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The very name Borneo spells adventure and romance and that’s just what it is—adventure and romance. Just mention the name and you almost expect Earl Flynn and Dorothy Lamour to open up on the big screen. Unfortunately those types of movies are gone but the island is still there and Thai Airways has direct flights from Bangkok to Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei in north Borneo. It’s an easy hop from there to Saah.
Other than just a name, Borneo is the third largest island in the world, centred in the Malay Archipelago, and is considered to be part of Southeast Asia. Administratively, however, the island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The term Borneo was used by the Dutch during the colonial period. In Indonesia today, the island is referred to as Kalimantan. East Malaysia, or Malaysian Borneo, refers to their States of Sabah and Sarawak.
Our safari adventure begins in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. The very moment I saw our guide-to-be I knew I had seen him someplace before. His name was Roland Ng. But where? He came all the way overland from east Sabah to our hotel in Kota Kinabalu to greet me, wild life photographer Don Bianco and my nephew Joe Shafter. Richard was here to take us on a safari through the jungles in the remote eastern section of Sabah, the Malaysian state in north Borneo.
The jungles of Sabah have held a fascination for me ever since I can remjember. I had visited the long houses on the Redang River in Sarawak and explored the Nipa Cave; and now Sabah was waiting. Don, Joe and I had just climbed Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia and were resting up in our hotel when Roland arrived. Like I said, I couldn’t remember where I had seen him.
But first, something about the jungles. The jungles, or rain forests, in eastern Sabah are deep and brooding and the abode of some of the world's last remaining wildlife. Approximately 220 species of wild animals have been recorded in Borneo, including 92 species of bats. Living in the treetops are tree shrews, proboscis monkeys, macaques, gibbons, and squirrels of half a dozen species that include the giant squirrel and the flying squirrel. Occasionally, orangutan are seen, the original "wild men of Borneo."
For those interested in orangutan, the world's largest orangutan sanctuary is at Sepilok, about a half hour drive from the town of Sandakan. Young orangutan which have been abandoned by their mothers, or which formerly were under captivity by humans, are rehabilitated here until fit enough to be returned to the wild. Visitors can come to watch the animals being fed. They are, to say the least, entertaining.
On the ground in the dense forests of Sabah we can find porcupine, sun bear, sambar, barking and mouse deer, civets and other wild cats, Asian wild elephants and the rare Sumatran rhinoceros. Their habitat begins at the opposite side of the bay from Sandakan where a series of tributaries lead to the Kinabatangan River, one of the main rivers in Sabah that flows northeast to enter the sea east of Sandakan.
And it was here, along the Kinabatangan River that our safari would begin. For a starter we planned to visit the Gomantong Caves that had been recently opened to the public.
Ronald was the chief guide for S.I. Tours, a new "special interest" travel company in Sabah, and was about to lead us into the wilds. After only a few minutes of talking with Roland, I knew his love was the outdoors. He knows every corner of northern Borneo and has a tale or anecdote to tell at nearly every turn in the road. On the 360-kilometre drive (260 as the bird flies) over a partly paved road from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, he kept us thoroughly entertained with his stories.
"Over there is Ranau," he would say, pointing to a small village. “That was where the Sandakan Death March ended. Few people are aware but more Australians died here than on building the infamous Burma railway."
Roland then tells how the Japanese, when the Allies were closing in, decided to move the prisoners inland from Sandakan, 200 km, through the jungle to Ranau. When the Allies did arrive at the end of the war, they found only six survivors from the 2400 who started out from Sandakan on the Death March.
We left Kota Kinabalu by comfortable minibus in the morning and by nightfall were in Sandakan, the former capital city of Sabah. Today it's a major commercial centre where the products of the interior—rattan, timber rubber, copra, palm oil and birds' nests from the Gomantong Caves—are brought to be loaded onto boats for export.
The city lies at the entrance to a huge bay and its docks sprawl along the waterfront for many kilometres. The bay itself is dotted with islands, some of them with excellent beaches. There is always the hustle and bustle of boats, large and small heading to and fro from the islands. Sandakan is one of those old forgotten ports of Asia that you read about in adventure tales or see in old movies.
The next morning we set out in a ten-metre skiff propelled by a powerful 200 HP Mercury outboard. We zoomed crossed the bay, watching dolphins leap out of the water, and by mid-morning reached the opposite shore where a four-wheel drive vehicle was waiting to take us to the Gomantong Caves.
The caves have been known ever since the early Chinese came to Borneo to trade centuries ago. They are a source for swiftlets' nests which are the raw material for that famous Chinese delicacy, birds' nest soup.
The caves are truly remarkable, huge limestone caverns as large as cathedrals. With sun light filtering down in long slender shafts from openings far above, we watched men climb long, precariously placed bamboo poles, laced together with rattan, some a hundred feet high, to collect the nests from the roof of the caves.
The caves are open to the public but permits to visit them are required and they must be obtained in advance from the Forest Department headquarters in Sandakan.
We spent the night on the bank of the Kinabatangan River in a comfortable lodge operated by S.I. Tours. It wasn't the Hilton but it was perfectly adequate and peaceful. Roland explained that many travellers come to the camp with the intention of staying for only a day and end up remaining much longer.
We had our evening meal on the verandah, watched the sunset across the river and, as darkness closed in, we listened to the strange and unfamiliar sounds of the jungle. And, in between shrill sounds and calls that sent chills up our spines, we listened to the even more strange and fascinating tales Roland had to tell us.
"My ancestors were head-hunters," he said, and then he told us about his grandfather, the last of the headhunters and the parang with human hairs still on it that he kept. "Up until the end of the war some tribes still hunted heads. To be a man, you had to take at least one head," he added. We went to sleep glad that some things had changed. And I still couldn't remember where I had seen Roland before—if I ever had.
Before dawn the next morning, while clouds hovered low over the river and jungle, we headed farther up the Kinabatangan River. Hornbills and egrets lifted up from the branches of trees that hung over the water and purple herons sat on tree trunks protruding from the river. Their reflections, and those of all the jungle, were captured in the still waters of the river. Everything seemed unreal, with vapor rising up from the water as the day became warmer. Don photographed monkeys that came so low out of the trees they almost whipped his cameras away.
This area is virtually inaccessible except by dugout canoes used by the natives or else small riverboats. The many tributaries and streams form a maze of waterways that those without experience could find their way in but possibly never find their way out of the forest again.
Cruising the rivers in a small boat is the ideal way to observe the wildlife of Borneo and sightings of the native proboscis and other monkeys are common along the banks in the morning and evening. For sighting other game, however, it's necessary to leave the river, which is what we did that afternoon and the days that followed.
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Famous mounted horsemen of Sabah on Borneo
Horses are Mongol breed
In Sabah you can take a short train ride through the jungle
Kids are the same every where
A Muslim girl smiles for the camera
Joe Shaffer goes first to test the bridge
Don Bianco check his camera
A speedboat takes us across the lake in Sabah
Like neighboring Sarawak, Sabah has some deep caves
Some rain forests don't look inviting
Wild elephants are not native to Borneo.
Much too close for comfort
The Port Sandakan on par with Zamboanga and Chittagong
Don being friendly with an orangutan
They swoop down to steal your camera
Not all monkey in the wild are friendly
The caves provide Chinese with Bird's Nest soup
The summit of the highest mountain in Southeast Asia
For more about caves and jungles read Return to Adventure
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