We had rented a car from Avis at the Renaissance Hotel. Just for two days but it was a great way to get up to the Cameron Highlands and on to Penang.
Driving out of central KL was “interesting” but Maps.Me delivered again and we found our way.
A couple of hours on a nice motorway though lots of oil palm plantations and then one hour winding up into the cloud forest to Tanau Rata.
Tony had told the Arundina guest house that it was our wedding anniversary…
Tanau Rata was nice enough. A bit scrappy but friendly.
The next morning we went on a six hour jungle hike with a guide, Jason and a motley collection of Finns, Germans, Dutch and Brits.
They all had one thing in common – they were much younger than us.
It was pretty challenging walking as the path was very overgrown with lots of big steps, roots and washed away bits.
Tony was also attacked by a vicious bit of rattan (a particularly mean bramble).
The Arundina orchid is the national flower of Malaysia and our guest house is named after it
The pitcher plant is one of the main carnivorous plants in Malaysia
Gro didn’t look so fresh a few hours later.
This orchid has flowers that are exact replicas of the wings of one of the wasps that live in the region and it also emits a pheromone that is the same as the wasp’s. When the wasp thinks it’s making baby wasps, it’s really pollinating the orchid. Very clever orchid, very stupid wasp.
Bee fungus.. (not really fungus though)
Jason was formerly an environmental lawyer who did a masters at UCL. After he returned home, he became totally frustrated with his inability to achieve results and went back to his original love of nature.
He was incredibly knowledgeable and very passionate about the region which he feels is almost completely ruined now.
A combination of farmers clearing forest and increased temperatures raising the cloud cover will, he believes mean the end of the current biosystem within 20 years.
The walk ended at a tea plantation which we walked through for an hour. They grow watercress in the valley – it’s just like Oxfordshire.
The tea here isn’t picked by hand in the dawn mist by sari-clad women singing folk melodies…
As we left the next morning, we saw a lot more evidence of the impact of the land clearing. Lots of erosion as a result.
I have fond memories of going to “self-plucking” strawberry farms as a child…
(I’m not a strawberry plucker, I’m a strawberry pluckers son, and I’m only plucking strawberries ’til the strawberry plucker comes)
G & T
tonyandgro 