7/31 – After a poor night’s sleep (I won’t whine about the air con dripping on our heads and the fan that only worked on ‘hurricane’ setting – oops, just did!), we were ready for some jungle trekking. Nusa camp is so far from from town that we have to be ferried by long boat 15 minutes to and from the village of Kuala Tahan to the entrance of Taman Negara national park. We had a hard time with the communication of what time the boat would drop us off and, more importantly, pick us back up. The boat ride downriver went over three sets of rapids, and was pretty exciting. Whoever sat in the front seat got the wettest!       

The tiny village of Kuala Tahan exists for the park and the tourists. It consists of a series of hostels, tourist agents and small floating restaurants, with water taxis ferrying tourists across the Tembeling River for one ringgit (25 cents) each way.

Once we entered the park, we had a choice of several trails to follow.  

  Today we walked the route along the river, mostly on raised boardwalks that preserve the flora beneath.

Here’s a pretty big tree!

We saw evidence of wild boar – soil churned up wherever they root for truffles and such – but didn’t see any wildlife today.

The jungle really is dark, so much so that my camera flash often went off. Lots of mushrooms and fungi grow here.

Lots of pretty flowers too.

We walked to the river, and watched some people frolicking in the brown, muddy water… We’ve read that there are leeches in the river. Maybe we’ll swim another day…