We flew Royal Brunei Airlines to and from Borneo, and they have a pretty clever trick for the homeward journey.  Our very short flight from Kota Kinabalu got to Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital city of Brunei) quite early in the day – shortly after 9.00am. But the next flight onward to Melbourne didn’t leave until the evening. That left us with a day in Brunei. I had already arranged a day tour with Irene from Tours By Locals to make the most of our time.

Irene met us at the airport, then we headed straight for Jam’Asr Mosque (His Majesty’s Mosque).  This mosque was built by the current Sultan of Brunei, and can hold up to 5000 worshipers.  There are 29 golden domes (he’s the 29th Sultan, therefore 29 domes) and four minarets with height of 58 metres.  I read somewhere that it cost over US$1billion to construct.  The Sultan has his own private escalator entrance on one side.  The workmanship and detail in this mosque and the surrounding buildings and gardens is absolutely exquisite.  It was shoes off for all and long black coat on for women to go inside.  We were able to tour the area where the men pray – women pray separately, and that area was not accessible to tourists.

I really love this style of architecture, and the tiled patterns and designs used for ornamentation. The colour combinations and the mosaics really are beautiful.  Seeing this mosque reminded me of visiting Spain, Egypt and Morocco in my mid-twenties.

That’s a sneaky interior photo – isn’t that ceiling and the stained glass stunning!  There are no picture or photos of people inside mosques – decoration is all colour,  shape, pattern and text.

The building in the photo below was designed for people to leave their shoes in when attending the mosque.  There’s a central raised bench to sit on to make it easier to put on and take off your shoes, and a number of racks to place them in.  But this building is a victim to poor planning – because then you still have to walk a significant distance (shoeless) to the main mosque building then around to the side to the steps where the entrance is located.  So rather than using this building, everyone takes off and leaves their shoes at the main entrance to the mosque.

From the mosque we headed to the river to jump onto a water taxi for a tour of the mangroves and the water village, Kampong Ayer.  The village has been inhabited for centuries, and was the original capital of the areas of Borneo that are now Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei.  Settlement on land really didn’t begin until the twentieth century, and there are still more than 10,000 people living in the water village.  It has a pretty amazing infrastructure, including primary and high schools and it’s own mosques and police and fire stations (fire is a pretty common occurence in these timber stilt houses).  Electricity, drinking water, phone lines, tv and internet are all available.  Sewerage services however are variable.

That’s a primary school in the photo above.

We started our visit by heading out to the mangroves along the river to see if there were any proboscis monkeys there.  It was pretty much the middle of the day, so unsurprisingly we didn’t see any.  It was low tide though, and there were plenty of crocodiles sunning themselves on muddy banks, being closely watched by herons.

Houses seemed to vary quite a bit in the quality of their construction.  There were derelict and burnt out buildings dotted throughout, in various stages of either being disassembled prior to reconstruction, or just being left to slowly rot away.  And there were others that were clearly being constantly improved.  The water village also contains pubic housing; double storey buildings that can be purchased with extremely low cost government loans.

We were fortunate to be taken to our water taxi driver’s own house for a light lunch.  He is the second youngest of eleven children, and lives in his parent’s house with his wife and young son.  His father is a fisherman, and when we arrived the day’s catch was being sorted on the deck by the women of the house.

The house was built on a very large platform, with railings around the outside.  The kitchen was on the platform, with all the mod cons incuding fridge, oven and stove top.  In the centre of the large platform was another large building with a door.

The door led us into a loung room, full air-conditioned with wi-fi!  Honestly, sitting in the lounge you’d have absolutely no clue that you were in a house built on stilts above the water.  This house has seven bedrooms built off two living areas.  Amazing!  We were served some delicious local dishes – chicken and rice, beautifully flavoured, fish crackers, then the most divine thin and crispy banana fritters I’ve ever eaten.  Brunei has lots of different types of bananas; clearly the perfect type had been chosen for the fritters!

That’s the living room from the outside – you can see the windows from the inside and the outside in the previous two photos.  The cats were in their own enclosure – probably a good thing when you’re sorting fish a couple of metres away!

Time to carefully climb back down the ladder to the boat and continue on with our tour.  This visit was really a highlight for me – I love seeing how people live.  Maybe I’m just nosy!  The next photo is the house from the water as we drove away.

People commute back and forth from the water village and the land for work (if they don’t work in the water village itself).  Most catch a water taxi, as boats are expensive to buy.  Many people have cars that are parked in lots on the land, so they travel across the water to their cars and then drive to where they need to go.

As Irene had noticed our interest in the ways that people live both now and in the past, she next took us to the Malay Technology Museum.  The puzzle that Dan is attempting to solve is a traditional Bruneian game, Salok Salokan.  We were quite entertained by the Museum’s toilet rating – this was a A grade toilet!  Did you know that there is an ASEAN Public Toilet Standard?

The museum shows the traditional way of life in Brunei, and has three main galleries:

• Water Village Traditional House Gallery: This gallery shows architectural structure of houses in the water village – Kampong Ayer in the late 19th up to the mid 20th century
• Water Village Traditional Technology Gallery: This gallery depicts various types of handicrafts and cottage industries found in the water village. The display includes boat construction, roof-making, gold smiting, silver smithing, brass casting and cloth weaving
• Inland Traditional Technology Gallery: This gallery contains exhibits of indigenous technologies of the inland people. It shows models of Kedayan, Dusun and Murut houses and a Punan hut. Techniques of production of Sago, brown sugar and handicrafts are also displayed.

Our next stop was to see the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque (the previous Sultan’s Mosque).  This mosque was completed in 1958, and is considered one of the most beautiful in South East Asia.  That’s 24K gold covering the main dome.

