Base Camp 5

This morning at Mulu National Park, we got in some longboats to take a ride to a local village.  The longboats, we were told, capsize easily...oh boy.

We arrived at the Batu Bungan village.

Here is some information about the people of the village:  Orang Ulu  or "remote people" is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak, with a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons. Orang Ulu is not a legal term and no such racial group exist or listed in the Malaysian Constitution. The term was popularized by a minority association known as "Orang Ulu National Association" (OUNA) that was formed in 1969.

The Orang Ulu typically live in longhouses elaborately decorated with murals and woodcarvings. They are also well known for their intricate beadwork detailed tattoos. The Orang Ulu tribes can also be identified by their unique music - distinctive sounds from their sapes, a plucked boat-shaped lute, formerly with two strings, nowadays usually with four strings.

A vast majority of the Orang Ulu tribes are Christians but old traditional religions are still practiced in some areas.

I thought I'd try my hand at the blowpipe.

 

We hopped back in the longboats and headed over to Clearwater cave, with approximately 60 kilometers of known passages, is considered the longest cave system in Southeast Asia. It is recognized for its clear underground stream, popular with tourists. The Wind cave is located on the same trail leading to Clearwater cave, and is known for its blowing wind. It contains a chamber dubbed King’s Room, a cavern containing huge columns of stone on both the ceiling and the floor. 

The gang's all here (photo courtesy of Nigel Kerby)

Photo courtesy of Nigel Kerby

After we finished with the caves, we hopped in the longboats one last time for the day to head to another trekking trail.  We were on our way to "Camp 5."  The first stage is a 1-2 hour boat trip along the Melinau River to Kuala Berar. If the water level is low, the boat has to be pushed over rocky sections so the trips takes longer. Lucky for us, we didn't have to do any pushing.

Base Camp 5 is a 7.8 km walk from Kuala Berar, following flat jungle terrain and taking 2-3 hours. I was pretty hot and tired, so I guess I didn't take any pictures on this trek.

photo courtesy of Nigel Kerby

In our longboat through some tiny rapids.

Camp 5 is situated near the Melinau Gorge which separates Gunung Benarat from Gunung Api. There is hostel –style accommodation at the camp and cooking facilities. We needed to use mosquito nets because a few people had contracted dengue fever recently.  Actually, I didn't think the mosquitoes were any where near as bad as they are in Ohio!  

We arrived at Camp 5 in the early evening.  It is from here that you can do an all day trek to the famous "Pinnacles."  Our purpose here was to conquer the "Headhunter's Trail", which was going to be 11.3 kms long!  Yikes.

Sunset at Camp 5.  The Melinau River in front Of Camp 5 is Crystal clear if you want to go for a swim after the trek from Long Berar.

That evening, we had dinner and played a really weird card game before heading off to bed.