Been at Eco Camp for the past couple of nights, hence the lack of posts. Eco Camp has been built by the villagers and volunteers and is a source of income for the Orang Sungai and a forest friendly destination for a small number of adventurous tourists. It's basically a deck built by the lake in the middle of the rainforest with wooden structures to sleep in. Very basic but beautiful, monkeys scurrying around above you, hornbills nesting in the trees and scores of other wildlife all around you. After working in the afternoon we got to soak up the atmosphere in the evenings.
Last night we decided it would be fun to tell ghost stories and scare each other witless in the middle of the Forest at night with nothing but headlamps between us and the dark. Every sound is amplified in the jungle and its impossible to decipher what the Hell is making the sounds, your mind runs wild. We heard a scurrying around on the deck and swivelled our lamps towards it, hearts racing. Laura saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the dark and we all jumped on our chairs,much to Fikri's amusement. Standing on a chair is NOT going to save you from a clouded leopard!
It turned out to be a civet cat- most cute once you know what the little bugger is!
The rainforest is incredible at night, silent lightning continually strikes the sky, illuminating the clouds and creates a stunning scene. Brave after our encounter yesterday we decided to take a night trail through the jungle with 2 trusty guides and 2 trusty parangs (machetes). A large bat flew at us and over our heads and fire ants bit our feet and legs, strange sensation! Not bloody pleasant! Unfortunately no wild boar charged us, we didn't need to fight off a leopard or wrestle an Orangutan. Darn!
After a thorough examination of our legs and feet we lay back to watch the stars and our Malay guides as they caught giant prawns in the lake and sang quiet songs. Yep, vegan Claire not too chuffed with the death part but I've got to admit, twas peaceful and atmospheric!
It is so beautiful here. No boredom. We are constantly peeing our knickers, either through laughter or fear! Ha!!
Also included- Chris, AKA Quazimodo. This boy certainly is keeping us amused!
Hi Claire, I just thought I'd tell you how much we are ejoying reading your blogs. You make it all so interesting and bring it alive, almost like being there. I think when you come home you should publish them. People planning to go to Borneo would find it invaluable. Love and miss you. xx
ReplyDeleteAw thanks Mum. Hopefully people travelling here will find it through Google! I would write more if i had more access to WiFi and I didn't have to do it on my bloody phone!
DeleteLove you too and miss you very much! But dont worry, our foster families are taking very good care of us xxxx