Ebby Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Mount Kinabalu's base camp or Laban Rata as it is called, is 6km from the main entrance or Timpohon Gate. Timpohon Gate is roughly 1000m ASL with Laban Rata at 3300m ASL. Within that 6km mountain trail, you have ascended 2300m of altitude.

While most well and fit tourists with nominal payload could make base camp within 3 to 5 hours, there are those that could make base camp with payload their body weight on their back within that same period.

Ebby is a porter with Kinabalu National Park Service and he is the reigning champion for porting titanic weight and size object, up the trail to base camp. He is seen here with a 70kg water tank on his back, at a section of the trail called Layang Layang, with another 2km to base camp. The time was only 11.20 in the morning and he had started at 8am. He made base camp at 3pm.

trekks, maglex, BennyV, Ramdan, jusninasirun, alftrek has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

trekks (14334) 2008-02-28 6:08

hi Bani

I admire this Ebby, simply a hercules-kind of power and strength, impressive ability to handle such a task uphill. And you have captured it well from this angle to compare how the tank size truly compares. Amazing way to portray a life and work. Very powerful journalistic photo.

TFS, bill

maglex (1612) 2008-02-28 7:59

Whoooa! A very intruiging shot, Rabani. This is what you call toiling, and that upstream!!! I just cant imagine this hardship but I also see no other way to bring these necessities up the mountain, an option maybe is with a chopper. I have plans myself to go up the Kinabalu and this image igves me an idea how the terrain is up there. Thanks for sharing, great shot!
Regards,
Alex

Across_Asia (306) 2008-02-28 8:07

A picture tells a thousand words, and here your photo says a lot about Ebby and his profession as a porter. I think you have chosen a good position to take the shot - particularly the rough terrain he has to transversed to reach his destination.

Cheers / Steven

BennyV (4905) 2008-02-29 0:33

An impressive portrait of Ebby in full action. How can I not admire this man? The misty background he seems to come from, makes it even more other-worldly. Respect! Thanks for this great post, Rabani.

Benny

Ramdan (117) 2008-02-29 22:22

Assalamualaikum Bang,
Courage, determination and great strength. Ebby has them for living.

A very strong photojournalism showing Ebby's dedication to his work from the perfect angle where the load is clearly looked extremely heavy as he had to hardly 'execute' his task uphill.

Kalau bawa turun pigi bawah, sya boleh offer tulung dia. Nanti saya masuk dalam itu tangki and begulik terus sampai bawah. :)

TFS and Wassalam,
Ramdan.

jusninasirun (10213) 2008-03-02 0:16

Assalamualaikum Rabani. Ebby looks like a very strong person. What he is carrying looks like more than 5 times his body volume. 70kg is more than my weight and a really daunting task uphill all the way. Thanks for sharing the note and and excellent capture of this scene. I am clueless of what to say here - well done and have a wonderful weekend. Wasallam. Jusni

alftrek (2913) 2008-03-03 18:58

Hi bani,

Well captured, very convincing. You can even say he was carrying a payload of a 100kg tank and people would believe.

This will be a good reminder when we trek up this Thursday.

best regards
Alfred

ating76 (45) 2008-05-21 21:31

Hi Rabani,

This man must be the Hercules of Sabah! A very good job on capturing and documenting this moment. I am a great admirer of your work and I am learning a lot about photography from looking through all your photos. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Alvin

foozi (4735) 2008-06-18 6:21

Assalamualaikum Rabani,
may Allah bless you. Your name is the blessed name. Talking about journey, we are in a continuum where what ever we do will always be better than yesterday.
Indeed I know that youre a great motivator and your provocation will never fail you in pushing the limits. That is the strength that I see in your style. I always like this style as it one of the ways to persevere in life. In my context, photography allows me to understand and appreciate the moments and gift of life. Time is short, the moment we hear the birds sing then we will lose it forever. longing to hear its song again the following day. The smallest and minute thing consist of a vast and expanse lesson and beauty in life. Outdoor activities actually helped me a lot when I was performing my hajj- the difficulties , the endurance , the patience, the power to survive and the power to appreciate the strength of God. The gift of God to each human is immeasurable. The most important of all we must always surrender to God not to others and we know and understand our existence and do it for the sake of God. Make full use of the moment we are given , coz the most distant thing in life is the past.
We have been talking the best topic ever.
Just like the porter above, we carry the heaviest responsibility in life.
The moment you are at Low's Peak, you know how great God is. The moment in scaling the cliff ,you know how small you are. The moment you produce a great photo you know how great God manage the beauty - God is the one who design us, manage us, administer us , feed us etc. God is Rabb.
There is no strength in us to do good deeds without God's help. And there is no strength in us to evade doing evil things without God's help.
Hope you will reach the most wonderful place in this world, Makkah, when your are the blessed and invited guest in the list of the blessed. We shall continue.

Wassalam.
Foozi