World’s Largest Flower

I had called the state forestry office yesterday to enquire whether any rafflesias (world’s largest flower) were in bloom. Rather unexpectedly, they said “Yes, there is one on its last day” and encouraged me to go.

So, it was a disappointment for me to wake up to a wet day. While the rain wasn’t torrential, it was bad enough to drench anyone quickly. My brother pulled out and I had resigned myself to a day at home I saw a break in the weather. Boo and I decided to chance it and go.

The two hour drive to Lundu was largely dry but cloudy. Google Maps didn’t indicate that there was a river ferry at Batang Rambungan. It was a pleasant surprise to be on one of these river ferries again. They used to be relatively common but bridges have replaced many of them.

As we were having lunch in Lundu, the heavens opened. We waited and waited for it to stop but it didn’t. We gave up and wrote off the long drive and decided to go back to Kuching via the Gunung Gading National Park office for a peek.

The rain eased as we got there and we found out from Wahada (the forestry student and guide) that there were two rafflesias only about 60m away. One was on its last legs (last day) and another was about to bloom.

We paid her RM30 for guiding us and she promptly took us to the first (dying) flower. While the light rain didn’t get to us because of the forest canopy, the ground was sodden and we had to cross a couple of running mini-streams.

We saw a few round bowling ball-sized buds that would be open in 3 months. When we reached the spot marked with a red ribbon, we were disappointed to learn that a falling tree had crushed the dying rafflesia.
We tried our luck next with the one that’s about to open. It was one day from full bloom. As the Rafflesia is famous for its foul smell, I was surprised this one smelt of nothing. It wasn’t quite ready yet. There was a very disappointed looking fly on a petal waiting patiently!

Wahada reached her hand inside the hole of the flower and felt behind the inside-plate. She commented that it was a male flower as it had sticky male pollen. Also, we were told never to touch rafflesia buds as it kills them within 5-7 days.

As for an open flower, it doesn’t really matter as it dies within that timeframe anyway. She was very knowledgeable and we learnt enough from her.

I felt happier that our day wasn’t in vain and drove back to Kuching via a meal break at Telaga Air.  I had heard of the place and wanted to check it out.  It is a riverside town (near the estuary) with a popular food court.  The food was a little bit artier than usual and they also had lots of crabs and lobsters (at RM30-60 depending on size). Something to note for future!