Feeding mosquitoes

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My short vacation to KK had recharged my batteries, so I was ready to get stuck back into the project on our return to the village. And I didn't have to wait long... the next day we all packed our bags and headed off back to Supu for a three night camping trip, to cut new trails and mark and map those already cut by us on our previous visit. This time, however, the numbers made it a full-blown expedition... Rosli, Albert, Nosali and Din from MESCOT, plus all eight volunteers. It goes without saying that the boat was pretty full! Luckily, we had time to purchase a new tub of Cloud 9s before setting sail.

We set up camp in the same place as before, albeit this time the scale had grown to accommodate the extra hammock tents. I made a poor job of erecting mine in the same spot, and looked on enviously as Rosli, King of the Jungle, pitched his on the riverbank... along with a regular hammock he'd managed to smuggle on board (it was only a small consolation when one of his support twigs snapped in the night, sending him crashing to the ground!). As camp had been firmly established by lunch time, we spent the afternoon cutting a short trail from a nearby guard hut inland towards the base of one of the area's limestone hills. Rosli told us it was the same set of rocks containing the bat caves we'd been in before, but for now the trail simply led to a big tree and some forbidding rocks. We returned to camp for dinner, and spent the evening playing card games and munching on chocolates by candlelight.

For the next few days at Supu, we split into two groups. Nosali, Conny, Nikki and I were the marking group, with the task of marking and mapping the trails we had already cut. Thanks to a very generous gift from Conny, MESCOT had a brand spanking new GPS device, so we walked the trails, mapping their coordinates and adding a splash of colour to denote the routes. Jungle fashion reached new heights over these two days, as rubber jungle shoes were paired with yellow footie socks, kappa slappa trackies (don't worry Paul, your kappa's lived on!), over-sized t-shirts and purple flowers (a gift from one of the cultural evenings... in hindsight, maybe a step too far). God only knows what the wildlife thought when it saw us prancing through the forest... Nikki daintily applying stripes of yellow paint to the odd tree and me swinging my machete at the occasional vine. But it was a good laugh, and we possibly spent more time taking comedy photos than actually doing any work (but don't tell the other group!!). The highlight was definitely our trip back up to the limestone pinnacle for a view out across the Kinabatangan (and more comedy poses, including a frankly brilliant Brucey Bonus by me), and then down through the bat caves (which, lo and behold, have an exit right where Rosli led us to on the first track-cutting excursion... what a genius).

By the end of the four days, our group had marked and mapped all the trails at Supu, and the other group had cut a new trail to the coffins, running along the base of the hill farthest from the river (which would eventually join up with another track leading to the village). Their first day had been enlivened by one of Rosli's 'shortcuts'... by now legendary for taking much longer and usually endangering the lives of his followers. This one led them from the base to the ridge via a narrow, circular bat cave, where by all accounts loose rocks made for an interesting climb! The only danger I faced was from the several hundred mosquito bites I managed to accumulate despite DEET and what I thought was sufficient clothing, so that by the last day it looked like the only thing I'd been doing at Supu was feeding mosquitoes. Temporary relief always came with a bath in the Kinabatangan... perched on the water's edge, scooping cartons of cold water over myself, bathed in the light of the setting sun and listening only to the calls of gibbons and geckos. All the while being conscious of my exit strategy in case a crocodile happened to swim my way...

Our return to the village was so triumphant that Rosli agreed to treat us all with a trip to Lahad Datu, a nearby town with wi-fi, a great bakery and Sabah Chicken and Rice. It also happens to be on the Foreign Office's list of 'places not to travel' for it's high risk of kidnapping, but we threw caution to the wind and went in search of muffins and beer. Thankfully it turned out to be perfectly safe, and we downed an ice cold Tiger before sampling some chicken and rice. But we didn't want to stop there, and decided to indulge Albert in his main pastime - karaoke. So we all piled into a dodgy karaoke bar, ordered some jugs of beer and set about destroying any song we could. Albert chose some slow, boring love songs, but luckily Jeff turned out to be a bit of a closet crooner and saved the day with Twist & Shout, amongst other dancey classics. A Canadian volunteer organiser, Amanda, joined us for the day (not long enough!) and helped us belt out classic after classic... good work on tune selection! At about 11pm, we all suddenly realised that we were actually on Borneo helping out with rainforest conservation, and that more importantly our houses would probably by now all be locked! So we returned to the village and tried, as quietly as we could, to rouse our families and sneak into our rooms like naughty children.

And there ended our excurions from the village. Thankfully, the conditions were now right for us to do some tree planting work, partly to replace some trees planted by MESCOT in previous years that had been destroyed by the flood. It was hard work digging and planting in the full sun, but between us and over the course of two days, we managed to plant more than 500 trees... very nearly a forest in its own right! We were joined for my last few days by Jason and Kate, who were traveling through Borneo for a month and had come to Batu Puteh for a few days before heading on to Sepilok to help build the Sun Bear enclosure. One of the great things about MESCOT is the way they can offer even short-term travelers an opportunity to help, and be involved with real conservation activities. As a last hoorah for those of us leaving the village, we spent one last night at eco-camp, and were treated to an amazing river cruise where we watched a clash between a troupe of macaques and proboscis monkeys, who make some of the most amazing and amusing sounds I've ever heard come out of an animal! There was just time for some more trail marking and work in the tree nursery, before the time had come to move on and say goodbye to everyone. I'd had so many great times over the last month, and met lots of good, inspiring people (particularly Rosli, a warm and passionate man who passed on his commitment to MESCOT to all the volunteers, and Nosali, whose skills despite his disability were nothing short of inspirational). The other volunteers were kind of ok too (:-P). So it was with some sadness that I moved on, but at the same time I was ready to get back on the road... with Australia only two weeks away, it seemed like the end of my trip was now in sight, and my month in Borneo had given me a renewed appetite to carry on and enjoy what was left of my trip around the world.

Footnote: As you'll no doubt have noticed, I owe a big thanks to Nikki and Conny for supplying the photos for this section of the trip. For some reason I decided to take virtually no photos during the last two weeks of the placement, relying on Nikki and Conny to do the honours. And a fine job they did too, thanks guys!!

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Photos

Photo 2
Refuelling on yet another Cloud 9... and check out the kappas! (photo thanks to Nikki Williams)

Photo 6
Awright! (photo thanks to Nikki Williams)

Photo 9
Look, it's a trail, and we cut it! (photo thanks to Conny Ehrmann)

Photo 3
Looking out over the Kinabatangan (photo thanks to Nikki Williams)

Photo 4
Brucey Bonus! (photo thanks to Nikki Williams)

Photo 7
Hard at work again, tree planting (photo thanks to Nikki Williams)

Photo 11
A proboscis monkey enjoys his swing a little bit too much...

Photo 5
Photo thanks to Nikki Williams

Photo 8
Photo thanks to Nikki Williams