Blogs from Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia
Almost All Creatures Great and Small, of Sabah, Borneo
Published: April 3rd 2012Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Kinabatangan
February 22nd 2012
A fair portion of our time in any foreign land is spent seeking out experiences that can’t be enjoyed back home. Strange food and drink; different cultures; warm water for swimming and diving; ancient temples and monuments; bizarre vegetation and not least, animals that are either rare, or scare. Scientists and wildlife photographers dedicate their lives to various different creatures. We turn up in the jungle for a few days and hope to see as many as possible before going home for a proper shower. So it was at Uncle Tan Wildlife Adventure on the Kinabatangan River in eastern Sabah. We spent two nights and three days at Uncle Tan’s jungle camp, taking part in eerie boat trips long after sunset, and bleary-eyed ones soon after sunrise; night-time walks with flashlights and mosquitoes, and daytime treks ... read more
January 15th 2012
We checked out of the Cottage Guest House around 10am and drove a short distance to the Kinabangtangan War Memorial Gardens. These gardens were established sometime around the 1950’s which is pretty amazing. Over time they had been left but in recent years they have been done up and upon walking in through the gates I was immediately filled with a sense of peace and calmness. The gardens are set out in tiers. The Australian Garden is on the ground floor, the English in the middle and the Malaysian on the top. Once we had watched (and cried) our way through a half hour Australian made and produced documentary in the gorgeous glass viewing room, we were free to wander the gardens. My favourite part is that the Malaysian garden is open roofed and you look ... read more
January 10th 2012
After a simple breakfast of watermelon and dry toast we hung out in our room until our departure time of 10:45. We were all keen to get going earlier and felt the hanging around was a bit of a time waster. We entertained ourselves by drying out Soffia's daypack with newspaper and writing our free 'welcome to borneo" postcards. Eventually, we climbed into the van and set off on the two hour mini van ride bound for our Miso Walai Homstay along the Kinabatangan River. We made a quick supermarket stop for essential supplies (tigerbalm, bottled water, cremos and other snacks). We also made a pee stop where you paid according to your ummm.... requirements! (See photo for further explaination) Upon our arrival our homstay guide Otto, took us on an open fishing boat ride along ... read more
August 9th 2011
Day 10 was another day of chilling in the heat. We were up and awake by 6 (half due to the 'other residents' doing their usual banging, shouting and eating everything in sight; partly due to the cockrel that crows around half 4 and lastly due to our alarms) and getting ready to leave Sukau. After toast, pinapple jam and tea, we set off in Mr Aji's jungle jeep for a road walk near the Gomantong Caves. By this time it was approaching 9am and the temperature was rising. Although it was an easy 3k walk on the road, it was a sweaty affair. We saw LOTS of flying, buzzy things, AKA butterflies. Well I say we, I hid under my umber-olly, which I was using to shade my skin from the scorching sun. We saw ... read more
August 8th 2011
Up at 7am for breakfast - minus Inger who was not fully enjoying the jungle experience - before Mr Aji, Charles and I headed off for a morning trek. Elizabeth decided to stay behind and read, for a change. The walk was less than eventful unfortunately. Some black squirrels, few varieties of birds and a bug that rolls itself into a perfect, solid ball when it is frightened were all that we managed to find. I managed to finally lose my sunglasses on that walk too so, all in all, not the most perfect morning trek but nevermind. Back at the lodge for a few hours of nothingness and lunch. Liz continued to read, laughing away to herself at her latest book. Once 14:30 arrived, we set off down river again, this time going the other ... read more
“The jungle is a green hell to some but a lost paradise for many.” -UT brochure
Published: July 24th 2011Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Kinabatangan
July 13th 2011
Kota Kinabalu Although there’s an option for you to get where you want to go in KK by taking a couple of different buses, it was pretty easy for us to decide on taking a taxi when we had another couple (who we had hung out with in Mulu) to split it with. At first, we were a little nervous that we were about to get screwed on accommodation since almost everything was booked up. However, Nate and Vega found a pretty good deal on an AC room at Summer Lodge in a main part of the city, close to many of the restaurants as well. It was nothing short of incredible to have AC for a few nights, and we were looking forward to getting a good, comfortable night sleep…unfortunately, that didn’t quite happen. Now, ... read more
June 30th 2011
Arriving at Uncle Tans ops base i was plesently surprised by how nice it was. Great food, free internet, nice comfy rooms and the staff were great! There isnt anything to do there so after catching up on the internet and eating it left plenty of time to read before i caught the bus and boat to Uncle Tans in the Kinabatangan Park at 2.30 the next day. Taking the bus we arrived in a small village where we had to walk down a steep mud slope to the long boat for out 45min trip down the river. During the 3d 2n trip we did a night safari by boat, a morning safari by boat, a trek into the forest to learn about the plants, trees and insects, an afternoon boat safari and an evening ... read more
June 23rd 2011
The idea of going to Borneo first came up when we realized that our first wedding anniversary was fast approaching. Our original plans had us in Australia at the time and we decided we wanted to go someplace exotic where we could get a little better value for our dollar. Kind of funny, because what we’ve found is that Borneo is actually pretty expensive compared to the rest of Asia and it’s quickly become a splurge-fest that is costing us about the same per day as Australia. We didn’t really know much about Borneo except that we wanted to see Orang-utans, but the more we read about it, the more we got excited about going. We thought about a beach holiday on a secluded island resort, but instead decided to do something that would be unique ... read more
April 8th 2011
Terug in Kuching, na mijn avontuur bij de locals, gelijk door naar Bako National Park. Gelukkig ontmoet ik een Engelse ska-fan die ook toevallig naar Bako gaat, ik hoef de bloedzuiger avonturen dus niet nogmaals alleen te beleven. Meteen bij aankomst worden we verwelkomt door een stel probiscus apen. De apen heten in het Malay Orang Belanda, wat letterlijk Nederlands mens betekend. Moet zeggen dat ze ook best op mijn broertje lijken :P In de avond gelijk op een jungle nachttrek. Hier kom ik er achter dat er nog veel meer vriendjes van mij te vinden zijn; superveel en supergrote spinnen… Natuurlijk houdt halverwege mijn zaklamp er mee op en val ik zo’n 10 keer bijna van de boardwalk. Wel een redelijk goede vangst naast de enorme spinnen; een Kingfisher, nachtkikkers, een schorpioen en de volgende ... read more
January 23rd 2011
This morning we woke up early for the morning cruise which turned into more of a bird tour. It was still really good as we saw tones of neat birds as well as more of the 3 types of monkeys. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any orangutans in the wild but at least we saw them in the sanctuary. Some of the birds we saw included the hornbills, kingfisher and some falconets as well as various colored jungle birds (parakeets etc.). In the afternoon we jumped on a bus to head to the south coast for some diving and island fun. We arrived in Semporna and booked ourselves a 5 day packed on the island of Mabul. When we arrived our resort turned out to be on stilts just off the island so we don't ... read more
