We got picked up by our guide, Joe, at around 9am, with his wife and 18 month old baby who were also joining us on the drive as her family lived near Loksado. The drive to Loksado took about 3 hours, stopping on the way to look at a diamond polishing workshop, and then for lunch at a roadside warung for Ayam Bakar (BBQ chicken), rice and vegetables. On arrival in Loksado we dropped off Joe’s family and parked up at a nearby hotel before packing our bags and heading to a nearby shop for trek supplies. We purchased some chocolate to give to the local village children and also cigarettes, as it is customary to offer them around and trade during village gatherings. While neither of us smoke, most men in Kalimantan do, and you are largely considered a 'girl' if you don't! The first day hiking was a fairly easy two hour walk into the jungle along a hilly path, passing a few small villages and settlements on the way. We handed out some of our sweets at one and then ate the best juicy pineapple we have ever tasted at the next, which had just been freshly picked from the jungle. Joe then explained to us the variety of animals we may see in the jungle, including leopards, honey bears, monkeys and highly poisonous snakes. He proceeded to scare us with a story of one of the villagers whose husband was bitten by a snake and died in her arms in the jungle, leaving her mentally scarred after she spent hours screaming for help on her own!

We arrived at our first nights' accommodation, the Dayak village, around 5pm. At first glance it didn't seem that traditional as everyone seemed to own a moped (apparently most of which were stolen), and the traditional long house which used to house the villages' many families was now superseded by individual wooden huts. We were introduced to an elderly lady nicknamed 'mum' by Joe, who he explained would be hosting us for the ceremony that was taking place in the longhouse that evening. The ceremony itself is held once a year as a way to pray to the Hindu animism gods for what the villagers wanted for the coming year.

After having a very rudimentary wash was in the village bath; the river, we sat and offered our cigarettes around to the village men and soaked up the excited atmosphere amongst the families and children running around maniacally for the evening's festivities. We were welcomed into 'mums' family, and chatted with some of the children who had better English, helping ourselves to buckets of crisps and cakes, coke and sprite, and dinner of rice, fish, eggs and vegetables. The actual celebratory music and dancing didn't start until about 11pm, at which point a woman from each of the village families began rhythmically beating a drum while a man from each danced around the central decoration, making offerings to the gods and requesting what they needed for the coming year, chanting along to the rhythm. Getting lost in the surreal experience, we unfortunately realised we needed to go to the toilet before bed...the toilet in the village consisted of an area of ground downstream from the village bath, which was only accessible by slipping and sliding down a muddy track. In the dark, and with the fear of snakes slithering around we quickly returned to the longhouse! We then settled down on a reed mat that had been put on the wooden floor for us to sleep on, and between waking up to the rhythmic chanting and drumming which continued until 9am (they had some serious stamina), we tried to get some sleep!

The next morning we woke up fairly early to find that the chanting and ceremony was still taking place though a few of the unfortunate souls who had taken part now looked a bit worse for wear. After a very brief wash in the river we met up with Joe and 'mum' just outside the long house and headed on our way deeper into the jungle. The pace started fairly leisurely until we left the main path in favour of a trail the local villagers used that seemed barely visible to us. Within an hour we were hiking through fairly deep undergrowth, 'mum' leading the way hacking down any vegetation in our path with a small machete that she kept attached to her waist. It soon became apparent that both 'mum' and our guide Joe were much more at home hiking through the wet and muddy jungle trails than us. Mum in particular set such a fast pace that even Joe couldn't keep up, with her often disappearing and returning with fruit she had just hacked off a nearby tree and offering it to us when she returned. At 60 years old, she managed all this in an old pair of flipflops with a basket strapped to her back made from woven palm leaves; quite remarkable! In hindsight our heavy leather hiking boots may not have been best suited for the muddy, slippery terrain. After an hour or so struggling uphill we reached a small lookout point by a bamboo shelter, where 'mum' offered us some more fruit; a very tasty type of jungle mango with a slightly sharp aftertaste, and more fresh pineapple. 'Mum' also cut what we thought was a normal branch ofc a tree only to show us that when tilted you could get fresh drinking water from it...at this point we felt like Bear Grylls! Joe then explained to us where 'mum' gets her inexhaustible supply of energy from; in a small palm leaf container she mixed together something called 'bitternut' and some sort of tobacco, which Joe explained when refined was 3 times more potent than ecstasy. Apparently this fact has now been discovered by the rest of the world and Indonesia has moved quickly to ban the substance and to go as far as sentence to death several foreign nationals accused of smuggling it...'Mum' never offered any to us...

