I don't know whether this is something to be proud or ashamed of, but I can now cross "getting lost in the oldest rainforest in the world" off my life's "to-do" list. The feat was achieved a few days ago during my visit to Malaysia's Taman Negara national park, which boasts virgin jungle 130 million years old.
The first adventure was getting to the park. After a 3 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur, I hopped on a narrow wooden boat for another 2-3 hour trip up the river. The boatride was very exciting and quite comfortable, complete with a wooden roof to block the sun, nice cushy seats to lay down in, and a quick outboard motor on the back of the boat. On the river banks, enormous trees loomed on both sides. At one point when looking to the side of the river I saw something that looked like a branch sticking out of the water. When I realized that it was moving, it took me a second to realize that it was not a branch but actually an ENORMOUS python, at least 6 feet long, swimming up the river. I really couldn't believe my eyes, but there was no doubting what it was as we passed the slithering body making waves behind the head, which stuck out of the water like a submarine periscope. After that, I was looking more closely, and within a few minutes saw two more snakes right after each other, but neither as big as the first. We continued further and further into the jungle until reaching a small town at the junction of 2 rivers. The town was most unique for its various "floating restaurants" which sat by the side of the river like barges, connected to the mainland by precarious footbridges. I was delighted to find a hotel room for only 10 Ringit (less than $3U.S.) In the end, it didn't matter that the mosquite net was broken and had no A.C.--even though the walls didn't all reach quite to the ceiling, the mosquitos never bothered me, and the nights were pleasantly cool, a respite from the crushing humidity during the days.
My first afternoon, I set off on a short hike up to the top of a nearby hill and was rewarded by a wonderfull panoramic view of the surrounding rainforest. I planned a longer hike for the following day, complete with a visit to a nearby cave inhabited by bats. I had dinner with 2 spanish guys I met while watching a group of wild boars roaming through the camp (there were also monkeys that begged for handouts), and planned to meet up with them the next morning.
In the morning, after meeting up with 2 British girls and a Russian guy, we walked to the 'canopy walk' a series of cable suspension bridges connecting from treetop to treetop high over the ground. The bridges were wobbly and had a posted limit of 1 person every 10 meters, but after my bungee jump in Nepal I'm less fazed by heights. Again, the views were quite impressive, with some great closeups of the foliage. It was a great view of all the different layers of the forest.
We decided to continue to another nearby hilltop, but within the next half-hour, my companions began to abandon the group and turn back one at a time. By the time we reached the top an hour later, it was just Emma, my new friend from England, and I. We both agreed that despite the difficulty--including being COMPLETELY drenched in sweat (it was like we'd walked through a shower with our clothes on)-- the hike had been well worth it.
In the afternoon, Emma and I headed the opposite direction towards the 'bat caves' a few km south from the village (our companions again declined to join us in favor of resting). As we were leaving, clouds continued to roll in, and within half an hour it started to rain, then a few minutes later it REALLY started to rain. Walking through a rainforest in the middle of a rainstorm will stand up as one of those moments I'll always remember in life, and getting soaked didn't matter since as I already mentioned we were drenched to begin with. As we trekked through puddles, the path became a riverbed. We were just arriving to the cave when the rain finally let up.
After donning our headlamps, we entered the cave, following the rope to guide the way. Water from the storm was flowing down in, and the rocks were extremely slippery, so we proceeded carefully and slowly. After a few minutes we saw the first bats, hanging from the ceiling peacefully. Our lights and voiced apparently disturbed them, because a number of them began flying around the cavern. Undaunted, we continued further, only to find more bats inside each tunnel. The day kept on becoming more and more amazing, despite the unpleasant smell of bat feces. While walking, Emma had asked if she was the least girly girl I had ever met, and by the time we climbed out of the cave, covered in dirt and bat poop, I told her that she held the new record.
On the way back we watched the last sunlight hit the treetop canopy high overhead, and by the time we got back to camp it was completely dark. Fortunately we had our lights and were prepared for the night hike, which was another unique and beautiful new experience in this extraordinary place. Emma and I smiled, knowing that only a small proportion of the visitors to the park were brave and lucky enough to experience the things that we had seen that day.
Emboldened by the success of the day, I planned an even more ambitious itinerary for the next few days. Having a tent, sleeping bag, and other camping equipment, I decided to spend a night camping in the jungle. I rented a camping stove, bought plenty of food, and mapped out a 30 km loop around a scenic waterfall, which I would complete in 2 days with a night at a campsite half way. It would be great to be out on my own in the wilderness for a night, and after my experience hiking in Nepal it would be a piece of cake!
