With my last couple days on Borneo, I wanted to get out of the city and see one more national park. So I packed up my bag and headed to Lundu, the town closest to Gunung Gading National park which is famed for the elusive Rafflesia flowers...the largest flowers in the world. I was told none of the flowers were blooming at the time, but that there were some nice waterfalls in the park. I figured at least there wouldn't be crowds and maybe I would get lucky and one would bloom.
I arrived at the park and was one of three guests. I had the entire hostel room to myself and spent the day hiking and relaxing at the waterfalls without seeing another human on the trail. I did see an iguana, beautiful butterflies, and bud of the famed Rafflesia flower (although I was very disappointed that I couldn't see one in bloom!). I returned and the ranger on duty, whose reserved manner did not hide his enthusiasm for the flora and fauna as well as folklore of the region, offered to take me to see the nearby beach. With some trepidation, I donned the proffered helmet and we were off through the lush green hills scattered with small villages to the beach.
The beach was picture-perfect at sunset with its perfectly white sand and dramatic storm roughened waves. The ranger told me he comes there at sunset almost every day and usually swims when the water isn't so rough. During our walk along the beach, he told me that the waterfall I had spent most of the day at alone was haunted by three women spirits which is why there is no swimming allowed. I had been so tempted to swim in the gorgeous pool, but being alone and not knowing why there was no swimming allowed, I had refrained. He told me he has personally carried one woman who fainted from the spirits at the waterfall back to headquarters and his wife started foaming at the mouth when she went there. He also told me about visiting a spirit doctor in the mountains on the border of Lundu and Kalimantan, Indonesia when his wife had a miscarriage. Despite the expensive treatment and visiting Western doctors as well, they were never able to have children. The mountainous Lundu area is known for being full of spirits and I was told people just accept them as part of daily life. It was such an interesting mix of modern and tradtional beliefs, infrastructure, agriculture, etc. After our adventure, we headed back to town to sample some local milk tea before we had to rush back to the park to welcome guests 4 and 5 for the night.
The haunted waterfall...The next morning, I woke up early and spent the morning lounging at one of pools near park headquarters. I tore through my Isabel Allende book and once again had basically the whole place to myself. By 10:30, I was all packed and waiting at the front rangers office for the taxi to take me back to the Lundu bus station when I looked up at the white board that reported on the status of the Rafflesia flowers and it read, “Blooming 04/05/11.” I looked at my watch and back and the board and realized that was TODAY. There were three men who had just arrived and were talking with the ranger about where to find the flower. The ranger said I could go with them but I declined because I had to catch my bus. After they started off up the hill, I shook myself and said what am I doing? I came all this way and to come this close without seeing the famed Rafflesia flower would just be sad. So I stashed my bag, delayed the taxi, and took off after them, sweating in the heat. I caught up with them, and learned they were three professors from the Malaysia University of Technology. One was an environmental studies prof (who is an avid animal admirer and had been to Kruger national park in South Africa where he had a rhino encounter on foot!) and the other was in Urban planning. We crashed around in the underbrush (exactly what you are not supposed to be doing in sensitive rafflesia habitat! ) hunting for the elusive flower. It has a parasitic relationship with a certain vine and if you damage the vine you can unknowingly damage the flower. After some time, a lot of bug and sweat later, we found it!!! Then the photo shoot ensued. It was just like being back in Thailand :) The flower was magnificent and did indeed smell like rotting meat (yes of course I had to check!). So in the end I did get to see the Rafflesia flower and my Gunung Gading gamble paid off!
We hiked back down and then I asked if I could get a ride with them to Lundu to catch my bus. They were super friendly and obliged. When we reached the bus terminal, they asked where I was going and realized we were all going back to Kuching. They offered to let me tag along as they were scouting out locations/activities for an international program summer study abroad they were organizing. I immediately agreed.
Our first stop was a Dayak tribe longhouse. These tribes are famous for being former head hunters and sure enough, tied to the rafters of the long house was a human skull in a loosely woven basket. We were ushered inside to meet the headman and talk about the details of the home stay the students would be doing. After business was done, we went out to the back porch and sampled the local durian. Thankfully, durian doesn't bother me the way and it was pretty tasty all in all. They even taught me a trick for getting the smell off your hands and breath. You fill the holllow durian shell with water and drink it and then after you fill it again and wash your fingers. Worked like a charm...
The professors, the headman, and I chowing down on some durian!Then it was off to explore the property. We saw a tilapia fish farming project that had been funded by a government grant. One of the professors had been on the team to help the community implement the project and was disillusioned when he found out that the tribe contracts out the labor managing the fish farm instead of employing members of the tribe. The tribe had huge land holdings and seems to being doing quite well economically. Somewhere along the way, I had mentioned to the professors that I had studied cacao but never seen a cacao tree. They immediately informed me we had passed by many near the national park but we had been engrossed in conversation so he didn't mention it. So he turned to the headman and asked if he had any cacao growing. Then it was off on this tiny trail populated by pineapple, rubber, and durian trees, a plank across the river and finally....CACAO TREES. I'm pretty sure everyone else was very amused at my uncontainable excitement over what I'm sure is a rather mundane tree for them, but I was over the moon. All those pictures and hours spent on thesis research and I finally got to see one in real life. Despite a sad parting with my three adopted professors, I went home a very happy camper!
My first cacao tree!!!
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