Borneo

One Day in the Sultanate of Brunei

Oct 7, 2017

After our jungle adventure at Mulu National Park we were heading back to civilization. Our path went via Miri to Brunei, where we spent a full day of sightseeing before moving on to Bali.

The Journey from Mulu to Brunei

As Mulu can only be reached by plane or a combination of boat / car, we chose the first option to get to Miri, a coastal town in the north of Borneo. The jungle airport at Mulu is really small and things are quite relaxed here. From Check-In to entering the plane it is about 200 m on foot. And international rules like taking along a bottle of water do not seem to count here, it was no problem to get my 1.5l bottle of water through security check. Once we were boarding, we walked directly from the gate to the plane. The flight itself was beautiful as the propeller aircraft flew only at about 1500m, so the rainforest with its meandering rivers and closer towards Miri also the palm tree plantations could be seen from a quite a close distance. After only 30 minutes we already reached Miri, from where we took a 4 hour bus ride across the border to Bander Seri Begawan, the capital of the sultanate of Brunei.

About Brunei

If someone had mentioned Brunei to me half a year ago, I could not even have guessed on which continent it is located, not to mention anything about its history. Time to change that.

Brunei is one of the richest countries on our planet due to their oil reserves and Brunei today is what is left from a much larger sultanate that existed between the 16th and 19th century. Being a Monarchy, most of the money from the oil reserves goes to the royal family and in the public infrastructure such as huge mosques and the excellent roads. Apart from that, the common people receive only very little in return.

Having visited a few Muslim countries this year, Brunei is one of the stricter ones. The laws and in general the life of the citizens are influenced by the Sharia, however for tourists and non-Muslims the rules are a bit more relaxed and it is for instance allowed to take small amounts of alcohol in the country.

Brunei’s Old Town

Being located at a river, the old town of Brunei is a village built on stilts named Kampong Ayer. Up to 30’000 people live in wooden housed above the water, and the houses are connected by boardwalks and small bridges. They also have an own fire department equipped with boats as there are no roads leading into that village.

Meeting his Majesty

While visiting Kampong Ayer our local guide got suddenly very excited because he saw that the car of the sultan is parked in front of a mosque which meant he is visiting the mosque for the Friday prayers. He told us to come back to the mosque in 25 minutes when the prayers were over, and indeed, there he was, a 75-year old guy (who looks like he’s only 50) walking out of the mosque between dozens of local spectators, shaking hands, smiling. Then he entered his car on the driver’s seat and drove away, accompanied by some cars from the royal family and the police. And yes, he was driving himself, which I can understand. Who would not want to drive a luxurious Brabus 700 with 700 horsepower by himself?

By the way there were no security guards, and he literally passed around 50 cm in front of me. It is nice when as a monarch, you can still walk around in your city without armed bodyguards and without being afraid of your own people. I wonder in how many Western countries this would be possible.

Town Center of Brunei

Just across the river from Kampong Ayer lies the modern town center. There are some small shopping malls, nice mosques and other modern buildings. But the center is really small and can easily be explored on foot in one day.

Night Market

The place to go for authentic local food (as compared to KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. that exist as well in Brunei) is the night market. There are dozens of food stalls selling freshly cooked local dishes, fruit, and beverages. The right place to eat something after a long day of sightseeing.

Public Transport in Brunei

As it affected our day a lot, I want to say a few words about the public transport or its lack of it. When we arrived at around 20:00 in Brunei city, there was no single taxi available as I was told they only work during the day. As our hotel was located 7 km away from the center, and because we did not have any internet or telephones available, this was unfortunate. Luckily there was some local guy who offered us transport to the hotel for a not so cheap rate, but it was the only alternative to walking in the tropical heat.

In general, public transport in Brunei is bad, and even getting a taxi can take quite a while. Taxis are also not so cheap, and platforms like Uber do not exist in Brunei. Since May 2017 however, there is a local startup trying to clone Uber for Brunei. The app is called Dart and the one time I used it, it actually worked fine. So far it only works for licensed taxis and hence does not allow for cheap transports, but the plan is to extend it also to private drivers (that have the correct driver’s license).

The alternative is to find your own driver for a day, but that’s usually not so easy. On our sightseeing day, it was our guide who organized a driver, which saved us a lot of money and time as compared to taxi rides.

Luxury Resort

Around 20 km north of Bandar Seri Begawan there is a luxurious beach resort named The Empire. One night here costs from USD 250 upwards. Given the location directly at the seaside and the gigantic swimming pools not such a bad deal. I however let the pictures speak for themselves.