A park nearby contained this HUGE frame, positioned to perfectly highlight the mosque.

We had arrived at the mosque with only a few minutes up our sleeves to see the inside, so had a whirlwind visit.  Once again it was shoes off for all, and this time a black hooded robe for all the women.  Very Harry Potter.  We snapped a couple of quick sneaky photos under the direction of our guide.  This was an extremely beautiful building, in a different style to the current Sultan’s mosque.  Nearly all the materials used in the mosque were imported from overseas.

Brunei became super rich when oil was discovered, although I believe that as a small country with a small population the Sultanate had aquired considerable wealth prior to that time.  The Sultan’s family has been in control of the country for centuries, and the Sultan is one of the richest men in the world.  Oil and gas production accounts for 90% of GDP, and a fair chunk of the profits go to the Sultan.  We stopped briefly outside the gates of Istana Nurul Iman (His Majesty’s Palace).

The palace is gigantic – 1788 rooms!  From there we headed to The Empire Hotel and Country Club.  This was funded by the Sultan – and once again, it has to be seen to be believed.  The marble, the gold, the mosaics, the swimming pools, the restaurants, the shops, the air conditioning, the detail, the architecture – and the toilets here were more than A grade!  The building was immense.  There are not major hotel chains in Brunei – it’s just not big enough – so this hotel more than fills the need for a luxury hotel for visiting celebrities/politicians/heads of state/anyone who can pay.  There was an ASEAN tourism conference taking place in some during our visit.  There’s no doubting that the Sultan is rich.  Beyond my imaginings.  He’s also a controversial figure in the west – you might be interested in this article and this one – although all those we met during our day in Brunei spoke extremely highly and respectfully of the Sultan and how he cares for the people of Brunei.

From there it was back to the airport to catch our overnight flight home.  Flight time from Brunei to Melbourne is a little over six hours; not long enough for a decent sleep.  When we eventually walked through the door at home it was 7.30am and we were exhausted!

The photo below shows you our souvenirs – fabric, bedspreads, a scarf, gifts for others, baskets, beadwork, coffee, tea and some masks.  A few things that will bring back very special memories as we use them.  It was  a really wonderful time.

We’re now settled into our usual Melbourne routines, with Dan back to work and the kids getting ready for school.  Clare starts year 12 and Stella starts year 7 in a few days time, so we’ve got a big year ahead.  I’ve also got quite a bit of work booked, including some that’s interstate.  Looks like I’ll have some time in airports and hotels to start planning our holiday for January 2021- to Japan!

I assume by now that those of you who are reading my blog realise that we’ve actually been home for ten days – but I really, really want to get all of our holiday recorded!  So please bear with me.

We didn’t want our last day in Kota Kinabalu to be too rushed – after all, this was a holiday! So it was another fairly late sleep in, then we caught a Grab to a little museum, Chanteek Borneo Indigenous Museum. I’d come across this little museum in a rather convoluted way – when we did the walking tour of Kota Kinabalu, I chatted to one of the other participants, who was a local man. As it turned out, his wife likes to sew, and is on Instagram. I of course looked her up – you can find her as @kuaitahir – and she sews and sells beautiful handbags, made from fabrics printed in traditional designs. And some of those fabrics are by Kain Chanteek (@kain.chanteek on Instagram) who are closely linked to the Chanteek Borneo Indigenous Museum. Phew! Thanks social media for leading me to a fun place to visit!

The museum contains over 300 Barbie-type dolls, all dressed in different indigenous costumes, arranged in dioramas to depict the lives of the different tribes in the past. It sounds as though it could all be a bit twee – but it’s really not! The exhibits are beautifully put together and are incredibly detailed. Each comes with a QR code that you can scan to get more information about the specific object or scene. A huge amount of effort has gone into the museum. And the fun thing – they also offered the chance to dress up in costumes from a variety of tribes.

We then sent the girls on the task to find the tribe their costume belonged too. This was more difficult than you would think!

The belts that each of the girls had around their waists were very heavy – they were essentially wearing their wealth, or dowries.

The exhibition also contained plenty of life sized objects from indigenous communities, with explanations of their use.

To make it even more fun, the girls and I did a little beading class, and each made a small bracelet. It took us about an hour to make each one; I have even more respect for those who make complex beaded items. It’s painstaking, time-consuming work.

We actually spent a number of hours at the museum. Remember that I said we’ve travelled by Grab about 50 minutes to get there? Getting back to KK was not so simple – there were no Grabs available in the area! Fortunately the museum staff then got on their phones and did some ringing around, and located another rideshare driver friend of a friend who would be happy to take us. Phew! He eventually dropped us back at Imago Mall, where we bought some highly indulgent afternoon tea. Starbucks (of all places) had been on Stella’s wishlist of places to visit, so we ticked that box, along with donuts from another shop that had been tempting Stella constantly.

Dinner that night was back at Madam Kwan’s. Then it was time to ensure that we’d packed absolutely everything before going to bed. There was an 8.40am international flight to Brunei to catch the next day.

Just three to eight kilometres off the coastline of Kota Kinabalu is the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, a group of five small islands; Gaya, Manukan, Mamutik, Sapi and Sulug.  The islands are not only incredibly close, but are surrounded by coral – which also means fish.  So I booked us a boat and snorkeling trip through Amazing Borneo Tours.  We were aware that we could have just gone to Jesselton Point and jumped on a local boat to the islands, but I thought that we’d have a better  experience if we were snorkeling from a boat.  I am happy with that decision!  Sometimes it’s worth paying more for convenience, expertise and comfort.

