Tag Archives: jungle trekking

Long Pasia – To the Heart of Borneo (part 3 of 6)

Fefukan Waterfall is the newest attraction at the south of Long Pasia. There were only 4 foreign tourists (from UK, Denmark, Italy and Holland) have been there, and we are the first group of Sabahan tourists.

Jungle Trekking to Fefukan Waterfall

Even after 3.5 hour of rapid shooting on Matang River, we still need to walk 4 to 5 hours on 10 KM of undulating terrain to get there. We started the jungle trekking at 1PM. Luckily we have a few porters to carry some of our stuffs. In addition to the camping tent and cooking utensil, each of them can take weight as heavy as 50 Kg (but still walk faster than us)!

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Because very few people walked this route before, the trail is in the most pristine and challenging condition. The trail is raw, slippery, muddy, foliaged and dense with undergrowth vegetation. If we are not careful, we will trip over crawling vines, rattan and tree roots on the ground, so be prepared to get dirty. A pair of Addidas Kampung shoes (“Village Addidas”, a water-proof rubber shoes) is highly recommended for such rainforest walk. For the beginning, we need to walk to the highest point, followed by easier up and down trail, then a long and steep descending trail to the campsite.

Above: teasing message on the tree bark

Needless to say, there are hundreds of forest leeches waiting along the trail. Very soon I found a tiger leech crawling on my camera. The good news is – once we move to higher altitude, there will be no more tiger leech but brown leech. Brown leech is much more easier to deal with and its bite is not painful (sometimes I can’t even feel it). Unlike tiger leech, which likes to hide in the shrub & bush, brown leech is mainly active on forest floor, so wearing leech sock is safe enough. I notice that the brown leeches here are so big, as big as tiger leech!

Above: Tiger leech delivers painful bite

With an altitude of 800 Meters above sea level, this forest is mainly a mix of hill dipterocarp forest and lower montane forest. Most trees are slim and no taller than 25 Meters, except the Agathis and Seraya Kuning trees. The jungle trekking reminds me of Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World. Long Pasia is indeed another Lost World of Sabah, but with more cultural and historical heritages. Unfortunately, the forest here is not protected by the government.

Above: Agathis tree only grows between hill forest and montane forest

Above: huge seraya kuning tree

We also stopped occasionally to explore some jungle resources. The guide shows us how to get fresh water from the wild vines. I drank and it tasted fresh, with thin smell of grass. The water also can be used as eye tonic. Then they pluck some wild oranges for us to try, it is very sour but an energy booster.

Above: cutting vine for fresh water

Above: drinking water from vine

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Above: wild orange

We found some big chunk of resin beside an Agathis tree. They are hard and look like crystal. The guide took some with them coz these resins are good fire starter. In old day, they use this resin as torch and candle. It burns like rubber and release black smoke. But be careful not to let the burning liquid drips on your skin, coz it sticks and able to burn you badly.

Above: resin of Agathis tree

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After passing the highest point, the trail is less rugged and we walk quite fast. Our favourite part is the ridge walk. It is very windy and cooling, like a huge air-cond, and blows away our fatigue. There are supposed to be a lot of wildlife such as deer around, but we see only a few monkey. However, we see the wallow of wild boar and claw marks on the tree bark.

Above: wallow of wild boar

If you are very lucky, you would see blooming rafflesia pricei before Fefukan Waterfall, the one shown in photo above was blooming in April 2012.

As the trail is not clearly visible and no signage, we follow our guide closely, otherwise there is a 100% chance of getting lost here. Sometimes Lait stops and looks around, as if he is trying to recall the right way, making me nervous. “That’s the fun part!” they say. I have no idea how far we go until I hear the distant waterfall. Walking the descending trail is really a knee-breaking experience. The trail is narrow and slippery so we can’t move fast, putting a lot of stress on our knees. I almost want to cry when we saw Fefukan Waterfall at 5:30pm.

Above: Fefukan Waterfall

Campsite of Fefukan Waterfall

Our campsite is only 30 Meters away from Fefukan Waterfall. In fact, we went so far that we were so close to the border of Kalimantan. Another walk for 3 to 4 hours will lead us to the immigration checkpoint at the border. We are at the Heart of Borneo!

Above: campsite at Fefukan Waterfall

It is getting dark soon, so the guide and porters setup our camp and beds next to the river, and prepare our dinner. They don’t want to damage the environment, so there is no permanent facility here, no toilet, no hut, no cabin… All we have are hammock or canvas beds, with a sheet of canvas on top to block the rain. I never slept on a hammock before, so I choose the hammock bed closest to the waterfall.

Above: setting up campsite

Below is a 360 degree view of our campsite:

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Above: canvas bed

Above: hammock bed

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Above: Mary cooking dinner

Above: there is no light, so we eat in the dark with torchlight

Night Safari

We had some rice, sardine (with onion) and instant noodle as dinner. Everyone was so tired so most went to bed earlier. Lait decided to show me around the campsite and waterfall at night to spot interesting creatures. We found some frogs, insects and fireflies. Though leech is less active at night, I still get 6 of them sneaking into my shoes. Then it started to rain. I had no choice but going to bed.

Above: fireflies playing 3P wild sex

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The Cold Night

Can you imagine sleeping in the forest of Heart of Borneo and next to a waterfall? It just can’t get any better than this. I enjoyed the sound of nature. There are occasionally some twinkling fireflies passing by my tent. I fell asleep very soon. The temperature can plunge to 14 degree Celsius (14°C) at night. It was so cold that I shivered in my thin sleeping bag, then I had to wake up in midnight to wear extra clothing. My knees were quite painful coz of day-long trekking.

Above: my hammock bed

About 2am, in total darkness, my hammock shakes violently, as if a big animal knocks on my tent. I was so shock and pointed my torch light around, but see nothing. I found that my hammock is lowered by a few inches, so I guess the knot got loosen and slide down, phew… scary but funny, haha.

Above: preparing mouse deer meat for tomorrow’s meal

>> Read Next Article (Part 4)

Photos taken in Long Pasia, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Climbing Mount Trus Madi, the 2nd highest mountain of Malaysia – Part 3 of 3

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Continued from Part 2… (Note: The trail & accommodation have improved a lot after 2014. Please check out my latest Guide on Climbing Mt. Trusmadi.)

Day 3

Though I didn’t sleep well, my muscles were able to relax and recover. I advise climbers to invest in a good (=expensive) backpack that can spread the weight evenly, otherwise you would have back pain like me. Everyone waked up at 2am, after having some cookies and instant noodles (with curry meat, sardine and tuna) as breakfast, we packed and headed to the summit at 3am. If plan went well, we could reach the summit before 6am to watch the sunrise.

Conquering Mt. Trus Madi

The morning was total darkness. With the aid of LED headlight, I could only see a few feet in front of me. We were only 1.5 KM away from the summit, but most of the trail was over 50 degree of steepness. Certain section was impossible to climb without the help of ropes. My head even knocked on overhanging branches a few times. When I tried to grab anything along the steep trail to support myself, I felt a sharp pain and found that I grabbed on a thorny rattan. This sinister plant is so abundant along the trail to the summit.

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With heavy camera, tripod, drinking water, etc., I had over 5Kg of weight on my back so I moved very slowly. Near the top of Taliban Peak, I could see the streetlight of Keningau town far away, it was so beautiful. Thanks to the stupid La Nina phenomenon, it has been raining all night and the trail became muddy and slippery. That’s no way we could avoid contact with mud, so our pants were dirty.

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Finally I reached the summit around 6:30am. I didn’t feel excited. Instead, I was glad that it was over. I looked around and found that none of us was clean, our jeans were full of mud stains.

Above: group photo on the summit.

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Someone say climbers will be rewarded by the beautiful sunset and close view of Mt. Kinabalu (only 40 KM away). Due to the heavy rain and dense fog, we saw nothing. According to the book “Mountains of Malaysia” by John Brigss, Mt. Trus Madi has “The most beautiful mountains view in Malaysia”.

