The Rain Forests of Borneo

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 Sepilok 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, Borneo, Wherefore Art Thou Borneo?
Map of Borneo
Essential Borneo Guidebooks
More Boreno Articles
My Trip to Borneo (Malaysia)
Getting there
Other Vacation Destinations in Asia
Accomodation in Kota Kinabalu
Some Essential Reading
Excursions from Kota Kinabalu
Current Weather in Borneo
Sukau River Lodge
Turtle Island
Seplok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
Sepilok Video
Rain forest stuff on CafePress
Danum Valley
Digital SLR Cameras
Photography Articles
Borneo Photo Gallery
Cameras
Summary: Go Now! While it's still there
Recommended Travel Website: Trivago... your travel guide
Please Support The World Wildlife Fund
Please Follow Me...
Please tell me what you think...
More Wildlife and Travel Articles
About Me
More Photos From Around The World

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)

by: Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/29/2009)

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

by: Nick Garbutt, Cede Prudente

Amazon Price: $24.39 (as of 12/29/2009)

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

Exploring China: Beijing, Shanghai, Pingyao

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...

Asian Vacation Destinations

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...

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 guesth...

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 goo...

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

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

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)

by: Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/28/2009)

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei

by: Simon Richmond

Amazon Price: $16.31 (as of 12/28/2009)

Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

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

Amazon Price: (as of 12/28/2009)

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

by: Susan Keeney

Amazon Price: (as of 12/28/2009)

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

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

Amazon Price: $17.15 (as of 12/28/2009)

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:

Current Weather in Borneo

What's the Climate Like in Borneo, Malaysia

Current weather conditions in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Local Pollen Reports

29°C (Feels like 33°C)

Last update: 12/29/09 5:30 PM Local Time

Humidity: 70%
Visibility: 10.0 km
Dew Point: 23°C
UV Index: 0 (Lawn and Garden Weather)
Barometer: 1007.1mm steady
Moon: Rush Hour Traffic
Wind: 11km/h From: Airport Conditions

Tonight

Low
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:24 AM
Sunset: 6:11 PM

Wednesday
Dec 30

N/A
High: 32°C
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:24 AM
Sunset: 6:12 PM

Thursday
Dec 31

Scattered T-Storms
High: 32°C
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:25 AM
Sunset: 6:12 PM

Friday
Jan 1

Scattered T-Storms
High: 31°C
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:25 AM
Sunset: 6:13 PM

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 Sepilok 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

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 D3000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 12/29/2009)

Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control for Nikon D40, D40x, D60, D80 & D90 Digital SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $16.29 (as of 12/29/2009)

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 12/29/2009)

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 12/29/2009)

Photography Articles

Best Digital Compact Camera: Canon Powershot G10, G11

The Canon Powershot G10 is a top of the range compact digital camera from one of the best producers of photography equipment. It is aimed at users of SLR cameras who occasionally need something a bit smaller, but still need good quality photographs a...

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 lo...

Which Compact Digital Camera?

Which digital compact camera is for you? This article covers the things to consider when buying a compact digital camera: Digital camera reviews; Which is the best digital compact camera? What type and size of sensor do you need? How many mega-pixe...

Borneo Photo Gallery

The full Gallery can be viewed here...

OrangUtan "APE-Ron" by AndyPo

Ape-Ron by AndyPo

Monkey Button by AndyPo

Macaque Postcard by AndyPo

Orang utan in Borneo Postcard by AndyPo

Orang utan in Borneo Postage Stamp by AndyPo

Macaque Apron by AndyPo

Macaque T Shirt by AndyPo

Monkey Hiding by AndyPo

powered by Zazzle.com

Cameras

Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Deep Red)

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 12/28/2009)

Nikon Coolpix S220 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.5 inch LCD (Graphite Black)

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 12/28/2009)

Samsung SL30 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.5 inch LCD (Pink)

Amazon Price: $77.95 (as of 12/28/2009)

Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera

Amazon Price: $99.00 (as of 12/28/2009)

Summary: Go Now! While it's still there

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.

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EverythingMouse EverythingMouse Nov 3, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

A beautiful and informative lens. Squid Angel Blessings to you

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samraj08 samraj08 Jun 23, 2009 @ 5:05 pm

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

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ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Jun 2, 2009 @ 3:54 pm

Wonderful lens!
Thanks for sharing
LIzzy

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ftuley ftuley May 26, 2009 @ 2:34 am

I love this lens.

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lollyj lollyj May 22, 2009 @ 7:27 am

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.
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About Me

Lensmaster AndyPo has been a member since July 7 2008, has rated 2,042 lenses, favorited 1,959, and has created 207 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Ferrari 308 - Affordable classic (Magnum's car)". See all my lenses

My Bio

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 boffin) with a keen interest in finance (i.e. get rich quick..ly):

My Home Page, More About Me!, My Blog and My other publications

My Newest Lenses:
Bentley Turbo R
How to Hedge your Inveatment Portfolio
Apple Mac Computers, Software etc.
Volterra in Italy
Etosha National Park
Turtle Island, Borneo
Chianti Road, Tuscany, Italy
Chobe National Park, Africa
Danum Valley, Jungles in Malaysia

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

Please also check out my Zazzle Gallery

And a few other publications:

Safari in Botswana
Understanding ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
Rio de Janeiro: A Travel Diary
Waterfalls in Brazil and Argentina
Bangkok, Thailand (during a military coup)
Tiger Safari in India
Marrakech, Morocco
Vacation in Cuba
African Safari: Namibia
Classic Car Review: Ferrari 308 GTS
Car Review: Jaguar XJ12, Daimler Double Six
Car Review: Jaguar XKR
Investing in National Savings Premium Bonds
How to Reduce Risk of Your Investment Portfolio
Investing in Corporate Bonds

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