Jungle Trekking

A trip to the woods is incomplete without hiking and jungle trekking. Hence, we signed up for a stroll in the woods. Once again, taking the boat, we arrived at the foot of one of the hills, and began trekking through the wilderness to Tanjung Tembat Waterfalls. 

At first, it seemed easy enough. The trees were far apart, earth was dry, and the terrain was flat. As we ventured deeper and deeper into the jungle, the trees grew closer to one another, the earth became wetter. It became harder to identify the paths as numerous wet, brown, blackened leaves and branches stacked onto the less trodden path. Trees were rooted firmly onto the ground, forming natural staircases, easing our journey up the mountains. 

Since it had just rained the previous night, the ground was extremely muddy. It was a nice and cool walk. We didn't even feel the sun shining brightly over our heads as the sunlight was filtered through the leaves. We felt safe and exhilarated at the same time.

Along the way, we spotted circular tracks about 1 feet in diameter, with deep imprints onto the ground. Many times, due to our inexperience, we mistook it for human footprints, stepped onto it and tended to follow those tracks. Unbeknown to us, those were elephant footprints. Thankfully our guide never left us to try out new paths on our own. Whenever we took the wrong path, they'd always call us back. So, we always found our way. 

Every few metres, we would stumble upon huge green, spherical mixture of grass and mud particles, which we suspected were elephant poop. Areas which elephants had passed by, tended to have fallen branches, tree trunks and extremely muddy paths. As a result, we often had to look really closely before grabbing branches and tree trunks alike. Once, the guide in front of me was just about warn me about the sharp, thorned shoots on my left when I grabbed it hastily and shouted "Ouch!" . Too late! I had already touched it. 

Yes. In the woods, we should really look before we touch and step. While crossing the river, I touched a branch for support, only to be stinged by something sharp, and I shouted, "ouch! ouch! ouchs" three times, as tears accumulated in my eyes and flowed steadily down my cheeks. It was really painful. I looked up and saw only a bunch of sharp, green, haify stuff sticking out from a branch. The guide, who stood on a elevated boulder, said, "Aww... don't be a big baby. It's just a young caterpillar. Is it painful? Just put your stung finger on your hair, and rub it on your head." 

Naively, I trusted him and assumed that by doing so, my left ringer wouldn't hurt anymore. Yet, the pain did not reduce even one single bit. In fact, it seemed to spread through my upper arm. At one point, I even felt as if my arms would go numb! I always wondered what would happen if one were stung by caterpillar. Now I knew. It isn't that bad. As much as I complained of the pain like a little baby, the pain was gone by the end of the day.

Since it had just rained, black, juicy leeches were lurking at almost every corner. Whenever we stopped in a new territory, there was a high tendency for our skin to be poked and blood sucked out by the leeches. Our Canadian friend, who had never seen a leech, was curious about how it looked. The first time a leech hung stubbornly onto her arm, she picked the creature up with two of her slender fingers, snapped a picture of it, before throwing it onto the ground. Upon further advice by our group members, she stepped onto the leech, squashing it flat.  

Suddenly a speculation by one of my colleagues crossed my mind, "If we pour lots of salt onto a leech, will it explode into a million pieces?" Hmmm... I wonder. Did not have the opportunity to try it out through. The next time I feel adventurous and want to jungle trek again, I'll be sure to carry a bottle of salt just to see what happens. Hah!

As we were walking out of the woods, our guide decided to reveal that sometimes, while bringing tourists like us into the jungle, they would occasionally encounter porcupines, tigers, panthers, leopards and elephants. In moments like these, it is always tense. Should they run? Or should they stay put? They are after all, trespassing into the habitat of these animals. "We are the intruders, not them." they explained. Thus, in such situations, they try to be as quiet as possible and not attract any attention to themselves. As such, both parties have been well protected, co-existing in peace and harmony. Amen.

Big Ants, Small Ants, Grouped Ants Moving Together