Follow me to Malaysian Borneo and the Fabulous Rainforest

June 15, 2010

Follow me to Malaysian Borneo and the Fabulous Rainforest

On day five of our stay in Malaysia, we awoke early on Sunday morning and headed for the airport. We were leaving Kuala Lumpur, and traveling to Sabah, the northern state of Malaysian Borneo. Borneo is the third largest island in the world, after Greenland and New Guinea and politically, the island is divided among three countries, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. At the airport, we paid a warm goodbye to our Malaysian Peninsula team and boarded one of two airplanes followed by a helicopter, which delivered us to the Danum Valley and the terrific Borneo Rainforest Lodge, located in the heart of the rainforest. This part of Malaysian Borneo is an enormous wildlife reserve, home to a most diverse range of flora and fauna and we were there to explore!

: Leaving our wonderful Kuala Lumpur team at the airport

: Despite feeling a bit under the weather and needing a little rest, Sophie was in good spirits and thrilled to go to Borneo, as she is a real lover of animals.

: Before dinner, we were given a wonderful presentation about Borneo by Chairman Adlin.

: Some delicious appetizers served at dinner, including prawns, glutenous rice grilled in bamboo leaves, and sautéed local ferns.

: Chicken was wrapped in banana leaves and grilled.

: Grilling satay, prawns, and that great glutenous rice

: The Rainforest Lodge has a beautiful, newly renovated kitchen.

: Wonderful brown rice with chili prawns and a refreshing mango dish

: A lone salamander

: The striking yellow bloom of Dillenia luzonensis – These flowers bloom in the morning and drop once the day’s heat arrives.

: George Hong and some of the Rainforest Lodge guides. The knee-height socks are leech protection – you need to wear them!!!

: An active spider web

: Hopefully, visitors will take heed.

: Here it is! As you can see, the walkway is quite lofty!

: A better look at this growth

: We all thought this bark design looked like an animal face – perhaps a bear?

: Looking down – it’s a long way!

: After the walk, we ate a snack of plantains and various types of manioc root, the source of tapioca.

: Such colorful varieties!

: Freshly baked breads, rolls, and muffins

: Deliciously ripe mango, dragon fruit, honey dew, and jack fruit

: We took two flights – Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, then to Lahad Datu. From Lahad Datu, we took a helicopter to the Danum Valley. This is Lahad Datu from the helicopter.

: The rugged terrain is quite varied.

: Our first close up glimpse of the rainforest!

: Even closer

: More rainforest

: This is Dato’ Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin, the chairman of the Sabah Tourism Board. He was amazing to travel with.

: Here are palm oil plantations and cleared forest for future palms. Fortunately, deforestation rules in Malaysian Borneo are being improved.

: Here is a pocket of rainforest among the plantation.

: Two lone houses – most likely belonging to palm oil plantation workers.

: This is a prawn plantation.

: This smoke is some type of controlled burning near the palm oil plantation.

: Palm trees galore!

: And then suddenly, it was dense rainforest!

: almost..

: Beautiful treetops of trees that are about 150-feet tall!

: Memrie taken by the incredible forest!

: The reddish flowering on the treetops occurs only once every 5-10 years. We were very lucky to see this!

: This is part of the Danum Valley research center. It is the only establishment, along with our lodge, for many miles.

: The forest near our lodge

: Another view of the research center

: Our destination – the Borneo Rainforest Lodge

: Another view

: This is the only road for many miles.

: Disembarking the helicopter

: We were greeted at the Rainforest Lodge by Noredah Othman – Director of Marketing for Sabah Tourism Board and George Hong – General Manager of Borneo Rainforest Lodge. On the far right is Tengku Adlin – Chairman of Sabah Tourism and the President of the Malaysia Wildlife Fund.

: Sophie, although still under the weather, wouldn’t think of missing the nocturnal walk. Along the way, she found these longhorn beetles.

: And this leaf-like insect

: Guide Denny, illuminated the way

: One of many species of land snails living in the rainforest

: There are many, many toads and frogs.

: Ohhh…many spiders in Sabah! Supposedly, none are deadly.

: Another cute frog

: This is a very unusual siting! A Borneo Horn Frog

: It’s amazing how much he looks like the surrounding leaves.

: Adlin standing near a giant tree

: We were warned about touching the vegetation. Many branches have spikes and some move because they’re actually snakes!

: A fresh water crab

: At dawn, the next day, the fog was lifting before the sun came up.

: Some of the lodges – They can accommodate up to 60 people.

: Looking towards the east

: We found another beetle inside!

: The sun just starting to illuminate the treetops

: The clearing mist

: This exotic looking bird is a male Asian Fairy-bluebird, a member of the oriole family.

: the sun coming up

: Zack and Jori preparing for the day ahead in the beautiful main lodge

: Zack, all set to shoot, perched in the back of a pick-up truck

: We drove a few minutes to the canopy walk. Here are our two guides, Denny and Edmundo.

: The tops of the rainforest trees shortly after sunrise

: The rope on the right supports the canopy walkway.

: Here I am ascending the canopy walkway with Memrie, Adlin, guide Denny, and George

: A close up of how the canopy suspensions wrap around the trees.

: Only a few people at a time can walk across the pathway.

: I must say, being up near the treetops was exhilarating!

: A trail of ants busy at work

: The tree has grown around the old cable suspensions.

: The multi-tierd canopies are fantastic observation decks.

: A very active beehive – This tree has the smoothest bark of all in the rain forest, making it very difficult for bee predators, such as bears, to climb up.