My guide asked that I meet him at 8:30 on Wednesday
morning. From what I could see, the day was going to bring
intermittent rain. Today's schedule was to include some
exploration outside Kinabalu Park, as well as a hike to Masilau
(which is part of the Park) where we expected to find N. rajah in its
natural habitat.
We packed up the jalopy and drove off. At this point I
noticed that none of the gauges on the dashboard were working,
and my guide said that technically the vehicle wasn't "street legal".
That's why he wouldn't be driving it in any of the larger villages
where the police might ticket him. I asked him how he could
gauge the quantity of diesel fuel in the tank. Part of the gas tank
protrudes just behind his door, and he gauged the fuel level by
smacking the tank with his hand and listening to the reverberation.
The drive was slow but gorgeous as we wound along the mountain
roads through small villages, down into one valley and up the other
side. We pulled off the road at the top of a grassy hill; from here
on we would be hiking.
This was a fairly short hike which took us through chest-
high grass, past some small tomato farms and to a steep
embankment that bordered a creek. Here we found several
specimens of N. gracilis. Some were fairly mature plants which
were climbing through bushes, and others were very young
rosettes growing close to the ground. The pitchers had more red
mottling than I've seen in photographs of N. gracilis.
We continued down the embankment and across the creek,
through another grassy field and finally we ended up near some
old shacks that appeared to be abandoned. Behind the shacks was
a grassy knoll which we began to climb. There was no trail, so the
guide had to cut one with his machete. I found out that it was
extremely important for me to follow his exact footsteps, since once
I strayed a bit to the right and almost fell off a 2 m ridge. The
grass was so high it was impossible to determine the actual
topography of the hill. We crested the knoll and began walking
downward to another creek. Here we found N. reinwardtiana, the
green form. It was a fairly large plant that had grown extensively
through the saplings which bordered the creek. The pitchers had
the two distinctive "eyes" on the back wall. There were the
remnants of two other large N. reinwardtiana vines in nearby
saplings; both vines had been dead for some time. Apparently the
property owners perform a periodic "slash and burn" on the
hillside, and the two Nepenthes fell victim to this practice.
After taking a few pictures, we made our way back to the
jalopy and drove toward Masilau. I understand that this area used
to be included in Kinabalu Park, and was later released so that a
resort could be built (groan). A golf course exists now where
untouched forest used to be. Not all of the land was taken by the
golf course; the areas which border the Park were made available
to lumber companies. We had to drive through a shallow stream
and over some deeply trenched logging roads to arrive in this area.
The skies had become overcast and we expected rain any minute.
We parked the jalopy and walked about 1 km up the logging road
to the edge of the forest. Our intention was to simply walk straight
up the forested hillside, and that's exactly what we did. The trail
was nothing like the summit trail we had hiked the day before.
Instead, this was a poachers' trail and was barely discernable from
the surroundings. The forest was very dense and lush. Though it
hadn't started to rain yet, everything was dripping wet.
Orchids were everywhere, but few were in bloom. Moss
grew in thick wads on the tree trunks, and I discovered that this
was quite useful for washing my hands--the moss was like a
water-soaked sponge. All I had to do was grab a moss-covered
sapling and squeeze, and my hand came away clean. After 1 km or
so we saw dead vines of N. burbidgeae. They had grown to be
quite large plants, and I had no idea what killed them. The vines
were still anchored in the ground, and had clambored about 7 m
through the trees. My guide did a little exploring off the poachers'
trail and found one N. burbidgeae which still had a living tip.
There were several aerial pitchers on it, each about 10 cm high,
dull yellow and covered with red blotches. It was a beautiful
plant, and I wished that I could have found one that was not dying.
Further up the hill we came across a small clearing. Two
trees in the clearing had red spray paint marks on them which
signified that we were entering the Park boundary. We hiked
about 1/2 km farther up the hill, and finally found N. rajah. There
were three plants growing within 5 m of one another, and though
they were larger than the ones I saw in the mountain garden they
still weren't full grown. The largest pitcher was the size of an
American football, and had an orifice of almost 15 cm in the long
dimension. Inside one pitcher we found some frog eggs. My guide
mentioned that larger plants might be found farther up the hill,
but I was much too tired to continue upward. Besides, he didn't
have specific plants in mind but was only speculating. We still had
a long and tricky hike back down the hillside, and I opted to return
to the jalopy rather than search for more N. rajah. Hey, I was
satisfied with what I saw.
On the way down it started to rain, so I donned my pancho.
It rained pretty hard, and my guide was concerned that the stream
we had driven through might not be passable now. I was too tired
and uncomfortable to think about such things--I was dirty, my
shirt was soaked with perspiration, my glasses had fogged up to
the point of being useless (I removed them), and I was slipping on
wet tree trunks. After what seemed like an eternity we broke free
of the forest and walked down the logging road back to the jalopy.
I did not remember having traveled so far on the way in!
Fortunately for us, the stream was passable and we made it back to
the Park by around 4:30 p.m.
My guide suggested that we meet at 9 a.m. the next morning,
and then departed. I was left with memories of a tiring but
rewarding day, in which I saw four different Nepenthes in their
native habitats.