Borneo

Borneo is the worlds third largest island (after Greenland and New Guinea). Its split into four states across three countries - Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Despite much deforestation in recent decades, there is still a lot to savour. But for how much longer ?

I began my tour in the modern capital of Kota Kinabalu (KK) and after a few days organising trips and a visa to Indonesia, moved on to the Sepilok orang utan sanctuary towards the islands east coast. The orang utans that are being rehabilitated here live in the forest and can be seen at feeding times. The numbers of apes who show up to each session varies depending on how much food they find in the forest and their level of rehabiliation. Thus you tend to see less apes if the rehabiliation programmes are working well. The amount of fruit available in the forest is seasonal and at this time of year, theres plenty of wild fruit nearby ! Thus you don't tend to see many apes. During the morning session, only two orang utans appeared, whilst the afternoon produced a total of five showing up (two mothers, with their babies and the dominant male). It seems the mothers like to show off their babies in the afternoons, so its worth trying to get to both sessions in the same day to maximize your chances. Pig tailed macaques join in the feeding frenzy and are certainly less shy than the orang utans. There are short trails leading into some intact rainforest where I was also lucky enough to see some red leaf monkeys. All things considered, a great days primate viewing and I headed back to Uncle Tan's place buzzing with excitement !

I had heard a lot about Uncle Tan's wildlife camp on the Kinabatangan river and was not disappointed with my three day safari. There is not much forest remaining alongside the river, just a thin corridor as its all been cut back to plant oil palm plantations. The unfortunate consequences of this are that its much easier to spot wildlife. From a boat on the river we saw wild orang utans, gibbons, proboscis monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, long tailed macaques as well as monitor lizards, saltwater crocodiles and birds such as hornbills, kingfisher and oriental darters. At night we also saw some civet cats and plenty of insects and frogs on the night walk. This place is probably the best way to see wildlife in Borneo but its sad to see so little rainforest remaining in this part of the island. Oil palms cover much of the island and are Borneo's biggest cash crop. Palm oil is used as a biofuel and in processed foods, as well as in soaps and detergents. Clearing the forest to plant oil palms is a profitable business. The hardwoods can be sold as timber and the oil palms grow quickly and fruit two to three times a year, making them more profitable than a typical fruit orchard. The rising price of palm oil (at least until its recent drop during the global economic crisis) has encouraged further plantations, creating a vast monoculture that seems to be taking over the island. Although the current fashion for biofuels is claimed to have its environmental benefits, the opposite is usually the case. More carbon is released following rainforest destruction, than is saved by replacing fossil fuels with palm oil. Luckily the islands many national parks protect large areas of primary forest.

Situated between KK and Sepilok, Mount Kinabalu national park houses South East Asia's highest mountain which rises to around 4100m. Its been the subject of some controversy of late. A private company have bought up all the accomodation within the park and hiked up the prices, making the trek much more expensive. In addition many people complain that places on the mountain are booked up for two weeks in advance. Luckily theres some cheaper accomodation outside the park and after a few days spent following the trails through montane forest around the park HQ, I joined a group to trek up the mountain. Its quite a challenge, beginning at 1800m, a steep 6km trail takes you through a variety of vegetative zones from mixed dipterocarp forest, through montane forest characterised by oak, laurel and myrtle and into mossy rhododendron forest to 3200m where you spend the night. The following morning you rise early around 2am and trek the final lung busting 3km to the summit, battling the altitude and the steep gradient as you traverse the steep rock face above the tree line. The spectacular sunrise comes just after 6am, lighting up a vast panorama over the Sabah landcape.

Moving onto the neighbouring state of Sarawak, I flew into Gunung Mulu national park. Set amongst lush primary tropical rainforest are limestone karst mountains and the worlds largest underground cave network by volume which houses some impressive show caves. The lowland rainforest here is dominated by giant dipterocarp trees which grow up to around 70m and make up the canopy layer. These are the tropical hardwoods prized by the timber industry and the best way to get amongst them is via the worlds longest canopy walkway. This takes you high up into the forest where wildlife such as tree squirrels and flying lizards are seen (both of which our group saw). Night walks around park HQ are another excellent way to see wildlife, especially an amazing diversity of creepy crawlies such as giant spiders and stick insects as well as tree lizards and frogs. A group of us trekked deeper into the park and up a steep limestone trail to the summit of the Pinnacles, a series of jagged limestone karst formations that rise out of the forest like giant daggers. I left the park via the headhunters trail, an old tribal warpath that takes you through more virgin dipterocarp rainforest and peat swamp. Its then an atmospheric four hour boat journey along the river back to civilisation. Well almost civilisation. The jetty we arrived at is actually a logging port - its shocking to see how much wood gets wasted here and the place is a real eyesore. Add to the fact, that the only place in Malaysian Borneo that you're likely to get malaria is if you work in a logging camp (most are poorly paid Indonesian migrants) and you're beginning to unravel the scale of the environmental disaster that is unfolding here. Not surprisingly the Sabah and Sarawak economies are booming but both the trees and the offshore oil are beginning to run out.

Two days bus ride took me to Kuching, Sarawak's laidback capital at the western end of Malaysian Borneo. A pleasant riverside walkway joins an interesting chinatown to its more modern shopping district. Its a great base for journeys into the surrounding national parks and the Semengohh orang utan centre. Bako national park protects a range of habitats: mixed lowland rainforest, mangroves, peat swamps and kerangas - a type of heath forest which grows on nutrient poor sandstone. Some excellent trails connect the various vegetative zones and some also lead to beaches. Amongst the plant life are numerous types of carnivorous pitcher plants which feed on insects. Wildlife, most of which can be seen around park HQ foraging for food includes proboscis monkeys, bearded pigs (a type of wild boar) and some very bold long tailed macaques which are quick enough to steal the food from the table right in front of you - much to the surprise of my Swedish room mate, who had a few frankfuter sausages stolen from his plate ! I was also lucky enough to observe a venomous Wagler's pit viper from a safe distance on a nearby tree. I highly recommend an overnight stay here to enjoy the best this marvellous park has to offer.

Borneo has been a real adventure but its time to move on. Tonights flight takes me onto the Big Durian - Jakarta, Indonesia.