Our flight from India to Borneo didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped and with a few delays and three flights later we arrived in Kuching (Malaysian part of Borneo), what a shock to the system it was, coming from Delhi I still imagined Kuching would be filled with the chaos of an Asian city, how wrong I was though, it was clean and felt rather wealthy, this I had not expected. It was nice to have an air of ease and calmness when we arrived, we weren’t haggled into a taxi or informed of a better hotel, we were just took straight to our hostel, money paid, sorted.
We were staying on the waterfront at a really nice hostel; it felt strange arriving somewhere and the room being clean and feeling comfortable to just lie down and snooze off the long travel. We were using Kuching as our base to head to a few attractions; however we enjoyed our first evening wandering the riverside and indulging on the top of a car park at the local seafood market, topspot. After manically working our way through the Malaysian menu we ordered some juicy prawns, vegetables and rice and yum, what a tasty feast it was. The next day we used it to explore Kuching and amble around the streets, tasty the yummy food on offer and seeing how the people of Kuching live. What we found was the opposite to our time in India and instead of workworkwork, open all hours that everywhere in Kuching closed from 2pm and didn’t open again until 6pm, meaning after our beasty line in our wandering didn’t get us tasty any food until later that day, we were so confused at the reasons for all the closures that until we spoke to someone we were informed of the ways of Kuching, it felt a pretty perfect city to have arrived in and a nice ease into Malaysian lifestyle. That night we decided to head to another food market Sam had found out about and enjoyed another tasty meal of prawns but ordered a local dish of midi (scrumptious greens), the meal was washed down with some local beer and two very satisfied smiles.
We were planning on waiting to head to Semengoh nature reserve but chose to use the Monday to head off and gaze at some Orangutans, now those of you that know me know I am not great at zoos and have that whole debate in my head about the positives and negatives of wildlife conservation centre’s etc. Semengoh started this debate also but we had planned to go so stuck with our plan, Semengoh is called a semi wild nature reserve and is for Orangutans who have been handed in as they were kept as pets, injured or saved from captivity, there are also younger ones who have been born there. So I understood this and think yes this is good, it’s like Monkey World in Dorset (if you don’t know about this place check it out, watch a programme called monkey business (its based on monkey world) and then get yourself there, it has the same principles as Semengoh and is a great place for monkey conservation, the owners Jim and Alison are also amazing, sadly Jim died a number of years ago but the work they have achieved together is huge in the primate world and I was amazed when I last went in 2006ish). Semengoh is open for tourists and charges a small amount entrance fee, once in they operate two feeding times, 9am and 3pm, tourists are then allowed to observe the Orangutans feeding at each time (during tourists can’t stay in the park and the Orangutans go back into the rainforest). My problem was feeding platforms, tourism, eek but actually when there I had two very different experiences in one day. Firstly the first feed is the main one tourists come too, large groups and a lot of ipads (grrr) people pushing, shoving wanting that perfect photo, it made me slightly mad that people were watching these beautiful ginger creatures through there lenses rather than their eyes, anyway crowds started to disperse after about 45mins and Sam and I stayed behind and observed how they behaved with less people, it was amazing watching their tomfoolery and playful behavior and experiences what felt like them being natural and not ‘playing to a tourist crowd’. We also took this time to read more at the park info board about how many Orangutans they had and the feeding operation, what changed my view to a more positive one was the fact that they have around 27 Orangutans living in the rainforest surrounding the nature reserve office, now when we were there we saw around 6 come out to eat, which then made me look into the other 21 more, on the info board the office had a list of each Orangutan and how often they come to feed and what I enjoyed seeing was over half never actually come back to the feeding platforms and have chose to live wild in the rainforest, the ones who do come back tend to be the oldest lady there and a few younger ones. Why did this change my mind, well it made me feel happy that yes some do come back and they obviously like that human interaction but actually a number have chose to carry on being wild as they rightly should be and fend for themselves, surviving in the Borneo rainforest they call home.
We headed back for the afternoon feed and experienced a completely different feeling from the mornings experience, less people and the ‘main man, big Richie’ came out, wow, what a beautiful primate, his structure, the way he walked and his enormous cheeks showed he was the boss. When speaking with a women she informed us a journalist had bought him and brought him to Semengoh as was disgraced he was being sold on the street/shop, to think that an animal of this structure could be sold to a silly human just astounds me and this made me feel happy that he was somewhere that was a safe home for him and somewhere he was able to be the Orangutan he should be.
