The Rain Forests of Borneo

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The Endangered Rain Forests of Borneo

Borneo, in Southeast Asia, is a beautiful country with unique wildlife. It is home to the illusive orangutan, proboscis monkey, Bornean clouded leopard and many other endangered species. It is a wonderful destination for more adventurous travelers, but also accessible from modern luxurious beach resorts at Kota Kinabalu for people who prefer to be pampered.

Unfortunately this beautiful place is being rapidly destroyed as the rain forests are plundered for their valuable wood and replaced with palm oils plantations. Many of the orangutans have nowhere to live and orphans and injured orangutans are looked after and trained for reintroduction into the wild at the wonderful Seplok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

Go there while the rain forests are still there.

This article is about my travel experiences in Borneo and some travel advice, tips and recommendations, places to stay etc.

Please also see:
Asian Photo Gallery
Asian Vacation Destinations
Asian Hotel Reviews

Lens Of The Day (Twice): Thursday, 20th November 2008 and Sunday, 30th November 2008 and a Purple Star in May 2009

Borneo, Borneo, Wherefore Art Thou Borneo? 

Borneo is a fairly large island, a bit larger than France, surrounded by the indonesian archipelago, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia. It is actually divided into four regions, two of which, in the north (Sarawak and Sabah) are governed by Malaysia, Brunei, a small independent sultanate completely enclosed by Sarawak, and in the south, the largest region is the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan (East, South, West and Central Kalimantan). It is a truly magical yet tragic place, with incredible beauty and unique wildlife rapidly being destroyed by logging and palm-oil production.

Map of Borneo 

Where is Borneo Located?

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Essential Borneo Guidebooks 

Borneo (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Borneo (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

by: Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan

Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan

by: Nick Garbutt, Cede Prudente

Amazon Price: $23.07 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

My Trip to Borneo (Malaysia) 

In September 2006 I visited the two Malaysian states, Sarawak and Sabah. To use the old cliche it really was the holiday of a lifetime (although I do try to have at least one holiday of a lifetime every year) I am a keen wildlife photographer and after having done various safaris and other wildlife watching adventures a primate expedition seemed like a good next trip. Primate watching in Africa is far more expensive and politically potentially dangerous, and at short notice proved to be difficult to get appropriate permits, so we chose to do Borneo first, then Africa at a later stage. This was probably wise given the rate at which Borneo is disappearing.

Getting there 

The usual entry point for northern Borneo is Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah which has modern almost western-style hotels and an airport with flights from Kuala Lumpur. Many people stay in Kota Kinabalu (usually, annoyingly called KK by tourists. I insisted on using its proper name and was regularly corrected by other knowledgeable tourists who thought they were a couple of pages ahead of me in the guidebook) KK (oops, I mean Kota Kinabalu) is a fantastic location on the coast next to the Kinabalu mountain, with wonderful beaches and clear water. It is possible to do day-trips to bits of rainforest and other attractions and still enjoy the beach resorts and the comfort of a US style hotel with a golf course. I however think that unless you stay in the jungle you are cheating.

I arranged the holiday using the services of Audley travel (www.audleytravel.co.uk) who prepared a custom itinerary for me and my other half, including flights into Kota Kinabalu, accomodation and all transport, boats and cars, around the island. They did a very good job, and although I could have put it all together for far less on the internet it was worth paying the extra in this case.

Other Vacation Destinations in Asia 

featured lens Maharajas' Palace Hotels in India

India is a huge, fascinating country, with a long and interesting history and a wonderful variety of architectural and natural attractions. It would take many months of traveling to comprehensively explore India, but it is also possible to get a good...

featured lens Asian Hotel Reviews

Here is a selection of hotel reviews, travel tips and advice from my many trips to Asia: Borneo, China, India, Malyasia, Hong Kong etc. from luxury hotels, such as the Intercontinental in Hong Kong and Sofitel Hyland in Shanghai to more basic guestho...

featured lens Exploring China

China is a fascinating place for a vacation. It is developing fast with some cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing very modern while others are still traditional and apparently unchanged for centuries. It is a country of contrast, with some wonderful...

featured lens Asian Vacations

Asia is a fantastic varied place with many wonderful vacation destinations. Here are some ideas, reviews, travel tips advice and recommendations and photographs of my experiences from my many trips there: Monkeys and rain forests in Borneo; Komodo D...

featured lens Photo Gallery: Asia (China, Australia, Borneo, Komodo, India...)

Here is a selection of products featuring photographs from Asia: mainly wildlife photographs from India, Borneo, Australia, Malaysia and China available on postcards, greeting cards, T-Shirts, mugs, mouse-pads etc. from Zazzle.com Related Travel Art...

Accomodation in Kota Kinabalu 

On arrival we were picked up at the airport and taken to the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort where we had a "Delux Sea-view" room. This is a big modern hotel with a choice of beach-side restaurants and bars. I won't do a full review of each hotel here, but it proved a relaxing and enjoyable place to stay after the long flight if not entirely Malaysian in character. Probably great if you like beach resorts with plenty of variety and shopping opportunities. I however was keen to get into the jungle.

