Borneo Part TWO (Jan 4)

Hike around Mount Kinabalu in Borneo
Artemis Walden


We drive up to a small booth with a man in it. Obviously there is a entry fee to get into the park. Let me explain, today we’re going to hike around a mountain called mount Kinabalu. We’re on a road trip while we wait for are Indian visa in Kuala Lumpur (KL). So we took a plane to kota kinabalu, Borneo, rented a car and we’re of! We pay the entrance fee , skip the information booth and start to drive up a road that looks pretty steep. After what seems like hours of driving higher and higher we finally see some cars parked on the side of the road. Across the street from the parked cars there is a small rickety wooden staircase and a worn out sign that says “waterfall viewpoint”. I open the car door and take a deep breath. The air is crisp but not to cold, there’s a glint of sun shining through the treetops and a gentle breeze that ruffles the lush plants and tree leaves around us. I stretch my limbs and we all set of up the trail.

The first thing my dad see’s on only the third step is a weird larvae. The larvae is black with a vibrant orange edging its about 4 inches long and looks kind of like a centipede.
I’m thinking “great if we see this in the first 3 seconds of are hike what will we see in 10 minutes!” Fortunately the beautiful surroundings take over my fear. The hike was great! We didn’t see any other huge bugs and the look out points were fantastic! The whole hike was a steep trail up. Every once and a while there would be rickety staircase that was as steep and old as a rotting latter. After that hike we got in the car and drove back down the hill.

We ended up back at the entrance, got a map and after some debating decided to follow a trail that looked nice on the map. It’s unbelievably peaceful in the forest (jungle). On the trail I can here a gentle hum from the bugs that’s surprisingly loud, and every few minutes a bird will coo. The ground is moist and slightly muddy with rocks, leaves and moth scattered all over. About twenty minutes through the hike we reach a river. We all find a rock on the water and sit very still. No one talked or made any sounds. We just sat and listened to the river and all the little waterfalls around us. A few butterflies flew by, it was a magical moment. We sat in silence for about 10 minutes then continued on are hike.

When we were walking back to are car we saw the most beautiful butterfly. It was yellow with intricate brown patterns on it’s wings.

The jungle was so filed with life you no is there but most of it you can’t even see. As we drove out of the park I saw a sign that said “take only pictures and leave only footprints”.

By Artemis Walden