Borneo, 25th July - 3rd August

From Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Not a great deal to see in KK as it is known, a busy working city. We planned our Borneo trip and had our laundry done for a cost of 50 pence - horay. During our first lunch stop we were presented with two egg sandwiches, which on arrival appeared to be moving. They were full of ants!! Blaah!

From KK, we got a close look at Mount Kinabalu driving through the mountains, before arriving 5 hours later at Sepilok. Sadly, for much of the journey the view consisted of neat rows of palm trees. The natural jungle has been devastated by palm oil plantations. Easy to criticise, but hopefully conservation organisations and the government will continue to secure the future of the wonderful wildlife of Borneo.

Above: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre cares for orphan orangutans, its purpose to release them back into the protected reserve to live independently. They do have a number of feeding platforms throughout the reserve, where they present a snack of bananas and milk for those who wish to partake. We were lucky to see around 10 orangutans, a variety of ages, swing by for a lovely bunch of bananas. Orangutans only exist today in Malaysia, Indonesia and on islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

Once the orangutans were full, the macaque monkeys moved in. A bit of nit-picking action above.



From Sepilok we travelled a bumby road south to the Kinabatangan River. Over three days we hiked by day and night and took several boat safaris. Borneo has a healthy population of Proboscis Monkeys, with comical konks. The males look as if they are wearing white pants and a puffer jacket. Also spotted one very impressive male orangutan, hundreds of silver and macaque monkeys, as well as loads of birdlife. One the creepy crawly front there were lots of spiders, crickets, scorpions and leeches. Our hikes were constantly interupted by squeels as someone discovered a leech attached to a part of their body. Adam was very brave swatting off leeches from our fellow hikers, although a little less composed as he tried to remove a sucker attached to his bicep.


Above: Misty morning boat cruise


Above: Jungle lodge, read 'shed with 2 inch gaps between floor boards and no roof on the bathroom, with a giant spider making a nest next to my head.' Very long nights surrounded by jungle sound track. Get me outta here!

Above: Adam and a lovely black scorpion. Will only use venomous tail tip if attacked from above. That's ok then!!

From the jungle to Semporna and some spectacular beaches and diving spots





Above: Sibuan island. A number of Phillipine refugees have made this island their home. No adult males to be seen, but hundreds of kids. So how did that happen? A small Malaysian army base on the island and long boring days to fill. Very sad situation as who knows what the future holds for these gorgeous children.

Above: Mabul island. Our first 'drift' dive was incredible. We simply floated over the reef for an hour, it was like watching an episode of the Blue Planet, and no kicking required.

Above: From top, a Box Fish, shoal of Jack Fish, giant Green Turtle, an impressive shoal of large Bump-head Parrot fish and a tornado of Barracuda. Thanks to Dave on our dive trip for the pics. All taken at Barracuda Point off of Sepilok island, one of the worlds top dive spots. We know why!!