The rest of the photos are here...I hope you enjoy!
Miri is a wonderful little town on the Borneo coast; founded on oil and oil alone, it is a place that holds culture and a home for Shell. But, to the south (further inland) lies the obituary writer for Bornean biodiversity - Oil Palm plantations. Our flight from Miri to Mulu National Park was a solid hour, and the majority of that flight was spent flying over a scene like this. Only the park boundaries protect a remaining swathe of primary forest for the likes of large primates all the way down to yet discovered small creatures. These oil palm fields are the sole result of the worlds desire for cheap junk food. Orang Utans, Gibbons, Macaques, Leaf Monkeys, Proboscis Monkeys...all taking a solid step higher and higher up on the endangered list so we can continue to eat pretzels and packaged corn chips.
Assam fruit; I was told that these were tastey, local fruits. I ate one - standing in a crowded market - and found out that this was nothing more than a friendly practical joke and the assam fruit is actually a super sour fruit that nobody...nobody...actually eats. They are for cooking. They got me...
MULU NATIONAL PARK (and UNESCO World Heritage Site - Caves)
Mushroom formations in the cave...
This was our first actual destination on out trip and, after the depressing trudge through the endless hectares of lost forest and oil palms, we landed in perhaps the most beautiful place we have been to. You can only get there (for now...wait for the logging roads) by air, all food, supplies and people must be airfreight for a while to enter the yawning expanse of rugged karst mountains, untouched primary forest and the epic cave systems and the worlds largest cave chamber. This is the place that the Caves episode of Planet Earth visits.
Deer Cave, from the outside looking in. The limestone cliffs are permeated with some of the worlds most dramatic cave systems. The dark spot on the left of the white rock face is the entrance of the cave proper.
Boats lined up, waiting to take us from the cave to the trailhead for camp5.
So, the park itself is a stunning array of biodiversity, curious geology and home to the equally curious headhunter tribes of the past. Short past, that is. It was circa WW2 that the Dutch convinced the headhunting tribes to halt their practice (although, a special cancellation of that agreement was made during the end of WW2 as Japanese heads were taken).
The main goal here was to see birds, see more birds, look at birds and then spend some time birdwatching... Following this, night hikes to find crazy and weird critters and frogs and glowing mushrooms... Following this, a three day hike to see the Pinnacles and then exit the park via the profane and once dangerous Headhunters Trail. No headhunters, just excellently beautiful scenery, sloppy muddy leech filled ground, towering trees and the choral echo of insects and birds unknown. After a few days of birds, caving and waterfalls, we took to the pinnacles trail. It takes a one hour longboat ride upriver to the trailhead and a three hour hike to Camp5 where we stayed for the night (a hike during which the rainforest lived up to its name). In the morning, straight up to make it to the pinnacles.
The hike to the pinnacles is a tough one, up and up and up on the rooty trail to a outcropping of limestone that has persevered through the most amazing erosion history. We hiked and eventually made it to the inevitable ladder section. Up and up some more...then the top. We were lucky enough to arrive there at the same time the worlds total cloud store did, so we got to see little more than what we could only imagine lay beyond the mucky fog. After lunch, a few pics and a quiet time together with fellow hikers (Hey Zach, Tessa, Frank, Daniel!!) the clouds fazed out a bit and we got the best possible shots we could. Ill link here to what they look like on a clear day. Regardless, it was a stunning hike, tough and beautiful, to a very stunning geologic landscape.
Crossing one of the many bridges along the way of the Pinnacles/Headhunter Trail.
Trail sign, reports of conditions....cartoon interpretations of what to expect as you climb the pinnacles.
The pinnacles.
After our time at the top, it was another 3 hours (ish) down. Anybody can tell you that the way down is always the hardest part, and this led to no exceptions. The thick rooty trail gives you very little suitable footholds and as everything is wet and you are inevitably looking at the forest and not your feet most of the time....its slow going.
After our time at the top, it was another 3 hours (ish) down. Anybody can tell you that the way down is always the hardest part, and this led to no exceptions. The thick rooty trail gives you very little suitable footholds and as everything is wet and you are inevitably looking at the forest and not your feet most of the time....its slow going.
Crystal during our lunch break at the pinnacles. You can see the weird formations behind her in this picture, but the real oddity and view is the other way...as shown in the above pictuer.
