I met Jungle Dave the day before at Mona Florafauna Tours. I wanted to book a hike into Brunei's National Forest Ulu Temburuong. My guidebook explains that this hike includes a canopy walk high above the jungle floor where I can look forward to seeing Proboscis monkeys and hornbills in their natural environment.
"No good," Jungle Dave insists, "In Ulu Temburuong you have a 1% chance of seeing wildlife. Where I take you, you have an 80% chance." Well, I do want to see wildlife, but I thought the canopy walk sounded rather romantic.
"On our tour we have a boardwalk. So you walk above the mud at your own pace." A boardwalk sounded a little less hardcore than what I was hoping for. My parents live near a bird sanctuary with a boardwalk. It's lovely and accessible to wheelchair bound people. But I haven't been hiking in quite a while. Mayhaps a stroll down the promenade while snapping photos of wildlife was exactly suited to me.
I checked out what the other tour offices had on offer and then I booked Jungle Dave's Adventure Camping Tour. The brochure promised that my husband and I would be picked up from our hotel, taken for breakfast at a local eatery, driven to a forest reserve, and briefed on rainforest safety. We would then set up our tent, eat some lunch, and start our first of three hikes.
Our driver arrived at our hotel promptly at 7am. We swing by Jungle Dave's house where we drop off our suitcases (only the essentials in the jungle) and try on the Wellies we'll be using as hiking boots. We then stop off at a small cafe for some roti canai with dhal and coffee sweetened with condensed milk. The meal was good, but I didn't want to eat too much before conquering the jungle.
Our car dropped us off on the edge of the foreset reserve in the Tutong District. We loaded up our supplies, stepped inside our rubber boots and took our first steps into the jungle. I admit, the hike to camp was strenuous. I assumed this must be the adventurous bit of the trip. We would be taking it easy once we hit the boardwalk. On the way to camp we see our first snake, a vine snake. It is green but turns yellow-ish when it's ready to attack. Right now, it is mating season and this evening will be half-moon. These two conditions combine to make the snakes more aggressive than usual. Yes.
It is 93 degrees today and we arrive at camp wet with sweat. The mosquitoes arrived before us. They are everywhere, especially around the area where we need to set up our tent. But I'm prepared with deet and it seems to keep the bugs at bay. At camp we join up with Jungle Dave's right hand man Kim. Also, there are two guide trainees present Naffy and Murel. We eat some fried noodles and sit down for Jungle Dave's safety speech.
He starts out by describing the 600 species of leeches we might meet on our trek. This gets my attention. I wasn't aware that leeches were the wildlife I'd be viewing. He assures us that as long as we flick them off sideways we'll be ok. Plus, he seems to think that a little blood suckage is good and shares the heroic leech stories he knows.
Next, we talk rainforests. There are four types of rainforest (freshwater, peat, dipterocarp, the one I forgot) and each of them are present in our 39 sq km forest reserve. Since only 20 permits are issued per day for visitors, the jungle is relatively untouched and conservation,we soon learn, is a priority for Jungle Dave.
Our early wakeup call, lunch, and the heat of the day combine to make my eyelids heavy. I'm trying to listen but it's becoming harder and harder. Then I hear Jungle Dave mention the time he had to cut off a person's hand. Now I'm awake.
"What?!"
Jungle Dave is very matter of fact about the story. He was leading a snorkeling tour when a woman started feeding the fish bread. Introducing bread into the water does excite the fish, but it also excites the fish's predators. A water snake showed up and promptly bit this woman's finger...and didn't let go. She, of course, lost her mind. Jungle Dave had to knock her out using a pressure point on her neck and get her to the beach.
"I had no choice," he explained, "If I didn't cut her hand off, she would have died."
I need more. "But wasn't it difficult to decided to slice into her flesh?" I ask.
"Yes," he admits, "especially since I didn't have a knife."
Now my imagination hits overdrive. How did he possibly cut her hand off? Did he gnaw it off? Grab a sharp shell? Catch a passing swordfish?
"I was snorkeling so I broke my face mask and used the glass."
Oh. My. God.
"It is important to save the hand," he instructs our shocked, fully awake group, "I handed it to the woman next to me. She was scared because the snake was still attached to the finger, but we had to take it to the hospital. We put it in the water, but fish immediately swam up and started eating it. So we wrapped it in a shirt, dunk the shirt in the water, and got help."
"Her husband was sitting on the beach drinking beer," Jungle Dave remembers, "And he beat me up pretty good. But I did what I had to do." The woman's hand was successfully reattached, but the couple sued Jungle Dave. The charges were dropped, though, when an expert doctor testified that if the hand wasn't cut off she probably wouldn't have survived. The doctor thought they were lucky that a person who knew how to cut a hand off cut her hand off. Otherwise it may not have been able to be reattached.
I'm not sure if I'm happy I'm in a dangerous, desolate area with Jungle Dave or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment