Borneo

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Here's the last post in the South-East Asia series, and a conclusion to the first 6 month phase of this trip.

Borneo was a little holiday away from my holiday, a Christmas treat to myself. At a somewhat quicker pace than the tranquil months wandering through Thailand, I spent 2 weeks rushing around the Malaysian third of this equatorial island, hopping from National Park to National Park, camping in close quarters with the exotic fauna and taking in the views from the depths of the Niah caves to the peak of Mt Kinabalu.

Despite the horrendous omnipresence of the destruction caused by slash and burn farming, deforestation and oil palm plantations, so much breathtaking stuff remains to see. The orangutans, driven from their - rapidly declining - habitats, seem unphased by the hoards of tourists snapping away at Sepilok, and the giant green turtles doze peacefully on the sandy bottoms, oblivious to the SCUBA divers drifting overhead.

The images of David Attenborough's deep Bornean rainforest, vivid in my mind as I arrived on the island soon gave way to a more human impacted reality, but nevertheless, I come away with rich impressions of what has been an enlightening experience...

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