Gunung Tahan Day 2 – whatwhat, buzzbuzzbuzz
It’s nearly 6:30pm, and JC and I are hiding safely in our tent from the bees and resting from the long day we had.
We woke up very early this morning, at 6am in total darkness, in an attempt to pack up and get going before the bees woke up. It worked pretty well. We were on the trail hiking by 7am with only a few dozen bees buzzing about our things. Very manageable.
The first part of today’s hike involved summiting Gunung Raja which means King Mountain. It was a good climb and there were actually some views from the top but we were only able to stop and enjoy for about 30 seconds before the bees came and we had to move on.
After that we had a big descent (about 1000 feet) back to 500-feet elevation at the river and then we followed the river for about 3 hours, having to cross it 9 times in total I think. All in all it took about 7.5 hours to get here to Teku Campsite, right on the river. So far we’ve done in 2 days what most hikers do in 3 and JC and I are both still feeling good.
We agreed today that we would both like to summit Gunung Tahan and then hike out north of the mountain rather than return south on the trail we’re on now. The bees are so bad that it’s just not enjoyable and it’s quite daunting to think that we’d have to face them all over again on the way back. If we continue north there is supposed to be a small town about 2 days hiking from Tahan where we can take a bus or a train back to the park headquarters.
As for the bees, well you may think I’m exaggerating, but I can tell you I’m NOT! They were actually not too bad all day today, but after yesterday we learned not to rest near the water sources because that’s where the bees congregate. So today we rested high on the ridges and never stopped long enough to draw a big crowd of them. Everything seemed to be going well until we got to Teku Campsite.
The campsite here is absolutely INFESTED with bees. The average person would have gone clinically insane after about 5 minutes here. I would safely estimate that there are several thousand bees here. When the 3 of us arrived, there were already 3 others here – 2 Singaporeans and their guide on their way down from the summit. The bees had already closed in on them. Everyone’s shirts hanging on the line were literally COVERED with bees. JC and I dropped off our packs and walked back to the river to submerge and escape the swarms. It worked for a few minutes but then we both got leeches from the river – ha! No escaping our natural enemies. I got one on my leg and JC got one on his foot. Small, but feisty, very hard to rip off.
Anyway we got back to the packs and my pack was gone. Instead there was something which had the shape of my pack but it was COMPLETELY COVERED by about a thousand bees. They were crawling all over it!
We set out to put up the tent as quickly (but as calmly) as possible. With hundreds of bees crawling over your body, face, head, and neck and hundreds more swarming around your head, it’s hard to remain calm but you HAVE to! If you can move slowly and stay calm, they actually won’t sting but if you freak out then they get pissed off and then they can attack.
So it’s absolutely essential to stay calm. I kept closing my eyes and telling myself, they’re just flies, they’re not bees. And JC kept saying’just think of the man on tv who wears the bee beard, he never gets stung!’ And we were trying to help each other remain calm.
Somehow we managed to get the tent up, then we got our packs inside (after spraying them with DEET and using the 10-second window when the bees took off) and then I got into the tent and ahhhhh, it felt so good to be inside and know that THEY were outside. Well, actually 3 bees got in, one flew in and the other 2 had been caught in my hair since the river/leech incident, but I managed to kill them all, hehe.
I’ve been in the tent for about 3 hours now and they haven’t seemed to let up yet. I can still see about 50 or so bees hovering outside the tent door and I can hear them buzzing like mad all over the campsite. It has been a challenge dealing with these bees.
Other than that though, we are doing ok, feeling good about the pace and enjoying the scenery. Today we could hear Gibbon monkeys calling all through the forest. In Malay they call them the WhatWhat monkey because that’s what their call sounds like. Yesterday we saw elephant tracks and elephant dung on the trail so they are around out here somewhere, we just haven’t seen them. We also saw tracks of another animal called the Tapin, which apparently looks like a cross between a cow and a pig and it’s big and black with a white back and butt, so it looks like it’s wearing a giant diaper. There are also tigers in the park but hopefully we won’t see them. Anyway there are supposed to be less bees as we go up in elevation. I really hope it’s true.
How I love those ferns
River Crossing Number ?
Trying to cook and bee happy
Add comment June 24th, 2002