Inspired by English countryside and London Zoo half a century ago, John Payne ended up in Malaysia in the 1970s when the natural forest logging industry was giving way to large plantation expansion. He was privileged to have the opportunity to conduct wildlife and natural vegetation surveys in Sabah and Kalimantan, between 1975-2004, spending over 25,000 hours living inside the tropical rainforest. Several forest conservation areas in Sabah exist as a result of work done as a WWF-Malaysia staff with the Government of Sabah. He has authored several books on Sabah's natural history and was lead author of the Sabah Conservation Strategy (1992) with the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Development.
