Alex's car screeched to a stop. Just a fraction of a second behind him, I drove over a hump in the undulating road and lo and behold, what looked like a 1m tall golden totem-pole welcomed us on the road side. It was a huge king cobra! Apparently it was crossing the road when the sudden appearance of Alexs car frightened it into this aggressive posture. I stopped my car and reached for my camera to capture the extremely rare scene, but alas, the third car appeared and our slithery friend scurried into the forest.

That's how Tasik Bera welcomed this group of some 40 members of the Malaysian Nature Society Selangor Branch. The contingent had gathered at Gombak toll plaza, followed the Kuala Lumpur-Kuantan road until the Temerloh bridge, where it had turned off the trunk road towards Triang and followed the signs all the way to the Lake, stopping for lunch and rests.

For the rest of the day, the members were free to engage themselves in various activities: viewing the exhibits in the Visitors Centre, walking the jungle trails, canoeing in the lake, bird-watching, taking pictures or just lazing around.

The following day saw the contingent travelling in several motorized sampans to the Semelai village of Kg. Jelawat. Although the journey took 3-1/2 hours and the boats did not provide any shelter against the sun, most of us did not complain because negotiating the often narrow and winding waterways amongst the islets of pandanus was like playing hide and seek in a maze. At times we lost the boats in front of us, and just when we thought we should turn right, the boatman turned left instead and after a little while, voila, we caught up with the boat in front again. Semelai fishermen in their dugout canoes (perahu jalor) watched this group of strange visitors pass by.

The Semelai people are one of the six tribes that make up the Proto-Malay, one of the 3 groups of orang asli in West Malaysia. They have a total population of about 5,000, of which about 30% depend on Tasik Bera and the fringing forests for their livelihood. They have been living in this area for more than 600 years. Apart from their traditional economic activities of harvesting forest products and fishing, many of them have taken up employment as boatmen and guides in the newly developed ecotourism industry.

Kg. Jelawat is a small traditional Semelai village with only about 30 households. Most of the Semalai people at Tasik Bera have been resettled in Pos Iskandar, somewhere between Kg. Jelawat and Persona Tasik Bera Resort.

The return journey to the Resort took only 2-1/2 hours with the help of the current. My boatman told me that during the rainy season, many of the pandanus islets would become submerged and the boats would then be able to follow a much more direct route and thus reduce the travelling time. But then, how many people will like to miss playing hide and seek in a maze?

Notes: (1) This article, illustrated with 19 photographs taken during the trip, was published in Malaysian Nature Society's quarterly Malayan Naturalist Vol. 57/1 - 2003. The photos in this album were taken during a subsequent trip to Tasik Bera with my youngest brother's family and some friends.

(2) Tasik Bera is Malaysia's largest lake. It's a Ramsar site, i.e. a wetland of international importance.