Strangler fig which does not actually strangle. But, it appears as such so the name was given way back in the day...not sure what tree is on the inside but the tentacle-like roots roping around the tree are the fig tree to-be.
Back to Camp5, sleep. Well, swim then cook dinner then sleep. Morning....follow the headhunters trail for a solid 3 hours to the river, then meet a longboat driver and sit and ogle at the forest during a 4 hour boat ride to a downstream community where we could catch a ride to a city with bus service...then move on.
Did I mention leeches....so sneaky, those little sucking beasts. Bleeding for hours on end...at least I didn't get one on my bum (somebody should really ask Crystal about her leech run-ins, though).
Back at camp5 after a successful Pinnacles climb and a swim in the river. Tea...more tea....and some more tea to take the chill off and take us away into the coccophonous sounds of the night.
After 5+ days in the middle of Borneo and making our way to a small coastal city, nestled between the finger-like projections of Brunei, we cleaned, dried our gear and had a nice beer and warm meal in a sidestreet hawker stall. Then moved on....
Mulu National Park is, overall, a spectacular place. However, the one down side is that once they got the UNESCO hat-tip they stared running the natural wonderland like a business. Everything needs a guide, everything needs to be booked and if you want to do anything extra/cool/interesting...you have to pay. Want to go to the bird tower in the early morning or dusk....pay. Want to go in the middle of the day when all sane birds are tightly locked away in their nests and holds...free. The business plan of Mulu is its ruin, and while all the paths within the main park headquarters area is a perfectly well maintained boardwalk, you need to have a guide to do everything. Canopy walk....guide. Pay. Night walk....guide, pay. I'm surprised they allowed us to sleep without a guide.
However, the park is grand, the nature untouched (once you retreat from the main park HQ area and leave the putrid guide-filled and pay-per-use atmosphere). From a biological and geological perspective, this is a place like no other. Astounding is an understatement. But, the business plan, as so often happens, just takes a certain something away from the experience. It really is a last vestige of true primary untouched forest in the Malaysian Borneo area, bordered by logging camps and oil palm plantations. The force of the developed world slowly nicks its way through the forests, but the park is there to stop them....if only for now.
Bako National Park
After some city time, travel time and a 5 hour bus ride through Brunei and a few border crossings we made it to the city of Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Our next main destination was the celebrated Bako National Park - a chunk of land that is protected for its geology and biology and most importantly its small remaining plot of mangroves which offers the only habitat suitable to proboscis monkeys. These monkeys are going extinct, save for a few small plots pr preserved land and forest that the government has worked to establish (and one private plot in Sabah to the north east). This is their last stand...literally.
Checking the bird book for our morning tally....
Crystal, in front of a forestry camp (now closed, as it is in the park....yet signs of life abound...perhaps they are still logging selectively....#$Q$%#$%#$#@#@#!)
Proboscis monkey in a tree....not that you really needed an explanation of this one....
But also notable are the wild boar, the macaques and the (apparently, thought we didn't see any) leaf monkeys that live on this part of Borneo. Its known as the biodiversity capital of Sarawak, so to it we went exploring....
Pygmy Owl, seen on the night walk. Our guide (this was a real guide, unlike Mulu where they just kinda walk beside/in front of you....the Bako guides - not required but offered, much different than Mulu - just knew the forest so well) spotted this and whispered "you are lucky tonight!".
On our last full day in Bako, we took on the longest loop available to us. 8 hours all told in a rainforest slog through hills, more hills, and a few hills, mud, bogs and wet areas that were quite wet and had a lot of water, through dry, dessicated and sun bleached open areas.....all to make it to the swimming spot. Here, Crystal takes the first dip into the tannin-rich tropical water. We were going to do this loop on the previous day but, you know, snakes, poison, Crystal....plans changed.
Its a great and wonderful park. A 45 minute boat ride in is the only access, and we were able to wrangle four days in the park (we basically arrived with no reservation and were told that we could not enter...full to the limit already. Then, after some asking and pleasantries, we got in!). A lot of hiking...a lot of cool plants (pitcher plants of multiple varieties)...a lot of birds (morning bird walks alone in the forest and on the beach)...cool geology (sandstone and almost pure-sand soils in the forests) and not a day went by without Proboscis and Macaque sightings. And there was some swimming and picture taking and the like. This was a nice change of pace as we were totally free to explore on our own whereas Mulu Nat'l Park was much more regulated (being a UNESCO site they can claim it necessary to make a guide go with you everywhere...).
