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Published: January 11th 2007
After a 17 hour ferry from Zamboanga, I made it to Malaysia. The first city I arrived in was Sandakan. It is a normal, grid style city. Not too big, not too small. It served as a good port to get acclimated to the differences of Malaysia. One immediate thing I noticed was that it is much more conservative than the Philippines. The people were friendly, but less likely to come up to you and just start talking. The food is good. It’s a blend of Malay, Indian, and Chinese. Lots of curries, flatbreads and soups. There’s a good amount of variety to keep your palate interested.
When in Sandakan I did not do too much. The big outing from there was to the Sepilok Orangutan rehabilitation center, which is only an hour bus ride from town. They take in orphaned orangutans and help to bring them back up to normal health. There is a huge area of forest for them to explore and as a tourist you are able to see them during feeding time. The feeding platforms area situated out in the forest, not too far of a walk from the center. The orangutans casually make there
way to the platform for a lunch of bananas, vitamins and milk. Most of the orangutans that came to feed were younger becuase the older ones are more self sufficient and do not need the free meal. It would have been nice to see and adult because I was told that they are strong enough to rip a person in two! luckily they prefer to just tear open fruit. I even heard a story that these, "wild men of Borneo" as they are nicknamed, have been known to occasionally over power tourists and take their cameras and clothes as war trophies. It makes good sense to listen to the center's rules and stay a reasonable distance from them. It’s definately worth a stop if you’re in Sandakan to see these semi-wild animals.
After Sandakan, I hopped on to a bus to Semporna. There, the main highlight is the scuba diving. There are several islands within an hour boat ride from the town and trips out to them can easily be arranged from the local scuba shops. I chose to go with Scuba Junkies and really enjoyed myself. They were very professional and fun to talk to. The best island
to go to if you want to see large fish is Sipadan. What makes it so unique there is that almost immediately off of the beach is a 1000m drop off. It is quite amazing. It is like jumping off of an underwater cliff. On one dive I saw about 20 sharks, scorpion fish, napoleon wrasses, giant trevally, lionfish, tuna, barracuda….and so on. You do not need to look for fish here. They just are so abundant. One highlight there was when we ran into a school of at least 400 jackfish. They just circled in one giant ball. The other islands offer great diving too. On Sibuan I was able to see several Frogfish and Bump head parrotfish. When we were on Sipadan we had a lucky treat. A nest of sea turtles had just hatched and the babies were collected and we were able to hold them (with permission from the local conservatory). They were so strong for their size. I guess they have to be to survive in the wild. Another animal made an appearance. It was a huge monitor lizard (about 4 feet long). It tried to steal some of our lunch, but we were able
to fend it off with a few kicks of sand.
I know I’ll come back to Semporna. It is an essential stop if you are in Sabah and if you enjoy marine life. It has been several years since I’ve had that tingly feeling after a good dive. I must have cramped my face from smiling so much after. I really hope that the government of Malaysia can keep this site as prestine as it is today.
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Aron
non-member comment
you better have shot a fish
well nice pic and glad to see you are doing well. hope you have shot your dream bump head. keep it safe out there dude later Aron