King of the Jungle

Lupa Masa was more like it! Sitting on the boundary of Mt Kinabalu NP, the name translates to "forget time". And not only did the directions for finding them include "wait at Restaurant in village and we will pick you up", but then continued with "for the 30 minute walk in to the camp". Sweeeet...

Constructed entirely of materials that had to be carried in by hand, Lupa Masa jungle camp really does give you that feeling of remoteness. The long house was made entirely of bamboo and doesn't have walls, and there is no electricity for 21 hrs each day (therefore no refrigeration). You almost expect to hear Tarzan swinging by while you lounge around soaking up the jungle surrounds. And sitting at almost 1,000m elevation it was also a lot cooler...Perfect!

As it turned out, I was the only guest on my first night. As such, it would have been a bit awkward for the staff of 4, and pair of volunteers, to treat me like a customer. So, instead, I was treated like one of the team, with the exception that I didn't need to cook or wash up (even better!). It was really disappointing that Mel had needed to leave, because I was sure she would have loved this place. In future I think I might need to limit my holidays to durations we can both take.

And true to the surrounding rainforest, it rained every day (despite being dry season). In fact, one of the downpours must have been so severe upstream that it actually caused a flash flood. I'd always been taught not to camp near a river bed, and watching the speed and ferocity with which the waters rose, I now realised why! I've included a video showing two of the local waterways before & after the flooding. Glad I wasn't taking a dip!

Now that I'd had my third dose of jungle I figured it was time for a sea-change before heading home. Thankfully, sitting less than a day away was some world-class diving which would allow me to put my scuba ticket to some use.Læs mere