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Published: February 6th 2007
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the Cave entrance
the view of the jungle from inside the cave Friday 18th August Anyway after a long hard slog we finally made it to the cave which was absolutely massive. First thing first was a jungle shower which amean had been telling us about. I was imagining a beautiful waterfall where we could swim, unfortunately he took us to a small stream, which due to the lack of rain over the last few weeks there was nearly non existent and then he got out the potts and pans which we were soon to be using for making our dinner and started cleaning them and told me and Paul to keep an eye out for any danger whilst he was doing this. Then he handed us the potts and pans and told us to fill them with water and strip down to our pants and pour the water over us, as he trotted off into the jungle back to the cave telling us to make sure we remembered the way back. Laura wasnt particularly happy about stripping down to her underwear with me near by so i went first and was still dreaming about my beautiful waterfall not this kind of jungle shower. However i have to admit it was
mighty refreshing and although on the first day of our treck we didnt see any animals i wasnt completely surprised as they would have smelt us from miles away.
After my refreshing "shower" i left Paul and Laura too it and headed off back to the cave and helped Amean prepare the food. After chopping about 3 carrots i nearly managed to slice my finger off, fortunately paul and laura had made it back by then so i could go and addresse the constant bleeding of my finger. Which like sharks sensing blood from miles away i was a bit worried tigers might do likewise.
Anyway to set the scene of the cave, inside the cave when we arrived where another group but fortunately the cave was so big they didnt take away the feeling of being away from humanity. I did feel a bit sorry for the other group as they tucked into there cold beans out of a tin whereas we tucked into a four course meal which was really nice. Anyway Ameal had started the fire and lit candles all around the cave so to make it very atmospheric. He then came over to me
Paul and Laura and told us he would show us the poisonous spiders in the cave if we wanted, me and Paul thought it would be good fun but Laura wasnt best pleased but she didnt want to be left alone so she joined us. As we were walking Amean suddenly jumped into one of the caverns and then reapeared rather dissapointed he hadnt seen one, then he shouits there it is and shines his torch at this horrible leggy spider which he told us was a scorpion spider and was pretty dangerous then he told us to get a closer picture of it so we got as close as we dared and got a picture, he then told us to not be scared as they cant jump...........but the red ones do, oh look theres a red one as he pointed to another one and then another. Laura decided she couldnt take it any more and headed back to the fire.
Amean then gathered us around the fire and told us about the other creatures that live in the cave and others that visit it from time to time. Firstly obviously the spiders that he had already shown us,
Paul and Laura helping out in the kitchen
Paul and Laura taking over from my injury then the millipede that he told us if we got bitten in the night by we would most probably dead in the morning. Then the snakes which come in from time to time which include cobras and vipers and other such snakes. We had already heard that Elephants come in from time to time to shelter from the rain and use the cave as a salt lick, obvious risk there being that we could just get trampled on in our sleep. And finally he let us know about the tigers that have been known to enter and proceeded to tell us a story from about 20 years ago when the native people of the jungle used to take travellers on treks and that one time they were sleeping in the cave and the natives smelt a tiger coming into the cave and so climbed up the cave not telling the travellers and leaving them to the tigers, fortunately the tigers just roamed around and then left with the travellers being non the wiser when they awoke in the morning. And finally he said right time for bed we have along treck again tomorow and you need your sleep............oh and by
the Cave
a view of the cave and where we slept the way if you hear someone whispering your name in the night do not follow it outside the cave. why we asked to which he just replied "GHOSTS" and then shut his eyes and went to sleep.
Me and paul then decided to go to the toilet and as we were stood at the entrance to the cave we looked out into the jungle and both swear we saw red eyes staring back at us from the undergrowth. With this we quickly did up our flies and scampered back into the cave.
That night i didnt sleep a wink mainly due to the fact it was boiling and i had my sleeping bag done all the way up with the hood over my head so nothing could get in and bite me. But also due to the fact that i dont think i have ever felt my life so threated by so many things. Amean our guide did tell us as long as the fire keeps going animals wont come near. With the sound of the jungle at night we heard elephants and a storm a few miles away and also Amean snoring which didnt fill me with confidence. Anyway about 3 or 4 the fire wne tout and i was the only one awake but i didnt dare move to wake Amean up so i just layed there listening to the cave rats scuttling around thinking what if there was a tiger in there. Well after about 30 minutes of complete fear Amean awoke and relit the fire and finally i made it to sleep.
4 hours later i awoke feeling not very fresh although we did have some beans on toast to tuck into for breakfast so that was a nice start to the day. We then said our farewells to the cave and set off on day two of our treck!
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