Above: a marker that divides Mt. Trus Madi into Tambunan and Keningau districts

Since we were there anyway, we took some happy faces group photos. FYI, due to a nearby repeater, your mobile phone may get full bar of signal. You can call your love one to say that you call her/him from the top of Mt. Trus Madi. It may sound romantic too if you jump off the peak to prove your love, lol. Or at least you can post an update to your Facebook or Twitter.

Above: Yayasan Sabah repeater. Some say this area is haunted by spirit of a porter who died of malaria

The Summit

The guide showed us a unique plant (Melastoma minahanse) below, it is only found on Mt. Trus Madi and Papua New Guinea. Apart from Myrtaceae, the summit vegetation is dominated by small, leathery-leafed shrubs such as from the families of Ericaeae, Theaceae, Podocarpaceae.

Above: Melastoma minahanse, this plant only found in Trus Madi and Papua New Guinea

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The most special plant community of Trus Madi is the scrub community on the summit. The mix of the montane and subalpine species growing on the summit is unique to Mt. Trus Madi. The shrub species that occur separately as montane and subalpine elements on Mt. Kinabalu are condensed into the same habitat on Trus Madi, and this results in such high species richness. Such coexistence of ecologically divergent species is not found on Mt. Kinabalu!

Descending

We only stayed about 20 minutes on the summit, then we descended to the cabin. I was not in a mood to rush home, so I walked slowly and took photos on the way. The mossy jungle of upper montane forest looked like an alien world, as one said, we were like entering the world of “Lord of the Rings” movie. Characterized by persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, this moist forest is part of the cloud forest zone. You can see abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, so it is also known as mossy forest.

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I also photographed some orchid and rhododendron flowers that are only found in higher altitude. The flowers look so nice with raindrops on them. I was told that a Proboscis Monkey was once spotted at 2,000 M above sea level. That’s so unusual, as this monkey only lives around mangrove forest.

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Endemic Pitcher Plant

You must check out the Nepenthes macrophylla pitcher plant here, which is a montane species endemic to the upper slopes of Trus Madi. There are so many of them along the trail from summit to the cabin, like a pitcher plant garden.

Later we found a Nepenthes xTrusmadiensis pitcher plant on top of a tree near our cabin. Limited to summit ridge from elevations of 2,500 to 2,600 M, Nepenthes xTrusmadiensis is the natural hybrid of Nepenthes lowii and Nepenthes macrophylla. Sadly, this biggest hybrid species is under threat and getting scarce, because tourists pluck them.

Above: Nepenthes xTrusmadiensis on the tree

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We packed our stuffs and left the cabin at 10am and descend to the starting point. The rain has stopped and we could get a clear view of the surrounding mountains. Trus Madi Range is 80 KM in length, so long and vast that it covers Tambunan, Keningau and Ranau districts. The misty mountain range of Mt. Trus Madi looks like the backbone of a huge green dragon starts and ends in nowhere. I missed this view the previous day due to the dense mist and heavy rain, so I kept shooting photos.

Above: Nepenthes lowii

Above: Nepenthes macrophylla

Above: Nepenthes xTrusmadiensis (hybrid of Nepenthes lowii and macrophylla)

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Going Home

I took more than 5 hours to reach the starting point of Mt. Trus Madi from the cabin (3.4 KM). When I was about 30 minutes to the Starting Point, I heard a lady screamed in front. But there was no person in front of me. I ran quickly to check but found nobody. The scream was so loud and clear, so I am sure it was not an illusion. Some say the jungle spirit played a trick on me when I was alone. It still remains as a question mark to me.

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Whatever, I was back home in one piece later. Weeks later I was informed by one of the lady climbers that she was pregnant during the climb (she also didn’t know). Phew… that makes me sweat.

May be Mt. Trus Madi does not have astonishing and magnificent landscape like Mt. Kinabalu, but its pristine and unique flora beats Mt. Kinabalu. In fact, Mt. Trus Madi has the potential to become the next UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sabah. It is a must-go for nature lovers.

Lastly, a special thanks to our ethnobotanist guide, Julius Kulip, for identification of the plant species and being our nice company. Julius is one of the few plant experts who is very knowledgeable about Trus Madi and even wrote a few publications about it. I also used some of his info in this blog.

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If you are interested in climbing Mt. Trus Madi, the info below might be useful for you.

Planning the Climb

Mt. Trus Madi is a Class 1 protected forest reserve (FMU 10) managed by the Sabah Forestry Department, so you need to apply for the permit to climb. Please note that only a maximum of 16 people (include guide & porter) are allowed to overnight on the mountain every day, so you may need to book the date earlier. Sabah Forestry Department will charge various fees such as Entry Permit, 4-Wheel Drive entry permit, forestry guide, certificate, etc. The rate is higher for foreigner tourists.

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One Forestry Guide is required (compulsory) for every 5 or less climbers. For example, you need to hire two forestry guides if you have 7 people in a group. The Forestry Guides are not Tour Guides, they only monitor the tourists (some tourists like to steal the precious Gaharu wood and rare orchids in Trus Madi forest) and take care of their safety.

Working out the budget is a difficult task. Fortunately, the tour operator can register and pay Forestry Department on your behalf, but for a service fee. Usually the tour operator provides the 4-wheel drive transport (a must), 1-night accommodation in Tambunan town, tour guide, insurance, porters and cook, so the cost can vary, depending on what you need and how big is your group (minimum 3 persons. bigger group can get better rate).

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You can contact TYK Adventure Tours (Tel: (60 88) 232821 / 238702, email: tykadto@gmail.com, website: www.tykadventuretours.com) directly for the tour package.

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Though you can hire porter to carry your bag, you better improve your physical fitness by exercise regularly before the climb. If you think climbing Mt. Kinabalu is hard, don’t even think about Mt. Trus Madi!

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Things to Bring

Sleeping bag (temperature can drop to 10°C at night)
Backpack (with rain cover)
Raincoat / poncho
LED Headlamp
Warm clothing such as wind breaker / jacket / sweater
Spare clothing & small towel (in case you get wet or dirty)
Hand gloves (for climbing with ropes)
Water (1 Litre): you can refill water in resting hut and cabin, so don’t carry too much (heavy!).
Toilet paper
Food & Cooking Utensils such as portable gas stove and pot (if you cook your meal)
Dining set (spoon, plate, cup)
Camera & spare batteries
Comfortable trekking shoes (Addidas Kampung rubber shoe is the best!)
Plastic bag (to store rubbish. Leave nothing behind!)
Optional: trekking pole, medicines (for headache, minor wound), deep heat spray (relieve muscle pain), energy bars, rehydration salt

Above: for climbers who make it to the top, they will earn a beautiful certificate issued by Sabah Forestry Department

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The lighter your bag is, the better. In long hours of climbing, every pound counts. You can hire a porter to carry your bag (up to 20 Kg) for about RM150 to 200 per trip. If you spend a night in Tambunan, you can leave those unnecessary things such as used clothing behind.

Good Luck!

Photos taken in Tambunan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Climbing Mount Trus Madi, the 2nd highest mountain of Malaysia – Part 2 of 3

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Continued from Part 1… (Note: The trail & accommodation have improved a lot after 2014. Please check out my latest Guide on Climbing Mt. Trusmadi.)

Start Climbing

After a group photo at the Starting Point, we started to climb at 10:30am. It was about 26° Celsius and the air was misty and refreshing. It was mainly uphill trail but not very steep. Thick layer of green moss blanket is everywhere on the floor (survival tip: you can lick the water on the wet moss blanket as the last resort, if you run out of water).

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Summit Trail

We began our climb in a hill mixed dipterocarp forest, characterized by closed-canopy forest with taller trees. Due to the moist environment, you can see many lichens, liverwort and algae plant. The hill forest is dominated mainly by dipterocarp of genus Shorea, and understorey plants dominated by Rubiaceae with 16 species.

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The dim and humid environment also promotes the growth of mushroom and fungus. We saw many of them in different colours and size along the trail. The most special one is the blue mushroom, which is only found in Mt. Trus Madi. Unlike the summit trail of Mt. Kinabalu, the trail is heavily foliaged and we are surrounded by dense vegetation most of the time. The nature trail is narrow, no boardwalk and hand rail, and a lot of overhanging trees and entangled roots. You have to watch your head and steps carefully.

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Lower Montane Forest

The lower slopes represent a transition zone where dipterocarp species mixed freely with hill non-dipterocarp species. This gradually gives way to lower montane forest vegetation between 1,500 and 2,000 M asl, which is dominated by tree species belonging to families of Fagaceae and Lauraceae, and also the altitude where two species of rafflesia are found (rafflesia tengku adlinii & keithii). More standing trees are densely covered with epiphytic mosses. We saw some orchids (Eria, Dendrochilim, etc.). The flowering season of orchid is from November to December, so we did not see many orchid flowers. Nepenthes tentaculata (small pitcher plant) is quite common here.

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As we moved up, the decreasing number (remaining distance to summit in Meters) on signage motivated us. I also stopped frequently to photograph the interesting plant, most looked new to me. There are two resting huts on the way, one after 1 KM, and another one after 2 KM. You can use the small toilet next to the hut. Water tanks filled with river water are available at the huts if you want to refill your bottle. The water is uncooked but taste really sweet, cold and fresh!

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When we had our pack lunch at second hut, we were saying that the first 2 KM was not that challenging and thought that it would be the same later. We were wrong. The last 1.4 KM of trail after second hut was where the nightmare began. The trail was getting steep and required the use of fixed ropes. Then it rained on and off, turning the trail into muddy and slippery path. Luckily, for the first day, we only needed to reach the cabin (1.5 KM away from summit) to stay a night.

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We spotted some friendly and colourful birds. One of them is Mountain Black-eye, which is endemic to montane zone 1,800 M above sea level. Some of them were probably Kinabalu Friendly Warblers. The guide said if we sat still for a while, many curious birds would come near us.

Multi-Peak Challenge

What makes Mt. Trus Madi so tough is its “multi-peak” terrain. To reach the summit of Mt. Trus Madi, there are at least 3 peaks you can’t avoid, namely, Taman Bunga (Flower Garden) Peak, Taliban Peak (which is named after the first Native Chief in Tambunan and has nothing to do with terrorist) and Trus Madi Peak. Slopes become steeper closer to the peaks. When you climb to the top of a peak, you will see another peak in front, you conquer it, then you will see another peak in front again. Taliban Peak is slightly lower than the highest Trus Madi Peak, so someone call it a “faked summit”. There are many ascending as well as descending trail. The descending is not easier than ascending.

Above: the peaks of Mt. Trus Madi. The highest peak is not visible from this side.

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The guide also showed us some old trails to Mt. Trus Madi. They looked so narrow, steep and dangerous. The old trail has a few narrow ridge walk with deep drop at both sides. If you slip, nobody will see where you are (no kidding).

The Taman Bunga (Flower Garden) Peak

Though I sound like being tortured, I have a lot of fun in fact. 500M before the cabin (at 2,000M signage), you will enter Taman Bunga Peak, which means Flower Garden. It is an Upper Montane zone about 2,300M asl and a natural garden full of flora. This is one of the few places where you can see the rare pitcher plant, Nepenthes lowii, everywhere. Kinabalu Park was used to have a lot of lowii but most of them were killed by a prolong drought in late 90.

Above: Taman Bunga Peak in mist

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The showiest flower is the bell-shaped rhododendron flower. Wild orchid is easy to find here. Lichen, which is a composite organism of a fungus and a green alga, is abundant around, an evident of zero pollution. I also found many other interesting plants that I’ve never seen. According to the guide, there are different flowering seasons, so you would see different things in every few months.

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Our cabin is only 500 Meters away from Taman Bunga Peak. As the rain was getting heavier and the day was turning dark, I speed up my walk and reached the cabin by 6pm. Normal people would reach the cabin latest by 5pm. I was slow because I stopped many times to take photos.

The Cabin

We would spend a night in the cabin in first day. The cabin is built at 2,400 Meters above sea level in year 2008, and the summit is only 1.5 KM away. There are about 7 bunk beds (14 beds) in the cabin. The beds have no mattress and blanket, so you must bring your own sleeping bag. On the bed is a layer of canvas with a zinc plate underneath. Even a bit of movement on the bed will create loud noise, like you are sleeping on a zinc roof, very annoying.

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Though this cabin looks more like a refugee camp, it is better than nothing coz it is warmer than sleeping in camp. The bed is quite small too, even for a short guy like me. After putting my backpack and camera bag on the bed, there was not enough room for me to fully extend my legs.

Most of us were cold and wet. Our cook prepared some rice with sardine and black bean salty fish for us as dinner. Though there is a small kitchen next to the cabin, there is nothing inside. We need to carry our own cooking utensils, gas stove, plate, pot, spoon and cup ourselves. I felt better after sipping some hot coffee. There is a gravity pipe that brings river water to a tap, so I could refill my bottle with water. Trust me, the water here tastes far more better than our tap water that is full of chlorine smell. There is a toilet not far from the cabin, but none of us wanted to take a shower as the water was freezing cold.

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The guide burnt the mosquito coil to chase away a small and yellow flying bug called Agas. Agas is an insect that sucks your blood and leave an itchy bite mark. Another pest is the mice that running and fighting under our beds and I could hear them all night. The porter had to hang the food high, so these mice couldn’t steal it.

Above: kitchen next to the cabin. Behind is the camp of porters

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We were all exhausted and we had to wake up at 2am the next day, so we went to bed early. When I almost fell in sleep, I was splashed by cold dripping water. I checked the ceiling for water leaking but found no crack. Due to the warmer temperature in cabin, water condensation formed on the cold ceiling. For every few minutes, the water droplet dropped on my face. I tried to move my position but still could not avoid the dripping water. The strong smell of mosquito coil also choked me. So for the whole night, I laid on the bed listening to mouse fighting and heavy rain. Not only that, my bags were all wet in next day.

Climbing Mount Trus Madi, the 2nd highest mountain of Malaysia – Part 1 of 3

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(Note: The trail & accommodation have improved a lot after 2014. Please check out my latest Guide on Climbing Mt. Trusmadi.) God really blesses Sabah, because the top 3 highest mountains of Malaysia are in Sabah. I guess the highest mountain, Mount Kinabalu (height: 4,095M), is no stranger to Sabahans. Many even climb it more than once. But most of us haven’t tried to climb the second highest mountain of Malaysia, Mt. Trus Madi (height: 2,642 Meters or 8,668 feet).

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Lack of promotion is responsible for lack of visitors to Mt. Trus Madi. Another reason is – the climb is so challenging that someone even call Trus Madi “Terus Mati” (mean “Die Straight” in Malay language). Of course it is only a joke, as accident in climbing Mt. Trus Madi is rare. Though 1,453 Meters lower than Mt. Kinabalu, Mt. Trus Madi is harder to conquer. Some say if the trail to Mt. Kinabalu is a highway, Trus Madi trail is a countryside road then. The climbers have to be reasonably fit. Personally I would not recommend people younger than 15 years or older than 60 years to challenge the real “mountain power” of Mt. Trus Madi.

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Earlier this month, I climbed Mt. Trus Madi with 5 ladies and all of us made it to the top, despite the poor weather. Thanks to the Internet, I can bring my photos and experience to your screen. I strongly recommend Mt. Trus Madi to hardcore hikers and nature lovers. You will be dearly impressed by the pristine conditions of Mt. Trus Madi. At least you will be proud of yourself for conquering this mountain.

About Mt. Trus Madi

The name “Trus Madi” is originated from the Dusun words “pinotorusan Madi”. Pinotorusan means Hunting Ground and Madi is the name of a hunter who was used to hunt in Trus Madi. Due to higher altitude, the temperature on the mountain is about 10 to 25 degree Celsius. The flora of Trus Madi is very rich and unique. About 600 species in 160 families of plants were recorded in forest here.

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Mt. Trus Madi encompasses 5 different types of vegetations, i.e. lowland mixed dipterocarp (427-600M), hill mixed dipterocarp forest (600M – 1,500M), lower montane forest (1,500M -2,000M), upper montane forest (2,000M – 2,500M), and summit scrub (2,500M – 2,640M). You will pass through all these vegetation zones during the climb. The hybrid vegetation of montane forest and summit scrub is so unique that it is not even found on Mt. Kinabalu!

The Itinerary

The climb will take 3 days 2 nights. The climb starts in Tambunan (90 KM away from Kota Kinabalu). You can choose not to overnight in Tambunan town, but you need to move early at 6am from Kota Kinabalu, to drive 1.5 hours to meet the tour operator in Tambunan town before 8am. Below is the standard itinerary:

DAY 1
5:00pm	Depart to Tambunan (from Kota Kinabalu city)
6:30pm	Arrive Tambunan town & overnight there
DAY 2
7:00am	Breakfast
8:00am	Briefing and preparation
8:30am	Depart to Mt. Trus Madi’s Starting Point by 4-Wheel
9:30am	Arrive Forestry Check Point Gate & Register
9:45am	Proceed to Starting Point
10:30am	Starting climbing Mt. Trus Madi (3.4 KM). Lunch enroute
5:00pm	Arrive Cabin
7:00pm	Dinner
9:00pm	Overnight at cabin
DAY 3
2:00am	Wake up call
2:30am	Breakfast
3:00am	Ascend to summit (1.5KM)
5.30am	Reach summit to view sunrise
7:00am	Descend to cabin
9:00am	Arrive Cabin. Tea break & Packing
10:00am	Descend to Starting Point
4:00pm	Arrive Starting Point and proceed to Kota Kinabalu
6:30pm	Arrive Kota Kinabalu

For the first day, I stayed in a resort in Tambunan. Its service sucks so bad that I don’t want to mention its name here, coz I don’t want to promote this stupid resort.

Day 2

The next day I wake up around 7am to get prepared for the climb. After I had my breakfast at 8am, the guide and porters met us at the resort. After a short briefing and loading my bags to their 4-wheel, we headed to the starting point of the climb at 8:30am.

Going to Starting Point

The road, mainly gravel and muddy path, to the starting point is about 30 KM away from Tambunan. The mud is the soft, sticky, smooth and slippery yellow clay soil, so the road is only accessible by four-wheel drive. The engine of our 4-wheel roared and tried really hard to catch very bit of the almost inexistent fiction.

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On the muddy road, the car was like gliding and skiing on the mud, and swing violently in zig-zag like a wild bull. The steep slope with loose pebbles also posed a challenge. Our highly-skilled 4-wheel driver shifted gear quickly back and forth, to fight for every inch forward. To be frank, I was freak out. I held the handler so hard that as if I was giving birth a baby. May be I can call it an adventure.

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After 35 minutes, we reached the gate of the Forestry Check Point, where everyone was required to register. We also used the “tree” toilet there. It is a man-made structure, not a real tree.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Mt. Trus Madi

After taking a group photo at the gate, we continued our 4-wheel journey to the starting point. After the checkpoint, the ride was not that bumpy. But then I was terrified when the driver attempted to cross the river. I started to have horrifying imagination of our car being swept away by the river. My worry was needless and we crossed two rivers without any problem. Only now I truly realize the power of 4-wheel drive. Since 4-wheel is meant for adventurers, I wonder why those old aunties and uncles drive 4-wheel in city only and keep it so clean?!!

>> Click Here to see more photos of Mt. Trus Madi

After 40 minutes, we arrived the starting point of the climb. There is nothing there except a “4900 M” signage, which means we are 4.9KM (4,900 Meters) away from the summit of Mt. Trus Madi. 4.9 KM sounds like a short distance on flat ground, but it is not the case for the rugged terrain. They say this is a new starting point, which cut down the distance by 2 hours (about 3 to 4 KM). Many say we would see many blood-sucking leeches at the Starting Point, but luckily we didn’t see any.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Mt. Trus Madi

Part 6 of 8. Trip to Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World – Day 5

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Continued from Part 5

Hundred-Feet Observation Tower

I wake up early at 5am in day 5, when others are still in their dream. Next to the Nepenthes Camp is an observation platform on top of a 33-Meter Agathis borneensis tree. I want to climb up there early to see the sunrise.

Soon Mr. J and Mr. T also wake up to join me. Ms. S doesn’t join coz she has issue with the height and says there is no way she will do it. It is already frightening just looking at this tall tree. Anyway, adventure is doing something that scares you. At 5:15am, one by one, we climb up to the tree top with aluminum ladder that fixed to the tree body.

Imagine you climb a ladder to the top of a building over 10 floors high in the dark (about same height as the Karamunsing Complex in Kota Kinabalu). This is the second scariest climb that I attempt so far (the first is Batu Punggul). A misstep and you will be a free falling object for hundred feet.

One good thing to climb in the dark is, you can’t see anything under your feet, so it is not that terrifying. Mr. T and J got up there first. I hang the camera and tripod over my shoulder and move up carefully. After a few days of holding camera to take thousand of photos, my fingers are really painful. The extra camera weight also makes my legs tired and shivers. I have to stop a few times to rest. Finally, I reach the top within 10 minutes.

Above: a helipad not far away from Nepenthes Camp

Above: Nepenthes Camp looks so small from top. You can see the solar panel on the roof.

Strictly speaking, the observation tower is only a wooden platform on top of a tall tree. It is not really a tower. The structure is fenced and solid enough to take 5 to 6 persons. It is 5:40am. We look out from this platform and see that our house is so small under our feet. We also admire and appreciate the pretty Agathis borneensis tree that house the structure.

Above: the beautiful skin of Agathis borneensis tree, note the pocked-marked, greyish-reddish bark.

Above: Mr. J waits to video sunrise

The sunrise comes at 6:10am. The surrounding and the trees are painted with golden hue of colors. The birds also start their days. Many colourful birds such as Iora and Scarlet Minivet gather around the canopy of this tree. This platform is quite a nice bird watching spot. We climb down at 6:40am for breakfast, when the sunrise show is over. Damn it! I find a crack on the LCD protector. Luckily it helps to block the damage to LCD which would cost hundreds to fix.

Above: Mr. T climbing down

Above: it’s me climbing down the tree

Back to Maliau Basin Studies Centre (MBSC)

We are very relaxing today, coz we will leave the total wilderness of Maliau Basin and the trail is mostly descending (easy) path. Even though I am cut off from civilisation for many days, I don’t really feel homesick, it’s a sad day for me actually. After we have our breakfast, we depart at 8:30am to Agathis Camp, which is 7.5 KM away and a move from 1,005 to 421 Meters above sea level.

Above: trail in red is our path to Agathis Camp today

Above: the trail in 3D model

The guides warn us about the steep downhill trail and we should “brake” always and don’t run too fast. And they are right. The descending trail is not easy and it does not make us move faster, and it poses another challenge. There is no way you can tell if the soil is soft or solid until you step on it. The slope area is dangerous coz the soil is soft and slippery. The slippery “trap” is so evil coz the mud layer is just thin enough to make you slip, but not deep enough to hold your foot. I have to make sure both of my hands are supported by a rope or tree before I take the next step. I can survive a fall but my camera might not. Just be careful of the precipitous hills…

Over the days, I discover a special ability of women. They just can’t stop talking, during trekking, eating and sleeping, ALL the time. I am already out of breath trekking and they still talk to me. At the end, I just pretend I don’t hear them. Sorry, I am just too tired.