We soon started to descend into the jungle valley, through which ran a quick flowing river. As our descent became steeper we both started to have trouble finding our footing as the small trail became increasingly muddy dropping off over the edge of a fairly high ledge. 'Mum' being an expert in the jungle, must have noticed the trouble we were having and fashioned some bamboo hiking poles for us to use, which were lifesavers. Once we reached the bottom of the valley we then had the hard task of crossing back and fourth across a river to reach a waterfall where we would have lunch. Once again our boots were not ideal for crossing over slippery rocks and riverbed. To add to the hazards the river was very quick running and we both had to tread carefully; at one point however Trevor did not tread carefully enough and slipped over and face-planted the river much to Sophie's delight!

After what seemed like an eternity of river crossings, boots now filled with water, we finally reached the waterfall. Setting down our gear 'mum' set up camp, getting a small fire going very quickly to prepare lunch. At this point Joe quickly stripped down into his pants and declared he was off for a swim, so we followed suit and headed to the waterfall. After the morning hiking in the humid jungle it was quite refreshing to go for a swim, if not a bit cold. Joe, way ahead of us, was by this point climbing up the rocks beside the waterfall and then proceeded to leap into the water. Not to be outdone we decided to do the same which was much harder than it looked. After a lunch of noodles we packed up our camp and continued our hike away from the river and ascended another treacherously slippery path, requiring us to pull ourselves up using tree branches. The hike went on like this for a couple of hours until we reached a slightly clearer muddy path, which we followed for a short period of time until 'mum' pointed up a hill and asked if we wanted to follow her. After another slippery climb, the forest opened up into a small area of farmland with sweeping views of the jungle hills and mountains that stretched all the way to the horizon. Joe mentioned this was an area he had not been to before and that he was so impressed with the views that he would include it on future trips; even after years of guiding tourists through the jungle, it was was still surprising and amazing him! We stayed here for a while sharing out our remaining sweets and fruits with a small family who were sitting out the rain in a shelter sorting cinnamon bark they had collected, and filming Joe for his website on our camera.

The final hike back took us past a deserted Dayak village; the previous residents of which had voted to move further into the forest to distance themselves from modern culture and changes. We then walked through several small villages, stopping for tea, and then passed a closed government run doctors surgery (many schemes to provide modern health services to the Dayak people have been met with scepticism, and they will rarely seek more than natural remedies for illness or injuries. 'Mums' son himself had fallen over on the slippery river rocks only a month before and hit his head, since which he has gained severe mental problems and internal bleeding, but there will be no visit to a doctor)! Tired, sweaty and bitten to death by mosquitoes we finally made it back to Loksado, this evening staying a new resort that had just recently been built. Joe took us out to a local warung for dinner where we had some fried chicken and rice; simple but it tasted so good after a long day of trekking!

After a good night's sleep, a breakfast of Indonesian cakes, and attempting to dry our wet boots with a tiny travel hairdryer, we took to the nearby river on a bamboo raft for 2 hours guided by Joe's father-in-law. It wasn't quite rafting in Nepal but it was enjoyable; at one point we even had to get off the raft and push it past a tree that had fallen across and blocked the river. There were some minor rapids but we were quite happy just sitting back and enjoying the scenery, along with trying to get a good picture of Sophie holding a happy birthday sign for her mum! Our mini excursion into the jungle over, Joe drove us a couple of hours back to the nearest major town,via some great chicken satay for lunch, so we could pick up a bus to Samarinda; our next destination in Kalimantan.

The Trekking around Loksado definitely delivered; after this and Tanjung Puting, Kalimantan was really proving to be quite an unplanned adventure. A special mention must be said about our guide Joe. He was by far the best guide we have had on our travels so far, always full of energy (despite being in his late 50's), and so knowledgeable, we would highly recommend him to anyone travelling in the area!