after Sunbears are living aquariums filled with local river and stream fish and volunteered to take the boys netting at a near by stream - a perfect end to an incredible day.

 

Next was a trip through the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre and we were rewarded by the appearance of a wild mother and baby associating with a rehabilitated orangutan mother with her wild born baby. Incredible. There were also a number of other orang-utans making their way through the rehabilitation process swinging about on the ropes and nearby trees. An awesome sight indeed. On our road trip back to our home in Kota Kinabalu we stopped once again at Poring Hot Springs and we all had such a magical time that we decided to extend and stay on for extra nights, but like all good things they had to come to an end.

 

Not long after returning to KK and planning more work trips and filming projects the 2nd Malaysian lockdown was announced at the end of August, just days after the kids had returned to school and days before I was supposed to head out filming once again.

 

Aaaaahhhhh! Just when we thought we had managed to pull through and keep everything together we once again faced more uncertainties and further Homeschooling!

 

"2nd times a charm” so they say but it’s fair to say not for kids and homeschooling!

 

Suffice to say the kids were getting pretty tired of the stay home, maths and english worksheets and to be honest with you our patience as homeschooling ‘full-time -work-from-home” parents was also getting thinner by the day.

 

Just before our 5th lockdown birthday of the year a friend of ours gifted us some baby leaf insect nymphs for the boys to raise and our menagerie expanded even further.

 

2020 wore on and the first proper rainy season began here in Borneo since the late 90’s. What followed was Rain, Rain, Rain, and yet more Rain and so maybe staying indoors was all for the best.

 

2020 plodded on, lockdown extended and rains continually pouring down it wasn’t until the very beginning of December that the rain and lockdown lifted and i was off straight back to Mabul island on Sabahs; east coast to look out and film once of the coral reefs most colourful and charismatic characters - the Peacock Mantis Shrimp for a UK based production company. The shoot went extremely well, weather, ocean and animals all played ball and we made it back home just in time for a quiet family Christmas.

 

2021 kicked off with incredible excitement, Trump was out, several COVID Vaccines were developed, certified safe and their roll out was imminent, everyone had high expectations of 2021. We had film projects lined up and were raring to go. Then the rains came as well as the 3rd Malaysian lockdown which meant homeschooling once more….arrrrggghhhh!!!

It was time for a new home lockdown project and of course it had to involve some kind of creature and this time it cam down to breeding Siamese Fighting Fish or Betta as they are also known! The boys and I got stuck in and modified containers and fish tanks we already to set up the breeding and brood chambers and it wasn’t long before we have our first batch of tiny fish fry which then needed a fresh supply of live fish food daily. Our once social and busy home bar was transformed into a baby brine shrimp hatchery and fighting fish fry nursery and excitement levels grew along with the number of fish in our house once more. When we start a project with our boys we try to make sure they see it all the way through and give it their best to be successful but as with the success with stick insect and leaf insect breeding we now had an abundance of baby fighting fish but i have to admit it was fascinating watching them grow up and develop their colours. Long story short it wasn’t long until we had to find homes not only for the leaf insects (which now numbered over 70!) as well as the now grown fighting fish.

 

Time trickled by until finally in March the rains cleared the lockdown was lifted and we were finally back out filming our 3 time postponed new SZ.TV series Borneo Ocean Diaries with local actress and presenter Alex Alexander. For those that have already explored our free online channel www.scubazoo.tv you may have already watched Alex and her previous adventures through the Borneo Jungle Diaries 2 series, if not then please feel free to head online and check them out. The first episodes of our new series follow Alex as she learns to dive before heading off with the Marine biologists that make up the Marine Research Foundation. MRF was founded by and run by Dr Nicholas Pilcher whom I came out and worked along side here in Malaysia over 25 years ago - its funny how life revisits itself as the years go by! The filming went smoothly, the weather played ball, Alex got stuck in and we all had some great adventures on and beneath the ocean as well as look into the threats the oceans and its maitre life faces.

 

Luckily we completed all of our filming on time at last and are now (at time of writing this) half way through the post production of the series as we are once again facing a 4th Malaysian lockdown, yet more homeschooling and curtailment of all other filming projects. We launched Borneo Ocean Diaries on May 23rd with the series trailer in conjunction with celebrating World Turtle Day and released a new Borneo Ocean Diaries episode each monday there after starting May 31st. With 8 episodes in total there’s plenty to keep you and your children entertained.

 

Unfortunately, like many others, we are now faced with a very uncertain future as we limp along business wise and try and revive the film industry which is still greatly hampered by slow vaccination programmes, travel bans and increasing numbers of COVID Variants and    several explosions in infections worldwide.

 

Who knows whats in store but we are grateful for our health, family and friends and will push on regardless - as I said at the start “Its been a funny ol’ year!”