I set out the next morning, map in hand, complete with the same pack I had lugged for 2 weeks through Himalaya. The backpack made it alot more difficult, and within a few minutes I was even wetter than I had been the day before. Even worse, after my first hour hiking in sandals (my boots were soaked from the day before) I realized that my feet and legs were bloody, covered in leeches. Even though I was wearing socks, they had penetrated through and even managed to make it in between my toes. The bites aren't painful or dangerous, they're just gross and annoying, especially since the leeches use an anti-coagulant when they bite, which makes the bleeding difficult to stop. After picking each one off and cleaning the blood, I put on my wet hiking boots and continued. Nonetheless, the leeches proved determined, and within another hour they had managed to climb over the walls of the boots and up and down my legs. Later, when I took off my shirt and saw bloodspots, I realized that they had even managed to get to my back.
Not to be deterred, I continued on. Consulting my map, I knew I was getting close to the spot where I would cross the river to get to the waterfall. I was walking along when all of a sudden, I realized I had lost the path. I walked to where I thought it should be, only to find it wasn't there. I continued looking for it, and only found myself more lost each time. The jungle, I realized, is 100 times harder to hike in without a path. After more fruitless searching, I decided to head towards the river, which I knew from my map was closeby. Using my compass and making my way slowly, I managed to get to the river after only a few minutes, but realized I had 2 problems. First, I didn't know whether the path was upstream or downstream and, more importantly, I discovered that walking along the banks was virtually impossible in many places, making it impossible to just follow the river back down. I was frustrated and a bit nervous, but would have been much more worried if I didn't know that boats to the waterfall passed every day. I cooked a lunch of noodles by the river as I considered my options. I decided to try to work my way back into the jungle in search of the path, and was just packing up my campstove when I heard the sound of a distant engine, and was relieved to see a boat round the bend a few minutes later. They picked me up and brought me to the falls which, I discoverd, were only a few hundred meters past where I had arrived! It was quite a strange experience to have been lost in the jungle, beginning to get seriously worried one minute, and back surrounded by carefree middle aged tourists casually taking pictures of the waterfall the next.
Soaking wet, tired, and coverd with leech bites, I decided to take the easy way out and hitched a ride back to town with the boats, rather than spending the night in the jungle as originally planned. Nonetheless, I did end up getting more of a jungle experience than I had bargained for.
The first adventure was getting to the park. After a 3 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur, I hopped on a narrow wooden boat for another 2-3 hour trip up the river. The boatride was very exciting and quite comfortable, complete with a wooden roof to block the sun, nice cushy seats to lay down in, and a quick outboard motor on the back of the boat. On the river banks, enormous trees loomed on both sides. At one point when looking to the side of the river I saw something that looked like a branch sticking out of the water. When I realized that it was moving, it took me a second to realize that it was not a branch but actually an ENORMOUS python, at least 6 feet long, swimming up the river. I really couldn't believe my eyes, but there was no doubting what it was as we passed the slithering body making waves behind the head, which stuck out of the water like a submarine periscope. After that, I was looking more closely, and within a few minutes saw two more snakes right after each other, but neither as big as the first. We continued further and further into the jungle until reaching a small town at the junction of 2 rivers. The town was most unique for its various "floating restaurants" which sat by the side of the river like barges, connected to the mainland by precarious footbridges. I was delighted to find a hotel room for only 10 Ringit (less than $3U.S.) In the end, it didn't matter that the mosquite net was broken and had no A.C.--even though the walls didn't all reach quite to the ceiling, the mosquitos never bothered me, and the nights were pleasantly cool, a respite from the crushing humidity during the days.
My first afternoon, I set off on a short hike up to the top of a nearby hill and was rewarded by a wonderfull panoramic view of the surrounding rainforest. I planned a longer hike for the following day, complete with a visit to a nearby cave inhabited by bats. I had dinner with 2 spanish guys I met while watching a group of wild boars roaming through the camp (there were also monkeys that begged for handouts), and planned to meet up with them the next morning.
In the morning, after meeting up with 2 British girls and a Russian guy, we walked to the 'canopy walk' a series of cable suspension bridges connecting from treetop to treetop high over the ground. The bridges were wobbly and had a posted limit of 1 person every 10 meters, but after my bungee jump in Nepal I'm less fazed by heights. Again, the views were quite impressive, with some great closeups of the foliage. It was a great view of all the different layers of the forest.
We decided to continue to another nearby hilltop, but within the next half-hour, my companions began to abandon the group and turn back one at a time. By the time we reached the top an hour later, it was just Emma, my new friend from England, and I. We both agreed that despite the difficulty--including being COMPLETELY drenched in sweat (it was like we'd walked through a shower with our clothes on)-- the hike had been well worth it.
