Welcome to the Jungle
My top three experiences from the university trip to the Brunei rainforest.
Do you know, I wouldn't even know where to start. My trip to Brunei was the most amazing experience of my whole life, and currently I'm not sure of anything that could beat it. Rather than describing the entire two weeks in great detail, I just picked out a few of my favourite moments as highlights, so even if nobody else ever reads this, when I'm old and forgetful I can look back and think "I did that!" :) So....Here are my top three Borneo experiences.
Canopy Sunrise
Watching the sun rise over the Bornean rainforest canopy of Kuala Belalong may just be the single most awesome moment of my entire life. No matter how much I try, and no matter how many photo's I took, I still can't describe how amazingly peaceful it was, nor how unbelievably beautiful. We got up while it was still dark to take a boat to the walkway before the sun rose. The ride to the walkway in the dark was rather uneventful, and we got to the walkway pretty easily. Walking up the path along the side of the valley to get to the walkway entrance was pretty harsh though! After two weeks of kayaking and forest hiking, I had thought that I was getting fit. Apparently not! Heheh. As with most of the forest hikes, I was bringing up the rear in our little group. Still, walking through the forest in the dark was a whole new experience, and I found myself more focussed on where my feet were going on the ground than where everyone else was ahead of me.
When we got to the walkway, it was definitely not what I was expecting, although right now I'm not entirely sure exactly what it was that I WAS expecting. The walk way consisted of a large scaffold structure, with staircase towers and long gang-planks between them. I've never really been afraid of heights, (although I do get vertigo at times due to my crazy glasses prescription!), but standing there at the foot of the tower and looking up, I had the craziest urge to run away, and I actually hesitated. My lecturer had to look at me and say something along the lines of "Well, go on then" before I even moved. But move I did, and before I knew it I was climbing up the seemingly-neverending ladder of doom, passing several small wasps nests on the way to the top.
At the top, the view was so absolutely amazing, that the evil pathway-of-stumbling-and-tree-roots and the daunting staircase-of-infinite-steps suddenly didn't matter any more. The sun wasn't peeking over the horizon just yet, although the sky was lightening up all around, and the birds were beginning their morning chorus. Bees buzzed past on their way to places I can only imagine, and fine clouds of mist were floating just over the top of the trees, following the path of the river that we had left behind a while ago. I felt like I didn't dare speak, lest I completely ruin the moment, so I just took my camera out and started taking some video recordings. I stood there just watching for what felt like hours as the sky lightened and the sun rose, and more and more calls joined the dawn chorus.
I don't think I'll ever experience anything that peaceful again, (certainly not with a hyperactive 8 year old!), and so of all of the amazing things I did that fortnight, the canopy sunrise was possibly the most amazing moment of them all.
Crocodile-spotting
The water was perfectly still and black, and all of the stars were out in a cloudless sky when we decided to go kayaking on Tasek Merimbun lake and look for crocodiles. Stealth-kayaking behind our lecturer who was shining a torch around the lake until he found the eye shine of a croc, we could barely see anything. I never knew there were so many different shades of black!
When a crocodile was found, we'd all turn our torches on and point them in that direction, lighting up its eyes even further, before quietly paddling towards it. What amazed me was that the crocodiles were actually scared of us! I never expected that in a million years! Of everything I've ever heard about them, shy was never one of their descriptors.
We stayed on the lake for over an hour, paddling around as quietly as we could, talking in hushed whispers while listening to the fish splashing around us, jumping out of the water to eat the midges flying above the lake. At one point, a fish landed in my kayak, and so I had to reach around to catch it and let it loose over the side, and believe me it was the slimiest thing I've ever touched, xenopus frogs and aquarium fish included. Overall, it was one of the most relaxing things I've ever experienced. The blackness of the sky seemed to wash over everything with an almost muffling effect. Nothing could be heard of the people in the hall, and the few out on the lake seemed almost afraid to break the silence, so it was just us, sat in the starlight, listening to the chirping of insects, splashing of fish, and trickling of water over the paddles.
I have no words to explain adequately how amazing this was. It was just.....perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Snorkelling
Disaster!!! I'd never been snorkelling before, and I am an appalling swimmer. So why in the world I thought I was suited to a lifetime as an aquatic biologist, I will never know. Nevertheless, despite my first foray into water deeper than my waist being incredibly humiliating, trying, and immensely difficult, it was still amazing, and I now I have the knowledge that I should really ask Santa for a lifetime membership to the local pool!!
My first difficulty seemed to be with my sense of balance. There hadn't been a considerable amount of rain in the Brunei area for quite a while, and so the Kuala Belalong river water level was very low in areas. This meant walking (and wading!) across slippery rocks in order to get to where we needed to go. Apparently, slippery rocks plus me equals Bambi on ice. If you've ever seen that movie, you'll know what I mean. Legs in all directions, with frequent landings on my backside. It was physically painful, and unfortunately for my ego - not an amazingly large presence at the best of times - it was destined to continue the entire way down the river, into the tributaries, and then back again. Ouchies! I thought I'd be safe once I reach the deeper water, but that was not to be. I had not been swimming since I was 9 years old, at which point I had managed to get my 25 metre swimming badge before being banned from the pool for running into breathing difficulties! I kinda forgot about that in the excitement of going splashing up river. Ooops! So, combined with my incessant falling, my weak swimming led to my trailing a good distance behind my lecturer and peers.
We got to the tributaries, and went snorkelling in the confluence of the river, looking at the different fish there. Of course, like the numpty I am, I kept holding my breath under the water. Hello?! Snorkel here?! Heheh - my scuba-loving high school biology teacher would have been SO ashamed of me! I had to keep coming up for air, which was quite ridiculous, but I did eventually begin to override my innate sense of silliness and I even got to see some fish! My lecturer pointed out this really cool eel, and as he poked it out of it's hiding place, it shot past me in a streak of brown and was gone as quickly as it had emerged. The endemic suckers were the best though. Amazing vibrant greens, with streaks of yellow and little black spots. There were other fish, too. I was actually amazed by how many fish were present in the river, and even more surprised by the fact that 9 students and a lecturer splashing about in the river didn't scare them away!!
Moving on up the tributaries turned out to be just as much an exercise in bi-pedalism as getting to them! Climbing up the waterfalls was much easier than staying on my feet once I got to the top, for example. At one point, I slipped so badly that my friends thought for sure I *must* have broken something! But I didn't. I did find a teeny weeny little frog stuck to my arm though. He was black, and shiny, and I very nearly wiped him away thinking he was river ooze! And I'm not sure whether I was more or less embarrassed when the lecturer turned around and said "Get to solid ground before you begin multitasking Alex - Three points of contact, not seven!" On the one hand, it was kind of funny and took the heat off of me, but on the other..... >.<
Still. As black and blue as I was by the time I got back, and as stiff and achy as my muscles were the next morning, I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I *clearly* need more practice in the water. ;)
