Kayaking Endau River (Day 4 & 5, end)

The 4th day was the longest paddling day in terms of distance. Just one simple direct rapid in the morning and it was flat water paddling all the way.

Sometimes when you are in the outdoors you can be too caught up with the tasks at hand, be it paddling, trekking or sailing. Then you fail to appreciate the simple beauty of nature around you. And it's free! It's good to be out there and doing nothing. Just float. 

The peacefulness of the ancient forests by the banks just engulfs you. You can just hear the calling of the birds and the gentle movement of your paddle in the water, that's all. Can't describe, can't look at pictures, you just have to experience it yourself. 

Lunch point was at the orang Asli village known as Kampung Peta. They were the indigenous people of Malaysia. We were treated to a lunch by them and demonstration of their traditional traps and hunting techniques. Most of the traps relied on the elasticity of rattan twine. Very strong! 

This is a full-scale "prison" trap! The unsuspecting animal walks into the cage, lured by food, triggers some line and bang! The door slams down and entraps the animal! So cool! Watch this. 

This is another cool trap that is specially made for squirrels. The squirrel smells the food at the end of the pole, walks up the pole.....and snap! It finds itself lasso-ed by the twine. 

The signature hunting weapon of the Asli, the blow pipe. The old man burst the balloon with his first shot. The rest of us took more than 30 attempts without hitting the target. 

After that we were back on the flat waters again, floating and paddling leisurely. It was during this stretch that a few of us saw an animal swimming across the river. At first we thought it was a crocodile, then realised it didn't swim like one. The body was completely submerged below the water surface, only the head could be seen. It was swimming quite fast, about 40m ahead of us. On hindsight, it could have been a deer. 

Finally we reached our sandy beach campsite for the night. Check out the bbq chicken, orang asli style! 

The next day we took a river taxi down the river, with outboard motor! It would take another couple days if we paddled all the way!

The End.