Gigantic Caves at Mulu National Park

Oct 4, 2017

While there is rainforest at many places on Borneo, the combination of gigantic caves embedded into dense tropical rainforest makes Mulu National Park one of a kind. The dimensions of the whole network of caves that are connected with each other reaches a length of 240 km. While some caves are made accessible to us tourists, many caves still remain to be discovered and cannot be accessed due to various reasons such as being underwater caves or being situated too deep inside the mountains.

During our five-day stay Ilinca and I visited four different caves, and in Clearwater Cave I participated in a guided tour off the tourist path which involved climbing, walking through water, and even swimming in small rivers about 2.5 km inside the mountain in the complete absence of any natural light source. The caves in the park are generally classified in three categories:

Dry Caves are caves that don’t contain running water anymore. The underground rivers that formed those caves now flow through caves at lower levels. The absence of a river at the cave floor allows the growth of stalagmites and stalactites, making these caves look very beautiful. Lang Cave, Deer Cave and Wind Cave belong into this category.
Wet Caves still contain a flow of water which continuously makes the cave grow, mostly vertically but also horizontally. Clearwater Cave belongs into this category.
Underwater Caves are completely filled with water and are located at lower altitudes than wet caves and dry caves. These caves are the least explored ones as diving equipment is necessary to access them and the exploration also involves big risks due to the missing oxygen. Naturally, no such cave could be visited by us tourists.

Exploring Clearwater Cave

The Tourist Section of Clearwater Cave

The entrance to Clearwater Cave is very impressive. It is decorated with various plants, and lots of daylight can enter through the huge hole to illuminate the tourist section that is secured by board walks. The dimensions of Clearwater Cave are very impressive. Over some stairs tourists can reach the crystal clear river that runs through the cave.

Going off the tourist path

Apart from the caves that contain a solid board walk, Mulu National Park also arranges guided adventure caving tours. I participated in one of those tours called Clearwater Revival that started where the tourist section ended in Clearwater Cave. At the end of the boardwalk where the cave started to get dark, we stepped down to the river and started going deeper and deeper inside the mountain. After only a few meters, the daylight from the cave’s entrance was gone and we were completely in the dark, the only source of light were our headlamps.

During the next 1.5 hours, we entered almost two more kilometers into the cave along the river. We were walking on sharp limestone rocks, on slippery mud, sometimes also inside the river. On the way out we could also swim some parts in the river which was especially exciting. Whenever we had to climb over some big rocks along the riverbed or cross the river, fixed ropes were in place, so it was not as difficult as it may sound. At the deepest point in the cave, our guide told us to turn off our lamps. And there we were… 2.5 km inside the mountain, and it was completely dark, we only could hear a few bats and the river flowing through the cave. This was a very impressive moment. Thoughts went through my head, what if I went in here alone and my lamp’s battery died? I would never make it out alive… It was nice to turn on the lamps after one minute again and see the beautiful rainforest when exiting the cave after more than 3 hours in the dark.

Fauna inside a cave

It is hard to imagine that any animals live in such unfriendly conditions, however, we saw several species: bats, crabs, fish, bugs, crickets and giant spiders, some of them with a diameter of around 25 cm. They all adapted to the absence of light.

Wind Cave

Being a dry cave, wind cave was beautifully decorated with stalactites and stalagmites. Its name however it got due to the fact that in the narrowest part of the cave, there is usually a slight breeze because the cave is open in the middle as the rock collapsed there and hence wind is blowing towards the entrance from there.

Lang Cave

Named after the guy who discovered it, Lang Cave is also a dry cave with nice decorations. It was the least spectacular cave I have visited, but as it is neighboring Deer Cave, it was worth a visit as well.

Deer Cave

The last dry cave we visited at Mulu National Park was deer cave. Unlike the name suggests, the cave is not inhabited by deer anymore as they have been hunted down by the local tribes a long time ago.

However, deer cave is home to millions of bats. They all live at the ceiling of the enormous cave during the day, and then in the evening usually all of them fly out to feed from tons of flying insects in the nearby forest. This creates a huge spectacle for visitors that are seated in front of the cave when a black swarm of bats flies out of the cave. However, bats are picky with the weather and they only fly out if it is not raining. This is not mainly because they do not want to get wet, but rather because their ultrasound navigation does not work well in heavy rain.

