Pit Stops 15-20
Our hike was a series of steps. Once a while we took a giant leap but most of the time we took small, seemingly insignificant steps to reach Kawah Domas. These small steps completed our final destination which ended with a leap of joy when we saw Kawah Domas in front of us.
Pit Stop 15: Green Moss, Grey Lichens
Mosses cap the rocky sides of the hill
Mosses retain moisture and slow down the rate of erosion
It was damp and cool here
We will conquer Kawah Domas soon
Thick furry moss covering a piece of rock
The black forest slowly disappeared from the landscape. Trees of different species emerged. The air became dank, damp and moist. Black had changed to green. We were surrounded by greenery. Not grasses but lush thick healthy mosses as far as the eyes could see.
Both mosses and lichens are small organisms and are often overlooked. They do not scream for your attention and demand no care at all. But the mosses and lichens found here are totally the opposite. I could not ignore them but to acknowledge their presence and their contributions to the ecosystem in the forest. They ruled the part of the forest as your distance to the crater below shortened.
The lichens in yellow, grey and orange colonise the trunks of many trees here. The mosses are found everywhere. They cap rocks, emerge in crevices, drape hill slopes and survive on decomposed wood. They slow down the rate of erosion, retain water and provide food to numerous animal and insects.
I would roll myself on the ground if the moss had totally populate it. I guess it would be as close to sleeping on water bed, at least for me.
Pit Stop 16: Wild Rambutan
You would be excused for mistaking this as an edible rambutan
The wild rambutan partly eaten by a black monkey
Pak Daha picked up a rambutan from the ground. Great I thought. I could quench my thirst. I was hallucinating the rambutan white juicy and fleshy pulp sliding down my dry throat.
To a forest simpleton like me, the rambutan on the guide's opened palm looked like the ordinary rambutans being sold at our fruit stalls or supermarkets. It is hairy, oval in shaped and green in colour. The similarities ended there except for its smaller size.
The one that Pak Daha had shown me was actually a wild rambutan. Thank goodness I was not glutton enough to pop the fruit into my mouth immediately. Its kidney-shaped flesh is hard, yellow ochre in colour and resembled a chestnut. It is inedible but is food to the black monkeys of the forest in the region.
Pit Stop 17: The Harendong Tree
The Harendong Tree smothering the ground with its purple flowers
Getting a better view of the tree
Roots fought for space on the ground
This is another evergreen shrub which can grow to a 4m tree with oblong-elliptic hairy leaves on its underside. It bears dense purplish flowers in bunches or solitary. The pollinated flowers grow into berries with many seeds. The pulp is sweet once the fruit is riped but otherwise astringent when green.
I know the harendong tree as the kemunting shrub. They were easily found behind my kampung house at 1 Jalan Buntu where springs, butterflies and grasshoppers entertained me fully as a free child with childhood. I had to compete with the birds for the sweet, edible fruit once they turned purplish and maroonish in colour. The harendong juicy fruits were the blue berries for the 60's child like me.
The Orang Hutan in the region believe that the fruits is a cure for dysentery and diarrhoea. The roots and leaves are boiled and drunk for diarrhoea and stomachache. The crushed leaves have another medicinal value. They can be used to treat and dress wounds.
When we were below the Harendong tree, it rained purple (the colour assosciated with royalty)because the wind was blowing the petals off their petiole. The lightly coloured purple flowers carpeted the ground while some landed on my head. I wish to believe that it was treating us like a royalty. Do you know that purple is one of my favourite colours besides orange?
Pit Stop 18: Dragon Vine Divine
Dragon Vine leaves have medicinal values
Boil the roots for your cuppa of tea
What dragon has no wings, claws, a tail and can't fly? Its Dragon Vine! This forest vegetation has served the locals well too. It grows low on the ground and creeps like vine for support. The roots of the Dragon Vine act as a pain reliever. You don't chew the roots but boil them with some water to get the most out of its medicinal properties.
Run out of tea leaves at home? Just pluck some of the leaves and boil together with the roots to make your cuppa. Caffeine free!
Pit Stop 19: Bamboo Taboo
The angklung made from bamboo
The 3R water I tried
It so clear that I can see my own reflection
A bamboo bridge to increase communication
The bamboo trees grow in clumps and their tall slender stems move gracefully as the breeze blow against them. The leaves rustles and hummed sweet music in the air. The heavy rain in the previous night had uprooted some bamboo plants in the forest area. Since this is a protected place, no locals can remove anything, be it fauna or flora from here. Otherwise, the bamboo tree has a lot of economic and cultural values to the Indonesians.
The bamboo stems are used as building materials, bridges, piping system, rafts and kitchen utensils. Hunters store water in the hollow stems. The angklung, an Indonesian traditional wind musical instrument is also made from bamboo.
We saw many uses of the bamboo during the trail. For bridges, rain shelters and piping system to drain crystal clean water from the gushing river. I also learnt from my guide that bamboo plant belongs to the grass family.
Stopping beside a bridge, we cupped our hands to drink from the river water that flows from the bamboo pipe. My verdict? The water was super clean, cold and revitalising in taste.
By the way, the bamboo is linked closely to black magic and things of supernatural in many Asian countries.
Pit Stop 20: Black Monkeys
Can you spot the black primate atop the tree?
You're on candid camera!
The playful yet shy black monkey
They caught our attention because of the movement and calls above us. A pair of black monkeys were teasing each other and turning the foliage and branches into their playground. Using their long tail, they curled themselves upside down from a branch to swing and balance themselves midair. They are shy creatures. Once they felt our presence, they scampered to greater height and hid behind a screen of green leaves.
It was a delight to observe these official residents of the animal kingdom here. The whole forest is theirs and the humans can't get any closer to them.
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