Wild nightlife

The final unchartered territory for our trip involved a visit to Taman Negara, touted as the world's oldest rainforest. This was another very different side of Malaysia, and while it seemed a pretty quiet place during the day nightfall produced a fascinating and eery array of wildlife sounds eminating from the jungle depths.

Mel surveys the river and jungle beyond - after sunset the valley came alive with sound

Some type of fungal thing on a tree root

The jungle was THICK! To get anywhere in a hurry, the river was the only way to go

'Back of house' in one of the floating restaurants - not very ergonomic...

We went on a jungle caving expedition and after being led into a chamber in the dark, our guide 'surprised' us by turning on his torch to reveal a wall full of sleeping bats, about 2 feet from where we'd entered. One would occasionally do a wild lap of the cave, buzzing right past our faces, just to really freak us.