We were unlucky this day because there was actually rain until shortly before sunset so the bats decided not to fly out (yet). Most likely they have flown out later, but because it was dark already, it was not possible to see them anymore. Nevertheless, Deer Cave was absolutely fascinating as the diameter of the cave was the largest I have ever seen (and the second largest in the world) and we still could witness the presence of the bats because most of the cave floor was covered by huge pile of bat excrements.

Jungle Trekking Adventure to the Pinnacles

Oct 4, 2017

The highlight of my stay at Mulu National Park in Borneo was a three day trek and climb to the pinnacles, an interesting limestone rock formation at an altitude of 1200m, embedded in the dense rainforest that covers the plains and mountains at Mulu National Park. A trekking adventure that involved boat transfers on longboats on beautiful jungle rivers, walks through the flat part of the rainforest, and moderate climbs over roots, leaves, and at times slippery limestone, supported by fixed ladders and ropes.

Meeting my companions

This trekking adventure was only available as part of an organized tour and a minimum number of three participants. Unfortunately I could not convince my wife Ilinca to join me, so I subscribed alone for the tour. As the groups will be up to ten people per guide, I was hoping that at least two more people subscribe to the tour, but not too many because the larger the group, the higher the chances to get people on the group I would rather not travel with.

I only met my companions on the morning the trek started: Three girls. I was a bit surprised because I assumed this kind of activity is more of a guy’s thing, but probably I am just too old-fashioned. But of course the surprise was clearly on the positive side. All fun people with their own interesting past. Claire from the UK, and Evelyne and Lucil from the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Moving to Camp 5

On day one of the trek, we went upriver on a longboat. As the water in rivers through the jungle can be very shallow, longboats are the perfect means of transport as they don’t go deep into the water. But even then sometimes it is necessary for everybody to get out of the boat and push it over the rocks. Luckily for us, there was heavy rain last night and the water levels were high enough to pass without getting wet feet.

After around one hour upriver, we were dropped off in the middle of the rainforest. From there, it was an unguided 10 km walk through the rainforest. Thanks to the heavy rain last night, it was not very hot that day, but still hot enough to arrive soaking wet from sweating at Camp 5.

On the way to Camp 5 we did not see any interesting wildlife, which might also have been due to the talking along the way. The only animals that we noticed were leeches as they were suddenly attached to my socks and trying to make their way through them to suck my blood. Two of them I could stop before they reached their goal, a third one was more successful and at least made me bleed for a while. But I should not complain, because I was carrying special leech socks in my backpack but I was too lazy to put them on.

After 2.5 hours we finally arrived at Camp 5, a forest camp with a surprisingly nice infrastructure such as showers, toilets incl. toilet paper, a kitchen, and dining tables. The only problem: the place was infested with hundreds if not thousands of huge bees which were going after everything sweaty. So the first thing to do was to jump inside the river nearby and was the clothes. Afterwards the situation was slightly better and during the night, the bees also got their well-deserved sleep. We were told afterwards that the main reason the bees are here is not our sweaty trekking gear but the fact that the durian trees nearby were in blossom.

After a simple self-cooked dinner, we met our guide Imran for the climb to the pinnacles the next day. Somehow he felt the need to scare everybody a bit by exaggerating how tough the climb would be and many people already got insured. The next day would show that it was just a normal hike as we have tons of them in the Swiss Alps.

Climbing to the pinnacles

Camp 5 is only located at 150 m above sea level, the pinnacles are at around 1200 m. So we had a 1000 m climb ahead of us. And in contrast to the walk the day before, it only went in one direction: upwards! First we were climbing through dense rainforest on a small path, but the closer we got to the top, we had to climb over rocks and roots. The slippery and risky passages were all secured either by ropes or metal ladders. The most challenging part of the climb however was the heat and humidity, and I was really happy that at least we were walking in the shadows of the trees and not in the sun.

After nearly four hours incl. all breaks, we finally reached the pinnacles. A beautiful view on limestone rocks that have been transformed into sharp needles by the rain, however my expectations were a bit higher. Only for the rocks I would not do that hike again, but the path up through the jungle was really awesome.

On the way down, which took at least as long as the climb, we met a few animals. A snake decided to cross my path about 1m in front of me, and lots of big butterflies, caterpillars, and worms were sitting on trees right next to the path.

Back at Camp 5, the same story as the day before: tons of bees. And the same solution: A quick bath in the river and washing out our clothes.