In the afternoon, Emma and I headed the opposite direction towards the 'bat caves' a few km south from the village (our companions again declined to join us in favor of resting). As we were leaving, clouds continued to roll in, and within half an hour it started to rain, then a few minutes later it REALLY started to rain. Walking through a rainforest in the middle of a rainstorm will stand up as one of those moments I'll always remember in life, and getting soaked didn't matter since as I already mentioned we were drenched to begin with. As we trekked through puddles, the path became a riverbed. We were just arriving to the cave when the rain finally let up.
After donning our headlamps, we entered the cave, following the rope to guide the way. Water from the storm was flowing down in, and the rocks were extremely slippery, so we proceeded carefully and slowly. After a few minutes we saw the first bats, hanging from the ceiling peacefully. Our lights and voiced apparently disturbed them, because a number of them began flying around the cavern. Undaunted, we continued further, only to find more bats inside each tunnel. The day kept on becoming more and more amazing, despite the unpleasant smell of bat feces. While walking, Emma had asked if she was the least girly girl I had ever met, and by the time we climbed out of the cave, covered in dirt and bat poop, I told her that she held the new record.
On the way back we watched the last sunlight hit the treetop canopy high overhead, and by the time we got back to camp it was completely dark. Fortunately we had our lights and were prepared for the night hike, which was another unique and beautiful new experience in this extraordinary place. Emma and I smiled, knowing that only a small proportion of the visitors to the park were brave and lucky enough to experience the things that we had seen that day.
Emboldened by the success of the day, I planned an even more ambitious itinerary for the next few days. Having a tent, sleeping bag, and other camping equipment, I decided to spend a night camping in the jungle. I rented a camping stove, bought plenty of food, and mapped out a 30 km loop around a scenic waterfall, which I would complete in 2 days with a night at a campsite half way. It would be great to be out on my own in the wilderness for a night, and after my experience hiking in Nepal it would be a piece of cake!
I set out the next morning, map in hand, complete with the same pack I had lugged for 2 weeks through Himalaya. The backpack made it alot more difficult, and within a few minutes I was even wetter than I had been the day before. Even worse, after my first hour hiking in sandals (my boots were soaked from the day before) I realized that my feet and legs were bloody, covered in leeches. Even though I was wearing socks, they had penetrated through and even managed to make it in between my toes. The bites aren't painful or dangerous, they're just gross and annoying, especially since the leeches use an anti-coagulant when they bite, which makes the bleeding difficult to stop. After picking each one off and cleaning the blood, I put on my wet hiking boots and continued. Nonetheless, the leeches proved determined, and within another hour they had managed to climb over the walls of the boots and up and down my legs. Later, when I took off my shirt and saw bloodspots, I realized that they had even managed to get to my back.
Not to be deterred, I continued on. Consulting my map, I knew I was getting close to the spot where I would cross the river to get to the waterfall. I was walking along when all of a sudden, I realized I had lost the path. I walked to where I thought it should be, only to find it wasn't there. I continued looking for it, and only found myself more lost each time. The jungle, I realized, is 100 times harder to hike in without a path. After more fruitless searching, I decided to head towards the river, which I knew from my map was closeby. Using my compass and making my way slowly, I managed to get to the river after only a few minutes, but realized I had 2 problems. First, I didn't know whether the path was upstream or downstream and, more importantly, I discovered that walking along the banks was virtually impossible in many places, making it impossible to just follow the river back down. I was frustrated and a bit nervous, but would have been much more worried if I didn't know that boats to the waterfall passed every day. I cooked a lunch of noodles by the river as I considered my options. I decided to try to work my way back into the jungle in search of the path, and was just packing up my campstove when I heard the sound of a distant engine, and was relieved to see a boat round the bend a few minutes later. They picked me up and brought me to the falls which, I discoverd, were only a few hundred meters past where I had arrived! It was quite a strange experience to have been lost in the jungle, beginning to get seriously worried one minute, and back surrounded by carefree middle aged tourists casually taking pictures of the waterfall the next.
Soaking wet, tired, and coverd with leech bites, I decided to take the easy way out and hitched a ride back to town with the boats, rather than spending the night in the jungle as originally planned. Nonetheless, I did end up getting more of a jungle experience than I had bargained for.
posted by Travis Snow @ 4:18 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
you're inspiring travis, keep up the great work, be safe and keep blogging. you're awesome!
I second Amir...but leeches? GROSS! Way to survive the jungle, Travis! And that part about the snake is just like a scene out of Anaconda. Oh, and Travis, you've now met both the least girly girl and the most girly girl (yours truly) ;-)
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home