Saturday, November 1, 2008

A stream at Kalimantan border

The guide brought us to a jungle path through the jungle, thick with interesting undergrowths, with pebbled stream teaming with barbs and rasboras. It was one of the most pleasant jungle walk I ever did. We trodded along this pristine land blissfully with no sense of time .... kind of like a honeymoon....

Then a thunder clap brought us to our senses.

We had to make a hasty U-turn before reaching the destination - a tall waterfall – as an impending storm in the mountains threatened to submerge the jungle path and cut off our return route criss-crossing the stream.

Reluctant I may be, I had to tell myself always to listen to the local guide when one is in unfamiliar territory. Water accumulated high in the mountain can turn a benign stream like this into raging torrents very quickly. Some of my mates have had nasty experiences of evacuating their tents overnight while camping beside a small stream due to flash flood. Just last month, a couple of Singapore city sleekers ignored the advice of a guide and was caught in a flash flood at a waterfall. They were lucky, but the heroic guide was not.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are great shots of the water shooting over the rocks in the stream, surrounded by the jungle. There must be many interesting plant specimens in there.
It's too bad the weather cut your trip short, but perhaps you can get to waterfall next time.

Hermes said...

Wonderful pictures and what a great place to explore.

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