Returning to Mulu

On day three, we walked back the same 10 km path to the river where we went downstream in a longboat to Mulu National Park’s headquarter. As it had not rained the last two days, the water levels were lower today and at one point everybody had to go out of the boat and push it for about 10m.

At noon, we reached our goal. It was an awesome adventure and we were a great group of companions. And even though the pinnacles alone would not be worth such a trip, it is the whole adventure with sleeping in a jungle camp and the climb up in the rainforest which made this trip an unforgettable adventure.

Canopy Walk at Mulu National Park

Oct 1, 2017

As part of our stay at the Mulu National Park in Borneo, we not only explored caves as described in another post, but we of course also explored the dense rainforest with its rich flora and fauna. One way of doing this is by going on unguided walks on wooden boardwalks. But as most of the life in a rainforest takes place in the canopies and not on the ground, we wanted to get a monkey’s perspective of the rainforest.

At Mulu National Park, apart from the excellent network of trails, there is also a Canopy Walk where visitors walk up to 35 meters above the forest floor from tree to tree. The canopy walk itself is a series of rope bridges that go from one tree to another. The total length of that walk was 450m, which does not seem like very long, but given that those were all shaky bridges, the walk took much longer than expected.

There is lots of wildlife in the jungle, but also lots of trees and plants that hide them from our sight. I was hoping that from the canopy walk we would spot more animals than when walking on the trails, but in the end we did not see any monkeys or other larger animals this time, and only a few insects, some birds flying by and a small green lizard. Nevertheless, the walk was still very impressive as it gave us a completely new perspective of the jungle.

Orang-Utans at Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Sep 29, 2017

After returning from Bako National Park, we had one more day here in the Kuching area before we fly to Gunung Mulu National Park. We spent this day visiting the Orang-Utans at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and preparing for the next few days in the jungle.

Semi-Wild Orang-Utans at Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Orang-Utans are one of the much endangered species on this planet and except from zoos around the world, they can only be found on Borneo and Sumatra. Orang-Utans are especially fascinating to us humans as they are one of our closest relatives, as it is also reflected in the name. Orang is Malaysian and stands for people or human, and Utan stands for forest. So the name Orang-Utan has nothing to do with the color orange even though their fur looks orange.

At Semenggoh Nature Reserve, the Orang-Utans are semi-wild, meaning that they don’t live in a cage but in an open forest, however they are fed and taken care of by the park rangers. Some of the older monkeys there were freed from captivity, the younger generations however were born in the nature reserve and don’t know the concept of captivity.

For me as a tourist the fact that they are getting fed is welcome, because like this I had a chance to actually meet a few Orang-Utans at the time I was at the reserve. Finding an Orang-Utan that lives in complete wilderness is much more difficult. On the day of the visit, we saw around 4-5 different Orang-Utans. In the whole reserve there should be 28 of them.

Next Days in the Jungle

After the interesting visit to the Orang-Utans, we were heading back to Kuching to prepare for our upcoming 5 days in the middle of the rainforest at Gunung Mulu National Park. We needed to buy some dry food for the treks, a dry bag for protecting the electronic equipment from water when crossing rivers and also from tropical rainfall. As Kuching has a few malls, we found everything we needed and will head to Gunung Mulu National Park tomorrow.

Tropical Paradise at Bako National Park

Sep 27, 2017

Bako National Park is almost the perfect tropical island. Almost because first it’s not an island but only a peninsula north of the city of Kuching, and second the beaches are not safe for swimming here due to the presence of jellyfish, stingrays and saltwater crocodiles that can reach a length of up to six meters. None of them I consider nice companions for a swim in the tropical sea.

Apart from that, Bako National Park really offers everything. Beautiful remote beaches, surrounded by palm trees and dense rainforest, good trails for accessing the inner areas of the jungle, incredible wildlife, and most importantly, in a peaceful atmosphere with not too many tourists around. So far I have really not got disappointed by Borneo!

Hiking in Bako National Park

There is a total of 16 trails available in the park, all of them originating from the headquarters. While some trails only are a short walk to some pretty beach, other trails take you for more than eight hours across the whole national park. Unfortunately though, more than half of the national park was closed for hiking due to maintenance. But the remaining trails still did not disappoint. On the first evening, Ilinca and I hiked for 30 minutes to Paku Bay, a lonely beach surrounded by steep limestone cliffs embedded in the rainforest. Apart from two other tourists, a few monkeys and some crabs, we were completely alone.

