Peninsular Malaysia has something to please almost anyone. Cory and myself being both intrepid travelers, we made our way into the heart of Taman Negara National Park which hosts one of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest of over 130 million years old . It was going to be quite the jungle adventure. Especially with Cory fresh out of a 4-day stay in the hospital with acute hepatitis A, fed antibiotics, liver vitamins and IV.
A torrential downpour forced us to go for a lovely meal on a floating restaurant. Sheets of rain were feeding the Tembelling River. Headlamps on we jumped in a small river boat to cross into the jungle as the rain eased off. Boardwalks led us into the jungle’s abyss. The deeper in, the darker it became. Tualang trees towering over us with their 75 meters’ height. Just as if we were in a cave, a thick darkness where no moon light could penetrate the thick canopy. A symphony arose as the rain came to a stop. From birds chanting to insects buzzing, it felt more alive than daytime. We startled a wild boar or big unknown creature which ran into the bush.
As we left the safety of the boardwalk the trail became extremely muddy and slippery. The jungle encroached on us and many shiny eyes stared back. Spiders bigger than my hand stood still and a venomous snake fell from a tree just a foot away from my feet. Fallen trees forced us to climb over 6-foot wide trunks with Cory pushing me up. After a 3 kilometer walk we made it to Bumbun Tabing hide, a rustic cabin on stilts. A nasty looking spider web hidden in the corner of a bunk bed enticed me to move my sleeping bag.
As I peeled off my socks a bloody surprise awaited. A few terrestrial leaches had made their way into my shoes and were sucking away, bloated with my blood. The leeches’ anticoagulant left me with a continuously oozing foot. Those are incredible creatures; moving fairly quickly they than stand up twisting their head as if to smell you and track you down. We actually experimented with them while switching direction to see if they would follow us. Leech free, I gazed into the distance with my spotlight handy. But no leopards nor tiger came by. We did however see some big feline tracks the next day.
I crawled under the mosquito net into our single bunk to share for the night. No mat to soften up the wood. The jungle’s lullabies put me to sleep real fast. I woke up startled by a mouse who was trying to climb between me and the wall. 5 Am came quickly as a bubbly sound pulled me out of my dream. I shook Cory and we walked down the hill to quite a sight. Everything was flooded many hundred meters away from Tahan river. Wait it out or wade out of here? Water was still rising as we weighed our options.
Two big yellow eyes of a frog looked at me as I held my breath and entered the brown murky water. With a gasp I slowly got deeper and deeper up to my waist. Holding my backpack as high as possible, I tried not to think about which creatures were swimming beside me. Some ants found refuge on trees. As we reach the Tahan river that was so calm the night before we realized the extent of the flooding. Water rose of a good 8 to 10 feet overnight. Higher grounds were drying but full of life. Leeches started chasing after us again, foot-long milipedes crawled away and giant termites fought with each others.
A new rainforest stood ahead, quiet in comparison to the previous night and as daylight shone, full of giant trees. Back in Kuala Tahan, the park’s headquarter, restaurants were now floating in the middle of the river, tied by ropes and chains. What a flood! We hitched a ride from a boat to a restaurant. While waiting for breakfast, I stretched my legs into the river to rinse my muddy shoes. We had a good laugh at our wild adventure and devoured some roti canai, typical Malay food.
The following night we returned into the jungle for a shorter adventure. We saw mouse deer, porcupines and even managed to pet a tapir who was eating water apples.
Live Wildly Intrepid!
Carpe Diem
Alex
