5th - 6th June 2018
Minduk sirung
It was a fine Tuesday morning with the sun shining as bright as it can ever be when we set on this long journey. It had been raining almost everyday and night the previous week but we were lucky enough that week. It would have been an awful day to go to the Crocker Ranges on a rainy day. The trail could have been slippery and I guarantee we would find packs of leeches around though there will always be even on sunny days. This particular mountain ranges are home to more than hundred of leeches families as it has the suitable humidity and lots of wild animals.
First day, we ride on my car for an hour and thirty minutes from Kota Kinabalu through the Penampang - Tambunan road. It was my first time driving to Tambunan and I can say that it was an easy uneventful ride, thankfully. We reached the meeting point which is high up on Mount Alab Substation. The road that lead to the substation was like a long snake uphill, I was grateful that my car could endure it. We started at around 11am, it was not that hot, the air was humid with temperature just around 25 degrees. Since there were just the three of us, we had only one guide. There was also a couple of tourist from Belgium ahead of us who started earlier. Starting off at our own pace, we took half an hour to reach 1 km. The forest bed were mostly covered in dead leaves carpet making it a little too bouncy sometimes. Unlike any other trails, this one was totally a forest, an old forest with old trees, various wild plants and insects. Ah! And leeches too! Which we had not meet until we get deeper into the jungle.
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| Downhill steps from the starting point. Substation Mt Alab. @Minduk Sirung |
The trail start with man-made steps going downhill. It was pretty convenient but it does not last long. There would be part of the trail where we had to depend on the vines and the trees and even our own legs.
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| Lunch break in the middle of the trail. @ Minduk Sirung |
We had our lunch break in the middle of the thick forest and had numerous conversations with our friendly guide Mr Richmond. Every place has its own history and usually places here were named after something really unexpected based on either the history of the place or the geographical features it has. Turned out this trail was named after its geographical features or to be exact the aerial view of the whole place. According to our guide, the whole place looks like an inverted hat if viewed from the helicopter. Specifically, a traditional hat. Sirung literally translated into a hat in Dusun language.
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| Highly durable shoes and long socks to keep the leeches away. @Minduk Sirung |
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| Old tree that made it feels like we were in a fantasy world. @Minduk Sirung |
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| Mossy forest bed. @Minduk Sirung |
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| Natural bamboo garden. @Minduk Sirung |
There was something interesting about this trail, that there was bamboo in the middle of the forest of trees. It was almost like the place where the pandas used to live though there was no panda. You would be surprise with the next fact, that the soft shoot of the bamboo was actually edible. I did not get to take any pictures of it but there were sign of animal digging for the soft shoot and even left some on the ground.
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| Parasitic plant and flower. @Minduk Sirung |
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| You won't want to miss the mist. @Minduk Sirung |
Our hike was accompanied by the rising mist indicating the decrease in temperature as we went to the higher ground. It blanketed the forest like a mirage of thick smoke though the air was as fresh as the purified air. It was cold, yes! Around 22 - 23 degrees I guess.
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| Large rhododendron leaves! @Minduk Sirung |
The humidity of this mountain range allowed the growth of various unusual plants and herbs. I was amazed when I found several rhododendron growing bigger than the usual that I saw back home. I assumed that the untouched forest had more nutrition for these plants to grow into their maximum size.
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| The peak. @Minduk Sirung |
There was no view at the peak but it was satisfying to see the vegetation around it. Now I understand the saying it's not about the destination, it's about the journey you take. The journey had been wonderful so far and having to reach the peak safe and sound was as good as having to return home intact.
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| Sunset in the jungle. @Minduk Sirung |
This was the last light of the day, after that the only light we had was the light from our headlamp. We got caught up in the darkness on our way down.
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| Finisher on the long trail. @Minduk Sirung |
It was exhausting but satisfying. We finished hiking at 9pm and set up our camp near the waterfall.
P/S: Hiking the Crocker Ranges is a must try experience. There is nothing that explains more than your own experience. And hiking is not about how tough you are physically, it's about how tough you are mentally. It's not a competition, it's an appreciation of nature. Be humble and respectful, stay healthy and beautiful! Holistically!
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