Written by Mei Leong on 10 May 2004
with 3 comments.
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Lately, my mind has oftentimes skittered to the heart of the Borneo forest while I stared at the computer screen in my office or when I'm stuck in Old Klang Road's daily traffic crawl. There's just something about the forest and her mountains that beckon the weary soul.
Thus, I clambered up Gunung Murud to seek some answers.
In the vicinity of the Tama Abu range, surrounding the Kelabit Highlands in northeast Sarawak bordering Kalimantan, the sandstone mountain of Murud stands at 2,423m (7,946ft) making it the highest peak in Sarawak and the fourth highest in Malaysia. Murud's first recorded ascent was by Swedish explorer and naturalist Dr. Eric Mjoberg in 1922, who was also the then curator of the Sarawak Museum. Over the decades, the mountain has seen many scientists on expeditions to record its flora and fauna species.
But Murud is deemed a holy mountain by the Lun Bawang and Kelabit indigenous people who inhabit the area, mainly Bakelalan and Bario. (see map) Every year, thousands of pilgrims from the Borneo Evangelical Church (Sidang Injil Borneo) and other churches around Borneo ascend to Church Camp (6000ft/metre?) for their retreat. The pilgrimage was first inspired by the late Agong Bangau, a Lun Bawang who reportedly performed miracles and went up the mountain for meditation and prayer. In the late 80s, locals lugged wood planks, zinc roofs and equipment up the mountain plateau to build shelters and a church. In 1990, the annual pilgrimage began.
There're two main trails up the mountain. Trekkers coming from Bario, trek northeast to Pa Lungan village and start from Long Repung shelter (southeast of Murud). Long Repung is smack on the main trail connecting Bario and Bakelalan. Or, trekkers can climb the mountain from the northeast side, near Bakelalan, starting from the Lepo Bunga shelter. Both Bario and Bakelalan, deep in the interiors of Borneo are only accessible by Twin Otter planes. But flights to Bakelalan have been suspended indefinitely and the only access to Bakelalan is a 4-5 hour drive on 4WD through logging tracks from Lawas. Lawas, about 350km north of Miri, is the state's northernmost border town with Sabah and a transit point to the highland regions near the Kalimantan border.
I hooked up with Seridan Mulu Tours & Travel Services for a five-day trip starting from Lawas to Gunung Murud and ending in Bario. My trekking companions were Lun Bawang natives Martin Kading Balang of Seridan Mulu and Panai Atan, from Bakelalan. Martin, 32, originally from a village near Lawas has more than 13 years' experience in guiding visitors on the Bario and Mulu treks. Incidentally, he's featured on the recent Astro's Discovery Travel and Adventure Channel, guiding the host of "Treks in a Wild World- Borneo" programme. Speaking fluent English and Lun Bawang dialect, Martin's father was a longhouse chief in their village when Martin was growing up. Panai who juggles farming and a porter job, knows every nook and cranny of the Kelabit Highland forest and Murud.
Day one- Lawas to Lepo Bunga
Our drive from Lawas to the Lepo Bunga jungle hut at the trailhead was a five-hour trundle across mountain ranges - rumbling up steep, muddy terrains and sliding down sheer, rock-strewn slopes. Each time we climbed a ridge, we descended into a valley each a pretty portrait of emerald-green pastures and paddy fields dotted with wooden houses, lolling water buffaloes and farmers tilling their land. The cool, fresh air made even the buffalo dung quite pleasant. Some of the quaint wooden houses with white picket fences look like a typical American farmhouse in Montana.
Lepo Bunga, a simple wooden shelter on stilts, sits at an altitude of almost 1000m. Inside the shelter, there's a small corner for the cooking area and firewood, and enough space to house at least 10 adults. At night, Panai made a small campfire to keep us warm and cosy despite the blustery wind outside.
