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After our jungle safari fun we also spent a few days exploring Sabah's south-west corner, apparently offering some of the 'wildest territory' in the state with some very remote and virgin rainforest, deep in Murut country (the Muruts being one of 30 ethnic tribes in Sabah). The area is only accessible with local guides and so perhaps heeding what we had learnt in Kalimantan, we joined a tour to explore this remote hinterland by means of an eco-tourism project run by a very entertaining and knowledgeable local family - descendants of the Muruts - who are doing their best to continue the Murut culture by encouraging communities to hold on to their land and preserve it for eco-tourism purposes, as opposed to selling it off for palm-oil plantations (a difficult task I imagine).
After meeting our companions for the next few days - Dutch Thys and Kate, French Alexis and Amelle and our hosts Richard, Virgil and Silas - and picking up some supplies (eg rubber shoes - to be explained) we set off in two 4x4 Land Cruisers to a little village where we had an entertaining descent down a steep and slippery path into a motorised canoe - with all the local village kids coming out to watch the ungainly descent of these comical tourists - which took us along the chocolate-brown Sungai Sapulot to our first accommodation stop, a beautifully-done eco-camp by the side of the river. Here our beds consisted of several canvas camp beds linked up under mossie nets, on an open terrace, with the jungle a hop, skip and a jump away and views of the river below.
After settling in it was time to don the rubber shoes we had just purchased in the local market, as well as some equally-fetching yellow hard hats, to explore the Pungiton caves nearby - we were told that Pungiton meant 'bat' in the Murut language, although the meaning would have become obvious to us non-Murut speakers soon enough. The next couple of hours, spent exploring this enormous chamber and network of caves with rushing water underneath us, and all sorts of wildlife 'treats' all round us, was a lot of fun - our feelings teetering between thrill and terror as everything we came across was supersized, and even scarier by torchlight - our worries about bats suddenly seemed ridiculous compared to their cave companions: spiders double the size of my hand (or the size of a normal person's hand), centipedes the size of lobsters, and huge stalacmites and stalactites estimated to be tens of thousands years old, growing 1-2mm every 50 years. We emerged from the darkness of the caves wet and covered in bat poo (and with my first leech) but somehow it had been very enjoyable!
The next day we took off in the boat again, this time to explore around Batu Punggol - a jungle-topped limestone outcrop towering 200m above the Sapulot river, and one of several sacred sites to the Murut people. To access Batu Punggol we first had a beautiful trek through primary rainforest, with even bigger trees, leaves and vines than on the Sungai Kinabatangan. Keeping with local tradition, on arrival in the jungle at the banks of the river, we asked the spirits' permission to be there (still waiting for a reply, come to think of it) and then started the beautiful but slippery trek up. After scrambling over massive tree roots and up the steep ascent to the base of Batu Punggol, we rested while contemplating the final task at hand - climbing the 200m peak, which involved scaling a sheer rock face, with the initial helping rope only lasting a few metres, so essentially relying on ones own rock-climbing skills - and nerves of steel - to get you to the top. This is where we were warned verbally that this was very much at our 'own risk' - no indemnity forms here. At this junction I would like to say that Simon and I scaled up it without a backwards glance, but I have to admit that after considering the realities of climbing 200m of vertical rock without the assistance of any ropes or previous climbing skills, we left the challenge to the more gutsy members of the group (and I would like to say 'younger' but sadly I don't think that would be true). Simon is keen for me to include the fact that he did attempt the beginning bit, a horizontal climb along the base with the assistance of a rope, but once the rope stopped and the only way was 'up', he wisely retraced his steps (only to keep me company though of course.) Kate and Thys came back down an hour or so later, having reached halfway, before turning back, and arrived back to us sweating and swearing, Thys' hand possibly shaking quite a lot as he lit a much-needed cigarette, confirming my thoughts that it was probably best I didn't attempt the climb. Another hour or so later Alexis and Amelle made it back, even sweatier having made it to the top, but shrugging off the feat with a typically Gallic nonchalance. Our insecurities of not having made it up / attempted to even make it up were driven away when we learn that they have actually done quite a lot of rock climbing before, so that's alright then. Of course the local boys accompanying us along the way, shimmied up and down the peak as if it was nothing, with one in particular earning the nickname 'Superman' due to his mountain goat dexterity, and with Kate and Thys having credited him as to the reason they made it back down at all.
After another exhilarating river journey cutting through the jungle, and an alfresco lunch on the river bank, we headed to the family home of our hosts, a modern longhouse built by the father Richard to house his family and his brothers (and their wives and children) amounting to about 40+ people living in this one large house, built in the style of a traditional longhouse, with several annexes off a large central hall which had different areas set for eating, drinking, dancing and sleeping.
We were then treated to an entertaining evening of wonderful Murut hospitality, including a veritable feast for dinner, enforced rice-wine drinking (almost like the local version of the 'dentist-chair', a drinking style I hadn't experienced since university days), traditional dancing courtesy of the family boys and girls, polished off by an unexpected karaoke session of local Murut songs (our attempts aided by the extremely potent rice wine no doubt)…the Murut certainly like to drink and party! After more rice wine, more beer (and after a many embarrassing photo and video of our karaoke efforts) we all crashed out on our mattresses in the central hall, with the traditional breakfast the next morning, consisting of noodles, rice, banana fritters and coffee being exceptionally welcome.
Our final day was just as good, with another trek to an impressive waterfall, crossing the river again via massive boulders (everything here is just BIG), and across rushing rapids, leading us to a gorgeous waterfall with crystal clear rock pools to jump in to. It was yet another slippery and challenging climb to the top of the waterfall (I never thought I would utter the phrase 'thank god for rubber shoes') but all worth it for the swim at the rock pool at the top, and the accompanying view down the rushing waterfall.
After a delicious dinner (of chicken and rice, of course) on the way back to our base in Kota Kinabalu, including a stop at the ice cream parlour run by this ever-talented family, it was time to say goodbye to Thys and Kate, Alexis and Amalle, and our lovely and incredible hosts, the father-and-sons team of Richard, Virgil and Silas. With their eco-tourism project, Ouro Sapulot, being in its infancy we were lucky to have had this lovely family as our hosts, as their hospitality, knowledge and entertaining company made this excursion into Sabah's interior on to our growing list of trip highlights, and we felt as if we had just spent the last few days having lots of laughs with good friends and family….though with a bit more bat poo, scary heights and creepy crawlies than we are used to with you lot ;)
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