From Tropical Rain Forest on to Cloud Forest

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On our penultimate evening in the Taman Negara we decided to lash out and buy in to a safari, well at least it was called a night safari. What it turned out to be was a drive around one of the local palm oil plantations in the dark, sat on the roof of a land rover with the guide casting the beam from a high powered torch into the trees. Such a venture couldn't take place in the national park since there is no vehicular access, so a plantation was the next best thing, at least it had loads of trees. It started promisingly, we almost immediately saw an owl in the beam of the spotlight, but after that it petered out. We saw a few cows, a cat - sadly not a puma type cat, but a pussy cat, then apparently we saw some flying squirrels but all I saw was some eye balls in the trees reflecting back the light of the spotlight. Interestingly the guide tried to highlight the animals using a laser pen so probably blinded whatever animals were there. In reality the most exciting thing about the safari was riding round on the roof of the vehicle, holding on for fear of falling. Oh well.

On our final day in the park we just decided to use the maps provided and trek to what looked like interesting places. First off we headed in to the rain forest looking for a swimming point. The route was well marked and infact we followed a decking type footpath. Close to the entry to the park there were lots of these, designed to prevent footpath erosion in the most visited areas. So the walking was relatively easy, but lots of up and down and again it was high 20's with sky high humidity, by the time we reached the river and the designated swimming point were we're gushing sweat and ready to cool down. The river water didn't look inviting since it was a rich brown colour - not dirt though just suspended sand. It was lovely, so refreshing and provided you kept your head well above the water level you were safe from being drowned by passing motor boats.

Our final attempt to see big beastie animals was the visit to a hide. This was an enclosed viewing platform up in the trees looking out onto a watering point. No luck with the animals, but we did have a lovely sit down and rest.

The first part of our journey on to the Cameron Highlands, our next destination, was a 2 hour down river boat ride. With a bit of imagination you could just about get a bit of a feel for what it must have been like for the first explorers as they ventured into the area also on river boats - enormous vegetation right down to the river banks, strange sounds and strange sights, for examples cows swimming in the river, in fact water buffalo. Our end point on the boat was Kuala Tembeling, after that it was a 3 hour minibus transfer into the Cameron Highlands.

At over 2000 metres the highlands are very different in terms of climate, relief and vegetation. In the very late 1800's the Brits discovered the area, but Cameron, the surveyor died pretty quickly on his return to Singapore so the details of the area were lost. They were revisited in the early 1900's and their potential for agriculture quickly appreciated. Initially tea plantations were the main activity, but now it is the larder of Malaysia, producing virtually all of its vegetables. Because of changing climate it has been necessary to construct plastic green houses on a massive scale, the locals reckon that over the last decade it has become much hotter on the extreme days and much wetter overall.

We had an amazing start to today as we visited the Cloud Forest. This is ancient forest native to the hills in this region. They are called Cloud Forest since they are often immersed in cloud (on average only 100 cloud free days here). This has encouraged the growth of abundant moss which hangs off the trees giving it quite a spookey appearance. Our guide delighted in picking leaves, scrunching them up and asking us what medicinal product the smell reminded us of. We were in one amazing natural pharmacy, the medicinal properties of the plant species causing this area to be protected from any form of development. After that we visited the Boh tea plantation, the smaller one of 3 owned by the same company. Hillsides covered in tea bushes, which would become substantial trees if they were not trimmed regularly. We were able to see the production process in action and test the final product. Interestingly very few Malaysians are involved in the plantation work, the basic harvesting and production work is carried out by Indians who move over here for up to 5 years, live in the accommodation provided on site and send the majority of their wages back to their families. Interestingly the plantation is still owned by the descendents of the original Scottish founder. Caroline Russell, the CEO is held in very high regard by workers, locals and national politicians alike.

On our return to Tanah Rata, our base, we got dropped off so that we could make our own way back, trecking through the forest that surrounds the growing areas and was of course the original vegetation. Dense vegetation, incredibly hot and humid even at over 2000 metres, lots of noises but little sign of the native animal life. Our only fresh sighting today being a snake that was lying across our path, pretty docile though, could have been asleep.

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