Taman Negara, Part 4

21 July 2010

Being stuck in Taman Negara is not a bad thing. We were supposed to move on to the Cameron Highlands today, but I came down with a bit of a stomach bug yesterday and we decided to put our travel plans on hold-just in case. It seems like rest, tlc from my dear Rachel, and a blast of Cipro has done the job and I up and at em' today.

This has enabled us to spend an extra day in Taman Negara-please hold the sympathy cards. Well, I will try to keep this short and sweet. Guess what? We went for another nice long (actually less steamy-it is a bit cooler here today) hike and absorbed more of the park's spectacular scenery. In brief, there were more plants, insects, mushrooms, flying squirrels and the like. The highlight of the day was a large spectacularly-ornamented caterpillar (nature, you amaze me).

Tonight we are off on a wildlife watching jeep safari through lands outside the park. We have a good chance of seeing leopard cats (look like leopards, but the size of house cats), snakes and possibly other animals. Wish us luck!

Tomorrow it is off to the Cameron Highlands for a taste of that natural air-conditioning that 5000 feet of elevation delivers. In parting, we really love Taman Negara and are somewhat sad to be leaving. Our first experience in intact Asian rainforest has whetted our appetites (pun intended).

Taman Negara , Part 3

19 July 2010
Walking through the rain forest the last few days we have taken special notice of the way the forest sounds. Today we walked to a cave, Gua Telinga, and because we did not see another human for about two hours and our never-ending conversation does tend to lull while we are hiking up steep slopes in 90% humidity we both observed some new sounds and made attempts at relating them to things we have encountered throughout our lives.

As we walked today there was a tremendous number of termites, and by tremendous I mean termites marching ten rows deep for an unknown distance every couple of feet. You could usually hear them even when you couldn't see them - the sound resembled the perfect bowl of rice crispies - "snap, crackle, pop". Imagine a commercial for termite cereal! ha!

The insect sounds, cicadas and whatnot, are deafening. Half of the time it just sounds like a loud buzz, like a distant bee hive that follows you around. Or maybe like a five year old with a kazoo.

On top of the buzz there are the bird songs, most of which sound like the noises R2D2 and the guns of the troopers in the older Star Wars movies make. Others sound more like the noise that a large stone makes when it is tossed into a lake or river, splunk.

And of course, this noise never stops. And while we rambled along the tree root laden green lined path we only saw a few fleeting glimpses of birds and flying squirrels, all the while trying not to disturb the termites and the ants as large as my big toe as they went about their daily six-legged life.

The only monkeys we saw today were those using a power line to cross the river - ha! We did, however, see a dog and a cat on our walk today, both very near a settlement of the several hundred native peoples, the Orang Asli, who still inhabit these forests.

While plants are easier to see, there are so many of them that it is astounding to us. Most interesting are the many species of ginger, the rhododendrons, and the tree fruits that have fallen from the trees. They range in color, size, shape, and texture. They come in practically every color, be they as small as a tic tac or as large as a softball, round or oblong, smooth or spiny. All of these correlate to some tree, though we cannot identify which as the canopies are so high.

In short, we are infatuated with the forest of Taman Negara. We will enjoy just one more sweaty, happy day exploring the paths and hoping to see something new before heading on to the tea plantations of the Cameroon Highlands.

Taman Negara, Part 2

18-July-10

Just back from a mediocre dinner on one of the floating restaurants of Kuala Tahan, we debated if in our travels if we have ever encountered a more unattractive town. After much discussion, Kuala Tahan, you are the winner so far. It would seem that you would have to try hard to create a greater mess. As a side note, our hostel "Yellow Guesthouse" is the nicest place we've stayed so far and we are really enjoying our bubble gum pink room.

Enough of that and onto our current object of affection, Taman Negara National Park, located a stone's throw across the river from the Kuala Tahan "river walk." Last night we participated in a guided night walk in the national park. Our tour at first reminded us why we generally hate group tours, but ended in brilliance. The tour started in a disorganized mass, as 50+ tourists from a myriad of countries were split into a number of groups and then led down the same path-moooo! The night walk improved as we gained space from the other groups and used flashlights to spotlight various insects including a number of walking-sticks. Shortly thereafter one of the flashlights spotted a python (about 3 feet in length) snaking its way through a nearby tree. The hike proceeded to an observation platform where we spotted 5 sambar deer grazing in the distance. Toward the end of the walk we hit the lottery with the spotting of a slow loris, making its way from tree to tree a short distance from the path. A slow loris is an extremely cute, rare, nocturnal primate only found in parts of Asia. It basically is a tailless monkey with raccoon eyes. For more info check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_loris.

