Here are the pictures at last from the Headhunters trip that Anna, Hana, Nicole and I did last week. We arrived at Kuala Lurah just after 7am and were picked up for the hour drive to the Kuala Mendalam Longhouse. From there it was a near three hour ride up the Mentawai river. We spotted some birds and also a part of a large python coming out of the murky water on to the bank.
Our guide Verdly and the boatman loading up the longboat
Each longhouse on the river has an entrance walkway with the name of the longhouse
Thrilling boat ride upriver against the rapids
Most of the journey you think you are in the middle of nowhere until signs of "civilisation" appear
These red barked trees appeared about an hour into our journey and seems to grow in clusters
We were enjoying the greenery when this logging camp appeared out of no where. Not impressed.
We were lucky there was plenty of water. In the drier months we would have had to get out and push the boat up through the rapids.
We came off the main river onto Kuala Terikan for the start of the Headhunters Trail. Note the change in the colour of the water as we entered the smaller Terikan river.
A branch across the river is spotted up ahead
And it turns out to be a massive tree trunk across the river. As the boat couldn't get across we all climbed out and the guide took out all our packs and with much pulling and pushing, himself and the boatman managed to drag the boat across the massive tree trunk.
The picturesque Terikan River with the mist in the distance.
And so we readied ourselves for the 11.3k trek which the guide said would take us 5 hours across the flat jungle. 5 hours? We said we would do it in half that time! What we didn't know was that the walk turned out to be quite treacherous paved with slippery planks and rocks and on top of all that infested with leeches. And we didn't factor in that our backpacks too felt heavy after a while. We completed the 11.3k in just over 4 hours!
Not the most picturesque jungle walk I have been on but there were some lovely streams we crossed with amazing colours and a hanging bridge below which are always very exciting.
The bridge itself is such a work of art with all the knots
And this tree has one of the biggest bases I have seen
It was a big relief to get to the end of the walk and our destination for the day, Camp 5 Mulu.
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