Text: by Ian Hall Photos: by Ian Hall and Fauzan Aris I’m not much of a beach person, much to my girlfriend’s disgust. Throw us onto a tropical island and she’ll head for the sand with her sarong and sun cream and I’ll head inland with my binoculars and mosquito repellent. Pulah Babi Tengah (Middle Pig Island!) off the coast of Johor, Malaysia used to be a refugee camp run by UNHCR back in the 70’s. I’m not sure how idyllic a refugee camp could be but former interns, mostly Vietnamese, now Australian, seem...

He held the mud crab still with his bare feet whilst deftly tying up the claws with a length of pink raffia. Job done, the fisherman tossed his catch into a bucket. On our request the second fisherman sorted us out half a dozen choice crabs and a bargain was done. Our two boats parted company and we left the fishermen to their work. Sungai Sedili Kecil is not on the tourist track but that’s why I was there as a guest of Wild Asia. Our job was to assess the community based eco-tourism tourism potential of this proposed Ramsar...