Blogs from Sabah, Malaysia, Asia

I wanted to do something different and signed up to volunteer for two weeks in the jungle of Borneo. I mainly wanted to see the orangutans, but also learn about the life and the culture of the island of Borneo. We were three volunteers and stayed with our guide in a small camp close to the Kinabatangan river. The cabins were simple, but cosy. We were surrounded by nature and only a small village of 100 people was near by. Every morning we had to get up at 6am and take a small canoe like boat down the river to an empty plot of land for clearing and planting new trees. We usuallly spend the whole morning helping with reforestation of empty plots of land left by the timber or palm oil industry. Within two weeks ... read more

The next morning we departed early and collected our main bags from Sandakan and headed to nearby Sepilok to stay at a jungle resort and see Orangutans! We left our bags and the resort and the Orangutan rehabilitation centre was nearby. These Orangutans had been rescued (many were illegal pets) and are brought to the rehabilitation centre for exactly that – rehabilitation and nurturing until they can be let back into the wild. The expansive centre is a giant rainforest and there was a nursery for the baby orangutans and we sat behind glass watching them play and swing around on the jungle gyms and trees. Then it was feeding time in the main area (which was all outdoors) and we saw so many orangutans they really put on a show for us! Later me and ... read more

The next morning we set out for our next adventure, climbing Mt Kinabalu! Felix had registered all our details (including evidence of a negative Covid test) and we congregated at the park headquarters together our 3 mountain guides Sai, Edwin and Bonny. As we had to take our overnight gear with us, most of us sent a small amount of gear with porters. And with that we set of to the Timpohon gate the start the climb. The gate is already approx 1900m above sea level, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that will make the climb easier! The track to the guest house is 6 km long, at a very steep incline. The track is a combination of steep stairs (in my case, knee-height) large boulders and some flat paths. Each km there ... read more

The last few days of our Borneo holiday we wanted to spend on Pulau Mantanani, an island 45 minutes off the west coast of Borneo. Our guides dropped us off at Rampayam Jetty north of the town of Kota Belud, and from there we caught a boat to the island. It was only a 45-minute trip, but it was a hell of a ride. There were a lot of waves, and our captain was keen on racing the boat through them, so more often than not the boat would jump off one wave and hit the bottom of a wave valley hard. I tried to sit as upright as possible in order to prevent my discs from any damage. Luckily neither Mizzi nor I got seasick. But the staff passed plastic bags to several passengers who ... read more

We arrived back from Libaran Island at around 9.30 in the morning, walked back to our car that we had parked in a parking garage in the nearby shopping mall, and headed off towards Sukau. We were got g to spend two nights in a lodge by the river Kinabatangan to see the wildlife in the area: different types of monkeys, birds, maybe even pygmy elephants or a clouded leopard. The distance is only around 100 km, but due to the road having only two lanes and being under construction in some parts it took us over 2.5 hours to get to Sukau, also partly due to heavy rain showers. The last part of the road had a lot of big potholes, but we made it to our destination alright. We parked the car next to ... read more