Of tall trees and strangling roots

Who will win? In the centre of this tangle of roots is the original dominant tree that is now supporting the strangling roots of a fig tree in Danum Valley. — CALIXTUS LAUDI

I SPENT two nights and three days this week in Danum Valley, a 130-million-year-old rainforest in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

This 438sq km reserve is far from the madding political crowd. I had a better chance of spotting the elusive orang utan in the wild than a Wild Wild East politician (for those who haven’t noticed, I call my home state, Sabah, the Wild Wild East because of its neverendingly turbulent politics).