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 28 - 31 March 2008. Since our last research trip to Taman Negara in June 2007, the weather of the wet monsoon season during the second half of the year has not been very favourable for us to be back in action in the rainforest of Taman Negara for quite a while. Heavy evening rain and the threat of flooding has constantly prevented us pursuing our exploration passion.
The Taman Negara is a 15-acre national forest sanctuary. As one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world, the possibilities for eco-tourism are immense. Here, visitors will never lack for adventure or the opportunity to observe diverse species of animal and plant life.
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The team arriving around noon at Kuala Tahan, the entry point toTaman Negara
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Finally, only after nine months later were we able to organise another research visit to Taman Negara. This time only nine enthusiastic researcher drove from KL, arriving at Kuala Tahan by 1.00pm. The purpose of this trip is to camp for 3 nights at one of the limestone caves further upstream, to do documenting of the vegetation and habitat of that region.
The destination to the Gua Kepayang (17.7km) and Gua Daun Menari (20.9km) is further away by land route from Kuala Tahan through Kuala Terenggan. Instead, we decided to travel up river to Kuala Keniam, and from there on to trek by land trails to Gua Daun Menari which is only 4km away. A more easy route, so we thought!
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Waiting for the boat to journey us upstream to Kuala Keniam.
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After a two hours of boat ride, and crossing over many rapids we finally reached our UiTM Research Station complex at Kuala Keniam
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The trekking from Kuala Keniam begins at around 4.00pm
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We have to climb hills and transverse narrow, slippery trails, with full luggage on our backs.
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A great relief upon reaching our campsite at the base of the Gua Luas at around 8.30pm that night.
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A hefty dinner of rice and canned Chicken Korma especially after that gruelling walk
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Extremely exhausted, any opportunity to collapse our already tired body is most treasured
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Dozing-off on our sleeping mat on the hard ground, and slumbering peacefully into the darkness of the night.
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Under normal circumstances it will only take 2 hours of hiking from Kuala Keniam to reach the 4km destination to Gua Luas (Large Cave). Unfortunately, with the age of some of the senior team members, plus the extra load of photographic and videographic equipments needed to carry along, it eventually took us four and-a-half hours to trounce across the hilly, slippery and -winding trails in the darkness of the night, passing-by traces of fresh elephant footprints and elephant poos along the way. The toil wears out our energy to the last drop, to the extent that we were literally dragging our feets along over huge fallen logs, streams and cliffs, to reach the camping site at the base of Gua Luas.
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Only by the next morning do we actually comprehend how precarious our campsite looks like
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We actually took shelter against the elements under a limestone overhanging
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Grabbing any opportunity to dry our wet clothings by the bonfire
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View of our luxurious 'hotel', where we slept that night
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The bonfire that was prepared as protection against wild animals in the night, but by morning is used to boil hot drinking water
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Kettle of boiling water taken from a nearby stream.
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Our cooking utensils,
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The morning starts off with a cheerful spirit among all team members. Under such circumstances, even a simple bread and jam, biskuits and hot chocolate drink is the best breakfast ever tasted in the jungle setting. Mir and Amir took care of our welfare well just as a true professional guide do.
Before leaving for the morning exploration, we packed all our gears together into one tent, to ensure that no wild animals will trample on it while we were away. All of us are fully equipt with our photographic and videographic gears to capture as much images as we can to bring back to K.L.
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All geared up for tracking to the nearby caves.
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Cautious of the potential dangers that might be lurking, we make sure that we all travel in a close tight pack.
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The luminious bright red colour of the mushroom stands out glaringly amonst the green vegetations
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Green algae growing on the limestone rocks
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The official trail signage nailed to the tree in the middle of the jungle
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Capturing images of the beautiful rock formation
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The human scale as an indicator of the height of the caves
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Dr.Mus and Mazlan comparing captured images
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The entrance to Gua Daun Menari (Dancing Leaf Cave)
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Looking up the canopy, the limestone hill extends even higher up.
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Me pointing at the fresh elephant poo, at the base of the Gua Daun Menari.
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The entrance to the upper level of the Cave requires a tricky steep and slippery climb.
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View from inside the upper level of cave, looking out.
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What really surprises me is to see elephant poos, even up there on the upper cave level.
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Looking out from the upper level of the cave to the forest yonder.
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See how tiny the rest of the team member looks from above
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The dark interior of the Gua Daun Menari is full of bats, our shoes sinking into the soggy guano on the floor and we can feel the droplets of bat poos and bat's urine dropping on our skin. The stench atmosphere of the cave is quite disturbing to our nostrils.
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Exploring further into the interior of the cave.
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The eeire-looking rock formation of the stalactite and stalagmite in the cave.
