Loksado

Banjarmasin is a city that has its fair share of dirt and pollution. The rivers that run through it are a muddy chocolaty color due to the rainy run off from mining and presumably non environmentally sound construction practices and who knows what else. To that end, it is nice to know that some areas of South Kalimantan show the same purity Mother Nature intended. Loksado is one of these places.

Last weekend I experienced Loksado, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in person. Getting to Loksado requires about a 3 ½ hour 'taksi' to a small town called Kandangan. From there you hop on another hour long transport up a small and slightly windy road into the hills, past small villages and through a remarkable jungle. Accompanied by Puji and Citra, one of the students and friend from the University, I rode to Loksado local style. I rode from Kandangan crammed in the back of a truck carrying other passengers and supplies for some of the villages saving about 140,000 rupia by not hiring a car with a driver.

We stayed at a newer hotel in Loksado, a good rate and perched on a little island in the middle of the river right in the middle of the village. From there, we gathered some water, and our things and we went on a hike to the nearest waterfall. We left the hotel around 1:30 and it was going to be about a 2 hour hike in to the falls. Our guide was Darsani, one of Puji's students whose family lives in a small village down the river from Loksado. Having a local guide is important for a number of reasons. One is to have someone who can speak the local dialect, Banjarese, which may share some similarities to Bahasa, Puji says she really can't understand it. Another obvious reason to have a guide is a local knows where to go and how to get there. The third reason is to help prevent you from being the subject of black magic… or so I'm told.

Dyak tribes are the 'pagans' of Borneo. Some of these tribes were once head hunters, but still practice their old religious spiritual ways refusing to be converted to government recognized religion. It is unclear whether I met Dyaks while in Loksado, I saw no rituals, sacrifices nor heads on spears. My company wouldn't want to admit if the friendly people in these villages were Dyak… it would just be too scary to fathom. But the signs of Islam were most definitely not as evident as they are in Banjarmasin. Although I saw a Mosque in Loksado, I didn't see Mosques in any of the villages we hiked through. Women weren't covered and people lived their lives more in line with surviving in the Jungle and with the resources that were available right there such as using bamboo, extracting sap from the rubber trees and cultivating/drying spices for sale. The villages have longhouses where you can be invited to stay the night and sleep on a bamboo mat on the floor for a small fee. Although I know some Americans who have done this, we didn't. Part of the reason is my travel companions' worries of black magic. There are many stories, some claimed to be first hand or of a friend or relative falling victim to mysterious black magic pranks. One such is how the Dyak will cast a spell on your food and you will find yourself throwing up glass or pieces of metal or stories of the vampires and vampire ghosts, or the unborn baby missing from its mother's womb; stories for perhaps another blog post. These stories I find intriguing as part of the rich history of Borneo but my colleagues shudder in fear if they even hint about these stories to me.

So we focused on the beauty of the area. The 2 hour hike to the falls, what normally in my normal climate would have been fairly easy ended up almost causing me heatstroke at the 1.5 hour mark. Note to self: don't forget to bring pump water filter on next hike. The weather was hot and humid, mosquitoes were in full force, but despite these set backs, it was amazing and gorgeous. We zig zagged across the river over swinging suspension bridges that might make you wonder if they could support anyone's weight. But knowing many motorcycles use this path (and having seen it myself) I knew these bridges would hold and I walked across with full trust.

It was cooler at the falls and breath taking. We walked across a makeshift bamboo foot bridges onto the rocks around the fall and the cool pool of water. I released my feet from my hiking boots, dangled my feet in the pool and eagerly splashed myself with the water. After about 30 minutes there, we headed back. The hike to the falls was a gradual incline most of the way so needless to say it was faster getting back. A good thing too as it gets dark early here and it was already 4. Once we arrive to Loksado it had just gotten dark and luckily there were enough lights out so that we could see the path ways… at least until we got into the hotel room and then the power went out, Borneo style.

Our second and last day in Loksado was the day we went bamboo rafting which was the best rafting trip I've ever taken. We took a transport down the road to where a hot springs resort is. Bypassing the fabulous opportunity of being the only girl in a swimsuit (and the only bule), we decided to just go for the rafting trip before heading home. We walked through the small village, past our rafting guide's home with his curious family looking on then down to the river where the guide lashed together a seat for us on the bamboo raft in just under 20 minutes.

The rafting trip took about an hour and all I can say is look at my photos. I found it to be calming and soothing and if I ever had any doubt that we have a Creator or a God, this doubt would have been sincerely challenged while meandering through this beautiful scenery on Borneo. It really makes you realize how important it is to protect and sustain what gifts we've been given. I can honestly say that this will be one of my best memories here. And a worthy punctuation to this rafting trip was that it ended at Darsani's home (right on the river) where his mother cooked us an amazing lunch from things found right there on the riverside.

She served us rice, the soft meat of the bamboo plant cooked in coconut milk, boiled leaves from the sweet potato plant seasoned with garlic and onion, egg for me, river fish for everyone else, tea, and as much fruit as we could manage to carry home. I still have tons of rambutan (the hairy fruit) in my refrigerator. Hope I can eat it all or distribute it soon.