One of MNS activities two years ago was a hike from Bako HQ
to Telok Kruin(10.5 km). About 10 signed in (more ladies than man) for the hike
and another group went to Telok Kruin by boat to set up camp and start the BBQ.
Initially, my intention was to go by boat because the description of this trip
said that the hike took about 7/8 hours which put me off; but again my husband
convinced me to go since I had done hikes like Usun Apau, Mt Kinabalu and lots
more in my life. He made it sound again that this was again an easy trip. I was
not really sure since we had a write up from Kelvin, a guy who had done this
before, which stated that it was a tough hike which involved climbing nine
hills and to me it doesn’t sound easy at all.
At the jetty Becky
gave us all a sachet with ORS (dehydration salt). First we were a bit surprised
but it’s really necessary to bring this along and use it since you loose a lot
of fluid during the walk.
We started walking at 8.30 am, the first hill(Bukit Tambi)
was quite an easy climb same for the first three hours, flat and no hills apart
from the climb up the plateau. This soil (Kerangas forest) is white and sandy ideal
for Nephentis and Ant plants are growing there as well. The fun part from the
ant plants is when you knock on the stem all the ants are coming out to see
what is disturbing their place. Our first stop was at Tajor waterfall, a
beautiful spot with a large pool were you could swim and rest. After this the
place became hilly and we had to go up a long way and down.
The trail was not really maintained since hardly any body is
using it. The group split into the fast one with the fittest walkers, and the rest,
which just followed. After the third hill I started getting tired and Kelvin,
who stayed all the time with me, kept on taking to me to give me spirit and not
to give up.
After the fifth hill my mood began to deteriorate and
luckily I had sweets and the ORS that helped a lot. Some of the trails were no
trails at all and were very steep. To go down you sometimes was better off to slide
down on your bump.
I was almost at the point to stay there overnight and I was
really tired. Every time when I asked Kelvin how far it was he answered so
nicely that it was not to far anymore but still a few hills ahead of me.
The forest(mixed dipterocarp) was really beautiful and
unspoiled. Lots of trees and we had seen only one snake a green viper. There were
a few places where they had made a ladder like they got in longhouses. However,
the wood was rotten and the steps had worn off. I was scared to go by myself
and Kelvin stood above it while Hans my husband gave me a hand to go up and
Kelvin just dragged me till I was up. Soon it started to get dark and there was
no sign from the rest of the group and I presumed they were already at the beach.
Luckily we were already doing the last hill at around 6 pm and Daniel came back
to see if we were alright. He had been already at the beach but decided to come
and guide us. Then the trail was flat again, or was gently sloping down, and I
thought that we were reaching the beach. But the last steep slope was still
ahead and we had to go down in the dark with help of our torches and finally,
at 8pm I reached the beach completely exhausted.
We heard from the group that arrived around 7 that none of
them had torches while it was written down in the write up from MNS. They were
walking the wrong direction and when it became to dark they had no clue were to
go but could hear the voices from the people at the beach. They started calling
for help and lucky they were heard and rescued by some. Good lesson is always carrying
a torch with you since things can change quickly in the, mountain.
Gill, a lady in the group who came by boat, came to help us
looking for our gear and after a dip in brackish water I felt a bit better and
everybody came to cheer me up.
We really enjoyed the BBQ and heard that the first group
arrived at the beach around 5 pm and the rest, not long before us, at around 7
pm so it was not that bad that we arrived at 8.00 pm. The next day I was really
proud that I did this again, since I thought I was never going to make it, had
no muscle ache thanks to the tiger balm and the best part was the comfortable boat
ride back to Bako Village. Hans admitted again that this trip was indeed a bit
to tough for me and that Mt Kinabalu is a lot easier to do since it has a good
trail and with this one it is hard to be found, which makes it more difficult.
In addition, the humidity was almost 100% and you lost a lot of liquid, while
the climb on Kinabalu is generally in cool or even cold weather. MNS is going
to do this trip again, but this time they will start from Telok Kruin and
that’s much better because you have the difficult part first and the easy part
last. This time I will join probably by boat and watch the group come back from
their hike.
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