Above: lookout point, where you can see Maliau rim through gap between the trees.

Since this is the last jungle trekking of our trip, we just walk slowly, open all our senses and enjoy the surrounding view. We saw a family of 3 Bornean gibbons swings on tree branches. Red & Hose’s Leaf Monkeys (langurs) and Bornean gibbons are very common primates in Maliau. We also hear the distinct calls of Black & Yellow Broadbill and Bornean Bristlehead, and also the loud pecking noise of a woodpecker. Then Mr. T is very excited and shows me a flower of Dendrobium cinnabarinum. He says this flower is very rare, the two (all) varieties are found in Maliau Basin only.

Above: flower of Dendrobium cinnabarinum.

Finally at 12:30pm, we arrive Agathis Camp, where we have our pack-lunch. We are asked to take a shower and put on clean clothing, before we are allowed to sit in the beloved 4-wheel of the guide. Then we leave Agathis Camp and go to the hostel of MBSC, where we will spend the last night in Maliau Basin. After staying 3 days in jungle camp, the hostel is really a 5-star accommodation to us now. The guides and porters are very happy too coz now they can watch World Cup 2010 in MBSC.

Above: don’t know who brings this tiger leech back to the hostel. It is fully fed with 1 year worth of meal, so fat… lol

Skybridge (Canopy Walk)

You are wrong if you think we are holidayers who can sit still for day doing nothing. After we unpack our bags in hostel, we start to get restless and want to go to Skybridge (suspension bridges built between tall trees high above the ground). It rains heavily in the afternoon so we go around 4PM.

The Skybridge is only a 10-minute drive from MBSC. Constructed in April 2007 and linked up with about 8 super tall trees (Uratmata, Sepatir, Merbau and Seraya), Skybridge is the second longest canopy walk of Sabah, with a length of 293.8 Meters (Highest Point: 21.35 Meters).

Above: can you see them? They look so small…

Maliau Basin is an Important Birding Area. More than 290 bird species are found here, with more than 20 are endemic to Borneo, and 26% are listed as threaten or near-threaten by IUCN. Here you can find all 8 species of hornbill of Borneo, 6 species of kingfishers and all 9 species of Bornean barbets. We see fruits of fig species (Ficus), which is the favourite of hornbills, who visit as many as 240 species of fruit trees. We spend an hour here and back to hostel later.

Above: fruit of Ficus tree

Above: a weird praying mantis looking at us

Night Safari

Tonight we have a night safari at 8pm. We just sit on the jeep and let the guide scans for wildlife by using a spotlight. If the guide spots anything, the car will stop and he will show and tell us what we see. This is highly depends on luck. In bad day, you would see nothing.

Above: this wild boar (Sus barbatus) always comes to MBSC. She got 8 babies.

During an hour of fun drive, we see Malay Civet cat, Sambar Deer (cervus unicolor), Flying Squirrel, Rhinoceros Hornbill and Buffy Fish Owl.

We have been seeing the fresh dung of Banteng and elephants and hope to see them tonight, but too bad none of them turn up. Anyway, below are their photos for you to know how they look like.

Above: Banteng (Bos javanicus), Asian Wild Cattle or Bornean Wild Ox, known as Tembadau locally. Left is the female and right is male Banteng. Banteng is extinct in West Malaysia (since 1950) and Sarawak (since 1980). It was used to be the favourite game species of hunters but now it is endangered and protected in Sabah. The domesticated Banteng becomes Bali cattle. Note the white “stockings” on the legs. About 15 to 20 Banteng are recorded in Maliau.

Above: Pygmy elephant of Borneo is the smallest elephant species in the world.

Above: Common barking deer (Red Muntjac), known as Kijang locally. It can grow in length up to 98 to 111 cm, a height of 50 cm and a weight of 15 to 35 Kg. You can buy its meat as it is still the game species.

FYI, all 5 cat species (i.e. flat-headed cat, marbled cat, bay cat, leopard cat, clouded leopard) of Sabah are found around Maliau Basin. They are very elusive and secretive animals active at night, so they are very hard to spot.

Finally, we have joined all the programme In Maliau Basin and will go back to Kota Kinabalu tomorrow. But there is still one more unplanned programme waits for us tomorrow.

>> Next Article (Part 7)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

All Articles of Maliau Basin Trip:
Part 1. Introduction to Maliau Basin
Part 2. Day 1 in Maliau Basin
Part 3. Day 2 in Maliau. Trekking to the 1st camp
Part 4. Day 3 in Maliau. Maliau Waterfall
Part 5. Day 4 in Maliau. Entering the garden of pitcher plant
Part 6. Day 5 in Maliau. Skybridge & Night Safari
Part 7. Day 6 in Maliau. Leaving Maliau
Part 8. Conclusion & Notes

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Other canopy walk in Sabah:
Poring Canopy Walkway (highest in Sabah)
Canopy Walk of Danum Valley (award-winning attraction)
Rainforest Discovery Center (best for bird-watching)

Part 5 of 8. Trip to Nepenthes Camp (Heath Forest)

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Continued from Part 4…

Day 4 in Maliau Basin

I am ready to go home today morning. We have to cancel our trip halfway coz Ms. S is injured and suffer muscle pain. When all of us are in “quitting” mode, Ms. S has geared up and I can sense the “Go! Go! Go!” mood on her face. “Did you tell her… our decision?” I ask the others quietly. They look at one another and shake their heads. What?!! None of us told her the bad news? Probably nobody dares to upset her.

Then she is quite shock to find out the rest of us have decided (without her) to cancel the trip and return to Maliau Basin Studies Centre today. She assures J, our guide, and O, Senior Ranger, that she is almost fully recover, after she did the stretching exercise advised by the doctor over the night. J is very doubtful and tries to convince her to stop. Then they quarrel. The rest stay away from the “storm” and wait. It is not for us to decide because only Ms. S knows her own condition.

Above: GPS reading of Ginseng Camp

Soon the thunderstorm is over, the face of our guide looks pale, like a cock losing a fight; he comes and informs us to get ready to Nepenthes Camp. We almost jump and scream in joy. Though we wish to continue the trip, we really concern about her condition. We don’t want her to proceed just because she doesn’t want to spoil our trip. Again, she shows no intention of quitting. The guides say they will observe her condition, if she can’t make it for the first 500 Meters, then we have to turn back. If you read my last blog, you know how terrible the trail is. Later we find that we worry too much. She always walks at the front. The “Iron Lady” is back!

Above: GPS reading of Nepenthes Camp

Going to Nepenthes Camp

At 8:30am, we start walking from Ginseng Camp (566 M above sea level) to Nepenthes Camp (formerly Camel Trophy Camp) at 1,005 Meters. Today is also one of the best days. In 7KM of jungle trekking from 566M to 1,000M in elevation (a lot of climbing then!), we will pass through 3 types of forest, namely, mixed dipterocarp rainforest, lower montane forest and heath forest. We will stay in Nepenthes Camp for a night.

Above: trail (in red) from Ginseng Camp to Nepenthes Camp

Above: trail in 3D model

The terrain is as undulating as our previous trails. We first walk in mixed dipterocarp rainforest with many hundred-feet trees, quite similar to what I saw in Agathis-Ginseng trail. For every 100 Meters we ascend, the temperature drops by 0.75 degree Celsius, so it is getting cool and fresh.

About two hours later, a forest of huge trees changes to a forest full of slim and short trees only about 15 to 30 Meters high. Conspicuous green cushions of mosses, liverworts and lichens are seen along the trail. We have entered the Lower Montane Forest (750M – 850M above sea level). There are some weird plants that you would notice in montane forest (see photos below).