The fun actually started as we pulled out from the private marina at Sutera Harbour Resort. The resort itself was extremely fancy – no dodgy fittings or plastic instead of marble at this resort! Definitely not in our budget to stay at, but nice to see. Our boat was a Seatango boat, run very professionally. We cruised out to our first snorkeling location, with beautiful views of Kota Kinabalu and Mount Kinabalu behind it. Stella loves travelling fast with the wind in her hair – the boat was perfect for her! Clare and I on the other hand have a tendency toward motion sickness.

The skipper and snorkeling guides checked out the visibility of the water – there had been a lot of rain the night before, which affected how much you could see – then we moved to another spot and jumped in.

Snorkeling with decent gear that doesn’t leak really is a marvellous thing! Although the water was a bit cloudy at first, it cleared as we got a little closer to the islands and the water got shallower. The reefs were amazing. It was a bit clouded over, so the colours of the coral were mostly on the green spectrum, but the amount of life under the water was incredible! So many fish, in so many colours; sea urchins with their glowing ‘eye’ spots, sea cucumbers, anenomes waving their tentacles, and some little jellyfish (luckily the box jellyfish weren’t out in force yet). Some people even spotted some sharks, and others a sea turtle! I was pretty happy floating around in the water with my family, with the occasional kick of the flippers. It’s an amazing world down there. We shifted to a second site, but unfortunately bobbing around in the water in combination with not wearing my glasses was really setting off motion sickness for me, so I returned to the boat (I figured that it would be better to vomit off a boat than to vomit into my snorkel and surrounding water). After around a total of one and half hours in the water (across the two sites) we headed to an island to have lunch and to explore.

There were monitor lizards and the ubiquitous macaques up one end of the beach, looking for morsels to eat. We wriggled our toes in the sand, spotting little crabs and pretty shells. There were also some trees that I didn’t recognise – does anyone know what this fruit/flower is?

There were a few people swimming off the shore, but really, we’re not ‘beach people’. We all whinge and complain about sand in crevices, salt water up noses, and the potential for sunburn. We really do prefer rivers and lakes – so an hour to explore the beach area of the island was just right for us; we didn’t need longer.

Wow, that guy was super skilled with a very sharp knife on those coconuts! The liquid inside was so yummy – super fresh.

Even from the jetty you can see plenty of fish of various sizes in schools. Our trip back to the marina only took around fifteen minutes or so, at speed (much to the girls’ delight).  An absolutely brilliant way to go snorkeling.  I’ve been snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns, and enjoyed this just as much – maybe even more because the boat ride to get there was comparatively so short!  Dan says that this day was one of the highlights of the holiday.

We were back at our Air BnB by mid-afternoon, which gave us for reading and device time. Dinner that night was over at Imago Mall again, at Madam Kwan’s. What a lovely restaurant! We’ve never had as many attentive staff at once, and the food and drinks were all top notch. Dan gave the special durian cendol dessert a try (cendol is a refreshing Malaysian dessert consisting of shaved ice, creamy coconut milk, red beans, corn, palm sugar syrup (gula melaka) and little green strands of dough made from rice flour. To add more flavour to this delicacy, durian pulp or other fruits like lychee, as well as nuts, jelly and ice-cream are added), and we squeezed in a little more shopping at E-teen. Clare is very happy with her new outfit, and is still giggling at the words on the jeans and the fact that her top has a Toy Story character on it.

Unsurprisingly, our first day back in Kota Kinabalu (known as KK) was a very slow day.  Major sleeping in, major loads of laundry.  I have a bit of a thing about laundry – I like to ‘stay on top of it’.  At home I do at least one load a day – the clothes we’ve worn the day before, then often a load of towels/sheets etc (a load of fabric souvenirs if I’m lucky).  With a family of four it can really add up quickly!  Anyway, I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know there.

As it was Sunday, the Gaya Street market was on. We headed in to have brunch at Oldtown White Coffee, which we knew from prior experience would have a food offering to tempt every member of the family. For the Victorians reading, the girls equated it to Degani. It’s not hard to work out the food preferences of each of us!

We had just enough time after eating for a short wander through the market before the stall holders started packing up. We came across this man, Huang Poh Lo, doing calligraphy. As well as being a talented artist, he was quite the conversationalist. You meet so many interesting people when travelling! As well as being a self taught calligrapher, he’s a self taught musician with his own youtube channel. I found an article about him here and there’s a short documentary about him on youtube. Worth watching!

Clare was on a mission to find some teen clothes – we hoped that the the fashion stores may stock smaller sizes, given that the Malaysian population appeared to be smaller in size than the Australian population. Eventually we located E-teen, which appeared to be like a Korean version of Supre. Nothing had sizes on the labels, and some pieces had really dodgy sewing. Both Clare and Stella can spot poor construction nowadays! We were successful in finding a few nice pieces for each of the girls.

That’s Stella in one of her new tops – she wore it out of the store! She was in the queue for some crispy waffles. This day really was a food day.

Between the time that we left KK to head on our jungle trip and the time we’d returned, everything was gearing up for Chinese New Year. Decorations were for sale everywhere, and the shops were full of red and gold in all sorts of formats. It’s obviously a huge time of celebration in KK.

The afternoon was spent watching videos on the internet (Stella), doing laundry and planning for the next day (me), reading (Clare and Dan), and taking a dip in the air BnB pool (Stella and Dan). The pool looked especially lovely at night, as it has twinkling lights set into the bottom of it. Our room was a few storeys above, and it was so pretty to look down on.

We ventured back to Imago mall for dinner, then had an early night.  So that was it for the day! A relatively short blog post compared to the previous ones.

Mike was really keen to find gibbons.  We’d listened to their call on the previous morning, but they were too far away for us to get to – they move fast through the trees!  So our morning walks today were the last chance for us to spot them.