Some Essential Reading 

Borneo (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Borneo (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

by: Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei

by: Simon Richmond

Amazon Price: $16.31 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

by: Chris Rowthorn, Sara Benson, Russell Kerr, Christine Niven

Amazon Price: (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Lonely Planet Malay Phrasebook (Malay Phrasebook, 2nd Ed)

Lonely Planet Malay Phrasebook (Malay Phrasebook, 2nd Ed)

by: Susan Keeney

Amazon Price: (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

The Rough Guide to Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

The Rough Guide to Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

by: Charles de Ledesma, Mark Lewis, Pauline Savage, Steven Martin

Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Excursions from Kota Kinabalu 

Just two hours from the hotel, along the Crocker Ranges by car and you are in the Kinabalu Park, which would have been quite feasible as a day trip from a beach hotel, but we used this as the first leg of our journey into the jungle. Nature walks, orchids a botanical garden and two rather low-standard museums (both apparently the same). Lunch was available at the rather rustic Wildlife mountain lodge, which is also where we stayed the night and had dinner and a couple of beers sitting outside... in the car park. Not great, but comfortable enough for an overnight stay. After-all we were there to see wildlife, not to stay in posh hotels.

We headed south through the park to explore the lowland dipterocarp forest then Poring hot-springs, which is a kind of Malaysian theme park where people sit around in warm smelly water. There is also a canopy walkway. A scary series of long suspended narrow bridges hanging between trees at about 40 metres which allows you to view wildlife in the canopy (unless, like me, you are so scared that you can't look over the edge) The butterfly farm was quite amusing in that it only had 3 living butterflies in it, and yet we could see hundreds of huge butterflies just outside in the jungle, through the netting.

Birds nest harvest caves:


Heading east for about 4 hours takes you to Sandakan via some wonderful scenery and the Gomantong caves, which is where edible birds nests are harvested. These are worth a visit. Damp and smelly and full of cockroaches, bats and huge mounds of bat poo, but you can see the harvesting taking place, and the amusing pig-tailed macaques outside. We were also lucky enough to see a mother and baby Orangutan in the trees just outside the caves. We got a little too close and were rewarded with a sprinkling which is the standard monkey number one defense (we didn't hang around for number two)

Canopy Walkway:

Sukau River Lodge 

We stayed at the Sukau River Lodge from which it is possible to take boat trips to the ox-bow lakes and trek in the riverine rainforests where there is plenty of wildlife to see, and of course wonderful scenery, although most of the wildlife was hiding with the exception of the leaches who seemed very pleased to see us. In fact on arrival at the jetty of our riverside lodge there was one waiting for us, sniffing the air. During the rainforest treks you have to wear long trousers tucked into leach socks and short sleeves, because they definitely will drop onto you, then head straight for your warm bits with good blood-flow (e.g. arm-pits) so the best way to deal with them is have your arms visible so people can alert you as they progress up your arms (rather than let them do it under cover inside a shirt) It is best to pull them off before they start drinking. They are relatively easy to pull off however and are quite cute once you get to know them. It is best to shower immediately after a jungle trip and check to see if you have missed any.





Talking of showers, the rooms at the Sukau River Lodge are very rustic huts surrounded by jungle. The water in the showers was a little on the yellow side for my girlfriend, presumably rainwater and filtered river water. I however thought it was a fantastic place to stay with a fantastic bar jutting out into the water and surrounded by mist from the jungle. No TV but an optional wildlife lecture and slide-show (My other half was not happy and wanted to watch CNN instead)




We also took boat trips to look for the wonderful proboscis monkeys. They mostly sit high in the trees so they are difficult to photograph, but are a fantastic site, with the large fat dominant male sitting still with his huge nose and attentive females, while the younger males and females with their smaller noses leap around. I could watch them for hours. In fact I did. Absolutely wonderful, and you won't see this anywhere else in the world.

Turtle Island 

Watch giant turtle come out of the ocean to lay their eggs

Next stop was Sandakan from which we took a boat to Libaran Island, then Selingan Island (or Turtle Island) off the coast of Borneo. This is the location of the most important turtle breeding marine park. To see the turtles arriving and laying eggs you need to stay on the island over night, but primitive accommodation is available (basic chalet with shared showers etc.) Definitely worth it for one night. Early in the evening it was possible to watch baby turtles hatching in the hatchery and fighting to the surface through the sand, then being collected. A few were handed out to the small group of tourists to hold: surprisingly powerful rubbery things just a few inches long trying to swim to safety. We sat in the bar for hours waiting, then a spotter from the beach ran in to alert everyone of the arrival of a giant turtle and we quietly went out to the beach to watch the eggs being laid. We also were allowed to set the babies free into the water. Quite a surreal evenings entertainment, especially as I had a fever and a bacterial jungle infection and was starting to hallucinate. On the way back from the island we visited mangrove swamps and the family of our driver for lunch and saw lots more proboscis monkeys and long-tail macaques. We stayed at the Libaran Island Lodge, which is rather more upmarket than the previous night's accommodation, although I was becoming quite ill by then




The next morning I was "rushed" very slowly by boat and four-wheel-drive to hospital on the mainland (a private hospital where I was seen within just a few minutes of arriving and pumped full of antibiotics. I hate to say, rather better than the British National Health Service. I paid a few pounds for the drugs and the consultation)

The main road:

Seplok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre 

We visited the Seplok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, which helps train previously captive orangutans ready for a life in the wild. This is certainly worth a visit. Fantastic to see these wonderful intelligent creatures up close.




