The Semais main staple…hill padi
The start of the trail leading to Kenip waterfall begins just behind one of the Kampung Kenip huts, covered with low shrubs and foliage. Just a few minutes of walking later, the landscape changed. The green blanket we walked through at the beginning slowly changed to gold. Surrounding us was a sea of hill padi. The stroll turned out to be a very educational jungle walk.
Big areas, just behind the village have been cultivated with hill padi. We were practically walking through their rice bowl!
The hill padi planted by the Semais
Hill padi being dried under the sun
Rows and rows of hill padi
We soon entered the ‘jungle’ backyard of the village. One thing for sure, there’s lots of bamboos here. Not surprising that bamboo was the villager’s main building material. Very evident in the huts they build.
The useful bamboo everywhere
Rahim made prior arrangements with Pak Dollah to guide us into the waterfalls. A village elder, I had a long chat with Pak Dollah in my car as we drove to Kampung Kenip. Already a grandfather, this fit looking gentleman is told me he used to stay in an area very remote in the jungle, until the government encourage them to move out. I asked him if he feels that life is better now. No is his answer. He feels that it is more difficult to feed himself and his children. Hunting is bad and everything is expensive. But he does however appreciate the fact that medical help is much more accessible now. Pak Dollah still hunts with his blowpipe and I asked him to tell me more about the jungle during our walk, whenever there’s opportunity.
All Pak Dollah was carrying is his parang. Nothing fancy as well. Not long into our walk, he stopped to the side of the trail and stared at some bamboo shrubs. I assume he saw a snake or something but said to me…”Inilah buluh temiang…buat sumpit” (this is the Temiang bamboo, use to make blowpipe). He went on to describe the bamboo and the blowpipe to me.
What’ amazing about this bamboo is that it is small in diameter, light (thin wall), relatively straight and has a good length inter-nodes. Normal bamboos I have seen have inter-nodes about 30cm in length but this particular Buloh Temiang is at least a meter in length! I believe the scientific name for this bamboo is Poaceae Schizostachyum jaculans, also known as ‘buloh sumpitan’ in other communities.
Long internodes on the Temian bamboo. Pak Dollah hands are at the nodes of the bamboo
Me holding the nodes on a piece of Temiang bamboo. No wonder they use this bamboo for blowpipes- pic by Jan
The hike was mostly gradual uphill climb. For a person about 60 years old ( though he claims he is older than that!), Pak Dollah seems much fitter than any of us!. Later along the trail, Pak Dollah stopped and pointed at a tree. “Pokok Ipoh…racun sumpit”. This is the tree where the poisons for the blowpipes darts are obtained. The cut marks on the tree trunk is evident that the tree is being harvested
Pak Dollah beside the Ipoh tree
The sap from Pokok Ipoh
This is an interesting jungle walk no doubt. It was becoming more of a bushcraft jungle walk to me. Closer to the waterfall, we walked pass a trapped (unfortunately dead) porcupine. It looks like a snare, made out off thick fishing line caught the left rear leg of the animal. Could this would be a young Himalayan Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura)?
The porcupine size, compare to my parang
The snare still attached to the animal leg
We left the animal as it is. The Orang Asal will surely come back to check the trap later on. We continued walking and not long after, we arrived at the Kenip Waterfall No. 2.
Continue reading…
Part I – A visit to Semai’s village at Pos Betau
Part II – The remote Kampung Kenip
Part IV – The waterfalls at Kenip
Final part – Hill rice, blow pipe & traditional fire starter of the Semais