SWMBO gave me a leave pass over the recent Ramadan holiday and I quickly used it by joining a group of friends and friends' friends for a walk in the hills.
Our journey started in this little Temuan village of maybe 15 huts.
Aboriginal Proto-Malays are nominally Muslim but traces of their old ways some animistic beliefs and the hunting dogs (anathema to most Malays) remain.
A laterite track led into the hills giving nice views of the terrain
.
Pretty at the beginning but the seemingly endless and ever higher ridges are also a warning not to get too ambitious.
Soon we were in regenerating secondary forest which was good as we were out of the sun and off the laterite which I loathe.
Swamp has its attractions too so long as you are not up to your neck in it.
There were also extensive bamboo forests which had been described by a friend as being like the ninja fight scenes in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Even the shoots were huge some about 8 metres, the mature culms were around 25 metres
There was small stuff as well like this fern relative called paku merak (a medicinal plant) with its turquoise leaves and another pinky purple plant.
Some of the gullies were wet and the path became a small stream after about two hours
By now I was far behind loitering to take photos my usual position having renounced trail pounding for good. Why look at someone elses boots when you can find interesting things to look at?
Its also a good opportunity to practice tracking skills especially when the beaten track became indistinct. In fact, I had no option since I had never been there before and did not have a map. The group left the trail and climbed up a spur and contoured around at about 400 metres.
Walking alone makes you more aware of risks. The tip of the walking stick is about 10 cm from the crushed and stepped on fern in the centre of the photo.
Another 20 cm to the left and the 2m stick has all but disappeared into a nearly vertical, and completely camouflaged, drop of about 15-18 metres.
Almost as invisible as a snow covered crevasse I suppose.
After another hour the forest became quite noisy as the 2 oclock cicadas joined the gibbons, birds and other insects.
From time to time there was pig sign (wallows and rooting debris) and occasionally another strong gamey smell that reminded me of the sheep back in Oz.
At times tree falls gave glimpses of the opposite ridge and a chance to stop and enjoy the view. At one of these a hurrying hornbill steamed by like a shunting engine. Is there any other bird that flies as loudly as a hornbill?
Just afterward, I realised this was big cat country or what the conservationists call the Main Tiger Landscape of the Central Forest Spine a 30,000 sq km of contiguous and continuous forest reserves straddling the mountain divide.
I could not help smiling as I recalled the BCUK big cats in Britain thread How Safe are we? Apart from the Sundarbans with its large population of man eating tigers, we were in one of the few areas in the world with a real, if extremely slim, chance of meeting the top cat! Sadly, the previous year, an unfortunate villager did and was killed and idiot politicians advocated shooting all the tigers. Fortunately that fizzled out.But realistically I hardly ever think about tigers unless the dog is with me.
Still, even a slight chance of an encounter has the effect of concentrating the mind and stopped my daydreaming. I usually try to keep my senses open to anything unusual and this means the opposite of trying to be focused. If you try and listen you will not hear what you need to hear and if you look carefully you will not see. I know its sounds like Zen but thats how its is at least for me.
One of the drawbacks to walking slowly and quietly while daydreaming as opposed to being subconsciously alert, is that you can come upon animals and surprise them. Its okay with little critters but not big ones. Id done this to a wild pig a few months ago and we scared each other badly. My heart still has my teeth marks on it!
Sure enough I came across a large monkey foraging alone on the ground. To his credit he collected himself in an instant and, after looking at me slowly, ambled away probably because he realised that he could beat me anytime. I like to think that I recovered quickly as well though not quickly enough to take his photo. So much for being subconsciously alert!
The fourth hour brought me to the river where a large strangler fig had completely covered and extinguished all trace of the host tree. There is just a 40m lattice of fig around the empty space where the doomed tree once stood
Its neighbour is already being covered by another strangler. Its like something out of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers
An easy walk along the river brings one to the small lower fall behind which is the larger fall
The group had arrived earlier and being in tents took all the flat ground so I, the sole hammocker, found a site on a slope. I would have crossed the river or moved down stream but I was trying to be sociable.
The fire starting was left to me and a keen newbie bushcrafter . I am quite pleased with it as all the wood was wet or damp. He did a good job the next morning getting it going while I lay in the hammock.!
We used shavings from green bamboo for tinder, slivers of wet bamboo, feather sticks of damp wood, two matches and a strip of rubber. We were very very lucky. We dried our deadwood on the small fire and later I found dry bamboo and a upright dead tree so it lasted till the morning.
Once the fire was going I went for dip while the campers made a chicken stew.
I had brought Daves (Moduser) fathers-in laws jacket for the cold and it really was a great piece of kit. Thanks Dave
I eschewed the campfire and ate by the waterfall in the twilight. Old habits die hard.
Later I saw a civet cat down stream. This is what downstream looks like.
Probably come for a drink I thought or a look at the intruders. Inquisitive fellows they often come close to camps. I once saw one less that 10 metres away and he did not move for a long time even though he was being illuminated by my low power torch.
After a bit the eyes did something funny then I realised that the eyes were a pair of fireflies or other luminescent bugs. Amazing what we believe we see. Still there might have been a civet cat there. There probably were a couple but I did not see them
Night was cool and pleasant till the late night chorus joined in. A true cacophony of hoots, whistles, screeches, yips, grunts, coughs and so on. The alarm clock was really irritating . To a lesser extent so was the low key Incoming whistle. Finally I slept.
