Highland Destination Bukit Fraser
A Journey into the Cool Hills of Malaysia

Page 2

The latest numbers of birds that have been spotted in Fraser's Hill is 262 - local and migratory birds, apparently some from as far as Siberia and Japan. The highlands contain a high proportion of the 'endemic' birds that are only found in Malaysia and nowhere else. The Fraser's Hill International Bird Race has become a yearly fixture for birders.

Durai lures small game with his voice. Butterflies - big as small birds and colourful - dance around us. Durai has his way with us, showing us spiders, snakes and giant insects that we cringe. He drags us through the dense foliage of the Rainforest, unstoppable in explaining every detail of the diverse wild- and plant-life.

I make acquaintance with a wild boar - we are both stunned and stare at each other for a split second before we both turn around and run in opposite directions. "Jesus" says Durai with a stern face, "do not scare my friends!"

Scorpion

Matt shrieks like an hysterical woman confronted with a mouse and hops from one leg to the other like a yo-yo, waves his arms in the air and curses about those goddamn bastards that sent him on this ridiculous assignment.

After we recover from the shock and realise that an army of leeches, making their way up his legs and sucking his blood had attacked him - we almost don't recover from this hilarious scene. I am sure we scared half of the wildlife out of sight.

With the sharp blade of my knife, I peel the suckers off his legs. He follows us with bloody ankles and a pitiful hump. Concerned I ask if he's in pain. He stops, slightly tilts his head to one side, as if he would listen to some inner voice, and says: "Actually - come to think of it - I don't feel a thing."

Teoh's obsessed with orchids and shows us little things that the two ignorant species that we are never would have associated with the luxuriant flower we normally call orchid. He clicks away with his camera, crawls underneath bushes and into small caves, whispers Latin names and encourages Matt and me to follow him. We sigh, roll our eyes, go down on our hands and knees, crawl behind him and listen to his ahhs and "oh oh oh - look at this!"

Visibly exhausted, Matt says with a loving tone in his voice: "They really put me up with the two biggest maniacs they could find."

A Golf Course that Threatens the Habitat of the Orang Asli

Green with a small, but fast
growing landslide

Durai makes us aware of the environmental damage the so-called progress has brought to paradise - it makes him swear like a madman. His delightful humour stops right there. Highland areas and mountain slopes are extremely sensitive. As soon as deforestation takes place, landslides occur. Newly built roads slide down the hill and muddy treks are unnecessarily covered by asphalt that doesn't really work in this environment and is only an eyesore and a danger to hikers.

The Jeriau waterfall has been adversely affected by the siltation caused by the development of the new 18-hole golf resort. The pool is muddy and I wouldn't want to tip my toes in that brownish brew.

Open strips are cut into the jungle
You have to be fit to climb the slopes

We come closer to the culprit that brought Matt here in the first place. Trees had to go and the soil was left with nothing to hold on to. For each green, terraces had to be cut into the steep mountain terrain and had left scars. Peter Thomson designed the admittedly unique playground for the rich and the sultan paid.

The greens have to be constantly watered and the little river became bigger and bigger and muddier. Chemicals and high doses of fertilizers are used to keep the greens green and the grass short and tight. The toxins are washed away with the water and poison the drinking source of the Orang Asli further down the stream.

The river – source of drinking water
and children’s playground

When we approach the complex, the gate is closed and it seems to be deserted. We sneak around the gate and into the building and meet a guard who's not amused to see us. Thanks to Durai's connection and our assurance that we are impressed, he let's us walk around. The course is sparingly visited and if, then only on weekends.

Once more, money makes it possible that a few profit while the natives are left to suffer. The Orang Asli ("original peoples" in Malay) live in remote forest areas and are divided into three main tribal groups - Semang (negriot), Senoi and Proto-Malay (Aboriginal Malay), that are further divided into 18 sub ethnic groups.

Traditionally animists, they believe in the presence of spirits that live high up in the sacred mountains and along rivers. They believe this area is the nursery of humanity and thus very sacred.

Antares and Family

Since the intrusion of the colonists, they are subjected to environmental abuse - deforestation, rubber industry, water pollution and the Selangor Dam threatens their habitat.

"Continuously they are discombobulated and disempowered, and they no longer effectively carry out their traditional duty as Guardians of the Rainforest," says Antares, an activist for the Orang Asli. "According to them, nature spirits have left or are extremely confused."

Antares - activist, writer, musician, stage actor and cartoonist founded the Magick River Group. Latest news about the Selandor dam can be found at his Blog.

High Tea in Little England

Ye Olde Smokehouse

On our way back, we stop at the Ye Olde Smokehouse, the former rehabilitation centre for injured Brits and now converted into a charming Inn with eclectic English furniture and open wooden beams. Matt feels right away at home. "Like England" he says and with a deep and relaxing sigh falls backwards into a comfy and plush chair and sprawls his endless legs toward the warming fire. "Scotch, please" as precaution he says, because "those damn bugs are everywhere and have an eye on me."

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