Jungle trekking

When we woke up the pouring rain had ceased and the day looked like a great day for some serious jungle trekking! We gathered our belongings, checked out from the guest house and headed for the floating shops on the river. Luckily we weren't the first hikers to explore these jungles and the shops had canned food, chocolate bars etc. for sale. We bought canned chicked, chocolate and some water before crossing the river with a small boat for one ringgit per person.

The Horned Beast!

On the other side of the river we had to report to the park headquarters before walking any further. The officer there was very friendly and helpful when I asked about spending a night in the jungle. We could have used our tent but Inna wasn't too fond of the idea :). Instead we chose to spend the night in one of the watch towers nearby for five ringgits per person. The officer asked me if I knew how to get to the tower we wanted to use and as I had no clue, he was kind enough to explain it to us with a hand-drawn map. "Walk along the river and cross three bridges. When you meet the fourth bridge, walk back a hundred meters, cross the river and the tower is there." he said. Okay, that didn't sound too difficult I thought and we were ready to go.

The day was still young and the world's longest canopy walkway is in Taman Negara so naturally we wanted to see that one first, before even thinking about sleeping :). Unfortunately the walkway was in another direction so we'd have to come back to the headquarters after seeing and walking it. The walkway is a popular destination in the jungle so the trail was easy to follow and mostly in good condition. Along the way we saw many information signs telling about various plants and animals living in the jungle. Many of the plants were used for medical purposes and it seemed like they could cure almost any disease with the right plant. Perhaps they'll find a cure for cancer there too!

One of the phone trees

And it wasn't just signs we saw! We had the privilege to see a few big lizards, a fowl of some kind, squirrels, ants, termites, a big horned insect and many beautiful and strange-looking plants and flowers. The fowl could have been a male Red Junglefowl but it was camouflaged so well that I didn't even try to take a picture of it. Inna spotted it first and it was next to impossible to see it unless it moved. The lizards moved slower and the beautiful insect stood still so I was able to take a few nice photos of them. Naturally the plants weren't running away either, although in one of the signs they wrote that bamboo can grow a meter or even more per day! We also saw a huge "phone tree", which has been used for long distance communication in the past. The way it works is that you take a wooden stick and hit the giant root of the tree to produce a sound that will echo through the jungle :).

The distance to the canopy walkway wasn't long but it took quite a while for us to walk it because I wanted to stop to read every possible information sign :). I felt like a little boy there in the middle of the jungle. Everything was so interesting and it felt unbelievable to see and feel it all after reading quite a lot about it as a child.

The canopy walkway

As we got closer to our destination Inna started telling me more and more often that it was so hot and that we should slow down. I've hiked with her quite a lot and I knew that she could easily walk faster and to me it didn't feel too hot either. I thought that she was just wearing too much to avoid the leeches but when we finally reached the walkway she threw up and I realized what was wrong. I didn't know what made her sick and it got me a bit worried. We sat on a bench for a while and she didn't feel like taking the walkway at all but told me to go. I didn't feel so good about leaving her there but rushed through the wobbly walkway anyway, taking a few pictures on the way. The walkway wasn't as special as I thought it could have been but it was at least another new experience for me. When I got down I started running back up the stairs to Inna to see if she was ok.

She was totally pale when I got to her but she said she felt a bit better after throwing up a few times. We started walking back slowly towards the headquarters and I was surprised to hear that she still wanted to spend a night in the tower. It seemed like she was getting her strength back and we continued our way towards the watch tower. The trail was similar to the one we used before and it was easy to walk there. The only exceptions were the places where we had to cross small streams by climbing down and up steep river banks. Not far from the headquarters we saw a swimming area in the river and wondered who would want to swim in water like that...

The beach

It took a while before we met the first of the four bridges but after that it didn't take long before we met the second and the third one too. At some point we saw a small jungle village and heard some strange noise from there. I took a picture of the village and we moved on. We didn't feel like finding out what the noise had been. Somewhere along the path we smelled something nasty, like a rotten carcass. I had read that a huge carnivorous plant can smell like that but unfortunately I couldn't find the source of the smell.

The distance signs in Taman Negara were really something. More often than not the real distance was even five times longer than the one mentioned in a sign. This was the case again on the way to the watch tower as we spent almost two hours on the path that was supposed to be three kilometers long. When we finally found the fourth bridge we turned back and started looking for the path to the other side of the big river. Soon we found a sign showing the way to the tower and walked along the small path to the river, only to realize that there was no bridge across it!

I cursed the officer back at the headquarters for not telling us this "little detail" and we started thinking about what to do. Inna was totally not going to cross the river by walking in it and I have to admit that I wasn't so fond of the idea either. The river was wide and the stream strong and I had absolutely no idea what might lurk under the brown water. I wondered if they have crocodiles in Malaysia...

It was already pretty late and I wasn't sure if we could make it back before it got dark. Therefore I put on my water shoes and started to look for a good place to cross the river. I checked the other side and looked for a trail. I couldn't see any. I decided to head for the only place where it looked like I could actually get to the river bank without a machete. The water wasn't too cold but the rocks on the bottom made walking pretty cumbersome. I walked back along the river for about fifty meters before I slowly started crossing it. At first I was thinking about leeches and parasites and checking the surface for crocodiles but soon the stream was so strong that I had to use all my concentration not to fall.

Crossing the river

The thing that worried me the most at this point was the depth of the river. It was the rainy season after all and it usually raises the water levels. When the water reached my knees I had to slow down and start sliding my feet on the bottom of the river to keep my balance. It was awfully slow and it felt like the river could take me any second. I was once again glad that we had bought the water shoes as they were protecting my toes from the stones. Slowly I was getting closer to what seemed to be the middle point of the river and I hoped it would be also the deepest point. The water had reached my hips and I knew that I couldn't stand there if it raised more. A few small steps more and I felt how the river was getting shallower! It was still slow to move but I knew that I would make it.

When I reached the other side I saw a sign saying that the tower should be a hundred meters upriver. I was glad about it and yelled to Inna that I would go to check it. And there I was, running along a narrow jungle path with only underwear and the watershoes on. I really felt like the Phantom himself! I ran something clearly more than a hundred meters again but the tower was there! It was a lot bigger and fancier than I had expected but at this point it was only a bonus. I ran back quickly and told the good news to Inna. Now we only had to cross the river with our backpacks!

Our hotel for the night

Crossing the river had been difficult enough for me so I decided to take my backpack first and then come for Inna's backpack and help her to cross it too. It took a while but in the end we made it to the other side without big problems. When we got to the tower we found out that it was empty and it seemed like we would spend the night alone. I guess Inna would have liked to have more people there but I liked the way things were :).

In the tower we had a lot of wooden "beds" where we put our mattresses and the only sleeping bag we had. It was really humid in the jungle and our clothes smelled horrible after sweating a lot. We hung the wet clothes all over the place but we knew they wouldn't probably dry up anyway. I made the mistake to check the surroundings wearing only sandals without socks and of course a leech found my foot! I had been avoiding them so well!

We had a big window over a small field in the jungle and we hoped to see some mammals in the night. I set the alarm to wake us up at 1 am but I wasn't able to see anything. I guess Inna might have seen some sweet dreams at least :). The jungle never slept though and in the night the concert of frogs, insects and who knows what was overwhelming!