We started off at 6.00am. Mike could hear the gibbons calling – so could we! Such a distinctive sound.  We headed over toward the area that the sound was coming from, spotting sambar deer and wild pigs along the way. Actually, the sambar deer also spotted us and let out an alarm call that was surprisingly loud!  Scared the pants off all of us!

The deer move fast; I don’t have many photos of the deer at all. The gibbons also move fast – but they weren’t anywhere that we could see them. We headed to breakfast, then back to another part of the jungle near an open air camping area – Mike thought that was the direction that the gibbons were headed to. And he was right! Before we knew it there was movement in the trees nearby – one young gibbon, then an adult female with a baby tightly clinging to it’s stomach, then an adult male! I’m going to deluge you with photos, but really they only give you a glimpse of how wonderful it was to watch them swinging about. Those long arms!

The Bornean Gibbon Hylobates muelleri is one of two species of gibbon inhabiting the island of Borneo, the other being the Agile Gibbon Hylobates agilis. The species is endemic to Borneo, and is confined to tall primary rainforest in lowland and lower mountain areas. Gibbons are exclusively arboreal, and do not descend to the ground. The species may continue to survive in forests affected by logging, as long as sufficient tall trees survive in close proximity to allow ease of movement from one tree to the next. In practice, most logged areas support few or no gibbons. Gibbons occur in small family groups generally comprising a male, female and their young. The whooping call of adult gibbons early in the morning is, perhaps, the most iconic sound of Borneo’s rainforest. (Source)

Now that’s a pretty special way to finish off our time in the jungle.

While on our six day/five night Sticky Rice Travel tour we spotted the following:

• Seven out of the ten species of primate found in Sabah
  • long tailed macaques
  • pig tailed macaques
  • proboscis monkey
  • gibbon
  • orangutan
  • red leaf monkey
  • silver leaf monkey
• Six of the eight Hornbill species found in Sabah
  • black (Asian) hornbill
  • oriental pied hornbill
  • wreathed hornbill
  • wrinkled hornbill
  • rhinoceros hornbill
  • bushy crested hornbill
• mouse deer
• sambar deer
• Malay civet
• flying squirrel
• pygmy squirrel
• prevost squirrel
• giant squirrel
• wild beared pig
• sun bear
• crocodile
• grey tail racer snake
• monitor lizard
• green agama lizard
• frog
• many birds including
  • Wallace’s hawk eagle
  • Jerdon’s baza
  • crested serpent eagle
  • buffy fish owl
  • storm stork
  • grey heron
  • purple heron
  •  egret
  • kingfisher
  • woodpecker
  • forest crow
  • crested fireback pheasant
  • oriental darter
  • blue headed pitta
  • Diard’s trogon
• and let’s not forget
  • tiger leech
  • giant millipede
  • cockroach
  • centipede
  • ball millipede
  • snail
  • tarantula
  • scorpion.

The primates that we didn’t see were the tarsier, slow loris and grey leaf monkey.  There weren’t any pygmy elephants around that we saw either.  All the more reason to come back one day!

While the tour was one of the more expensive parts of our holiday, it was worth every single dollar.  I cannot imagine how much we would have missed out on without Mike there to lead us down jungle paths, explain every bird, animal and insect call, spot creatures, inform us about the trees, plants and fungi, make jokes with, and generally provide us with an educational and enjoyable time.  He answered all our questions happily and enthusiastically and really does have a wealth of knowledge.  It’s pretty clear that he really loves his job, and sharing the wonder of the Sabah rainforests with others.

It took us around two and a half hours to get back to Lahad Datu to catch our late afternoon flight back to Kota Kinabalu.  There had been flash flooding and we drove through water that was streaming across the road on a few occasions.  Once back in KK we checked in to our Air BnB and made the most of the hot showers and washing machine before heading off to bed.

As you can probably imagine, our full day in the Danum Valley was all about spotting living things.  We were up before 6.00am again to head out on our first trek of the day.  As we prepared to start our trek, a wild pig and it’s twelve piglets crossed the road ahead of us, followed by the boar shortly afterwards.  It had rained a lot, so the leaves on the jungle floor were all wet and the clay was slippery and muddy.  And the leeches were active.

That’s a tiger leech in the above photo.  They tend to live on leaves that are about 1 metre above ground level and attach themselves to your legs or any other part of you as you brush past them.  They move fast and are attracted to body heat.  They can grow up to 3 or 4 cm long, but plenty are smaller.  It mostly hurts when they fasten on to you, and they pump in a lot of anticoagulant when they’re feeding.  Yes, I know this from experience after one having a large meal on my back.  Eurgh.  We pulled off a couple of others from our bodies when they’d only just attached – it leaves a round bruise that looks like a blood blister (which I suppose it is, essentially).  The leech socks did work effectively to keep them off our legs and feet though!

Now I have to admit – this is not Stella’s idea of how to spend a holiday. She does love the animals – especially the baby ones – but she most definitely does not love bugs, leeches, mud, sweat, treks and food with flavour. I was actually pretty proud of her – she showed courage in doing things that were out of her comfort zone and were things that she didn’t really want to do. And in the end we progressed to ‘I have complaints – but I’m keeping them in’. Well done! That’s the spirit!

Clare also hates being sweaty, dirty, and threatened by leeches, but she’s a hardened Girl Guide and Gold Duke of Ed participant, so just gets on with it. That said, we were all pretty happy with our cold showers while in the Danum Valley – I think that Clare took two on this day! We did three treks – the early morning one, another straight after breakfast, then another before dinner. That did leave us with some time to chill before and after lunch. The girls and I took the opportunity to catch up on our novels while Dan went for a swim in the river (in the rain).

