Sun 2nd June

“What is the difference between exploring and being lost?” (Dan Eldon)

from journal entry:
‘Sitting – one of three people out in the jungle tonight. 26,000ha of rainforest – primary and secondary rainforest of seven different types; peat swamp forest, mangrove swamp forest, fresh water swamp forest, mixed dipterocarp forest (dipterocarp meaning a 2-winged seed), beach forest, heath forest and montane forest.

I’m sitting here by candlelight, sometimes using a torch to brighten the page. In so doing creating a cocoon of light that separates me from the vibrant darkness of the rainforest night. I prefer the more porous membrane of the candlelight.

It has been an amazing day. Our campsite is a wonderful location. We are about forty minutes walk from the car, which is parked on the side of an unsurfaced road which in places requires 4WD to make it up the loose surfaces and water routed holes of the red earth roads.

The site is a shelter of wooden trunks covered by plastic sheeting. Below are wooden branch slatted tables and benches and a wee set up kitchen area. There is enough seating space for the scientist and university student research teams who this place is mainly set up for. David (our guide) is the only company allowed to bring people in to this part of the jungle and tourists are brought in in small groups. There are a couple 2/3 person tents set up.

Down below is a small flowing river with a couple benches at this side made of branches. You sit and look up at a tranquil green scene of classic ‘geography lesson’ rainforest layers. I went skinny-dipping. It seemed somehow wrong not to. I was nibbled by fish the first time. We later fed the fish with bits of bread. They all came up to the surface and pulled bits off the larger pieces of bread while gobbling up the smaller ones.

‘Tarzan Dave’ or ‘Crazy Dave’ as he says he is often called has been a great guide. Interesting, very chatty, full of stories and as well as knowing the jungle very well hew conveys his love of it. His passion for the jungle and for the conservation of its wildlife is infectious. He is involved in all sorts of conservation projects from orangutans to turtles. He has grown up in Borneo and his knowledge is mostly self taught / learnt from the jungle having left school at the age of 12.

Being here makes me think of ‘Desert Solitaire’ (by Edward Abbey). Though a completely different environment, yet the state of ‘wilderness’, the experience and love of a natural environment in its natural state, somehow connects across habitats. A special feeling. A fragile moment. A wealth. A treasure.

The incredibly noisy silence. There is constant noise but apart from the occasional plane overhead and our voices, silent of ‘man-made’ noise clutter.

The quote for today was definitely, “What is the difference between exploring and being lost?” David did and didn’t know where we were. He tracks animals and enjoys exploring new ways. Wandering up steep slopes exclaiming about how busy this road was. A great person to go exploring in the jungle with because you completely trust him. He knows how to read the signs.

We made a hide-out from a few fan ferns and sat for about an hour on a hillside. It was incredibly peaceful. We saw a blue-beaked bee eating bird and a couple of Gigantic Forest Ants, as well as the ever present mosquitos, though we could hear a grey/silver leaf monkey a little ways off.

I feel full of information and experiences. I look around more and can start to hear more of the sounds of the animals.

A record of what we saw and heard:
We saw tracks / evidence of…lesser mouse deer; wild boar; porcupine;bear; orangutan.
We heard…grey/silver leaf monkey; hornbill; Borneo gibbon; clouded leopard; orangutan; red leaf monkey.
We saw…gigantic forest ants; thick thumbed pipistrelle (bamboo bat); black scorpion (v. dangerous); a type of leaf frogs mating; fire flies of different colours; a rare and very poisonous long legged centipede.
also saw…termite mounds (3 types); lots of bugs and insects; purple wild banana (no fruit); a yellow delinia – the national flower; a few types of liana (a creeper/climber of which there are over 300 varieties); pitcher plants.

There are over 100 species of snakes, 85% of which are not venomous. There are over 560 species of birds. There are over 80 species of rattan found in Brunei (2 are endemic – only found here) and there are 140 species of palme. (See why my head’s full?!)

I didn’t sleep a lot – not quite sure why. There was a mosie in the tent and it was noisy too. If you are going to have a night awake though – what a wonderful place to have it. The sheer size of the jungle is amazing and inspiring. It’s not permitted and would be dangerous as well as scary to be here by yourself, but it’s also somewhere that inspires me to want to sit alone…and just listen. I’d like to get some of the earthy, noisy stillness inside my head. There is truth here, and wonder. It feels almost tangible but still eludes me. Yet I feel blessed.