The Head Hunter's Trail

 The communal cooking area.

 The long sock hiker.

 Our tour group.

 Admiring one of the old trees.

The monkey bridge.

 The beautiful rainforest.

 Shallow again.

 More eucalyptus trees.

 'White' water rafting in a boat.

The view from our hotel.

Friday, June 15^th.

We were up at 6:30 for breakfast and off on our return hike by 7:30. The trek was 13 kilometres and took a different route back. Again, it was through the rainforest on a narrow less travelled path. This means over uneven ground, roots, rounded river rocks and packed ground covered in leaf litter. This time I wore my Bhutan long socks inside my Keens to protect my feet and not to make the sores worse, and thankfully it worked, although I looked a sight. I followed Bonny and was followed by Anthony and Viv and the rest. We walked single file mostly without talking, listening to the sounds of the jungle but seeing nothing. Whatever animals there might be in this forest are very warry as they are still hunted here by the locals. The weather was very warm and humid, and it wasn’t long before we were covered in sweat and it was running out of my Easter Island dewrag down my forehead to be collected in my eyebrows and dripped into my eyes. We had to cross three suspension bridges, one of which was a ‘monkey’ bridge where you walked on one rope and held onto two others to keep your balance. That was fun. 

This hike is called the Headhunter’s Trail because in the past the warring tribes would carry their canoes across it to get from one river to another on their hunting and raiding forays.

We arrived at the jetty by 11:00, two hours sooner than Bonny thought we would. We were all very tired and happy to emerge from the forest. We had to wait for a bit before a different set of four longboats showed up to ferry us out of the jungle. We were in the boats for a half hour before we stopped at a basic shelter where miraculously lunch showed up. The usual chicken, rice and veg, but I’m not sure who made it. After lunch we loaded up again and travelled down the river admiring the views of the tall trees. Thankfully the water here was a bit deeper and although the crews jumped out a couple of times to push us over the rocks, we didn’t have to this time. We were going with the current too which helped. We navigated a few short sets of rapids, so we were white water rafting in a longboat. The trip took another two hours before we reached the final jetty where we were met by three 4x4’s to drive us to the town Limbang and our hotel. The first 45 minutes was over a very rough bumpy gravel road and then we reached the paved road that took us to town. We dodged a bullet as we weren’t in the 4x4’s ten minutes before the wind really picked up and it started to rain!

At the hotel this time Paul and I shared a room. We had a couple of hours to relax and shower before we met up for a group dinner in town. We had a couple of well earned beers and a good seafood meal before retiring for bed.