Historic Holidays - Borneo July 2017

My first venture to Asia

With only 3 1/2 weeks until we were due to fly, Ben took me out to lunch and broke the news we would be heading to Borneo. I'd never been to Asia before, and here I was, about to go and see the Orangutans. I couldn't believe my luck! It was the quickest travel vaccination booking of my life and off I trotted to a vaccination centre. I also had to buy walking boots, a backpack and a lot of Deet! 

Kota Kinnabalu

We started off in Kota Kinnabalu, the main city and stayed in The Palace Hotel. It was cute and fairly small, but had a lovely pool and its own jungle. You could sit in the pool and listen to the circadias chirping behind you! Ben took me to a market where I had my first taste of Mango lassi (delicious) and a view into what a true southeast asian market looked like!  The wetlands centre is also well worth the visit if you have a few spare hours.

Poring Hot Springs

On the way across the island to our next destination we stopped off at Poring Hot Springs - a natural springs which also hosts the Rafflesia keithii - a big flower that only flowers once a year and gives off the smell of rotting flesh (lovely). Thankfully we missed out on the odour. 

We did sit down to lunch and I had my first taste of real malaysian satay - everything over there was served with massive chunks of cucumber which I avoided so as not to get food poisoning! But the satay and sticky rice was delicious. 

We also went on the Poring canopy walk. It involves treking up to the top of the jungle up some slippery stone steps, and then the canopy was 5 individual bridges. The bridges were made of planks resting on ladders, and nylon netting - dont they all rot in the jungle?! 

Unfortunately for me, we followed a chinese family down, who were insisting on selfies, and in order to get all of them in, were leaning over the side and completely rocking the bridges from side to side. It sadly ruined it for me as I didn't feel fully safe. But Ben had a blast! 

Lupa Masa

We also stayed for one night in Lupa Masa Jungle camp. This involved trekking for an hour through the jungle over waterfalls and rivers. Our guides were lovely and really helped us out. But the walking was slipppery (and high up!) and the 'bridges' over the rivers were nothing more than a few logs and a bit of string to hold onto! 

Here you can see me entering the 'living quarters' where there were two plug points, that turned on for one hour a day to charge things. We also came here for all of the delicious meals that they served us. 

Our camp was the 'deluxe' hut with a bed surrounded by a mosquito net, and a whole 3 walls. We barely slept because of the waterfall. In the evening one of the other residents found a snake next to their tents - the leaders said it was perfectly safe and was a green racer snake - animal me was keen to hold it! I'm not sure what happened to the snake after this, but I find it likely that they probably ate it! 

There was also a waterfall next to the camp and you could swim in the pool - something which Ben did gladly! This was definitely an experience I would recommend to anyone coming to the jungle near Poring Hot Springs. 

Sandakan and Sepilok

Our next city was Sandakan which was very much a commercial port. Don't expect fancy restaurants, but there's a great fish market.

Sanadakan is the biggest city near to Sepilok, where the nature reserves are, and the Kinabatangan River. 

We spent a day in Sepilok, visiting the Sun Bear sanctuary, and the Sepilok Forest Reserve. The Forest Reserve had lovely walkway and a mini museum showing all of the butterfly specimens that you may see in Borneo - which is a lot! 

The Orangutan sanctuary is amazing, with all of the young orangutans that were orphaned because of deforestation were kept in order to grown up. Although shut in at night, they had free access to the jungle throughout the day. They had different stages and when old enough, did not stay inside, and they fed them less and less yummy things in order to push them out and to fend for themselves. 

We were very lucky and saw this young orangutan on the walkways, we also saw a younger sister, mother and father of the orangutan, although they didnt stick around for as long. 

This orangutan came right past us, and just before going back into the jungle, turned and gave us the best photograph of our lives. 

Kinabatangan Jungle Camp

Next we went to Kingabatangan Jungle Camp. They picked us up early from Sandakan, drove us to the start village for an hur, and then loaded us onto a small river boat, where they took us up river for an hour, through dense jungle. 

Our camp was small and there was only hot water for one hour a day, but they were so welcoming and friendly. We had a resident monitor lizard, and some warthogs around the camp. A black squirrel visited us for breakfast and tried to get into the peanut butter! One evening we were eating, and a gecko fell from the ceiling of the dining area, onto the edge of Bens plate, where it then pancked and ran off the table and into my lap! 

Each day we went on a number of boat trips down the river - not all of them dry! As I can tell you from this picture - don't wear white trousers and orange pants because when it rains you WILL go seethrough! 

Our guide on the river was fantastic and placed our boat under the trees as the overhung the river. There were orangutan bridges made from rope so the orangutans could cross the river. Our guide also made all the sounds that meant the animals came down to see us. By far the most impressive were the proboscis monkeys, but we also saw macaques, crocs, hornbills and a mangrove snake.

This stay (we were there for 3 days) was unforgettable and well worth it. 

Long - tailed Macaque - these were eating the figs from the trees and we could have reached out and touched them they were so close.

Mangrove snake - I honestly have no idea how our guide saw this from the other side of the river. So hidden! Apparently they are super venomous. 

Rhinocerous hornbill - there are several hornbills in Borneo but we saw these the most. On their beaks they have a magnificent orangey-yellow 'horn'.

Proboscis Monkey - We were lucky to see lots as our guide could mimic their calls. We saw bachelor groups and family groups. 

Manukan Island

For a little bit of luxury we stayed at the Sutera Sanctuary on Manukan Island for two nights. The resort arranged a speedboat transfer for us from the mainland. It was incredible, water like bathwater and incredible snorkelling.  I think Ben spent most of his time in the water...

We did have one issue with food service on the second night, but once we alerted them they apologised with a free meal and a whole crate of beer - unfortunatley we couldn't accept when we were flying home the next day! 

Mari Mari Village

On our final day we visited Mari Mari (hello hello) cultural village. They showed us how they used to live, their living quarters and some of their traditions. Ben had a go with the blow gun and I had some traditional Henna painted on my hand. They treated us to a wonderful display of dancing at the end of our visit.

To visit or not to visit?

A highly recommended trip! We flew from London to Kota Kinnabalu, with a layover in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Airlines. The flight was very easy, and on the way back we were delayed in KL for 6 hours, but there was plenty to do in the airport. 

The rainforests in Borneo are being taken over by palm oil plantations all the time, and if you don't go soon, there wont be any left for you to see!