Usun Apau

The Usun Apau plateau is a region of cool tablelands, 1000 m above sea level. Located about 170 km east of Bintulu, the plateau separates the headwaters of Sarawak’s two largest rivers, the Rajang and the Baram. Its remoteness and difficult access, with steep cliffs dropping 300 m or more, has ensured that much of the plateau remains a pristine natural area. The spectacular Julan waterfall drops off the northern rim of the plateau. This is Sarawak’s highest waterfall with a sheer plunge of 250 m. Extinct volcanoes stand above the tablelands, the highest reaching 1433 m above sea level. Until less than one million years ago, these volcanoes spewed glowing clouds of ashes and lumps of molten rock into the sky. Cool mossy forests with rhododendrons, orchids, and pitcher plants in the understorey cover much of the table lands.

Cynthia Hazebroek writes about her visit to one of Sarawak’s last frontiers……

A few years ago my husband was planning to make a second trip to the Usun Apau plateau, this time to see a large waterfall in the Ulu Baram area.

I had no intention of joining him because I worried the trip might be too tough for me. However, some friends convinced me to go and he told me that it would be an easy trip, so I gave in.

At 6 o’clock in the morning, our guide Turan and the driver of the 4-wheel drive came to pick us up. We were lucky that the weather was fine because to drive on a logging track is already an adventure and it becomes scary when it is wet.

We arrived in the afternoon at the Long San mission where we stayed the night at Father Jacobs’ house.

The next morning we continued our journey and had to cross several rapids. Paulus, the boatman was very good at navigating, but the guys insisted that we walk along at the shore while they crossed the rapid and picked us up again a little further on.

We spent the night at Long Makabah, a Kenyah longhouse where a few other guys joined us to help us carry the load, which included food for 2 weeks, tarpaulins, camera equipment and lots more.

After a few hours by boat we stopped at a pondok that the local guys use when they are out in their fields. They obviously had not used it for a while because when I walked across the pondok to the place where we were going to put up our tent, I almost fell through the floor and just managed to grab hold of a pole above my head. We all had a good laugh about that.

That night they saw a Kancil (not the car!) around the camp. The next morning we set off on flat ground through tall grass. All was fine until we came to the first hill. Than part of my sole came loose and we had to tie it up with a rope because walking became almost impossible with a flapping sole.

Suddenly the trail disappeared and the guys started to look around to see if they could find it, but could not. We were not far from a ridge, so we decided to set up camp. Turan and Paulus decided to go back to a Penan village to get guides to help us to find the trail, and come along with us.

When I asked the guys where to go for a bath they pointed to the river, some 60 m below us. It took me about 15 minutes to get down the very steep slope on a very narrow, muddy, slippery trail and 30 minutes to get up again. My husband repaired the sole of my shoe with a needle and fishing line – it took him 3 hours and he wasn’t amused. The next morning Turan, Paulus and 2 Penan came back and we continued our trip.

The trip became tougher and we had to climb steep hills. Going up and down frequently was not fun, so I started to complain that my husband had told me it would be easy and this was far from it.

The trail was also no trail at all because the Penans had to cut one and it was very steep. Once I almost lost my balance but luckily, I didn’t fall. Turan had the shock of his life when it happened because it was right above a ravine and could have been a terrible accident.

The Penans were really good at finding the trail and we didn’t get lost again. We had to climb 3 more steep hills and were walking on a very narrow ledge, just wide enough to put your feet on. From time to time we saw beautiful orchids, impressive lianas and huge trees.

I was exhausted and got angrier as it became more and more difficult. I got so cross that my husband decided to walk miles ahead so he couldn’t hear me complaining. That left me walking with Paulus, who was very helpful.

When we arrived at a very nice spot between a stream and the main river, I told my husband that this was the end and I wouldn’t walk any more and that he had to send a boat for me (which of course, was impossible because of the fast-flowing, rocky rivers).

They decided to set up a base camp and make day trips from there, so I could get a good rest. The other sole of my shoe came loose but this time it took my husband only an hour to repair it. I realized that the soles were coming off because of the high humidity and the fact that we had to cross so many streams.

Luckily for me our base camp was in really beautiful forest - we could swim in the river, we saw pretty butterflies and heard gibbons every early morning nearby, or in the distance.

It rained almost every night and once it rained so heavenly that we were watching our camp carefully because the water level rose so high it was almost at the edge of our camp. It looked as if we were on an island.

One day the guys shot a red leaf monkey. This made me angry and I told them not to hunt anymore and refused to eat it.

After a week in our base camp it proved not possible to reach the waterfall from there in one day. We went back by crossing the main river, wading through waist-deep fast-flowing water on slippery boulders. This was fine with me because there was no way I was going back the way we had come.

To my pleasant surprise walking was much easier on this side of the river and there were not so many steep hills. This was the main track used by the local people and it was not at all difficult. We passed one of the camps that my husband and his friend had set up the year before and slept in the same old pondok that we used when we started our journey. This time I was more careful and watched every step so that I would not go through the floor again!

It had been raining and the river was very high and fast, which made our return journey short. We arrived at Long San in the afternoon.

I was happy to get rid of my shoes, but glad that they survived the journey, since I had not thought to pack a pair of spare shoes.

I learned a good lesson on this trip and that is, never trust your husband when he says to you, “It is an easy trip, you can make it.”