My 31st birthday also arrived whilst in Borneo, I had wanted to be in Borneo for my birthday as wanted to do some trekking and see monkeys, Bako was my chosen National Park and we had booked two nights in the hostel and had 3 full days there, we woke the morning of my birthday early and Sam had found an amazing proboscis monkey postcard and wrote some special words, he also gave me a book called The Glass Palace, which had been recommend by a book keeper in India, it’s a fiction book about Burma, I was super chuffed as was reading another book by the same author and liked the style of writing.
With an early morning start we found the bus to take us and started our journey to the rainforest. Once off the bus you get a speedboat across to Bako, it’s a quick 20min journey across, it felt so free and exciting to be headed somewhere new and into a national park renowned for its beauty. We were already aware of the treks we wanted to do so checking in was easy. One of the main top stars of Bako is that you can trek with and without a guide, obviously not wanting to the cookie cutter way of travel we independently did our treks, however Bako do make it easier as the trails are marked out and although the terrain can be rough the guideline is marked on trees etc. We were also very excited to see some proboscis monkeys which are a species of primate only found in Borneo, there very distinctive as the males have large noses that move when they make a trumpet like noise. Whilst walking to our hostel cabin we heard a rustle in the trees and were so lucky to be greeted by 3 proboscises, it was like they were coming out to give a birthday welcome, with this being our first sighting we were raring to go and full of excited beans.
We had decided with getting there at midday to do a shorter trek that would end on a beach, we chose the Kecil trail which took around 1.5hrs each way, the trek was great and although the weather peaked and we sweated it was great being in the rainforest, we also spotted a few more proboscis and macaques and a huge lizard (3-4m long), we also went through other vegetation but for me the rainforest was just incredible and the sounds were immense. The trail came to a view point where you see the sea stack which is an amazing land formation where the sea has eroded the rock and sculpted a serpent like figure, from the beach below the stack is hard to see but we had great view up on the viewing point. We then took the hike down to the beach and were amazed to find we had it to ourselves, obviously this called for Sam to demand a skinny dip so we stripped down and went for a swim, the sun was beating down nicely and the water was welcomed after such a sweaty walk. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading and enjoying our secluded ‘private’ beach.
We headed back to the park entrance for evening so we could shower, eat some cake and head out on a night trek.
The night trek was fun, very basic but a great way to see Bako by night, we mainly saw sleeping birds and a number of insects but the main attraction for me was the sounds of the rainforest by evening and indulge on the unknown of the animals around us, we were told by the rangers owls and slow loris would be around but sadly none were seen.
The next day we headed to a longer trek to Tajor Waterfall, this trek was a lot more strenuous and took us through a number of different twists and turns, part of Bako’s beauty is the feeling of being out in the rainforest alone and able to wander so freely, we didn’t get lost but at times the trail was sparse on its direction and it felt nice nature had taken its control back and crept back across the walkways allowing the rainforest to live as it choose. We made it to Tajor and I can honestly say I have never sweated so much but had such a brilliant challenging trek, we did head further than the waterfall but turned back after a steep dangerous climb, we decided the beauty of the waterfall would fill us for today. We took our boots off, snacked on some treats and started dozing, two hours later we woke, the sound of the water, the rustle of the trees and the insect life around us was bewitching to hear and I felt so relaxed in natures arms. We headed back soon after 3ish, arriving back at the hostel that evening, Sam had decided to go look for some proboscis monkeys and what a treat we were given, after sitting watching a few monkeys swinging bashfully from the trees and trumpeting away we were suddenly greeted by around 20 monkeys, we had only joined them at evening feed time, the surge of happiness I felt right from my toes to my smile was beholding and I couldn’t believe what we were witnessing, they were encircled around us and were just chilling out, eating away and making some of the most incredible noises. We sat for ages in awe of these brilliant monkeys, if our time at Bako had ended there I would have felt we had got everything we had wanted from the experience, but luckily for us we still had another day.