From the Danum Valley Field Centre website: Prior to may 1995, Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA) was an informal protected area in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve of primary, undisturbed, predominantly lowland rainforest with an outstanding complement of Borneo flora and fauna. It was part of the almost one million ha forest concession assigned to Yayasan Sabah. In 1976, WWF-malaysia suggested that the area be declared a national park. The Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA) is a 438 sq. km tract. However, Yayasan Sabah Board of Trustess resolved on November 28, 1980, to leave the area within Yayasan Sabah concession but shall leave it unlogged for the purpose of conservation. Thereafter it is known as “Danum Valley Conservation Area”.

The Forest Management Plan for Yayasan Sabah Concession Area was drawn up and approved by the State Cabinet in 1984. Principle to this plan was the designation of two areas as protected conservation areas, one of which being the Danum Valley Conservation Area. In May 1995, the area was declared a Class I (protection) Forest Reserve by the Sabah Legislative Assembly, meaning that it cannot be logged except by decisions of a two thirds majority vote by the Sabah Legislative Assembly. In 1999, Danum Valley Conservation Area was further gazetted under The Cultural Heritage (Conservation) Enactment 1998, as a Cultural Heritage (Conservation) Area.

To facilitate activities realated to research. Education, training and wilderness recreation, Yayasan Sabah established the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) IN 1986. Located on the edge of Danum Valley Conservation Area, the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) is open to both international and local scientists/ researchers, who must first apply in waiting to the sectary, Danum Valley Management Committee.

Danum Valley Field Centre has evolved into one of the foremost rainforest research establishments in South East Asia. The extensive facilities include permanent research plots and an extensive trail system, well-equipped analytical laboratories, computer and email facilities, a library, climatic station data, phenology monitoring data base, trained field staff, vehicles, housing and sports facilities, a Nature Interpretation and Environmental Education Building and a Nature Discovery Centre, several canopy observatation platforms and towers, and a suspension bridge over the Segama River.

There was quite a bit of rain over the course of the day, which makes some animals harder to spot. Unsurprisingly, they like to get out of the rain too! But there were always other things to find.

Research programmes at Danum Valley began in 1982….To date over 350 collaborative research projects have been completed or are underway resulting in about 400 publications. Major studies focused on natural forest dynamics, regeneration within artificial gaps, nutrient cycling and the effect of logging on water quality and vertebrate populations, and a long-term research related to climate commenced in 2008 by a consortium of 8 institutions with collaboration from Malaysian universities/ institutions and headed by University of Lancaster, UK.

A large group of botany and zoology students from Swansea University in Wales had arrived on the same night as us.  They were busy during the day in classes or trekking around on various projects.  They were all sleeping in the simple hostel accommodation that was a short walk from the dining room.  Dan and I had commented to one another on how subdued and well behaved they seemed on the first night; on the second night we could hear the murmur ‘there’s beer for 15 ringgit!’ travel from one end of the verandah to the next, shortly followed by a rush of students to get whichever cans they could.  They were much more chatty that night!

Danum Valley Conservation Area is dominated by dipterocarp tress, with the canopy reaching a height of over 70 metres in some places. Some 90% of the Conservation Area is classified as dipterocarp forest, with the remaining 10% being low canopy, sub-montane forest mainly found on Mt. Danum in the heart of the Conservation Area.

After dinner we hopped on to the back of a 4×4 with a couple of the park rangers armed with spotlights. They were able to find a few creatures that we hadn’t seen previously! I have no idea how they can spot them from a moving vehicle in the dark – but they do!  This was Stella’s favourite activity in the Danum Valley.  We saw plenty of sleeping birds (all puffed up with their heads tucked under their wings, sitting in a row on a branch), a flying squirrel (that didn’t fly for us), sambar deer, mouse deer, Malay civets, and a tarantula!  And of course there were plenty of geckos around.

I was a little sad the next day when I discovered that a couple who did a night walk (while we were out on the 4×4) spotted a tarsier!  This was one animal that I had really hoped to see while we were in Borneo; alas, for us it wasn’t to be.  However, we were really lucky to have seen the mouse deer, and this was the only time that we saw civets.   It really was an amazing day.  Once again many thanks go to Mike for his excellent guiding abilities.

After breakfast we hopped back into a boat – along with our luggage – and headed to the jetty on the other side of the river to await our transport to the Danum Valley.  This gave us just enough time for another wander around the buidings at the jetty location.

Most of the village houses are very simple constructions. They tend to be on stilts, or else have a lower floor built from concrete blocks. The top floor is usually timber (if not concrete). Rooves are usually metal. They tend not to have much ornamentation; if they do it’s generally a turned timber balustrade. Some are painted, some are not. In the towns there are apartments, often above shops, up to around five stories high. The benefit of concrete as a building material is that it isn’t affected by termites. We have found that even in newer buildings, fittings aren’t always well installed, or are of dodgy quality. I figure that they are just working with what is available to them – or what can be afforded.

It was only a short bus trip to the starting point for Gomantong Cave. We kitted up in hard hats and gloves – I’ll tell you why the gloves shortly! The walk in to the cave area was through more lush jungle. I have to be super careful on boardwalks – on all surfaces really – as due to the wet climate, surfaces are often quite slippery.

See that cow? We happened to arrive on the one day of the year where the locals who live at and work in the cave were preparing for a ceremony to appease the cave spirits – and yes, the cow was an integral part of it. Fortunately for us the ceremony was going to take place later in the day.

As well as living beside the main cave opening, there were houses higher up on the cliffs beside other entrances. This cave system is incredibly important – and profitable – and there is no way that it’s going to be left unattended.

