The Where and the How:For those (like Chris?!) who thinking of going to Borneo, these notes might be helpful:
Borneo, the third largest island in the World, is shared between three different countries and I only visited parts of Sabah province in the extreme north of the Malaysian part of the island.
This is a Google Earth map of the complete island so that you get a general idea of the geography.
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Malaysia owns the section along the Northeast and Northwest coasts (formerly colonial British North Borneo; and also Sarawak in the south-west. These two provinces encircle the independent Sultanate of Brunei.
The major part of the island (Kalimantan) in the Southeast, belongs to Indonesia.
The second map shows the places where I went in more detail and the scarcity of metalled roads (shown in yellow) helps to explain why it takes so many hours to get to one place from another.
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For example the route from Sandakan Airport to our Lodge on the Kinabatangan river near Sukau required an extensive drive around three and a half sides of a square so that a crow’s-flight of less than thirty miles became a two and a half hour drive.
I had flown into Sandakan Airport from Singapore with a stop-over in Kuala Lumpur.
Ling was there to meet me and the two other photographers who had arrived on the same flight, as was Ahmad, who owns a taxi company. He drove us beautifully (and all our gear!) on the long journey to our Lodge on the banks of the Kinabatangan River.
We did stop to get a few snacks at this little shop on the way to Sukau
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Ling had got everything organised and had deliberately chosen this particular Lodge because they employ their own Government-licensed Guide and also own their own small boat.
The Evergreen Lodge allowed us to reserve the boat solely for the four of us and to keep the boat out from before sunrise until after nightfall.
No other Lodge on the river will do that — as far as I know.
The accommodation is fairly basic (modern loos but only cold running water) but it is very clean and the family cooked local dishes for us.
A big advantage of going to Borneo with Ling is that she is both a first-rate photographer (with work hanging in the Smithsonian); an extremely knowledgeable naturalist and a very proficient user of both Photoshop and Lightroom. She shared her knowledge in using the software between the river excursions.
Four days later, Jeffrey (Ahmad’s brother-in-law) collected me from Sukau and drove me the two and half hours to the small town of Lahad Datu where the Borneo Rain-forest Lodge (in Danum Valley) have an office which is also the pick-up point for their shuttle car service to the Valley.
That part of the journey takes a further two and half hours — most of it on a narrow gravel mountain road passing through beautiful forest scenery.
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The Lodge itself is outstanding in every way: a simply glorious location; excellent accommodation — I had a chalet with a verandah (plus a Jacuzzi — which I didn’t actually use!) overlooking the river.
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A huge collection of dishes is offered for every meal (and served buffet-style so you could help yourself to the limit of your appetite!); and coffee and every kind of other drink is available at all times.
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I only had three nights in Danum Valley but more would have been even better.
The only thing that I would leave out the next time is a Night Drive because you really see very little from the back of a truck (except perhaps a small squirrel in the tree-tops?) whereas night-walking in the forest will reveal so many creatures and you can get in really close to them.
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The Lodge provided me with a personal Guide and I highly recommend that you ask for this when you make reservations because you are then on your own schedule and can linger as long as you like along the way.
Raybould Kouju, a delightful and wonderfully knowledgeable man was my guide and, when I have a chance to return to Danum, I will definitely ask if I can have him again — although I am sure that all of their guides are excellent.
After three days in Danum Valley, I was driven down the mountain and back to Lahad Datu where Jeffrey was waiting to drive me north again to Sepilok.
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I had made reservations for a chalet at the Sepilok Nature Resort. This place is very moderately priced, and has guest chalets built in a tropical garden around a pretty lake.
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My room was very comfortable and overlooked the lake. The food was also very good and very inexpensive.
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My reasons for going to Sepilok were the Orang Utan and Sun Bear preservation programs within close walking distance from the Lodge; and the easy drive between Sepilok and Labuk Bay where I was hoping to photograph the Proboscis Monkeys.
I had booked for only two nights in Sepilok but three would be even better because you would then have an extra morning to photograph the Sun Bears soon after sunrise when they are most active.
The Lodge arranged for one of the rangers from the Orang Utan Rehab Centre, to take me there on my own for a night-walk after it had closed to the general public. That is well worth doing if you can.
Sepilok Nature Lodge can provide transportation to Labuk but their transport is a bus which runs at set times and I wanted to reach Labuk first thing in the morning when it first opens so Ling arranged for Ahmad to come and pick me (and all my luggage!) up from my Lodge; take me to Labuk Bay and accompany me all day before dropping me off at Sandakan airport for my evening flights back to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.
I couldn’t possibly have fitted so much into such a short time if Ahmad and Jeffrey hadn’t driven me around. Both are excellent drivers and the cost works out to be less than renting a self-drive car because you will be spending most of the time either in a boat or on foot with the rented car sitting idly in some car park.
Ling could probably arrange this for you.
Two other locations which would be worth visiting if you have time would be the forests around 4000m Mt. Kinabulu; and perhaps Tabin Wildlife Preserve as well.
Unlike Danum, Tabin is mostly secondary-growth forest but I they have plenty of wildlife and you might even get a chance to see the last three remaining Bornean rhinos still living in Sabah.
Sandakan and the Sulu Sea islands are famous for watching turtles and snorkelling among an amazing array of marine life but you might want to keep an eye on security bulletins because there have been pirate kidnappings and terrorist incidents in that area.
Did I mention that this area is in an Equatorial Rain Forest?
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