The following day was a shorter one as we had the 2pm boat booked to take us back to the mainland, we chose to take a shorter trail and headed for a more popular trek, meaning we did see more people along the way, however we did have a up close encounter with a number of macaques who are fearless to humans and pretty much barricaded the path we needed to take, after a few steps closer they took their cue to leave and we headed on through the dense rainforest, ending out on another beautiful beach. We watched some amusing fish for some time and paddled in the pristine blue waters before having to make our ascent back to head office to say goodbye to a wondrous park. We couldn’t have asked for more from our time here and it’s definitely a place I will head back too, there is so much to do and see and even without the trails the park holds such beauty.
Our next stop was Gunung Mulu National Park; we had a small stop off in Miri for the night and flew the next morning on a twin otter plane to Mulu. Mulu is situated in the middle of Borneo Malaysia and can only be accessed by plane due to the roads being so bad. We planned 3 days 2 nights there, most people stay for longer as once you ticket is purchased its valid for 5 days. Gunung Mulu is a UNESCO site and as soon as we arrived you could see and feel why, sadly it’s also owned privately as well as by the Government which for me took a tiny bit of the magic away. Taking that side away though you could really sense an awe of professionalism that was different from Bako, unlike Bako you are not able to do a lot of the treks without a guide as the trails require you to go into different caves and certain areas of the park that can be dangerous, now due to the fact that you need a guide you of course have to pay, the cost isn’t that much (and we had budgeted for it) we managed to pick four different treks that were not too strenuous, the pinnacles is a really tough famous walk at Mulu which takes around 3 days, the end is so steep and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it, Sam wasn’t up for doing it alone so we made our decisions and paid up, we then headed to the hostel to set up our beds for the next few nights.
We had a night walk planned for that night so had the rest of the afternoon to soak in the parks beauty, we decided to take one of the free trails to Paku Waterfall and go for a dip as we were told we could swim there, the walk was really beautiful and felt different to Bako as we hiked through the rainforest, there was no sound of honking monkeys but the insect life was incredible and we stood at points just amazed by the sounds that were coming from such small creatures. When we got to the waterfall, we dipped in and had an hour of reading listening to the water run freely, sadly though the heavens opened and the rains came. We chose to take a different route back to the hostel though and took another free trail that was around 3km, through the rainforest we trudged, enjoying the coolness of the rain as we sweated and beat our way through the dense undergrowth. Sadly the evening night trek was cancelled due to the rains but we did however enjoy the company of two Canadians who were so well travelled listening to their stories was incredible, in the 80’s they were working as school teachers and took a group of school leavers away travelling around Europe for 2/3 months as part of their job, imagine if schools could do that now and imagine how amazing that experience would be.
The next day we set out on two cave treks, the first was interesting but didn’t ball me over, it reminded me of similar caves I had seen already and although it was fun to see them I didn’t get the wow factor I had hoped for. However driving up to the caves in long boats was pretty fun and was great to see the park from a different point.
That afternoon the rains started again and we took another trip to Lang and Deer cave, the walk was nice and there were only 5 of us (including Sam and I) in the group which was great as it was really personal and meant we could talk with our guide along the way. Deer cave turned out to be so amazing, and I am still shocked at how excited I was to be there. Deer cave is home to around 3 to 4 million bats, so as we ventured through the cave it was a bit stinky but seeing the groups of bats, was pretty immense and rather unlike any other experience. Deer Cave has the longest walk way in the world so it’s a good hour walk through the cave, our guide did the classic of showing of rocks that looked like men’s bits and laughed at his own jokes along the way, he was harmless though and got us laughing at how excited he was at a joke he must use every day. The cave itself leads into numerous nooks and crooks of the cave and really did take you to so many new places and sights as you walked through. There was two ‘showers’ as the guide called them which were basically were water sprayed from certain shower head rocks, it was so strange, the water was coming from nowhere else but these two round head like stones, I was just amazed at the incredibleness of nature and how things form. We also saw part of the Garden of Eden walk which if we had had more time we may have done, the walk was a two day walk though and we sadly didn’t have time. The walk takes you through certain parts of the cave that are adventuring caving and it just looks really fun and a real trip to see areas of the cave closed off to over visitors. The most amazing part of Deer cave was afterwards though when we sat waiting for the bats to leave, I didn’t know what to expect and soon felt downhearted as our guide stated the bats didn’t seem to be coming out, they normally leave around 5pm-6pm, it was now approaching 6.15pm, as we started to pack to leave another guide shouted it was starting, that the bats were leaving, at this point I seen a few bats fly off but then suddenly the most amazing black lines appeared from the cave and 100’s of bats came twirling out, it was spectacular and the noises of excitement I was making showed how utterly amazed I was at what was in front of me. It last about 30mins and it felt like a scene from David Attenborough, it was truly incredible, watching all 4 million leave for feeding, the swirls they made and the amount that took flight blew me away and I doubt any experience will amaze me like that (well unless I see a Narwhal), I couldn’t believe bats were exciting me more than monkeys, ha! I fell asleep that night very happy and fulfilled with our time here and can honestly say it was one of the highlights of the trip so far.
