Salin Sittisajjadharma The Orchid Hunter In the deep forest of Thai-Burma border, a young determined man was searching for something that is the passion of his life. On his back was a huge backpack but his two feet skillfully roamed the overgrown forest. If you ask me who this man is, I’ll have to say he’s Mr. Salin Sittisajjadharma, one of the most knowledgable botanist of Thailand who’s always in search of this rare plant, wild orchid. ‘I’ve always love trekking and taking photographs of trees and flowers. At first I took photos of everything but then one day I noticed that there were lots of orchids I found, up to the point that I couldn’t called them right. So I decided to seriously study it and I on my research, I found this book written by a westerner on Thai orchids which said that we have 1,900 different species in Thailand, which is 1/5 of all the orchids in the world. Then I started out searching for them.’ One by one, now Salin found enough orchids to show us in his 2 books. (Orchids Manual and Orchids of Thailand) Today he’ll be our searching for more, so we decided to tag along. His 4WD made its way up the Tanaosri Mountain. After a long and winding road, we finally arrived at the overgrown bamboo forest. ‘The first time I was here was last year. The officer here told me that there’s no enough informations on orchids in this area, so I decided to do it. And I found lots of them! So after that I came back as often as almost every two weeks.’ ‘There you go!’ He called for us to look at a dried log on the ground. There, we saw a very tiny matchstick-like bud. Salin told us it was one of the rare orchids called Uang Din Noi (Zeuzine Lindl) and quickly retrieved his camera to take some photos to put in his new book. ‘I’ve never thought of writing a book until I have loads of informations which I think must be useful to lots of people. Also books on orchids are even rarer than the plant itself! But it’s never been easy finding those orchids because I have to go find them in the deep forest in rainy season. You can imagine how messy that will be. I got paid for my book but I wouldn’t want to call it an occupation because there’s a lot more to me than just writing about them. It’s become my passion, my life. Some orchids have a very very short blooming period, say 3-4 hours a year. So whenever I found them, it’s such a rewarding experience.’ ‘Everyone is welcome to join me on the orchids searching trip. Then you’ll know there are more than just those same old orchids you know. And during the trip, I always tell people how we should let them stay in their original place. Because only there will they survive and shine. We’re not supposed to threaten the nature by doing it any harm.’ With a camera in his hand and determination in his eyes, I’m sure Salin will go on his search for this tiny, precious plant he loves. A wild orchid hunter of Thailand and of our time. Wanna join Salin on the orchid searching trip? Check out www.trekkingthai.com : Thailand Wilderness Study Room