"... after conquering the majority of the trails and becoming a known face in the curry-shops, i decided it was time to move on to longer and wetter trails: into the rainforest proper, to taman negara (which means 'national park' in malay, and is the nation's biggest. it's purportedly the world's oldest virgin rainforest, as none of the ice ages ever reached this part of the world. this is where, if you've been avidly reading my travelogues all these years, you'll find me repeating myself; i was here four years ago and loved it.) i didn't have time to do a long trek then or now, but i spent three long and very moist days hiking into the jungle. different forest; lowland, full of thorny climbers like rattan and liana (tarzan vine), and soaring slender trunks with vast, thin butresses. managed to spot a wild boar whilst hiking alone, and thankfully he ran first. and leeches: it was all about nasty little bloodsuckers. deet is no use; i soaked my socks with it and found a leech dug in right in the middle of it all. yuck.
the best part though, is the sounds. the forest is home to all those extraordinary birds that look like they shouldn't exist in nature: reds and blues and ginormous hornbills, and they all have unique, melodic songs. i sat watching them flit around from within a wildlife blind at dusk, listening to the evening chorus of birds and frogs and blindingly loud cicadas, and stranger sounds from deeper in the forest. vines hung around the windows like curtains from the proscenium of a stage, and the mist silently rolled in amongst the trees as the hills in the distance faded to blue. a family of barking deer came to the water hole and the fawn frolicked around until his parents wandered on, and faintly, the evening call to prayer echoed from the village across the rain-swollen river. i felt very, very lucky to be there.
tomorrow i'm returning to indonesia. plans are sketchy: hoping to go east from the heavily touristed islands, possibly to komodo...and we all know who lives there! we shall see...
till next time..."
It's like Nat Geo, but better - with our personal travel guide! When's the next installment coming?
Posted by: Stephanie | Mar 14, 2008 at 06:50 AM
She is amazing. I cannot imagine doing that alone!
Posted by: Tulip Girl | Mar 14, 2008 at 07:38 AM