Mulu Pinnacles

November 10th-11th (Thursday-Friday)

The Trek

Luck had it, on one of my cave trips, I met Olga and Bart from the Netherlands. They were thinking of doing the headhunter's trail, to visit a longhouse, take a longboat ride, and end up in Limbang, from where they'd head on into Brunei and then Kota Kinabalu by ferries.

So, we talk and I offer to pay for half the costs if they stay an extra day at Camp 5 while I scale the Pinnacles.

Better Luck had it that I met Josephine and Nicholas from Sweden who were thinking of doing the Pinnacles (and would have loved to do the headhunter's trail if they had not already booked their flight out on Saturday).

So, we talked and the five of us decided to go up together. I ultimately paid about RM600 (US$160) instead of the original RM1700 (US$430). Even better, the company was much appreciated.



Off to the pinnacles. After a short long boat ride, and a visit to a depressing Penan village much dependent on tourists, we reached the start of the trek. It was an eight kilometer flat walk to Camp 5, and the day was quite nice and comfortable, so we took our time. And boy did we take our time. The first kilometer took almost an hour because we had to cross a river, which required them to change their shoes, twice!



After that, the pace picked up a bit, but not by much. We were doing about 30 minutes a kilometer, looking at insects and chameleons, crossing a bridge, avoiding the mud. By about kilometer four, the light started to fade. But, it was still early (maybe 3:00). By about kilometer five, it started; a few drops and then the skies emptied out their load. Boy did it rain!

Of course, I was unprepared for that sort of rain. My rain jacket covered the top of my bag, and I kept my camera bag underneath my arm. Needless to say, everything got somewhat wet, with some things getting ridiculously wet!

Thankfully though, the half-an-hour kilometers sped up to ten minute kilometers, so we made it to the Camp, safe and sound and soaking wet.

Oh, did I mention the leeches? Not huge, fat river leeches, but tiny little worm leeches. The idea of them was more terrifying than the actual animals, which fall off after maybe a quick 30 minute blood-snack. Ooohh, but did they make my skin shiver. I found one leech on this trek. There must have been more, but they were quite small, and then it started to rain so hard that the leeches were the least of my problems.


The Pinnacles

Early the next day, Jenny led all five of us up the "longest 2.4 kilometers" of our lives. From the base, the trek went up and up, and up some more. Up ropes. Up tree roots and rocks. And then up about 14 ladders.

Was it worth it? I thought so. The pinnacles were bizarre. A bit smaller than I expected, but still bizarre. They were limetone segments worn down by the rain to form jagged peaks.



Then, came the down down down. Taking much longer in time, and havoc on the knees, the descent was quite bad, though not as tiring. Back at camp, we feasted on our instant noodles.

(Yuck. Instant noodles. Cheap and light, but so unsatisfying. The only good thing about going with a tour would be the food that they provide. But, is it worth paying two or three times as much? I doubt it.)

That night, I met two of the private guides, Andrew and Xeno. Quite sweet guys, and maybe one day I can go visit Andrew, who lives about a day's trek from Bario.

Excellent day. The trek, the pinnacles, and the companionship added up to a quite memorable experience.