Stella only got as far as the entrance to the cave – it’s an assault on all the senses. The smell is unbelievable – an intense and concentrated mixture of bird and bat poo. It’s also incredibly noisy with the sounds of both bats and birds. There are droppings everywhere – underfoot, on the hand rails (hence the gloves), and in huge piles in the open areas of the cave. That said, it was amazing to visit. A boardwalk goes around the perimeter of the cave, taking you from one side to the other then back to the entrance.

That building in the photo above? Someone LIVES in that. It’s a guardhouse. Inside this incredibly smelly and noisy cave.

And had I mentioned the cockroaches? SO many cockroaches! Plus some poisonous centipedes.

Incredible to visit, but a relief to get out of! There is a display at the entrance to the boardwalk in to the cave area that explains more about the cave system and about the ways that the nests are harvested.

According to the government tourism website, bird nests that are produced in this cave are the best in the world. There are two types of nests produced in Gomantong Caves (Black nest and White nest).The harvest and collection of bird’s nests are conducted twice a year and is regulated by the Department of Wildlife, as provided in section 85 ( 6 ) EPHL97 . White nest harvesting is done in February and August, while the black nests are harvested in April and August. The task of harvesting birds’ nests in Gomantong Cave is done by contractors appointed by the government through a tender system, different from Madai Cave where the harvest is done by the heirs of the cave. Black and white nests produced in 15 caves and the remaining 4 caves just produce black nest only. The market price for a kilogram of white nests can reach up to RM7000 while for black nest is between 3,000 – RM4000 per kilogram.

Bird’s nests harvesting activities is an incredibly unique and impressive sight which can be seen during the harvest season. The workers who harvest these birds nest used traditional tools such as “piatau”, “gegulug”, “sesungkit” and “ambong” to harvest the bird’s nests. All equipment is made of rattan and bamboo. The ability of these workers which is climbing the “gegulug” and standing on the floating “piatau” provides an exceptional view for visitors.

After peeling off our gloves and refreshing ourselves, it was back into the bus for the drive to the Danum Valley,  via Lahad Datu.  In Lahad Datu we stopped off for luch at a local cafe – the food was delicious!  Wonderful combination of flavours.

But then Mike had planned a little surprise for us – a stop at Multibake to choose a birthday cake for Clare! Hip hip hooray! Red velvet cake went down a treat.

The drive in to the Danum Valley took around two hours, on what had formerly been logging tracks. It was a slow and bumpy ride. We were staying in rest houses at the Danum Valley Field Centre, a rainforest research centre.  Over the past couple of years it has added on facilities for tourists in order to provide more funding and to enable others to see the wonders of the Danum Valley.  It’s best to visit on an organised tour through a company like Sticky Rice Travel, as we did.  This means that you have your own guide who really knows what to look for and what you might find.  We were especially fortunate to have Mike guiding us, as he’s spent many years working in this valley and is passionate about it.  Once we’d settled in to our rooms – basic, but cofortable with fans and en suite cold water bathroom – we pulled on our leech socks for the first time and met Mike for an afternoon walk.

That hole of muddy water in the photo above is a pig wallow – the wild boar come to wallow in the muddy water to coat their skin to deter insects and provide some sun protection.

The tree with the black trunk in the photo above is ebony. And look – more red leaf monkeys!

We also spotted the pygmy squirrel – such a teensy little thing, that moved so quickly.  Can you spot it in the next two photos?

After a robust and delicious buffet style dinner, we headed on a night walk. At this stage it had been raining, so we were walking with torches along muddy and slippery jungle paths. It was quite the experience! I don’t have photos from our night walks, but we saw some colourful sleeping birds, plenty of insects, and colourful fungi. There are some nocturnal creatures that I was hoping we’d see – but no luck on this walk. After all, it’s a huge jungle out there!

We were awake at 5.30am to get ready for a 6am boat cruise.  Sunrise is just before 6.30am, and sunset is at around 6.15pm.  We had the added excitement of Clare turning seventeen years old – what a place to spend your birthday!

Okay, a heads up for all of you – there are SO many photos that I can’t resist sharing in today’s blog post! Your scroll finger might get sore.  I was so glad that we’d remembered to bring the rarely-used ‘real’ camera – Clare did a wonderful job with the zoom lens.

Groups of proboscis monkeys were still asleep in the trees. There were around eleven that we counted in one group. Like all monkeys, they are social and travel in groups, often family groups.  Stella prefers to refer to them as ‘preposterous monkeys’.

And then we spotted more hornbills!  Such fabulous birds!  I am fairly sure that these ones are Malaysian pied hornbills, the most common.  They eat fruit, insects, shellfish, small reptiles, small mammals and birds including their eggs.  They nest in holes in tree trunks.

And in that next photo?  It’s an orangutan!  In the wild!  Woo hoo!

These photos really are all over the place in terms of the time of day that each one was taken – one of the hazards on writing a blog post so many days after the event.  My memory is becoming hazier, because we’ve seen so much more since!  Anyway, the water levels were very high, so our planned post-breakfast jungle walk was changed to a boat trip down river to the village of Sukau, with a walk through the village to see what we could see.

That white building on stilts is purpose build to attract swifts to it (it has a recording of the bird call playing) to prompt the swifts to build nests that will later be harvested for bird’s nests to be sold for human consumption, especially in bird’s nest soup.  Personally, I don’t see the attraction of eating bird saliva, but each to their own.  Bird’s nests are very expensive to buy, as their harvesting and then the preparation of the nests is all done by hand and is extremely labour intensive.

Education is considered to be very important.  This is a village primary school – there is a high school about 15 minutes drive down the road.  While there are private schools that charge significant fees, there are also government funded schools to give as many children as possible the opportunity to advance themselves through education, no matter the family income.  Sponsorships are available for children from poor families.