The same way you would look if you were watching a wild bearded boar ate your still-living friend. A sight of utter awareness and sadness...so tough to watch.
The most startling thing we saw was during an evening walk through the trail by the HQ and hostels...what we thought was a perfect scene of myriad macaques hanging out on the low branches of a tree while a wild boar muddled about below turned out to be much more sinister, yet true to reality in nature. The boar had -somehow- caught a macaque and was tearing the flesh off it as the rest of the troop watched. One monkey, above, seemed the most interested and distraught...must have been closer to it. We watched and were able to see the flesh being torn from bone, the flopping of dead macaque limbs as the boar ate out its inner body...a gory mess of a time for us, let alone the family of the now-dead macaque. To see the reality and the realization in their actions was simply heartbreaking yet amazing at the same time. They knew they lost somebody....they knew. They felt it. They showed it.
Crystal at our second beach in Bako; afterwards we had lunch and watched hermit crabs battle for their control of the riverbank. Cool, so cool, to watch!
The trails at Bako are fairly rugged - lots of up and down, very rooty and muddy in parts and, in some places, barren rock and sandy loam. Quite varied, but all together a gallant effort at trail construction (as opposed to the Mulu method of making boardwalks to all the local sights, Bako just cut a trail and let nature takes its course...and the feet of many hikers. Much more enjoyable).
The trails at Bako are fairly rugged - lots of up and down, very rooty and muddy in parts and, in some places, barren rock and sandy loam. Quite varied, but all together a gallant effort at trail construction (as opposed to the Mulu method of making boardwalks to all the local sights, Bako just cut a trail and let nature takes its course...and the feet of many hikers. Much more enjoyable).
One of the many species of Pitcher Plant found at Bako (and all around Borneo).
A few hikes take you in circles through the rainforest, and a few take you to secluded little beaches. The beaches were phenomenal and the forest loops...well...phenomenal. Hard to leave. We got in the routine of morning birdwatching walks...breakfast (mmmmm....Borneo coffee.....)...hike all day....dinner...night walks to find crazy stuff. Rinse, lather and repeat. Above the macaque and proboscis monkeys, the wild boar and the fish, crabs, birds, we saw four different snakes (two poisonous....ask Crystal....) a pygmy owl, a flying lemur, poison frogs, scorpions, drongo (yes, a bird...but a totally cool one!), lizards of unending patterns and sizes and in reality very few Homo sapiens. It is a park like no other - crazy biodiversity and you always feel alone in the woods, despite the hostels being full.
Mama and baby...
I have no clue what specific type of frog this is as of yet, but our guide told us it is common in Bako and quite poisonous. He didnt tell us it was cute, but we figured that our for ourselves.
So we spent four days here getting bitten by poisonous snakes (wait, were we not supposed to tell people that part, Crystal?!? About the snake, your leg....me rushing to get a park guide....the "yes its poisonous, you should sit down" speech and the australian hikers that came by? heh- heh...ahhh...memories...) and hiking our hearts out. Sunny, hot, so many birds, plants everything. Bako is a place of places. A biological wonderland. And a workout...those trails, I tell you.....!
So we spent four days here getting bitten by poisonous snakes (wait, were we not supposed to tell people that part, Crystal?!? About the snake, your leg....me rushing to get a park guide....the "yes its poisonous, you should sit down" speech and the australian hikers that came by? heh- heh...ahhh...memories...) and hiking our hearts out. Sunny, hot, so many birds, plants everything. Bako is a place of places. A biological wonderland. And a workout...those trails, I tell you.....!
Us, the first day at Bako, on the cliff that overlooks the first beach we hiked to. We had just got off the boat and had not yet got news that we could stay for the full four days. So, thinking we might have to leave the next day as we only had the one night booked for sure, we hit the trails immeditely. Worth every heated, sweaty step to get there.
Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
Ok, not to belabour an already laboured issue, but here we go - Humans want cheap junk food and cheap lumber, humans cut down forest to supply endless lumber and plant oil palms to supply cheap cooking oil. Those plantations last 25 years, the oil palms are cut down, replanted and after a few generations the soil is done, so they move deeper into the forest. Cut down more trees, plant vast oil palm plantations and leave the previous plantations to the rages of time. Slowly, the progress of capitalism pushes the oil palm deeper into the jungles of Borneo.
Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
Ok, not to belabour an already laboured issue, but here we go - Humans want cheap junk food and cheap lumber, humans cut down forest to supply endless lumber and plant oil palms to supply cheap cooking oil. Those plantations last 25 years, the oil palms are cut down, replanted and after a few generations the soil is done, so they move deeper into the forest. Cut down more trees, plant vast oil palm plantations and leave the previous plantations to the rages of time. Slowly, the progress of capitalism pushes the oil palm deeper into the jungles of Borneo.
Another Mother and baby approaching the feeding platform.
Fine, if you are in the oil palm industry. Horrid if you are a large mammal that needs space to live. Orang Utans and Proboscis monkeys are among many of the most hard hit. A few places around Borneo offer respite, in the way of preserves and feeding centres and rehab opportunities.
Further, the animal trade is huge - was huge - in Borneo. Sarawak, the western province always had a law against confinement of rare/endangered animals, but it was never upheld. Then, as relayed to us by a park warden, the governmetn decided it was time, that enough was enough, and that the law was to be upheld. So, the authorities searched out all the known places where animals were being held (not always as pets, but as "good luck" animals in a cage rarely bigger than their bodies...) and dug in to find all the remaining places. That wa a while ago and, while the captive animals are still being found, they needed somewhere to go. So, the government opened rehad centres to work with the animals and help re-introduce them to their natural habitat.
There are two places in Sarawak - The Semnoggoh Wildlife Centre and the Matang Wildlife Centre. They work together, quite well apparently.
So, when animals are retrieved they are brought to the Wildlife Centre. There they are ared for, trained to be "wild" as best they can, and then eventually releaed back to their (shrinking) natural habitat. Sun Bears, Pangolins, Bear Cats, Orang's, Hornbills, Crocs, everything...and these two places allow for both the security and training as well as a parcel of land to re-introduce the animals into.
Fine, if you are in the oil palm industry. Horrid if you are a large mammal that needs space to live. Orang Utans and Proboscis monkeys are among many of the most hard hit. A few places around Borneo offer respite, in the way of preserves and feeding centres and rehab opportunities.
Further, the animal trade is huge - was huge - in Borneo. Sarawak, the western province always had a law against confinement of rare/endangered animals, but it was never upheld. Then, as relayed to us by a park warden, the governmetn decided it was time, that enough was enough, and that the law was to be upheld. So, the authorities searched out all the known places where animals were being held (not always as pets, but as "good luck" animals in a cage rarely bigger than their bodies...) and dug in to find all the remaining places. That wa a while ago and, while the captive animals are still being found, they needed somewhere to go. So, the government opened rehad centres to work with the animals and help re-introduce them to their natural habitat.
There are two places in Sarawak - The Semnoggoh Wildlife Centre and the Matang Wildlife Centre. They work together, quite well apparently.
So, when animals are retrieved they are brought to the Wildlife Centre. There they are ared for, trained to be "wild" as best they can, and then eventually releaed back to their (shrinking) natural habitat. Sun Bears, Pangolins, Bear Cats, Orang's, Hornbills, Crocs, everything...and these two places allow for both the security and training as well as a parcel of land to re-introduce the animals into.
Mother Orang Utan with baby (hidden behind the tree).
Semenggoh was the first, the original, but it eventually became too burdened with animals so they worked with another centre, Matang, to take the load of rehab and care while Semenggoh focused on in-the-wild feeding and maintenance.
the main care that Semenggoh now is in charge of is the feeding program for the Orang Utans. The dwindling forest does not provide enough resources to provide a full balanced diet at all times of they year so they provide daily feeding of fruits and a few veggies. These are open to the public - totally wild animals that are habituated enough to coem back to the feeding platform and feast for a few minutes on bananas, papayas, lettuce and coconuts. This acts as both a public outreach effort (awareness) and as a practical support for the Orang's.
This was an excellent opportunity to see the wild Oran Utans (and a nice place to slip quietly into the woods and hike for a while...being chased by leeches and mosquitoes!). We also had a great chance over lunch to chat for a long time with the park warden/guide about the politics of Sarawak and the forest industry....quite illuminating.
