The rainforests of Borneo & Southeast Asia: Julan Fall - the Mother of all the waterfalls in Sarawak (part 1)

Sunday 7 August 2022

Julan Fall - the Mother of all the waterfalls in Sarawak (part 1)

On Day 1, we were hiking for more than 4 hours under the scorching sun on an abandoned logging road. I almost got the heat stroke cos I didn't bring enough water to drink. The road is overgrown with introduced species of weeds especially 2 species of thorny Mimosa which are the "nightmare" for us. Once we reached our first camp site, there was no water at all in the seasonal stream next to it. We had to search for water in the valley & then went back to set up our tent/hammocks & cooking dinner in a rush before the darkness fall. Our porters even collected wild ferns on the site to cook it as our dinner. In the evening, the bad weather moving it. Heavy rain came & water was everywhere. I got the bad feeling that the leeches would "hunt" for us on the next day after the rain......

The Usun Apau plateau is like a tableland & on top of it got a few ancient dead volcanoes. North south east west of this plateau (above 1,000 m) are full of incredible tall waterfalls. Our plan was visiting Julan Fall (a.k.a. Western Julan Fall) and Eastern Julan Fall (2nd tallest in that area) but we have to change our plan after finding out this dry season is unusually wet. The Julan river is impossible to cross after heavy downpour. In this picture, the view of eastern Julan fall is partially blocked by a hill.