Borneo

My Borneo trip a few weeks back was the fulfilling of a dream. The trip I had envisioned when I first started to plan for Borneo was as adventurous as can be, unfortuantely also highly unrealistic. I wanted to head into the deep Borneo jungle and take my chances at seeing my beloved Orang-Utans in the wild. I thought this could be done in 5 days. Boy was I wrong. The trip I ended up doing didn't involve a deep jungle experience, but it did involve many other amazing experiences and it gave me a very good sense of how to plan my dream Borneo trip in the future. That kind of trip will require at least 3 weeks of time. 

Kuching waterfront from above

My trip was based out of Kuching. The capital of the western state of Borneo, Sarawak. Here I finally got to experience something I have been wanting to try for years. Couchsurfing! So the first day I stayed with a guy called Emmanuel who DJs and manages bars in Kuching. He showed me around the city and took me out for a great night of drinking that first night. Overall it was a very positive experience and definitely made me want to continue using couchsurfing. He took me to the bar of a hostel near the waterfront where I ended up meeting 2 Danish girls who I travelled with for 3 days. I also stayed at the hostel for the last 2 nights of my trip.

With 2 new travel companions, I set out for Bako National Park...one of many national parks in the vacinity of Kuching. 

You have to take a boat to get to the park

Mangrove forest

Jungle level 5 or 6 maybe

Trek to an isolated beach

                            

Of course we met some monkeys along the way. At Bako we stayed overnight so we could do the night trek. We saw snakes, spiders, insects, but unfortunately no mammals. 

One bite could kill you

Hobby snake expert

The next day we went for a 12 km hike that took us pretty deep into the park and to somewhat of a waterfall, which was unbelievably refreshing after 3 hours of hiking!

The day after we got back from the park we met with another couchsurfer who I had contacted. She wasn't able to host me, but offered to take us out for some awesome local food. One thing you always have to do in Asia is EAT LOCAL! So I had to find a local who could show us the good stuff. She delivered.

Delicious sting ray

Local BBQ chicken

We got lucky because there happened to be a Chinese mooncake festival at the time, so we got to see a little Chinese orchestra in action outside of a temple!

The next day it was time to go fulfill a dream.

Alpha male

Clever

In the above picture lies the downside of this experience. You share it with about 50 tourists all glued to their cameras. 

They even have viewing platforms 

Since I knew I was settling for this version of the monkey-viewing experience, I wasn't too bothered by it. I guess I prepared myself mentally for it. I focused on the beautiful apes instead and loved witnessing their cleverness. Orang-Utans are 97% genetically identical to humans. The center was called Semenggoh Rehabilitation Center and initally through researching this place I had a very negative image of it. Supposedly, the apes become dependent on the food offered to them during the two daily feeding hours (during which we went to go see them). They are also limited in their freedom, since only a small speck of forest remains in that area. When I was there I spoke to a few rangers/guides who clarified the situation for me. It's true that the forest in that area is limited...thanks to deforestation. Their freedom is however in no way restricted. They can range wherever, whenever they want. During fruit season it is almost impossible to see any Orang-Utans during the feeding times, thus showing that they are perfectly capable of finding their own food when it is available. The main difference between these apes and the apes I had initially hoped to see is simply that these are rehabilitated. The adults were taken from people who were abusing and mistreating them, and involving them in illegal animal trading. It would be very unrealistic to expect animals who have been through this to thrive again in the deeper jungle areas, where they would be competing against apes who have fully adapted to the wild habitat. This is therefore the next best thing, and since they are breeding and countless babies (who are damn cute) have been born in the center, it is absolutely beneficial to the keeping alive of this species in my opinion. 

Unfortunately, I have no great camera shots of these amazing creatures because of my super outdated camer with its limited zoom :( ! This won't happen again though since I just got myself a sweet new camera for my upcoming Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia trips!!

On my last day I wasn't flying back until the evening so I took an hour-long bus ride out to Kubah National Park. I had to get through a lot of this...

Massive jungle ants

to get to this!!!!

There was an Australian family there as well. Which did spoil the serenity a bit, but ended up being useful since they were able to take pictures of me in the waterfall!

Gotta climb it 

I swear to you, that place was paradise. I could've spent hours/days there just hanging out in the little pools created by the waterfall, or messing about climbing various parts of it! My plane back was calling though. I will leave you with a little taste of what tall, white people in Asia go through. A little slice of fame ;)