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Sunday 1 January 2012

Come with me to Indonesia's jungles

My visit to Indonesia, more specifically West Kalimanthan and Jogjakarta, was nothing short of marvelous. Five of us began with our flight from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur through the night and landed in the wee hours of morning. Waited in the airport (no visa for Malaysia) and left for Jakarta after a couple of hours. Landed and again took a flight to Pontianak, the equator city - the imaginary line passes through here. We left Pontianak the next day for Ketapang which is a six-hour motorboat ride.
We managed seats outside the captain’s cabin in the open and suffered severe burns because of the exposure – that’s the Equator for you!!
From the Ketapang wharf an SUV took us to Sukadana, a bone rattling two hour drive in the dark. Early the next morning, along with our Indonesian guide, Darr, we purchased provisions for food for four meals in the jungle and set off. Thankfully, Harry, the native boy, loaded our eatables on his back and was off in a jiffy. We crossed a moat with a very narrow cemented path with a rope above us acting as the railing and then we were engulfed by the green world. There is no well-defined path in this jungle and Darr had a machete to slash his way through. Only red ribbons tied on some branches told us we were on track.
It was an upward climb all the way and we stopped frequently to catch our breath and wipe the sweat of from our faces and in my case, my glasses were getting fogged (the humidity was that high). Fast flowing streams intersected our path and we crossed them stepping on slippery stones all the while hanging on to ropes (not very sturdy) above our heads tied between trees. We did slip though! The dark forest canopy was like a cocoon and the shrill sounds of insects and birds kept us company. Strange millipedes, centipedes, insects, frogs and beautiful butterflies and dragonflies met us. We reached finally after four exhausting hours climbing all the way but quite satisfied. Our log hut on top of the hill was a welcome sight. After lunch and crashing out, we trekked around the area before the sun set by 6pm. No electricity. So we had a dinner cooked on fire (ancient method) and washed the utensils in the stream nearby. A tiny wooden shack next to the log house served as the washroom. (It was very clean). It began to rain, and in the rainforest it rains torrentially. It rained through the night and the constant drumming on the tin roof lulled us to sleep. Early morning, awoke to noises made by gibbons and orangutans. Set off on another trail and this time got a glimpse of the forest spread in the Gunung palung area stretching away for miles. The red leaf monkeys and gibbons played hide and seek with us on the way. We left after a quick and frugal lunch and this time the journey downhill was even more treacherous. The overnight rain had made the path covered with leaves more slippery. So we held on to dear life and the ropes hanging above or on the sides and coaxed our feet to land at the right spot, failing miserably many a times. The rain began again when we were somewhere in the middle of our trek. By the time we reached the car, we were soaking wet. Every muscle seemed to be awake and aching. But there was to be no respite. The next day we set off for Kubang hill, another part of the national park for some more fun!

1 comment:

Sumathi Sudhakar said...

Quite an adventure. That was gutsy. I read the article too - the one in Free Press Journal. May you grace more jungles and orangutans with your presence this year!And keep us city folks in vicarious excitement [sans the leeches and burn scabs!]