Today we headed out for a long hike leading from the entrance to the park, which at times resembled aerobics inside a sauna (Rachel compares the experience to bikram yoga). The hike first lead us to the much-advertised tree canopy walkway, said to be the longest of its type in the world (don't we all just love superlatives). The canopy walkway consists of ropes, wires and planks strung from tree to tree for more than 1000 linear feet, at times 130 feet above the ground. The whole walkway sways as you walk (don't look down) and is both scenic and scary. As we exited the walkway we were greeted with the viewing of what we believe was a cream-colored giant squirrel (this was one big squirrel).

From there we climbed the nearby Teserek Hill, hemorrhaging sweat and soaking in a spectacular view of the park's interior. The trail down from the hill involved slipping, sliding, steps and ropes, and emerged adjacent to the Tahan River. After a long, leisurely stroll along the river gazing at a multitude of beautiful butterflies we made it back to Kuala Tahan. Thoroughly exhausted, we have been resting in the AC ever since.

Tomorrow we plan to head out on another long hike, which leads through the Telinga Cave. Bat shit and maggots here we come!

Taman Negara, Part 1

17-July-2010

"Open your shoes, get out the boat, and push!" After only about five minutes of our upriver longboat ride into Taman Negara we were stuck. The fifteen or so passengers looked around a little bewildered, but we all "opened our shoes", rolled up our pants, and jumped over the side of the boat. The water came up to about my knees (which isn't that high, considering my height) and was running fast but very low. After only a few seconds the boat was unstuck, we all jumped back in the boat as fast as we could, and away we went on our 3 hour river trip.

As the boat powered along, we relaxed just inches from the Tembeling River in our low, wooden longboat. We saw monkeys staring curiously at us while jumping from tree to tree, a few species of kingfisher, a possible hornbill, water buffalo, and wild pigs along the way. Like our rivers back home, in some places the native vegetation --the jungle-- existed as a thin strip near the river while palm and rubber plantations stretched out on the floodplains.

Upon arriving at Kuala Tahan, just across the river (a 1 ringit boat ride, about 30 US cents) from the national park, we were amused to arrive at a floating restaurant and walk across a gravel bar to get to our hostel up above. In this town, the majority of the restaurants are literally floating and the tourists are forced to pick their way along the gravel bar to get to or from their accommodation on the hill above. In addition, the hostels and hotels are not connected by roads as much as by a series of unmarked trails overgrown with the ever encroaching forest. This is a very strange design for a town.

After settling in, we "doped up" (as Nick says) with mosquito repellent and spf 50 and went for a walk along one of the many trails in Taman Negara. It did not take us long to experience the joys of Taman Negara's rainforest. About 30 minutes into our walk, Nick felt a strange feeling on his ankle, screamed upon examination, and watched as I removed the newly-attached leech from his leg. What a wimp! We tucked our pants into our socks and avoided the freeloaders for the rest of the hike. At least leech bites are painless and they don't communicate any diseases.

The sounds of the rainforest are truly amazing. A never-ending chorus of clicks, chirps, squeaks and squawks from innumerable birds and insects greeted us with every step. At times the sounds were so loud you could barely hear yourself think. The highlights of the walk included a huge gray butterfly, a blue Selaginella (a fernlike plant for you non-botanists), beautiful fungi, and insects wearing a kaleidoscope of color on their exoskeleton. We also saw a huge tick (slightly larger than an M&M, check out our photo gallery if you dare).

After sweating what felt like gallons of our body fluids we headed back to to the comfort of our air-conditioned guest house-modern conveniences rock! Tonight we head out on a guided night hike on which we hope to see more spectacular insects, and mammals if we are lucky.

They call Taman Negara's forest, Malaysia lungs, a huge intact swath of forest which lives and breathes diversity. Scientists estimate the this forest is over 130 million years old, and has remained unscathed through countless glaciations and geologic events. After our first taste, we are impressed and yearn to experience more of Taman Negara.