Kubah National Park
Crystal at the first of two waterfalls we hiked to and swam in while plunking around Kubah.
A day trip from Kuching, Kubah (nobody who worked there knew what the word means, although I posit that it relates to 'palm' somehow as that is their main flora hotspot....a few endemics and a few places where the highest density of diversity is found....so, it just makes sense) National Park is a small delight for so many reasons - one, it is a very rugged and natural park in the midst of a growing city; two, it is home to absolutely stunning waterfalls and hiking trails; three - it is home to the three hour trail that connects the park with the above mentioned Matang Wildlife Centre. We spent two full days here, one hiking and carousing with the insects and plants, the other trekking frmo the park to the wildlife centre (and then carousing with the wildlife!).
A day trip from Kuching, Kubah (nobody who worked there knew what the word means, although I posit that it relates to 'palm' somehow as that is their main flora hotspot....a few endemics and a few places where the highest density of diversity is found....so, it just makes sense) National Park is a small delight for so many reasons - one, it is a very rugged and natural park in the midst of a growing city; two, it is home to absolutely stunning waterfalls and hiking trails; three - it is home to the three hour trail that connects the park with the above mentioned Matang Wildlife Centre. We spent two full days here, one hiking and carousing with the insects and plants, the other trekking frmo the park to the wildlife centre (and then carousing with the wildlife!).
Curious point - when we first got to Kubah Park we were told that the main trail connecting the park to the wildlife centre was closed. The bridge was not finished (after a long story about the contractor dying mid-job and thus the work was halted and never finished; impassable) and we could not hike all the way. Totally impossible. The second day we got there and asked another warden and they told us that there was no trial really, it was closed (how could "it" both not exist and be closed; being closed imparts the notion that there is an "it"...) and that they are doing maintenance. So, either the bridge was out, there was no trail, the trail was impassable or just a general 'dont go there' warning was given to us whenever we asked. The reality....we actually hiked this trail twice, there and back on the first day and there on the second day. Bridge was perfectly finished, the trail was wide, clear and well marked. No problems....yet the park staff seemed to think that the trail was in disrepair. Curious, and ill leave it at that.
Big butress roots along the trail...
Bintangor tree, a current main candidate for AIDS research. The tree lives in a region of Borneo that is nearing eradication from the logging and oil palm industry.
...and then there are the sights that are not intended to be "sights". For instance, this one below speaks to the power of a single letter. See if you can find where a missing "d" changes the meaning of this, somewhat important, warning:
Sign on the bus going to Kubah.
...Ah, Islam. The bountiful source of freedom, equality, rationality and inclusion. Oh...wait a minute....
Sign on the door to the City Mosque. We, in shorts, t-shirts and no head-dress of any sort, entered and poked around. It was empty save for a class in progress....youth and religion....ahh....thats nice...
As the sun set on the banks of Kuching, the sun set on our trip. All that was left was a 13 hour Taxi-Plane-Bus-Train journey back to our home, our life and the reality of work fast approaching.
Borneo stuns, awes and amazes. Too much to drink in, the biology and geology too epic. Lessons learned and worlds dicovered while we spend time there will not be forgotten, but in reality they act as only catalysts for a return.
Us at the City Mosque; couldnt find a picture of that Mo-Mo guy they keep trying to speak too...I thought I would hep them out and sketch a quickie in the mosque wall for them....kidding, kidding...I would be dead if I had done that, I presume. Such is the peaceful entity of Islam.
There are two great documentaries available that outline the problems and the reality of life in the logging industry of all three countries of Borneo; "Losing Tomorrow" and "Cathedral Forest". They are poetic, horrid and stunning. Help Patrick by checking out his work and, if you are so inclined, purchasing a video. Watch it, then lend it to somebody. Ask them to lend it to somebody else... . Patrick has a new video called "Green", available online for free.
Here is a shorter look at Sarawak and oil palm/logging realities via Al-Jazeera.
We love Borneo, all of it that we have seen, but there is a tortured history and an uncertain future to this island of nations. We go there to hike, explore and to learn. And to share. I guess we can only start somewhere, and right now the somewhere is here. If you took the time to read this down to this point, we would appreciate at least clicking on one of those above links and spending a another cup of tea worth of time reading or watching. Behind the pygmy owls, the creative insects and the monsterously huge trees lies a blade and a plantation and a death sentence.