Above: Tristaniopsis sp. tree with orange bark, you can peel off the skin easily.

Above: a Rengas tree which can cause intense allergies, and is related to the well known Poison Ivy.

Above: Fan palm is common in montane forest

Heath Forest: Garden of Pitcher Plant

Then we saw the first pitcher plant at 11am. Very soon we saw many more small pitcher plants along the trail. The guide asks us not to waste our time to photograph these ordinary pitcher plants, because there are more big and special ones ahead. And they are right. We enter the tropical heath forest, also a garden of pitcher plant! We can see very obvious change of vegetation; the heath forest contains dense stands of smaller sized, small-crowned & shorter trees mostly shorter than 20 Meters. The trail is quite narrow, but more sunlight due to smaller canopy.

Above: first pitcher plant

Occur from 900 to 1,600 Meters above sea level and occupy 21% of Maliau Basin, heath forest is a type of tropical moist forest found in areas with leached, acidic, white sandy soils that are extremely nutrient-poor. Heath Forest is locally known as Kerangas in Iban language, the word means a forested land with underlying soils which are unsuitable for growing rice. There are not many heath forest in Sabah and this is the first time I see it.

Above: white sandy soil in heath forest

Because of the infertile soil, the plant is rich in tannins, which is indigestible or toxic to plant eaters. The tannins leaching out of the peaty leaf litter is hard to be broken down, so it stays in the water. The reddish brown color of river water in Maliau Basin is mainly caused by heath forest. The forest floor is criss-crossed by tangled roots encrusted in moss, making the ground very marshy and soft.

We can see fascinating pitcher plants in every few steps. Some are on the ground, and some dangled up to tree top, attempting to capture high flying insects. Except Maliau and Mesliau, there is no other place in Sabah where I can see such a big concentration of pitcher plant. 9 species of pitcher plant are found in Maliau Basin, namely, N. veitchii, N. tentaculata, N. stenophylla, N. mirabilis, N. hirsuta, N. lowii, N. gracilis, N. reinwardtiana, N. stenophylla x veitchii (hybrid). Most of the pitcher plants I see in this heath forest are Nepenthes veitchii and Nepenthes stenophylla.

Besides rich variety of pitcher plant, we also found some flowering orchids and Rhododendron. 21 species of Rhododendron are found in Maliau Basin. I was told that many Japanese tourists and botanists don’t want to leave this natural botanical garden as they love it so much. Mr. T is a plant expert, so he keeps me busy taking photos by showing me some unique and rare plants around.

There are fewer leeches in heath forest, but they are bigger here. Probably due to the white sandy soil here, the tiger leech has white, instead of yellow, stripes at the side of its bodies. We don’t see any other animals except a noisy Temmink’s Sunbird. We are close to the camp when we enter the Jalan Babi (Wild Boar Road), which is a clear and wide trail created by migration of wild boars that feed on fallen acorns. You better stay close with your guide because there are many junctions here, as you could be lost easily.

Above: “Wild Boar” road

Nepenthes Camp (formerly Camel Trophy Camp)

We arrived the Nepenthes Camp at 2pm (a total of 5.5 hours of walking). Constructed by the participants of Camel Trophy (hence the old name “Camel Trophy Camp”) in 1993, Nepenthes Camp was the first and oldest permanent camp within the Maliau Basin and it is located strategically at the meeting point of lower montane forest and heath forest on southern plateau of Maliau Basin.

Nepenthes Camp is a 2-storey wooden house smaller than Ginseng Camp. It is complete with bunk beds, showers, kitchen, toilet and solar electricity, which can accommodate up to 15 visitors. Personally I think it is more comfortable than Ginseng Camp, coz it has proper rooms with beds. The ground floor is the kitchen, dining area, toilet and shower room, and our rooms are in 1st floor.

Nepenthes Camp is the oldest camp and frequented by most visitors, so it has the most number of plaques (nearly hundred) created by tourists. Some plaques are very creative and interesting. We can spend hours just to look at them, which is great, as we have nothing to do at night. We also find the names of our friends on some plaques.

Above: part of the plaque collection in Nepenthes Camp

Above: Honeymoon in Maliau Basin. Are they serious?

Above: this one made in 2002, probably the oldest plaque

Giluk Falls

I have a quick lunch at Nepenthes Camp, then proceed to Giluk Falls at 2:30pm. Ms. D and Mr. T are tired and so they don’t follow me and Ms. S. We walk so fast that we arrive Upper Giluk Waterfall in an hour. Giluk Falls is also a multi-tier waterfall but it is much more smaller than Maliau Falls. However, it has the beauty of its own.

We can see white foams flowing slowly on the water (look like someone does her laundry in the upstream). Actually these frothy white foams are created by soapy saponins from the leaves, and they are commonly seen on the river around heath forest. The reddish brown river is rich in Humic acids, produced by, and washed from, the very slowly decaying leaf litter beneath the heath forests and highest montane forest. Humic acids are difficult to degrade so they remain in the river. The water is also low in oxygen level, so only 4 fishes and 2 crab species are found in the rivers of Maliau Basin.

Due to time constraint, we don’t go to Takob-Akob Waterfall, which is far away with very challenging landscape. We are back to the Nepenthes Camp around 5:20pm.

Update (May 2011): I visited Takob-Akob Falls, the tallest waterfall (38 Meters) in Maliau Basin, in my second trip. You may watch the video below:

Click Here for bigger video

The Evening

The water pump in Nepenthes Camp broke down, so we have very limited water that we have to take our shower in a river nearby. But I have to climb down a 5-feet drop, walk on the dirty muddy riverside to the river, so I give up. I get a scoop of clean water in the toilet to wash myself with wet towel.

Nepenthes Camp is powered by 6 solar panel on the roof. The electricity is only enough for lighting of our dinner. During dinner time, about 3 Malay Civet cats (Viverra tangalunga) turn up outside our house. We give them our leftover food and they enjoy it. Though they keep a distance from us, they seem to get used to human already. One of them is lack of one limb and being chased away by other two. If you stay still, they can come as close as 2 Meters away. From the info of other web sites, visitors and guides have been feeding them since year 2001 (but I’m not sure if it is always the same group of civets).

The night in Nepenthes Camp is not too cold, probably we sleep in a proper room. The sky is so clear and full of stars. I can even see the Milky Way (our galaxy) runs across the sky like two parallel silver rivers. It’s so great to be alive. You can’t see this in city coz it is overshadowed by street light and dusty air. We feel so relaxing because we have finished all the challenging trails. Tomorrow we will go back to Agathis Camp and it is mainly descending trail.

Late in midnight, I heard someone was shouting to the air. Next day I was told that it was a guide who asked for “permission” from spirit so he can pee from the balcony. The reason was – when he took shower with another guide at the river in evening, they felt that “someone” throwing thing at them. He might think that the spirit in forest dislikes him, so he tries to be respectful.

>> Read Next Article (Part 6)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 4 of 8. Trip to Maliau Waterfall

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Continued from Part 3

Day 3 in Maliau Basin

I open my eyes and say good morning to a cockroach on my bed. Today we will go to the famous 7-tier Maliau Waterfall, which is one of the highlights of our Maliau Basin trip. Due to its hilly terrain and network of rivers, Maliau Basin has the densest number of waterfalls in Malaysia. To date, about 20 waterfalls were discovered in Maliau, and there should be more waterfalls that are not found and named.

Above: route in red is our trail to Maliau Falls today

Above: trail in 3D

The book “Maliau Basin” describes, “The Basin represents a single catchment, and is drained by a set of radiating tributaries of the Maliau River, one of which descends a magnificent series of waterfalls, known as Maliau Falls. The Maliau River then drains through a gorge out of the southeast of the Basin into the Kuamut River, which in turn feeds into the Kinabatangan, the longest river in Sabah.”

