Leeches in Long Pa Sia and a cold beer

It's nearly all over, although the fat lady hasn't sung yet: the participants left yesterday, we deposited some at the airport and others in town. Sad farewells to many, I've had some good laughs with them and have been with some for 6 weeks.

My last phase was a bit of surprise because I was asked to change projects! I said farewell to Batu Puteh and went down to a place called Long Pa Sia. It's in the far south of Sabah and pretty remote - the last 4 hours of the journey were off-road on a logging track. The driver was pretty skilled, but still managed plenty of slides. The reason for going was to take the participants on a 12 day unsupported trek through the jungle. They carry in everything they need to live and, for most, its the most challenging phase of the expedition. The weight of their packs and the terrain meant there were plenty of falls and spills. We were accompanied by a local guide and a couple of porters (none of whom spoke any english) but aside from them it was just Karen (a medic) and myself. Its the riskiest of the projects because its in such a remote location, so we had quite a responsibility to ensure everyone stayed safe.......quite exciting all the same!

Some of the river crossings were a bit nuts, and I had to risk assess them all with the guide, Noor (a bit of an ego-maniac who likes his booze post-trek), but fortunately he really knew his stuff. We'd trek for 4-5 hours a day and then build a camp; it was classic Ray Mears stuff, I loved it. The participants were a good a group, but some found it really tough. Leeches were everywhere: you'd brush past a leaf and they'd latch onto you and try and get inside your clothing. They go for areas that are warm, so the fear is they'll attach themselves to your legs and head north.

One of the nicest things was washing in a river at the end of the day, although most of the participants chose not to wash for some reason and consquently stank. The jungle scenery was amazing, just how I imagined Borneo to be, and so I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to trek (our other trek leader had left the expedition early, hence my move). It wasn't easy, but mainly because of the stress of worrying about safety etc, I didn't find the actual trekking too hard. Getting to the end was great for the particpants, many said it was one of their greatest achievements - it's just the sort of development that Raleigh is all about, so this was a good phase to end on.

At the end of the trek in Long Pa Sia

Finally, last night after we had confirmation that their flight had taken off, we could crack open the beers. It was the first drop of alcohol in 3 months, and - despite many intentions of taking it easy - we went out and got pretty wrecked in Kota Kinabalu. Hung over today, and we're spending a couple of days sorting out kit. I changed a couple of wheels on the land rover which was a bit of a killer in the heat.

I'll no doubt post again the next few days when less tired, but overall this Raleigh thing has been great. Hard work throughout, but just the sort of challenge I was after. Yeeha.