Attempted Sightings Of Wild Elephants In The Belum Rainforest

I ventured deep in the unexplored heart of the Belum rainforest last week to catch a glimpse of the elusive herds of wild elephants that throng the vast untouched ancient rainforest in the Grik area. I am very familiar with the East West Highway that links from Grik to Jeli and in my entire life, my family and I have never seen any pachyderms while we were driving on the highway for almost 30 years.
After hours of peering into Google Earth, I pretty much summed up where these gentle giants might be roaming. I started driving from Temenggor Lake to the spot very early in the morning and I was rewarded with this view.

5 minutes walking on a trail, I saw a few piles of elephant dung. I examined closer and the piles were still fresh!!! Did a herd of wild elephants pass through a few hours ago or were they just around the corner? Seeing their fresh dung kept me excited and finding more along the trail made me realized that I was damn good at Google Earth's geographical topography.

I was also told that there was a hidden waterfall inside the trail by some Orang Asli and looking at the time, I reckon the wild elephants would be deep inside the rainforest. I hired a guide for Rm20.00 to take me to the waterfall. The guide told me that it would take at least 2 hours to reach this waterfall and that I'd be only the third person to ever visit this waterfall. How I wish my fellow waterfall buddy, Mr Lim Siang Hui was there. Mr Lim and I have discovered 2 relatively unknown waterfalls and this time I had to proceed without him.
20 minutes into the trek, I realized that maybe Mr Lim might not share the same enthusiasm with me as my legs were covered with leeches. The leeches of Belum are a different kind of breed and ....it was gross and disgusting.

2 hours into the trek and I was feeling miserable. The river was not as clear as I'd hope it would be due to logging activities and the leeches were unbearable. To add to the misery, I was carrying probably a 15kg bag pack for unknown reasons. Finally, I reached the Sayung Waterfall and I stared at the mighty natural wonder with shock and awe.

Sayung

All in all, eventhough I suffered during the hike to Sayung Waterfalls, I thoroughly enjoyed the discovery of the elephant feaces. Now I know where to wait and spot these beautiful creatures in their wild habitat.

To see the videos of Belum, go to YouTube and type "yateoh" or go to http://yateoh.blogspot.com


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