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The dome of the cave is really huge, and in the darkness one can hear the bats flapping by.
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The black dots on the cave roof are actually bats
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A more closer view of the bats on the wall
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Lights penetrating through the forest canopy on to the limestone rock
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The stalactite looms high above our head
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Somehow, it feels strange to see that despite being in the center of the thick tropical rainforest of Taman Negara, the grounds in front of the cave is well kept and clear of shrubs.and vegetations, as if there is a 'caretaker' around to maintain this beautiful natural complex around Gua Daun Menari.
Nearby, situates several meters away is also the Gua Luas, located higher up on the limestone hill and the view from up there is quite breathtaking.
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Tracking to a nearby location next to our campsite is another interesting cave to explore.
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We all have to climb our way up this steep slope to reach the cave above.
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And again to our amazement, elephant poos is also seen deposited at this altitute
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The entrance to the Gua Luas (Large Cave)
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Looking out from the interior of the Cave
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Capturing the images of the stalactite and stalagmite inside Gua Luas.
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By the evening, we return back to our campsite and we were all looking forward to relax our aching muscles and to began savior the peaceful setting of the natural surrounding.
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Entertaining themselves to a game of cards, or into taking a nap while waiting for dinner to be prepared.
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Hoofs of samba deer that trots by our campsite in the middle of the night.
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Crystal clear stream where we all took our bath.
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Rushdi, busy capturing on his camera all the beautiful flora of the jungle
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Underneath the thick rainforest canopy, glimpse of light shining on the palm leaf
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Brillliant pink-coloured forest flower stands out strongly amongst the green shrubs
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A beautiful arrangement of forest mushroom
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Another variety of mushroom
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More cluster of mushroom
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Another species of fungi
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A Bracket fungus
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Another cluster of bracket fungus
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A weird fan-like fungus
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More mushroom variety.
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A yellow coloured variety of fungus
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Golden Orb Spider making their webs on the cave wall
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Waiting patiently for their prey to come by.
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A specie of spider making its web on the leaf
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Red coloured and an extremely hairy caterpillar
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The "Pepesan", a very lethal variety of ground wasp that invaded our campsite that night.
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On the subsequent night of camping, everyone is still cheerful and still in upbeat mood despite the strain of earlier tracking. That night everyone sleeps like a log. Strange noises were heard by some of the light-sleeper members, and some eeire sensation was felt by others, but nobody talk about it, not until we were all back at the resort in Kuala Tahan.
We unanimously agreed to skip visiting the legendry Gua Kepayang Besar (another 4km further down from Gua Daun Menari) as earlier planned, but decided that we will try to attempt it on our next trip instead.
Realising that we have to encounter again all the straneous climbs and dips on the return journey back to Kuala Keniam, and the thought of having to later immediately embark on a long distance drive back to KL, we all agree to pack our rucksack on the second morning and have a good sleep on the third night at the resort in Kuala Tahan instead. At least by the time we get back to office, we have enough rest.
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By next morning, we were all very eager to pack our rucksacks, to head back to the civilised world.
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The last group photo taken at our camping site before begining our journey back to Kuala Keniam
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Smiling faces, in anticipation of the decent meal awaiting at Mat Leon Village resort.
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Felling down, resting to catch our breath, and gulping mouthfull of water to quench our thirst is the routine happenings.
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Filming a fresh impression of an elephant footprint, the smell of their presence is still in the air.
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Crossing over or even underneath fallen logs is very taxing on the ageing back muscles
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The four kilometer trail up and down hills, seemed to me, to be never never ending.
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Amir, our guide, carrying heavy camping food supply on his back.
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Mazlan scraping off the many pesky blood-sucking leeches from his legs.
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Taking a snapshot of the Black Lily flower.
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The sharp spikes of the rattan stem.
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Beautiful cluster of red-coloured mushroom
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A few of the floras above that we captured in our cameras, is truly an awesome collection of genuine jungle beauties. This rare sightings makes all the drenching-sweat and soggy clothings, and bloody leech bites seemed worthwhile.
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The fresh tiger footprint on top of a fresh shoeprint left by Tom, indicated that it is actually trailing him not far behind.
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The fresh impression of a tiger cub footprint alongside the mother
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Just upon approaching near to the border of the Kuala Keniam Research Station, we all experience an awesome surprise. Not only did we spotted tiger footprint and her cubs along the soft, slippery track, Tom and Farrah actually heard the growl of the tigeress, warning them to stay clear from her cubs, while the rest of us do smell the foul breath of the tigeress in the air.
No matter what, we should not have complained about the danger, because this part of the Taman Negara is actually the genuine tiger and elephant country. This experience and memories will be cherished for a long, long time by the research team.
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