I am always fascinated by cemeteries (some of you many know that in one of my previous career incarnations I worked for a funeral director – I have spent plenty of time in cemeteries).  There are many small cemeteries dotted around near villages or even near roadsides.  You can tell the religion from the type of graves – the one in the photo below is a muslim cemetery.  We’ve also spotted plenty of Christian and Chinese cemeteries as well.

I had also been wondering about what alphanumeric system was used for car number plates.  The first letter is the state – in this case, Sabah.  The next letter is for the city in which the car is registered – in this case, Sandakan.  The numbers that follow are more random.

Our afternoon boat cruise was full of sights.  The long-tailed macaques really put on a show – we were able to get incredibly close to them.  There were large family groups of all ages – the smaller ones being particularly cute in their movements and interactions.  The larger ones scare me a bit – you definitely don’t want to get them off side!  Don’t stare directly in their eyes.

That’s a red leaf monkey in the photo above – there are plenty more photos of them to come in later blog posts, but this was our first sighting of one.

Some of the trees had these large drums in them, placed to provide nesting opportunities for hornbills.  They were really big – I have no idea how they managed to get them high up into the trees!

More hornbills!

That’s a hornet’s nest built on a dead branch in the river – we gave it a wide berth.  If one hornet stings, the rest then attack as well.  Very dangerous.

The monkeys are more active in the late afternoon, as they move from feeding down to their resting places for the night, higher in the trees.

There are a few places where ropes have been strung across the river.  These are orangutan bridges, giving them a way of getting from one part of the jungle to another.  Generally, orangutans can’t swim.  Proboscis monkeys and macaques can swim, but considering that there are crocodiles in that river (yes, we saw one) why would you swim when you can cross a bridge?

It was fascinating watching this pig tailed macaque cross over!  He’s huge, and looked very determined (and unhappy)!  That’s a whole lot of baboon crossing a wobbly piece of kevlar tape, a long way up in the air.

Phew, he made it!  There were quite a few times though when he appeared to slip and hung from the tape rather than walking along it.  It was very impressive.

One more pig tailed macaque crossing to watch on our way back to the lodge as the sun set.  What an amazing day!  As always, our guide Mike did a superb job of spotting wildlife and answering questions about all manner of things.  It’s definitely worth having a private guide who really knows their stuff.  This was definitely a birthday that Clare (and the rest of the family) will always treasure.

We’re back on good wifi after an amazing five days in the jungle, first at the Kinabatangan River, then in the Danum Valley.  I’ll do my best to catch up, mostly with photos.  We’re now in Kota Kinabalu for another few nights.  So much washing to do, so many blog posts to write….

We had a leisurely morning sleep in at the resort in Sepilok.  Well, the kids did!  I woke up early, as usual, and enjoyed watching the light intensify and listening to the sounds around me.  The resort put on an excellent buffet breakfast.  Dan and I took the opportunity to explore the resort grounds – they’re a decent size – and examine the vegetation.

We then headed off to the Kinabatangan River. Our route was shared with many trucks and other vehicles, many working on road repairs and road projects,or else involved with the oil palm plantations that lined the route.

I think that as Westerners, our kneejerk reaction to the mention of palm oil is that palm oil is ‘bad’. Like many things in life, it’s not as simple as that. Palm oil is the major export of Sabah, and is vital for the economy of this developing country. Wikipedia has a good summary of palm oil production in Malaysia.  From the local people I have spoken to, many of the plantations are on land that was previous logged and cleared as part of the timber industry.  The oil palms grow very quickly, produce numerous crops that are harvested by hand and turned into oil in the mills that are dotted throughout the fields, and when the palms reach the end of the their productive life they are chopped down, used for many other purposes, then the same fields replanted.  Everyone agreed that the environmental impact was an issue, but that since 2010 legislation has been put in place to make the entire industry more sustainable and to reduce the impact on the jungle habitats.  This National Geographic article on palm oil is worth a read.  If it wasn’t for palm oil, many people in Sabah would not have the opportunity to have an education and improve their standard of living.

We only realised when our minibus pulled up next to a little jetty that we would be continuing our journey to the Borneo Nature Lodge by boat!  In we jumped, along with our luggage, and zoomed down the river.

The Borneo Nature Lodge is an eco-friendly resort, with just twelve rooms.  Air conditioners can only be used during certain hours, and they also provide the hot water.  Most of the power is solar.  The buffet meals provided were delicious, with a mix of local foods and flavours plus some options that Stella was more likely to eat.  She’s a fairly picky eater, which can be a challenge in places like Borneo.

Shortly after lunch we headed off on our first boat cruise for the day.  So many creatures to spot!

Obviously, the primates are a big drawcard, and it’s fascinating watching them moving about in the trees. One of the reasons that the Kinabatangan River is such a great spot for finding native wildlife is that the oil palm plantations have forced them to move to the available jungle that lines the river.

The birds are really quite amazing. The one in the blurry photo above is a woodpecker! The sound it makes is very loud – rat tat tat tat tat tat tat – as it drills into timber.

We had another lovely meal before retiring to our rooms for the night, in anticipation of an early morning boat cruise the next morning. As you’d imagine, early morning and late afternoon are the times to spot animals and birds being active.

Sepilok is not far from Sandakan.  After our early morning flight we met up with our tour guide Mike and driver Jeffrey, and headed straight to the Orangutang Rehabilitation Centre.

The first orangutang we spotted was right beside the raised boardwalk that led to the feeding areas.  We were ushered past that one quite quickly, with warning not to look him directly in the eye.  The orangutangs at Sepilok are semi-wild, in that they have been rehabilitated after being injured, orphaned or displaced, then released into the forest.  Food is provided twice each day, which prompts them to return to the feeding platforms.  However, it’s completely up to them – if there is plenty of food to be found in the forest they may not turn up at feeding time.  These animals are not caged (in fact, it’s the tourist who are behind glass in one area) so can go where they like.