Going to Maliau Waterfall

We will come back to Ginseng Camp after the visit, so we can pack light and don’t need any porter. Unfortunately, Ms S hasn’t recovered from her muscle pain so she cannot join us. To stock more energy, I eat as much as I can for breakfast, and we depart for Maliau Falls, which is about 4.8KM one way, at 7:50am. Folklore has it that the Maliau Falls keeps a secret of a sleeping dragon under the water falls, and the movement of its big tail can cause flood.

Very soon we reached the most torturing part of the trail. It was a 300 Meters of very steep trail, which is our fierce battlefield with the gravity. We have to get a hold of the ropes and small trees next to the trail to move up slowly. It is only a small section of the trail but the climb already drains nearly half of my energy. This day is my worst day in Maliau trip. The straps of my heavy camera and tripod causing pain to my shoulder too. The good news is, after this challenging part, there are about 3 easier hilly trails to overcome ahead. The bad news is, tomorrow we will need to cross this part again to go to Nepenthes Camp.

Above: a huge Agathis tree

We stopped by Lobah Camp for a refreshing break. Lobah Camp (formerly Helipad Camp), which is 2 KM away from Maliau Falls, is a helipad on a clear hill. From here you will get a 230 degree panoramic view of Maliau Basin, a nice midway stop between Ginseng Camp and Maliau Waterfall. FYI, there is a water tank nearby for you to refill water (unboiled rain water).

Above: Lobah Camp got its name from the Lobah palm tree, which is abundant around the camp.

Above: Lobah Camp

Above: view from Lobah Camp

Below is a 1-minute video of Lobah Camp and its water tanks.

Part of the trail is quite flat and comfortable to walk on. I really enjoy the “ridge walk” on Bambangan ridge, the constant cool breeze there is like a natural air-cond. We are greeted by the calls of numerous Bornean gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) and even see a few of them swing very fast from tree to tree (but they look really clumsy walking on the branch, haha..). We saw a group of red-leaf monkey too. Do you know that every square KM in Maliau Basin has 35 individuals of gibbons / leaf monkey? This is the highest density in Sabah.

The guide in front also spotted a sun bear. Very often we hear the loud wing flapping noise of hornbills passes by the canopy, and the funny call of Helmeted hornbill that sounds like laughing. In Maliau Basin, you can find all 8 species of Hornbills of Sabah, with Rhinoceros Hornbill as the dominant species here. We see some interesting mushroom and fungus along the trail.

We start to descend to lower altitude (about 300 Meters asl) and feel the sweltering heat of lowland forest. Then we hear the waterfall about 1KM away. It should be a gigantic waterfall as it is so loud. We are motivated to walk faster. The last 100 Meter to the Maliau Waterfall is another steep descending trail. It was such a joyful moment to reach the waterfall at 11:35am! We were at the 6th tier of the 28-Meter-high Maliau Waterfall. The cascading waterfalls are caused by alternating hard sandstone and softer mudstone beds, wear out in different speed of water erosion.

Above: The signage of Maliau Falls. Don’t you think the warnings “No Swimming” and “Swim at Your Own Risk” are contradict to each other?

Below is a 1-minute video of Maliau Falls:

The Majestic 7-tiers Maliau Falls

OMG OMG WOW it is so cool! Due to last 2 days of raining, the roaring Maliau Waterfall is in its most beautiful form. In no time, I setup my tripod and shoot photos like crazy. Ms D swam in the tea-color water (rich with caustic tannins & soapy saponins leached from the fallen leaves). Actually we are between the 6th and 7th tier of Maliau Falls. With a height of 28 Meters (about 9 floor high), the 6th tier is the highest. The lowest tier is about 15 Meters. To me, the Maliau Falls look more like a few separate waterfalls on the same river. Is the “7-tier” a marketing gimmick or it is really a multi-tier waterfall “technically”? No matter what, Maliau Falls is one of the most photogenic waterfalls in Malaysia.

Maliau Falls is the most popular attraction of Maliau Basin and most visitors target for it. FYI, any visitor who reaches Maliau Falls will earn a certificate. We deserve it as the trail is so far and more challenging than climbing Mt. Kinabalu. We enjoy our packed lunch at the river side, and then continue with more photography (and swimming). After living under the dark and humid forest for days, I am really pleased with the view of flowing water under bright sun.

There are so many sweat bees, stingless bees and honey bees fly around and harvest the sweat on our skin. Probably they are lack of salt in the forest. To avoid agitating them, I just ignore them, but one of the big wild honey bees bites me. It’s so painful! I guess it is just too excited and want to bite off a piece of the salt (my skin!). Below are a few photos (taken in Agathis Camp) to show you how crazy these bees are when they smell salt on the shirt.

Return to Ginseng Camp

The sky turns cloudy and it might rain anytime, so we leave the waterfall at 1:20pm. I finish 1.2 Litre of my drinking water, so I refill my bottle with the tea-color water from the river. Yes, I know drinking uncooked water is not safe, but the risk of getting dehydration is a lot higher than diarrhoea now. From what I read from blog of others, many visitors don’t have enough water for the returning trip and they were badly dehydrated, so be warned. No, the tea-colored river water does not taste or smell funny. It tastes like normal fresh water. If you are very thirsty in the forest, water is the sweetest thing in the world. I advise you to bring some Iodine tablets to purify uncooked water before consumption. Mr. T is also short of water, but he refuses to take uncooked water. Then he suffers dehydration followed by fatigue and almost passed out twice. Luckily we all return safely to Ginseng Camp at 5:15pm.

Above: a natural wall that looks like man-made structure. This area was sea million years ago and the fossils of corals and seashell were found around this place.

A Sad Night

Sitting still for day to rest didn’t help, Ms. S doesn’t get any better. Her muscle is still in pain and she walks like an injured cat. Then a group of Canadian tourists enter the camp, one of them is doctor and one is an athlete who is familiar with sport injury. After listening to the problem of Ms. S, they seem to fully understand what she goes through, so they teach Ms. S the stretching exercise that could ease her muscle to recover faster. Ms. S really wants to get well soon, so she even wakes up at night to do the stretching every hour, and taking anti-inflammatory every 8 hours.

We have cabbage, mixed vegetables, egg plant, scrambled eggs and Miso soup as our dinner. Since we are so hungry, we really enjoy the dinner time and keep talking about the exciting things of the day. After the dinner, our guide, Mr. J has a discussion with us when Ms. S is not around. In view of her situation, we all think that she won’t make it next day, and we shouldn’t leave her behind and have fun on our own. We all agree to cancel the trip and turn back to Maliau Basin Studies Centre tomorrow morning. The porters will prepare a stretcher to carry Ms. S out.

When the trip is so fantastic until now and my spirit is so high (and I pay so much $$$), and I have to quit at this moment?!! This decision is such a big blow, my heart sinks to my knees, but I know that’s the best decision and we have no choice. I can’t describe my feeling; it’s a mix of disappointment, sadness, dismay, frustration, etc. But accident happens. I don’t blame her. I start to pack my stuffs for the trip back to starting point next day.

Tonight is not too cold but I can’t fall in sleep. Since there is no street light, it is pitch dark, 100% dark. Even though I open my eyes widely for a long time, I still can’t see a thing, as if I am blind! Then I hear something as big as a cat running around our beds. Without light, I wonder how those nocturnal animals see at night.

Later I have a dream that the God takes us home. Just kidding..

>> Next Article (Part 5)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 3 of 8. Day 2 in Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World

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Continued from Part 2…

The Real Start

Though this is my second day in Maliau, today is the “real” day as I will go to Maliau Basin on foot. We wake up early in the morning to prepare our breakfast and packed lunch. The porters arrived shortly after we had our breakfast. At first, we thought our porters will be a group of muscular tough guys like King Kong. We are surprised that our porters are youngsters who are “smaller” than us. Most of them are 18 or 20 something, and a few even married with kid.