We had a good lie-in, a leisurely breakfast and we left for slow amble back.
I will come back with the dog soon.
Our journey started in this little Temuan village of maybe 15 huts.
Aboriginal Proto-Malays are nominally Muslim but traces of their old ways some animistic beliefs and the hunting dogs (anathema to most Malays) remain.
A laterite track led into the hills giving nice views of the terrain
.
Pretty at the beginning but the seemingly endless and ever higher ridges are also a warning not to get too ambitious.
Soon we were in regenerating secondary forest which was good as we were out of the sun and off the laterite which I loathe.
Swamp has its attractions too so long as you are not up to your neck in it.
There were also extensive bamboo forests which had been described by a friend as being like the ninja fight scenes in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Even the shoots were huge some about 8 metres, the mature culms were around 25 metres
There was small stuff as well like this fern relative called paku merak (a medicinal plant) with its turquoise leaves and another pinky purple plant.
Some of the gullies were wet and the path became a small stream after about two hours
By now I was far behind loitering to take photos my usual position having renounced trail pounding for good. Why look at someone elses boots when you can find interesting things to look at?
Its also a good opportunity to practice tracking skills especially when the beaten track became indistinct. In fact, I had no option since I had never been there before and did not have a map. The group left the trail and climbed up a spur and contoured around at about 400 metres.
Walking alone makes you more aware of risks. The tip of the walking stick is about 10 cm from the crushed and stepped on fern in the centre of the photo.
Another 20 cm to the left and the 2m stick has all but disappeared into a nearly vertical, and completely camouflaged, drop of about 15-18 metres.
Almost as invisible as a snow covered crevasse I suppose.
After another hour the forest became quite noisy as the 2 oclock cicadas joined the gibbons, birds and other insects.
From time to time there was pig sign (wallows and rooting debris) and occasionally another strong gamey smell that reminded me of the sheep back in Oz.
At times tree falls gave glimpses of the opposite ridge and a chance to stop and enjoy the view. At one of these a hurrying hornbill steamed by like a shunting engine. Is there any other bird that flies as loudly as a hornbill?
Just afterward, I realised this was big cat country or what the conservationists call the Main Tiger Landscape of the Central Forest Spine a 30,000 sq km of contiguous and continuous forest reserves straddling the mountain divide.
I could not help smiling as I recalled the BCUK big cats in Britain thread How Safe are we? Apart from the Sundarbans with its large population of man eating tigers, we were in one of the few areas in the world with a real, if extremely slim, chance of meeting the top cat! Sadly, the previous year, an unfortunate villager did and was killed and idiot politicians advocated shooting all the tigers. Fortunately that fizzled out.But realistically I hardly ever think about tigers unless the dog is with me.
Still, even a slight chance of an encounter has the effect of concentrating the mind and stopped my daydreaming. I usually try to keep my senses open to anything unusual and this means the opposite of trying to be focused. If you try and listen you will not hear what you need to hear and if you look carefully you will not see. I know its sounds like Zen but thats how its is at least for me.
One of the drawbacks to walking slowly and quietly while daydreaming as opposed to being subconsciously alert, is that you can come upon animals and surprise them. Its okay with little critters but not big ones. Id done this to a wild pig a few months ago and we scared each other badly. My heart still has my teeth marks on it!
Sure enough I came across a large monkey foraging alone on the ground. To his credit he collected himself in an instant and, after looking at me slowly, ambled away probably because he realised that he could beat me anytime. I like to think that I recovered quickly as well though not quickly enough to take his photo. So much for being subconsciously alert!
The fourth hour brought me to the river where a large strangler fig had completely covered and extinguished all trace of the host tree. There is just a 40m lattice of fig around the empty space where the doomed tree once stood
Its neighbour is already being covered by another strangler. Its like something out of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers
An easy walk along the river brings one to the small lower fall behind which is the larger fall
The group had arrived earlier and being in tents took all the flat ground so I, the sole hammocker, found a site on a slope. I would have crossed the river or moved down stream but I was trying to be sociable.
The fire starting was left to me and a keen newbie bushcrafter . I am quite pleased with it as all the wood was wet or damp. He did a good job the next morning getting it going while I lay in the hammock.!
We used shavings from green bamboo for tinder, slivers of wet bamboo, feather sticks of damp wood, two matches and a strip of rubber. We were very very lucky. We dried our deadwood on the small fire and later I found dry bamboo and a upright dead tree so it lasted till the morning.
Once the fire was going I went for dip while the campers made a chicken stew.
I had brought Daves (Moduser) fathers-in laws jacket for the cold and it really was a great piece of kit. Thanks Dave
I eschewed the campfire and ate by the waterfall in the twilight. Old habits die hard.
Later I saw a civet cat down stream. This is what downstream looks like.
Probably come for a drink I thought or a look at the intruders. Inquisitive fellows they often come close to camps. I once saw one less that 10 metres away and he did not move for a long time even though he was being illuminated by my low power torch.
After a bit the eyes did something funny then I realised that the eyes were a pair of fireflies or other luminescent bugs. Amazing what we believe we see. Still there might have been a civet cat there. There probably were a couple but I did not see them
Night was cool and pleasant till the late night chorus joined in. A true cacophony of hoots, whistles, screeches, yips, grunts, coughs and so on. The alarm clock was really irritating . To a lesser extent so was the low key Incoming whistle. Finally I slept.
We had a good lie-in, a leisurely breakfast and we left for slow amble back.
I will come back with the dog soon.
