Breakfast was a leisurely treat. An omelet made to order, potatoes, pastries, waffles pancakes--the buffet has huge selection. It's my favourite meal of the day.
This morning we're hiking to the lookout. It's about 1200 feet up and about a 6 km hike. It's already 30+ degrees and the humidity is constant at 100%. We're all bringing 2 bottles of water. Jungle dress code requires long pants, shirt, leech socks, hiking shoes (as some of the trails are pretty muddy) and an optional hat (for falling leeches).
We're off around 8:30 and it doesn't take long before sweat starts showing up our clothes. We start looking for animals on our way up. Our guide is aware that there is an orangutan in the area, probably from the sharing of information from other guides on the mobile radios that carry with them at all times.
We are part way up and one of our group sees movement in the tree canopy. We follow our guide (which unfortunately involves retracing our steps back down) and find an orangutan in the trees. Since we're higher up on the ridge and the fig tree where the orangutan is located in in the valley, we're almost at eye level. There is a youngster with the orangutan and together they are eating in the fig tree. It's the closest we'll get to an orangutan. Very cool.
We return to hiking up the mountain. Near the top of the ridge is a old burial site know as the coffin trail. At this point we've come up a long set of trail steps--I think the coffin trail is really for hikers who couldn't go any further.
The trail leads to a couple of ancient burial sites that time has made visible. One of the sites was the final resting place for a high ranking person, likely the leader of the tribe. The other was for a small child or baby. There are many small caves in the limestone hill and bodies would be brought to the hillside for burial with higher ranking people laid to rest further up the hill. We saw small wood planks at the child site and learned that caskets were used. I suspect how high members of this tribe were laid to rest was a function of how much effort your family and friends wanted to drag you uphill.
It's a sacred site and we spend a bit of time there. Our guide was from this tribe; the bones lying on the ledge are a distant ancestor. The tribe are former headhunters. He said that in order to marry, men would often have to fight for the bride and you would present the head of one of the suitors to your future in laws to demonstrate you had the ability to take care of the daughter. Nowadays that demonstration is via giving a water buffalo which is then slaughtered for feeding guests at the festivities. I asked Adrian, our guide if he was married or saving for a water buffalo. He laughed and said he wasn't married. He told us about his lucky friend who married into a family where he wasn't required to pay. Judith asked if the water buffalo gift had to be returned if the marriage didn't work out. He said you have to pay back twice as much. I pointed out that his friend was very lucky as 2 times zero is still zero.
We then return to hill climbing. By now I've already gone through my first bottle of water. When we reach the lookout platform about 15 minutes later, it's a bit of relief to have made it. We take in the vista provided for a few minutes before heading back down.
The lodge from high above.
The soil underneath is slippery. And some of the leaves that fall down from the canopy leave a blanket of slippery leaves. So far I've managed to end up on my ass twice. Nobody else has except me--fortunately the only downside was a bit of additional laundry.
On the path there is a big tree that I get my photo done.
At the end of the walk we stop off to a spot at the river to check out the "spa fish". These fish enjoy eating dead skin so if you stick any parts of your body in the water and don't move about, they will come and search out dead skin to gnaw on. Admittedly I was expecting to see fish that were smaller than the ones in this river. Some of these critters were over 6 inches in length and they all had sharp teeth. I could tolerate the nibbling below my ankles but anything above that seemed to hurt a bit.
We returned from the walk and use the boot washing station to remove all the muddy gunk from my boots. Adrian points out there is a boot drying service and offers to dry our boots for us. I'm happy. Dry boots are always better than wet boots.
We return to our rooms and shower. There isn't any air conditioning in the room so the 100% humidity stays constant through the day and night. You're really wet as you're hiking around and showering and kind of damp all other times. Judith is happy with the effect of the constant moisture on her skin, less so with the frizziness of her hair.
We go an have another fabulous meal at the restaurant buffet. We run into one of the group, Aioki, who said she found a leech on the front by her stomach. She had put on a bandaid but it bled through onto her dress which explained the big wet spot on her dress. She had to get a bigger bandaid from the lodge.
There is so much variety to the buffet and the restaurant seating is in a covered open air patio. By this time we've met a favourite server, Oliver, who is always smiling and willing to answer all of our many questions.
Then it's back to the room for a bit of siesta time before our afternoon walk. I find the heat zaps my energy, it's good to recharge via power naps. We wake to get ready for our afternoon walk.
We suit up for our afternoon walk. It's the canopy walk high up in the treetops. Aioki decided not to join us and I wonder if it's because she got a little freaked out by the leech. There's about a half hour walk before we get to the ramp up. Some of the canopy walk has only been opened for 4 months. One of the giant menggaris trees which was part of the old canopy walk fell down and a new route was constructed.
Here's a picture of our guide on the entrance to the canopy walk. Notice his shirt is soaked through from sweating.
The canopy is amazing. There's a blanket of trees for as far as you can see. We see a pair of hornbills in the distance and I manage a few photos before they fly off. On the walk we can also overlook a few old orangutan nests. These nests are created every day (fresh branches are most comfortable) for sleeping or having their babies.
We snap a few pictures for prosperity.
We return the the lodge as it's dinner time. As I remove my leech sock I'm not happy to see blood seeping out of my sock. Because my pair of socks was dark blue I didn't notice anything amiss until I took them off. Out fell a fat leech who had clearly been gorging on me. Maybe I was fortunate in having it already fully fed and detached. Otherwise I would have needed to be careful in removing it to ensure all the body parts exited.
While I'm not grossed out I was dismayed to find it happened to me. I have no idea how it got on me. I can only surmised it was already in my sock before I put it on. I had a couple fall on me from the canopy, one of which I flicked off and the other had to be tugged on by Adrian until it detached from the back of my hand near my thumb. But it hadn't yet drilled into me so pulling was all that was necessary.
Judith was so excited that I would get the certificate from the Lodge acknowledging that I had been a victim. I was not excited.
Leeches are nasty little animals and have developed highly effective ways to extract what they need without you knowing it. First they can sense your body heat and are sufficiently mobile to find you. Once they are able to find a spot of free flesh, they release an anaesthetic before they bite so you won't feel them. Then they release an anticoagulant so that you bleed nicely for them. I can admire nature for creating such efficient creatures, but I'm not keen to be around them. They need to blood to sustain their young during reproduction so they can't reproduce until they find a victim.
I apply a temporary bandaid (because I know it will bleed for a while), snap a picture of my offending leech and return to my room to clean up for dinner. I wash out my leech sock and my regular sock I was wearing inside my leech socks. I was surprised by how much blood was in my regular sock. Damned leech.
Dinner was of course great. It was as leisurely as it could be knowing that there was a night walk in store for us and that we would eventually have to move to suit up again.
On the night walk we mainly stuck to the gravel road, using flashlights to find those reflective eyes and then entering the jungle to get closer looks. We saw a deer, flying squirrel and a bearded pig. We also saw many insects and frogs.
Back to the lodge. I decide to hang for a little while at the restaurant bar area. Wifi is only available in the common areas. Lots of other people are there as well. I post a blog as I'm a few days late now. The wifi isn't fast but I managed to get it posted. Then it's bedtime. We're off for a morning walk before we depart.
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