In an almost movie-like opening scene of a tropical paradise setting some 38 years ago, I got my first glimpse of Lata Jarum. Back then, there were no comfortable tarmac that led cars up to Ulu Dong - just 'kampung' road a.k.a very bumpy and long ride in an old Nissan 120Y from Raub town. For a six-year old boy, it was a real adventure that had no equal...from Ulu Dong onwards, it was only a logging path and we children had to drag our feet up the hill till the cascades, picnic et al...those days, there weren't any development to the site, just plain 'ol Lata Jarum au naturel and to get to the other side of the thundering cascades, we had to cross a huge log that span the boulders. Thunderous sound of the water, mossy boulders, butterflies swarming the sandy beaches and monkeys...yes, lots of them were seen eating a strange variety of golden fruit dangling from aerial roots all over the place, which leads us to present day at Sungai Sia. One fine afternoon last month, I had some friends over from KL and I took them swimming at my regular rendez-vous point at Sungai Sia. What struck me from the vantage point of my regular 'waterhole' in the clear water stream was what that was fruiting right across the banks -the same fruits that got me fixated 38 years ago at Lata Jarum, right across the impassable left banks, on dangling aerial roots of a huge fig tree. Yes! It WAS a species of fig that I now only come to recognize and finally put the cork on the wonders that I had all these years. Armed with my faithful Nikon compact, I had to scale upstream, climb onto a huge fallen log, cross it like a tigh-rope walker to get to the other side and redescend the left bank to get to the fig tree. It was worth the sweaty effort- an answer to an enigma that puzzled me all these long years. Strange, I have yet to see this fig again at Lata Jarum since the first encounter 38 years ago.
An aerial root of a fig tree heavily laden with fruits...
Close up of the fruit - a velvety fruit like the texture of an apricot...and the same size too!
The spiral up...
At the very base.
An interesting plant in the shades glistening under the speckled light from the canopy.
Butterflies congregating on a mud bank.
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