Gunung Gading, try saying that three times fast!

12-13 August 2010
"It's like walking in a sauna" -Nick

We found ourselves heading uphill on yet another rocky trail at yet another national park to the sound of of a cicada whose reverberations mimicked the sound of someone strumming a single note on a sitar.

We had hopped on a bus for an overnight trip to Gunung Gading National Park which is widely known as one of the premier spots for spotting blooming Rafflesia, the "largest flower in the world" that of course stinks of rotting flesh. Unfortunately, this would not be blooming for "maybe two weeks, maybe next week, we just don't know". We headed there anyway, a botanical fools-quest.

Sadly, the park officials at the park entrance again reiterated that the Rafflesia were not blooming. However, almost as a consolation prize (though equally as cool), we were lucky enough to spot a blooming Amorphophallus hewittii (common names: Borneo titan flower or (my personal favorite) giant voodoo lily). This plant also smells like rotting flesh (yay!) and we had been searching for it ever since spotting its leaves and fruits in Gunung Mulu National Park!!


Besides the Rafflesia, Gunung Gading boasts a few beautiful waterfalls, some nice overlooks, swimming holes, and a summit trail. We walked the waterfall trail, had lunch at the beautiful and creatively named "Waterfall #7" and headed directly for the Gunung Gading summit. Don't laugh, but we did not make it to the summit. We trudged upwards for a few hours, sweating as if we were sitting in a sauna, getting dizzy and, in our delirium, jumping every time we spooked a skink or lizard. We had less than a liter of water and 800 meters to go. Somehow, the 3km (about 1.4 miles) trail had taken us about 3 hours to complete...we must have forgotten how to walk (or someone forgot how to count). After resting on a giant tree root for about 15 minutes, we choose to abandon the summit. There was no view anyway. We headed downhill, walking at a pace of 1km per hour downhill, apparently. Note to self: Do not trust Malaysian national park maps.

About halfway down the trail we spooked some white/pink colored bats (I swear its true)!! They swirled around us for a few seconds - we mystified, they horrified - before they found another resting place. Just a few moments later I gasped. In the middle of the trial in front of us was a beautiful green lizard who bore a striking resemblance to our poor sweet water dragon. More exciting was that this female lizard was digging a hole for what we presumed were her eggs! After getting over the initial shock of our presence she continued to dig with her mouth and hands as we looked on (we will try to post this video, but we are having some resolution problems at the moment).

Leaving her to the important work of burying her eggs (something we know nothing about), we continued on the trail and Nick spotted the aforementioned giant voodoo lily!! We were hot, tired, out of water, drenched in sweat (and I mean literally), but felt like we had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

After a cold shower and some well deserved Oreo cookies, we plotted our search for the Rafflesia the next day.


While the Rafflesia were not in bloom during our visit, our encounters along the way made this trip extremely rewarding. While Nick photographed an orange and black banded hammerhead flat worm this morning (we had no idea what this was at the time) I began to realize what made this trip to Borneo so special to me. In the past three weeks I have recaptured the 8 year old child with a butterfly net wondering in my parents big backyard. We have seen so many strange and beautiful animals, plants, insects, reptiles, and "what is that's" that I have literally, cooed, giggled, squealed and jumped up and down at least fifty times. For the nature lovers out there- those that don't mind being dirty, sweaty, and stung by fire ants - Borneo is heaven on Earth!