Sharing the Common Border

Malaysia and Thailand share a common border stretching from Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Kelantan in Malaysia; and Satun, Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat in Thailand. Malaysia's Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (BTFC) and Ulu Muda Forest Reserve are well within Thailand's Sungalakiri NP (National Park), Nam Tok Than To FP (Forest Park), Banglang NP, Bang Lang Reservoir, Si-Po Waterfall NP and Khao Luang NP (THAI-NPs). This paper intends to study the tourism potential of hornbill migration between BTFC in Northern Perak, Peninsular Malaysia and the enclave of THAI-NPs. BTFC is the only forest complex in Malaysia with 10 species of hornbill in the world. Plain-pouched Hornbill (Aceros subruficollis) is the fascinating species of hornbill that seasonally migrate daily in large numbers. An ongoing study by Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) on the migrating, roosting and feeding sites of the Plain-pouched Hornbill (PPHB) is in progress. There is no record of large daily migrating PPHB anywhere else known in the world. Preliminary observations indicate there is a possibility for PPHB crossing into Thailand from BTFC. This made it an important tourist attraction and a natural phenomenon worth conserving and perhaps promoting as wildlife cross border migration tourism. The methods include researching data from various sources and interviews. Results showed that the sheer large numbers of PPHB has been one of the attractions for bird watching and tourists visiting BTFC. Promoting this phenomenon will helps prevent the lost of the natural habitats sharing the same common border that support this PPHB. This study could promote the hornbill migration tourism with the indirect biodiversity conservation of our common border.