RAOC Gazette - page 58
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
• packs was critical; it was important therefore that excess equip- ment was not carried. Five of the expedition flew direct to Singapore where they were joined by two soldiers from the New Zealand Advanced Ordnance Depot based at Sembawang in the north of the island. The British and New Zealand Ordnance units have over a period swapped personnel and regard each other as sister units. After an overnight train ride they arrived at Tembeling Halt, a rather forlorn little platform in the middle of the jungle with a -complete absence of signposts showing the track to Kuala Tembeling. Nothing daunted the group chose the widest path and duly found themselves at Kuala Tembeling one hour later. The weather was fine and the temperature in the low thirties. With the exception of the day the summit of the Gunung Tahan was' reached and the final night in the jungle, the weather throughout the exercise was fine and dry. The group then chartered a boat to take them to Park Headquarters at Kuala Tahan. The three hour journey up the Sungei Tembeling was a memorable experience and greatly en- joyed by all. On arrival at Park Headquarters the group booked in, organised a guide and pitched camp to await the arrival of the rest of the expedition. Unfortunately the guide was Malay and not an Orang Asli as was expected. The Orang Aslis are the aboriginals who are the indigenous blowpipe carrying in- habitants of the jungle, and whose knowledge and skills are, as the Park Headquarters succinctly puts it, one's ' life insurance in the jungle.' They are racially the purest of all aboriginals, descending from early migrants and, in Malaysia, they number only about fifteen hundred. Unfortunately the expedition's Malay jungle guide's jungle skills were absolutely nil, being unable even to find a worm with which to bait the hook. How- ever, he was extremely fit. Kuala Puteh Campsite. available night spot and water eleven miles away at Kuala Puteh which the guide reckoned could be reached before nightfall. This proved to be over ambitious however and camp was pitched at Sungei Melantai. Kua'a Puteh was duly reached the next day and the following afternoon the expedition started the beginning of the ascent up onto the massif. This proved to be a very arduous three thousand feet climb, made more difficult by the inability of the guide to pace the expedition. At four thousand feet the air was much cooler and less oppressive and at this altitude the character of the forest began to change. The lofty one hundred and fifty foot giant trees of the lower areas started to give way to shorter ones and the view opened up showing the way to the high ground blocking the sight of . Gunung Tahan. The night was spent at Wray's Camp, a highly uncomfort- able and small rocky lump of a campsite with few flat surfaces. It was the only possible site however for miles around and, most importantly, water was available two hundred feet below. Packs were lightened as much as possible here for the plan for the next day was to reach the ' padang ' (the basin of the plateau) by lunchtime, leave packs there, reach the summit of Gunung Tahan and return to the padang. This would take about eleven hours and the rise and fall would total over seven thousand feet. It would, however, enable a more leisurely trek back to Park Headquarters. The route to the padang was a strenuous one gaining and losing height with every pace but slowly getting higher and progressing along a narrow and often spectacular ridge requiring hand and footholds all the way. The last part of the climb up to the rim of the plateau basin followed a very steep sheltered gully where in contrast to the dry ridge it was extremely damp. The top of this gully leads onto the shoulder of Gunung Gedong (six thousand seven hundred and seventy six feet). From this shoulder at about six thousand feet one first sees the plateau. The campsite is about one thousand feet below this shoulder with a welcome stream nearby. From the campsite it was possible to see Gunung Tahan but cloud was beginning to build up in the early afternoon. After a quick lunch the expedition positively sprang up the mountain, having left packs behind. The going was relatively easy, the terrain being roughly similar near the top to the high Cairngorms. Pitcher plants were abundant. Unfortunately the heavens opened up just before the summit was reached and a very heavy — and cold — rainstorm started. This effectively prevented any lingering at the summit and a hasty retreat was beaten back to the campsite which was by now awash. On the way down several members of the expedition were stung by vicious wasps/hornets. The only other wildlife seen that day were rats who visited the campsite during the night. The padang has recorded the lowest temperatures on the Malay peninsular— down to four degrees centigrade—but Jungle Heights members only had to put up with about ten degrees centigrade. It still felt cold however. The next three days were spent retracing steps to Park Headquarters, fighting off leeches which had been activated by the rain and trying to remember where the caches of food, so carefully hidden on the way up, were buried! Day six saw the last 0615 hours reveille of the expedition and by midday Park Headquarters stock of Anchor beer was being ravaged. Bliss! The other five members of the expedition duly turned up on schedule having flown to Malaysia via Brunei. That evening they met their first Taman Negara wildlife—a herd of ugly, semi-tame jungle pigs, whose chief delight it was to lay waste the camp site and devour anyone and anything they found around. They even tore their way into one of the tents to devour the rations inside. The group sharpened parangs in anticipation of sweet revenge and roast pork. It was agreed that the expedition would set off at first light, 0700 hours, in the morning. 0700 hours—still no guide, so the expedition set off anyway in the general direction indicated by the Camp Headquarters tourist signpost which informed travellers that Gunung Tahan is five days away. The jungle heights team aimed to do it and return to Park Headquarters in a maximum of seven days and six nights. Within five minutes the expedition was walking through magnificent primary jungle, under a canopy of vast trees. The route broadly followed the course of the Sungei Tahan so replenishing water bottles was no problem. The guide eventually caught up with the expedition about two hours later, full of apologies and bringing with him a friend with whom to share the journey. By midday the expedition had reached Sungei Melentai, nine miles from Kuala Tahan, having left good paths and flat ground some hours behind. It was very warm and extremely humid and everyone found it hard going, climbing hill after hill and scrambling over innumerable fallen trees. After a lunch break the expedition set off for the next A hostile Rhino Beetle. 47 — |
| Book number | R0406 |