Sepilok Video 

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Rain forest stuff on CafePress 

Save the rainforest Women's Light T-Shirt

Save the rainforest Women's Light T-Shirt

From: Designershop

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Okapi Dark T-Shirt

Okapi Dark T-Shirt

From: 50birds

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Tree Frog Long Sleeve Dark T-Shirt

Tree Frog Long Sleeve Dark T-Shirt

From: Diana Lee Designs

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See more designs like these on CafePress
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Danum Valley 

We finished the trip in the Danum Valley, staying at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, after a one night stay at The Executive hotel, a boring, but comfortable Borneo business hotel, while recovering from my illness. The Lodge however was the best of the lot. The rustic charm of stilted huts with balconies looking into the jungle raised walkways between the huts and a fantastic bar and restaurant with more views. Wild orangutans were swinging around nearby high up in the trees and huge butterflies fluttered past as we sat in the bar. Regular treks and drives into the jungle were organized and more canopy walkways to negotiate. A splendid place to stay.












Conclusion

Borneo is one of the most fascinating places I have been to and well worth the effort, but go soon before the rain forests are destroyed completely.

Summary: Go Now! While it's still there

Digital SLR Cameras 

In a jungle setting the lighting can be difficult, so a good digital SLR camera would be a useful piece of kit to have with you, especially for photos of animals high in the trees when a longer lens is required, although reasonable results can also be achieved with a good compact camera.

Here are some examples and a couple of articles about how to choose an SLR or compact camera:
Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Nikon D60 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

Nikon D60 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

Amazon Price: $546.95 (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens and 2.7-inch Vari-angle LCD

Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens and 2.7-inch Vari-angle LCD

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 07/05/2009) Buy Now

Photography Articles 

featured lens Which Compact Digital Camera?

Which digital compact camera is for you? This article covers the things to consider when buying a compact digital camera: what type and size of sensor do you need? How many mega-pixels do you need? Do extra pixels actually improve the quality? I ha...

featured lens Which Digital SLR Camera?

There are so many good digital SLR cameras on the market now, with a wide range of prices and specifications, but which one should you buy and from which manufacturer? Why should you buy an SLR instead of a compact? What other features should you loo...

Summary: Go Now! While it's still there 

Some other travel and conservation sites.

Some More Travel Articles:

USA National Parks in an RV
Canada. Vancouver and the Rockies
The Rocky Mountaineer
Namibian Safari
Safari In Botswana
Explore China

and

Please support the World Wildlife Fund

Recommended Travel Website: Trivago... your travel guide 

Trivago is an excellent travel web-site and internet community. Please have a look at their web-site:

Trivago... your travel guide

Please Support The World Wildlife Fund 

Borneo has many endangered species of wildlife that must be saved: The Borneo Pygmy Elephant, Orang Utans (The Wild Man of Borneo), Proboscis Monkeys and of course the whole Borneo Rainforest.

The World Wildlife Fund does a lot of good work helping to prevent the natural world from being ruined by humans.

Please have a look at the World Wildlife Fund website.

Please tell me what you think... 

Lensmaster

samraj08 wrote...

A very beautiful lens.
I agree that the photos are exceptional!.

ReplyPosted June 23, 2009

Lensmaster

ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...

Wonderful lens!
Thanks for sharing
LIzzy

ReplyPosted June 02, 2009

Lensmaster

ftuley wrote...

I love this lens.

ReplyPosted May 26, 2009

Lensmaster

lollyj wrote...

What a spectacular lens!! I rarely travel anywhere far from home, so enjoy traveling the world vicariously through the internet. Thanks for this. The photos were exceptional. 5 and fave.

ReplyPosted May 22, 2009

Lensmaster

Shankspony wrote...

What a beautiful lens. I have just been reading up about palm oil - it is good that you and others are letting the world know. '

Loved your photographs. 'at least one holiday of a lifetime each year...' a great goal! Lovely that you share it all.

ReplyPosted May 20, 2009

 
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Lensmaster AndyPo, aka Andrew Porter, has been a member since July 7 2008, has rated 1,534 lenses, favorited 1,422, and has created 103 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Le Mans 24 Hour Race". See all my lenses

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Hi, I am Andy. I live in the U.K. but have worked and travelled all over the world. I am a semi-professional wildlife and travel photographer (i.e. I sold a couple of photos once), semi-retired consultant physicist (i.e. unemployed bofin) with a keen interest in finance (i.e. get rich quick..ly):

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Lens Of The Day (Twice): "Rain Forests of Borneo" - 20th AND 30th November 2008

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