Of course, much of the appeal of watching the orangutangs lies in marvelling at the similarities in their movements, expressions and interactions to those of humans.  That’s in addition to marvelling at the ways they swing across ropes and branches, shifting from upright to upside down in mere moments.  There were many yoga-like poses, and playful wrestling between the younger animals.

From the centre website: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre was conceived in 1961 and by 1964 had become reality, funded by the Sabah Government. The reserve is named after the two rivers flowing into the Sandakan Bay. The aim of Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is to return orphaned, injured or displaced orangutans back to the wild. Many orphans have successfully undergone the process of rehabilitation and have been released into the 4294 hectare Kabili-Sepilok Forest, a virgin jungle reserve rich in tropical rainforest and mangrove swamp. The rehabilitation process starts as soon as the orangutan is admitted to the centre with a thorough health examination, followed by a quarantine period to eliminate diseases being transmitted. Young orangutans spend their time in the ‘Nursery’ learning skills essential to jungle life, for example finding food, building nest and climbing. Once ready, they will move to the ‘Outdoor Nursery’ where freedom is increased and dependence on food and emotional support is decreased. Last but not the least, most animals achieve total independence and become integrated into the Sepilok wild orangutan population. 

Wikipedia tells me this (and much more) about the orangutang: Orangutans are the most arboreal of the great apes and spend most of their time in trees. Their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of chimpanzees and gorillas. Males and females differ in size and appearance. Dominant adult males have distinctive cheek pads and produce long calls that attract females and intimidate rivals. Younger males do not have these characteristics and resemble adult females. Orangutans are the most solitary of the great apes, with social bonds occurring primarily between mothers and their dependent offspring, who stay together for the first two years. Fruit is the most important component of an orangutan’s diet; however, the apes will also eat vegetation, bark, honey, insects and even bird eggs. They can live over 30 years in both the wild and captivity. Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates; they use a variety of sophisticated tools and construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. The apes have been extensively studied for their learning abilities. There may even be distinctive cultures within populations. Field studies of the apes were pioneered by primatologist Birutė Galdikas. All three orangutan species are considered to be critically endangered. Human activities have caused severe declines in populations and ranges. Threats to wild orangutan populations include poaching, habitat destruction as a result of palm oil cultivation, and the illegal pet trade. Several conservation and rehabilitation organisations are dedicated to the survival of orangutans in the wild.

We were as interested in the rainforest/jungle that we were walking through as the animals, birds and other creatures we came across!  The variety of plants, the size of the leaves, the sheer height of the trees, and the amazing ecosystems that could be evident in each area.

Directly across from the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre.  Malayan sun bears are the smallest bears in the world and are only found in Southeast Asia. These bears continue to be threatened by forest degradation, illegal hunting for bear parts and poaching to obtain young cubs for pet trade. The results of these threats has caused young sun bears found to be living in unnatural captive conditions in Sabah, with no access to outdoor areas. There are currently 43 rescued ex-captive sun bears residing at the BSBCC. The facility includes large forest enclosures to provide a natural environment suited to the needs and welfare of the sun bears and facilitate their rehabilitation back into the wild.

It constantly astounds me that people would try to make pets out of wild animals such as these.  It is of course illegal, and those found keeping endangered species as pets are fined, and the animals taken to a sanctuary such as this one.  The sun bear is the smallest, most arboreal and least studied bear. It is the second rarest bear species, after the giant panda. Their name comes from the pale horseshoe shape on their chests, which is said to resemble the setting or rising sun. No two markings are the same. They have a very long tongue at 20 – 25cm. This helps them extract honey from bee hives, earning them the alternative name ‘honey bear’ or ‘beruang madu’ in Malay and Indonesian. Sun bears live in tropical lowland forests and are the only bear in SE Asia. They are mainly diurnal and do not hibernate but build nests in trees to sleep in. They are omnivores and primarily eat invertebrates, fruit and honey.

We checked in to our accommodation, Sepilok Forest Edge Resort, and enjoyed a delicious lunch for resting in our airconditioned rooms to escape the heat and humidity of the day.  Later in the afternoon we met up with Mike again to head for a walk through the jungle canopy at the Rainforest Discovery Centre.  This walkway took us about 40metres above the ground, where we tried to spot some of Sabah’s more exotic bird species.  And we were in luck!

Firstly we found a hornbill!  There are 8 species of hornbill in Sabah.  This one is the Asian Black Hornbill.  We were very grateful for the zoom lens of our rarely used fancy camera, as well as sets of binoculars.

Next we were incredibly fortunate to have a pair of Rhinoceros Hornbills fly across and land in a nearby tree. The Rhinoceros hornbill is one of the largest birds in rainforests of Asia. They spend their entire lives on treetops. Found in primary forest throughout Borneo. Heavily hunted for feathers used in traditional ceremonies. Male has red iris and female white iris. They have a colorful red and yellow bill, with curling casque on top of the bill. The long white tail has a broad, black band near the center. Their wings beat ‘swoosh, swoosh’ are prominent when in flight. Call: a series of loud honks, barking-like call as the bird flies off.

We are so fortunate to have Mike guiding us – he’s a wealth of knowledge, is obviously passionate about his job, and also has eyes that can spot all sorts of details – a clear advantage when trying to find wild creatures in the jungle!  Dinner last night was back at the resort, followed by a family swim before retiring for the night.  Today we’ll be heading off to Kinabatagan River, after a leisurely breakfast.