Day two-Lepo Bunga to Kebun Batu (rock garden)
Starting at more than a 1000m altitude at this side of the mountain, the forest seemed to be phasing from the lowland mixed dipterocarp forest with its towering trees (some over 45m) and massive buttresses into the lower montane forest with a lower canopy and abundant epiphytes. Though I'm no botanist or scientist, after climbing a few mountains ranging from 2,300m-4100m in Borneo, you get a vague of idea of how the forest system changes with altitude. We lumbered up gentle slopes on multi-coloured, fungi-decorated trails framed by bamboo canopy. Fungi like the cute, orange cup fungus, the Cookeina species and the tiny, bell-shaped white Mycena species break down dead plant material and release nutrients into the forest system. Flaming red, wild gingers from the Zingiber species taint the gloomy forest floor and pretty, blooming yellow and red orchids perched on tree trunks adorn the green forest walls. But I was a tad dumbfounded when we reached the plank walk. To facilitate the churchgoers, the locals built an elevated boardwalk covering almost three quarter of the trails from Lepo Bunga to Church camp. Some purists may balk at the 'unnatural' trail while others may enjoy the leisurely amble. But over time, the planks, coated with a thin film of moss, become like a suds-covered floor after a rain shower.
With the heavy human traffic during pilgrimage season sometime in July, we inevitably find bits and pieces of snack wrappers, empty can drinks and papers along the trail. Of all the over 2,300m mountains I've visited, Murud sees the most litter, unfortunately. After about four hours' traipse, we arrived at what looks like a deserted village - a sea of wooden shelters shrouded in thick mists. After a quick lunch of tuna and peanut butter sandwiches, we plodded on. As we scrambled higher, the trail became a mud fiesta. Despite stepping nimbly on submerged tree trunks and branches in mud puddles, my feet never failed to plop right into the mud cake. Perhaps, it'd have helped if we had avoided the rainy season. An hour into our trek, the heaven rumbled and poured. The rest of the trek passed by in a blur as we footslogged through mud and pelting rain and crossed the small streams flowing between the rocks.
It was still pouring when we arrived at the rock garden- a small flat clearing dotted with sandstone rocks. Martin and Panai went looking for tree branches to use as poles to set up shelter for the night. Our little "campsite" spot has a huge slab of rock as a back wall. Nepenthes lowii (gourd-shaped cups pitcher plant of the montane species found in stunted forest around 2000m) hung like oil lamps above our heads and the blueberry-like Dianella ensifolia (a herb where its fruits, roots and leaves are used in traditional medicines) adorned the rocks. Our cosy shelter of a ground sheet with a canvas roof was just enough to fit the three of us. Changing into dry clothes and drying our feet, we sipped hot Sabah tea and chewed on chocolate chip cookies while watching the pitter-pattering rain from the shelter. Ah...the simple pleasures in life.
Day three - Rock garden to Murud summit to Pa Remusu
Crawling out of my cosy sleeping bag at 5.30am, I looked up and saw millions of glittering stars draping the dark bluish sky. Our campsite faces the sweeping view of rolling mountains wreathed with a sea of fluffy clouds. I gulped in the incredibly cool, crisp air.
The trail to the summit was one of the most beautiful trails I've trudged on. We scrambled over sandstone rocks, and strode amidst the stunted, gnarled trees with dramatic claw-like branches. These bonsai-like trees of oak, laurel and lithocarpus family thrive in the upper montane forest. Like a landscaped garden, beds of Nepenthes murudensis sit prettily and bright red, pink and white rhododendrons bloom like it's the height Spring. Surprisingly, the climb to the summit wasn't too backbreaking with a few gentle climbs and a traipse through mud sludge and narrow ridges with views of the spectacular twin peaks of Batu Lawi (2039m), southwest to Murud.