The next day was our last in Mulu and we planned to head to the Canopy Walk, to walk in the trees. The canopy was loads of fun and although we did it with others it felt we were on our own a lot of the time as only two people could be on the canopy at any one time. The canopy is the longest walkway in the world and at times reaches 30m high, it was beautiful experiencing the park from another viewpoint and feeling like monkeys in the trees, we walked so far through the park and enjoyed being over the lake, right in the trees and seeing some interesting insects. It was a perfect way to end the day and we had a real giggle at the rockiness of the walk ways and swinging of the bridges.
Our flight took us to Kota Kinabalu next where we had booked a lovely private room in a hostel, we had loads to do in KK so decided to use the time to restock on goodies, get our Indonesian visa, wash our clothes and see the city. It worked perfect for us as because we had so much to do we managed to walk all over really soaking in different parts of city life. KK had a different feel to Kuching and although it still felt quite wealthy it did feel a bit rougher city like, with everyone going about their ways, people selling stuff and open cafes selling street food. We gorged at the Filipino BBQ market both nights and enjoyed the bustle of the fish market afterwards, watching everyone go crazy for fish at 9pm. I would definitely recommend it as a stop off but unless you’re visiting the nearby islands you don’t need more than a day here to see the sights.
We took a night bus that night to Tawau and started our long descent to Derawan Island (aka Paradise), Indonesia Borneo, I am not going to go into the hell that was the journey as you will want to come and collect us and bring us home but basically it was tough, tiresome and a real challenge, after three days travel though we made it to Derawan Island…. Only to find out it was an Indonesian holiday and there was no accommodation on the island, paradise was feeling further and further away. After hours of checking every losman, cabana, home stay and hotel (twice) we finally got a skanky room and paid a stupid price to rest our heads and try not to cry. After a good night’s sleep I woke the next morning and headed out early, with a few Indonesian words in tow, somehow we managed to get a room in the losman we wanted and to make it all the better it was a great room, balcony, en suite and was the perfect price, things were starting to look up.
Derawan was a great stay but as I try to be as honest as I can I will admit was probably not worth the time and money we paid to get there as sadly I felt it was quite built up and had lost that paradise feel that I had read, researched and imagined. However it wasn’t all bad and we stayed for 6 days, we managed to find a stretch of beach that was idyllic and untouched, no tourists came around here so we enjoyed a couple of days snorkeling and relaxing here and most evenings we snorkeled round by our losman with 3 incredible giant turtles. Derawan is known for its sea turtles and the first time we both saw one we were thrown back with their size and stature. Each night it was great to get right into the water and amble near them, just taking it all in as they ate the grass at the bottom of the sea and aimlessly swam along. We also took a day trip with 3 lovely ladies (one being a Geordie girl) and snorkeled at some great spots and went to a lake and swam with loads of jellyfish, the jellyfish have been there for thousands of years and due to their being no predators they have lost their sting over time, meaning you can jump right in and swim with them. At first I was happy to sit on the side but after some gentle persuasion I jumped in and really enjoyed it, it was like a scene out of finding nemo at one point, they were all over me and felt like chicken fillets to touch but I didn’t feel scared which was the biggest shock and actually enjoyed the experience.
I was really pleased we had gone to Derawan but sadly there was more being built as it’s a tourist hot spot for Indonesians, it did make me sad paradise wasn’t as I had hoped but the experiences we had there were great and some stuff I will never get to do again, so even with the changes and travel nightmare it was a great week and becoming stronger at snorkeling was a definite plus.
Our Borneo trip was meant to have another week of adventure but due to price rises at Tajung Putting national park we changed our plans and decided to move on, with only a small amount of time left for Borneo we chose to head to Java and use the time more efficiently there than spending hours and hours in ‘private taxis’ (basically smoky hell holes), with our decision made we booked a flight and headed out of Berau to Surabaya, next stop Bromo Volcano.
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