Above: our strong porters. Look like boys huh?

To ease my burden, I get a personal porter that carries 12 KG of my stuffs, so I only need to carry 5KG of my camera and tripod. One of the porters even carries over 30 KG! Seeing the heavy bags pressing their back, I have a bad feeling, like I am treating them like camel, just for a fee of RM100 (USD$32) per day. They are nice people but speak very limited English.

Agathis Camp

Then everyone is transferred by 4-wheel to Agathis Camp, the starting point of our 9-KM jungle trekking to Ginseng Camp today. Agathis Camp is 8.82KM away from Maliau Basin Studies Center (our hostel) and located at the southern-most edge of Maliau Basin Conservation Area, about 20 KM to the north of the Security Gate and 500 Meters above sea level.

Above: the trail in red is our route for today

Above: the trail in 3D model

Agathis Camp is named after Agathis trees (Damar Minyak), the large conifers, growing up to 55 Meters, with 3 species being found in Maliau. It is easily recognised by the abundance of resin and distinctive jig-saw patterned bark and absence of buttress. Agathis tree is very limited and scarce in distribution and found in mixed dipterocarp, heath & lower montane forest.

The largest Agathis tree in Maliau has a circumference of more than 7 Meters. Agathis trees were also found in New Zealand. The wood is very popular among the Japanese as it is used for building attractive ceilings and walls. Agathis is considered as the “iconic” tree of Maliau Basin.

Above: fruits of Agathis tree

Explorer who spent 6 days in Agathis Camp recorded 109 birds and 30 mammals. The camp is near the edge of rainforest and Agathis River. The camp is furnished with very basic facilities such as canvas beds (for up to 30 visitors), kitchen, dining area, electricity supply, toilets and showers. A 1-KM self-guided nature trail at the camp provides visitors with a fascinating introduction to the forest and its wildlife. If you want to stay inside the forest but don’t want to explore deeper inside Maliau Basin, Agathis Camp is a good choice.

Going to Ginseng Camp

But we do not stay in Agathis Camp. After we looked around in Agathis Camp for a few minutes, we proceed (at 8am) to the next destination, Ginseng Camp, by jungle trekking over a rugged terrain of 9KM. The forest ranger (with VHF radio sets) and porters were also going with us. Forest Ranger is not a guide. He monitors the visitors to make sure they don’t violate the park guidelines (such as poaching and stealing Gaharu wood (Aquilaria malaccensis)).

Before this, everyone told me they were either too old or weak and said something like “I will be very slow, please wait for me lah”, but when the trekking started, I was always the last one. Anyway, it is the worst day of Maliau trip for most of us. We are inside the mixture of lowland and hill rainforest, and many trees are over 50 feet high.

Due to the dense canopy created by the tall trees, the space below is wet, shady and lack of undergrowth plant. Most of the time we walked on thick layers of foliage and saw many tiny insects such as ants, spiders and cockroach fleeing around (and leeches that come to us!), when our steps stir the leaves. I spotted many interesting mushroom and fungus along the trail.

Above: wild orchid

Above: camera trap

Above: message on camera trap. I guess they are really pissed off already, lol…

Basically most of the trails are uphill roads and part of them is suite steep and need the use of ropes and ladder for moving up. The trail about 3.5 to 4.5 KM before the Ginseng Camp is the most terrible part, due to the steep uphill trail. We saw the sky on higher point. But after the long long walk, we still see the sky, like the highest point is unreachable, very de-motivating. So I quit to look up, I lower my head and only focus on small distance of trail in front of me and move up slowly.

The nice thing is – when we move up to higher altitude, the air getting cooler and refreshing. We have our lunch in the jungle. But frankly I lose my appetite and only take a few bites of the dry rice in lunch box. Then we continue again. On the way, we were constantly asking the guide “how many kilometres left?” and hope to get motivated from smaller number each time. Mr. T is a plant expert so he is able to identify the rare plant for me to photograph. Without him, the trip would be less fun.

Above: yummy… the fungus look like sweet bun.

Above: cookie fungus? Look tasty…

Legion of Leeches

Due to the heavy rain the day before, there are hundreds of slimy leeches on the trail because these little blood suckers are active in wet environment. Though they are blind, they can detect heat and vibration and also extremely persistent, with so many of them around, a few of them will crawl onto your skin eventually.

Above: two leeches f**k each other on the shoe

Whenever we stop and rest, we will see dozens of leeches coming to our feet. As expected, very soon the leech claims its first victim, Ms. S, who got a leech bite on her stomach. She didn’t even notice it until a guide told her the bleeding under the shirt. I was once very afraid of leeches. But I become so used to them in Maliau trip and even help others to remove the leeches by hand.

Because I know the leech prevention method, I got only one leech bite in the whole trip. In fact, that only leech bite happened in the camp. Someone didn’t remove the leeches hidden inside their shoes when they entered the camp. So a brown leech crawled out of the shoe and came to me. I didn’t know I was eaten until Mr. T told me. Please always de-leech yourself before you enter the room ok. Usually leech bite only takes a tiny amount of blood and it does not bring any infection and disease. The only problem is the anti blood-clotting agent from the kiss of leech will cause non-stop bleeding for hour. The amount of bleeding from only a few leech bites is as shocking as a devastating injury.

Ginseng Camp

After 7 hours of trekking, we arrived Ginseng Camp at 15:20pm. Ginseng Camp is 645 Meters above sea level. This camp is named after Ginseng plant (Renellia borneensis, coffee family – Rubiaceae) around this place. This “Malaysian ginseng” has reddish-yellow to orange color roots, with medical properties that improve your energy and vitality.

Above: almost there

Above: Malaysian Ginseng

The 27-Meter Ginseng Waterfall is about 500 Meters away from Ginseng Camp, so I took a 20-minute walk to check it out. Below is a 1-minute video of Ginseng Fall:

Constructed in 2005, Ginseng Camp has toilets cum shower rooms, cooking area, dining area and staff quarter. The structure is on stilts and built with wood and aluminum / zinc roofing. Our accommodation is just a wooden hut that has canvas bunk beds (with mosquito net) that can accommodate up to 20 visitors. As everything is so primitive, Ginseng Camp looks like an army camp to me. We also cook with firewood. The camp has electricity supply, generated by generator from 6pm to 11pm.

Below is a 1.5-minute video of Ginseng Camp surrounding:

The river is the only source of water inside Maliau, so Ginseng Camp has gravity water pipe that collects water from the river. The river water of Maliau Basin is tea-coloured and acidic, due to the tannins leaching out of the peaty leaf litter. Some even call it “tea river”, as the water is naturally stained by tannins from vegetation. It looks like urine but absolutely safe to drink after boiling.

Cold Shower

I am a typical city guy. I take hot shower even in warm day. I have no choice in Maliau coz there is no heater. The water is from the river and it is so icy cold, making me skipping and moaning. Then I also hear a Canadian girl next door moans. I’m not alone then. You better take shower earlier when the water is not too cold.

The Night

After dinner, everyone is exhausted and there is nothing to do in the evening, so we go to bed earlier. Very soon I hear everyone snores. I lay on the bed and glad that the first day is not as bad as I expect. However, this is not the case to Ms S. She complains that the muscle on her right hip is painful and she wakes up in agony that night at 2am. We call her “Iron Lady” coz she walks very fast and always in front of us. We guess she will be fine in next day.

Our sleeping area only has a roof over us and three sides of wall. One side is an open area and has no wall and door. Such setting is same as putting our beds in an open area exposed to the cold. The night was so cold that I wake up at 3am to wear socks. As my torchlight cut through the dark, I can see tiny droplets of mist in the air. It is so cold and humid that the jean and clothing hanging next to me turn wet. I got a good sleep anyway.

>> Next Article (Part 4)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

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