After three hours of savouring perfect postcard-picture sights, we reached the peak. Thankful for the clear skies, I twirled around and took in the 360-degree view of endless miles of green mountain ranges - Kalimantan's Apo Duat Range and the Tama Abu Range. Martin pointed out the tiny brown patch about the size of my palm in the far-flung distance. It's the abandoned airstrip at Pa Lungan, the village we will be passing by in two days' time, he said. It looked like a world away and I wondered if we could really walk through the thick forest, across the undulating hills and ridges to get there?
My ecstasy was rudely cut short in the following journey to our next campsite. This is the typical, torturous mountain climb with its backbreaking uphill and downhill on the long summit ridge. We clawed up vertical rock walls, grabbed tree roots as foot and handholds and tottered on narrow ridges with plunging crevasses on one side. We treaded carefully over deep holes half-covered by soft beds of moss, tree roots and branches.
Relieved to stagger into our campsite after nine hours on our feet, I faced another nightmare. Pa Remusu, a small patch of clearing swathed by towering trees, is a leech heaven. Sleeping on a ground sheet with a canvas roof over our heads, I knew the leeches would attack. Twice in the middle of the night, I leaped out of my sleeping bag, shrieking "f*&@k!" and startled the guys when I felt the damp, queasy creature slithering in my sleeping bag and on my ear lobe.
Day four-Pa Remusu to Long Repung
I couldn't wait to leave camp the next day for obvious reasons. It was another long eight hours of wading through river crossings and tramping down steep inclines. A searing pain tore across my shoulders from the heavy pack and my knees were throbbing. But the pleasant peals of gibbon and hornbill calls broke the monotony of the trek. Panai spotted a few gibbons frolicking up on the trees. We stayed quiet and waited to see them performed their aerial acrobats.
Long Repung shelter, by Long Repung riverbank, is a simple wooden kampung-style house that feels like a five-star hotel after the leech territory in Pa Remusu and sleeping under canvas tents. Finally, we got to take a bath after three days.
Day five -Long Repung to Pa Lungan to Bario
On our final day in the forest, Panai headed the opposite direction to Bakelalan while Martin and I walked towards Bario. Scrambling over two sheer hills, we passed the burial ground of the Kelabit and Lun Bawang community. More than 50 years ago, the locals used to put the body of the deceased into a clay urn and bury the urns in the hills.
The trek to Bario took us through frustratingly muddy and steep slopes interspersed with scenic flat terrain on the highland flanked by the ubiquitous pitcher plant, Nepenthes stenophylla, and ferns of all shapes and patterns.
On reflection, many things in life come into perspective when you're in the forest. Simple food like boiled cabbage seasoned with salt, steaming fragrant Bario rice, peanut butter and bread, and hot tea on a chilly night tasted so scrumptious. Splashing the cool, fresh river water on your face and taking a sip of the sweet mountain water is simply rejuvenating after hours of trampling in the warm, humid jungle. At night, slipping into the cosy, warm sleeping bag, resting your sore feet and weary bones never felt so good. Most of all, feeling the childlike awe and wonder at the amazing beauty of nature unfolding before you is priceless.
The first day I came back to work after a week in the forest and in Bario, one colleague said, "you look good," and the other commented, "you have this 'glow' on your face."
Yup, that's what the mountain and forest does to your soul and body!
Write to Mei LeongMei Leong
A journalist with a passion for the outdoors and the (seemingly) unconquered! Expect more articles as this once US-based writer explores the back and beyonds of the region.... more inside »
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Martin
Thursday, 17 December 2009 at 7:43 PM:
Hi...I'm the guide of this trip,now i realise how the trip mean to you,cos i'm leaving in the busy city now,i do miss the trip like this a lot by now,
Martin from Germany
Sunday, 14 March 2010 at 6:49 AM:
What about the logging at Lepo Bunga? Has it already started on a large scale? I had been there in November 2009 and it didn't look very nice. What a catastrophe for this wonderful area!!
CK
Friday, 02 April 2010 at 4:20 PM:
Hi,
I'm going to MT Murud this Sept 2010,may I know what type of fuel did you use for cooking, it'd easy to get them in Bario?
Thanks.