Today, we followed the 5.8 km Lintang trail which starts in the mangroves near the headquarters, then leads uphill through dense rainforest towards the inner part of the island. Once on top of the hills, there was no more dense rainforest, but much dryer forest and at parts even blank limestone because there was no soil available for plants to grow. This part was especially hot to walk, luckily the sun was hiding behind some clouds every now and then, but also the rest of the trail was hot and humid. When we arrived back at the headquarters, we were both soaking wet, incl. the shorts. Now would have been the time for a swim in the sea, but safety first – we took a shower in our bungalow.

Wildlife in Bako National Park

Bako National Park is home to the endangered proboscis monkeys that only exist in Borneo and it is estimated that there are only around 1000 animals left in Sarawak. The males are known for their very large noses and the big stomach which helps them digest leaves that would otherwise be inedible. Compared to the macaques which are very common in this area, proboscis monkeys only live in coastal areas close to mangroves. And neither do they interact with humans nor are they afraid of them. You can approach such an animal to one meter without it running away or becoming aggressive.

Apart from the proboscis monkey, Bako National Parks offers also plenty of wildlife – some of which can be spotted easily during the day such as the also endangered silvered leaf monkeys, bearded pigs, squirrels, various birds and insects. Some of them require a bit more luck, such as the 80 cm long lizard which I met by chance, or the help of an experienced guide during a night walk such as the venomous green pit viper, wild cats, tarantulas and other nice spiders, scorpions, frogs, catfish, stick insects, and so on.

Accommodation in Bako National Park

The headquarters and the few chalets are nicely located between the beach and the rainforest. When looking out of our bedroom, we can see dense jungle, and nothing else. Quite a nice atmosphere. The only problem is: The rooms are VERY basic. There is no air conditioning, only a noisy small fan and the windows cannot be opened due to the monkeys that surround the apartment. The consequence: Hot and steamy climate inside the room, mosquitos (because the nets have holes in it), and a moldy smell. For two nights this is acceptable, but for a longer stay we would need to get a more comfortable room!

Arrival in Kuching on Tropical Borneo

Sep 25, 2017

Exactly one week later than planned we finally arrived on the Malaysian side of Borneo at the state Sarawak’s capital named Kuching. Here we will stay for two nights before we head to various national parks to discover the true beauty of Borneo.

About Borneo

Borneo is the third-largest island on the planed (after Greenland and New Guinea) and shares its territory between three countries, from which Indonesia is the largest part and Malaysia and Brunei are the more developed parts. One could easily spend several months on Borneo to discover all the sights, however since we only want to stay two to three weeks on Borneo, we will restrict our travels to the Malaysian side (Sarawak and Sabah) and maybe Brunei.

Why going to Borneo?

For me it was always a dream to explore the rainforests on Borneo. I have seen many pictures and documentaries about these ancient tropical rainforests and I am completely impressed with its richness both in flora and fauna. Also, I am very interested in how the indigenous people in Borneo live and hope we will meet some tribes that have not been affected too much from the outside world. Since we plan to stay six months in this part of the world, I realized my dream. Big thanks also to Ilinca for coming with me, I know she would have preferred dozens of other destinations.

The City of Kuching

Kuching is the capital of the state Sarawak and with more than 600’000 inhabitants also the largest city on Borneo. Despite the large population, it is a calm city with moderate traffic and a historic center. But Kuching is definitely not the reason why someone would fly to Borneo, as the city itself has not much to offer apart from the beautiful river promenade, a few museums and some restaurants and bars. Kuching however is a good starting point for visiting the nearby national parks and preservation areas.

The word Kuching is translated into cat. I don’t know the origin of this as the number of stray cats is not larger than in other cities. However, all over the city there are monuments, wall paintings, and ads with cats, and there is even a cat museum, which we did not feel like visiting. Maybe there we would have found the answer to the name’s origin.

Going to Bako National Park tomorrow

One of those nearby national park is Bako, which is located on a peninsula in the north-east of Kuching and can only be reached by boat. It is fully covered with rainforest and is the home of the endangered proboscis monkeys and lots of other creatures such as huge salt-water crocodiles, stingrays, big lizards, snakes, and other more common inhabitants of rainforests. Due to its proximity to the South Chinese Sea, there is a big diversity of natural landscapes on a very small area. On 16 well-marked trails it will be possible to discover the park without the need of Indiana Jones style adventures.

We will head to Bako National Park tomorrow and stay there for two nights. It is unlikely that we will have good Internet reception there, so the next blog post might follow only in about three days.