LuxLife: A Weekend in Northern Borneo With The Orangutans @luxlifeblog

Jasiminne and I sat at her kitchen counter in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, popping deliciously sweet Pineapple Tarts into our mouths one-by-one. It was Chinese New Year, and we were waiting for our driver to arrive to take us to the airport so we could fly to Sabah, Northern Borneo.

We both wore the same identical red dress, as wearing red over Chinese New Year supposedly brings good luck and prosperity for the year ahead. Goodness knows I needed some good luck after the month that I'd had, and so I went all out - wearing red every single day I was in Malaysia.

I'd dreamt of visiting Borneo since I was a child, I'd always wanted my own Orangutan sanctuary in my back garden, and would daydream in school of my Orangutans coming to school with me.

Unfortunately as a twelve-year-old I didn't realise how cruel this was, but I soon learnt from various documentaries...only those documentaries heightened my need to see a real life Orangutan for myself in their natural habitat; Borneo. At the grand age of twenty six, I finally did it.

After our 24-hour whistle-stop tour in Kuala Lumpur, Jasiminne and I boarded our flight to Kota Kinabalu and settled into our comfy business class seats and promptly fell asleep. The flight was only 2.5 hours, but we slept the whole way (we were both completely worn out after our previous day rushing around the city), awaking with a jolt when the plane wheels hit the tarmac.

Jasiminne's uncle picked us up and drove us the short way to her grandmother's house, where we said hello, and wished the family Gong Xi Fa Cai, which is a greeting commonly used throughout Chinese New Year and is essentially wishing the person a prosperous new year.

We then hopped into her mum's car and drove to her apartment just down the road, where we were staying for the weekend. The apartment is stunning with a view over the ocean looking out to the marine park and Sapi Island, which we visited the next day.

We ended the day getting dressed up and going back to Jasiminne's grandmother's house for a big Chinese New Year dinner. It's pretty much like our Christmas dinner, but with different traditions and food. I'll be telling you more about this in a seperate post though! So for now, I'll take you on our journey to Sapi Island and Sandakan where the Orangutans are...

Visiting Sapi Island

We awoke late on Saturday morning blissfully rested after a busy couple of days, and slapped our lily-white skin with sunscreen. Beach dresses on, we needed some breakfast before we got on the boat that would take us to Sapi Island. Thankfully neither of us suffer from sea-sickness, as the boat was a jumpy-jolting nightmare.

Brunch was Starbucks, which I learnt is actually a sign of wealth in Malaysia as it's too expensive for the average worker. Coming from Australia where going to Starbucks is frowned upon due to the Australian obsession with 'independent' cafes and coffee, it was a bit of a shock to be able to enjoy a Starbucks without feeling guilty!

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: LuxLife: A Weekend in Northern Borneo With The Orangutans

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Two rescued BorneanSunBear s go back to the wild at TabinWildlifeReserve

SANDAKAN: Two rescued Malayan sun bears were released at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, near Lahad Datu on March 7 by a team from the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC).

The adult female sun bears, given the names of Damai and Debbie, were originally surrendered by their owners who kept them as pets, to the Sabah Wildlife Department.

When the status of Malayan sun bear was upgraded to totally protected species in 1997, several people who kept sun bears as pets were allowed to retain the sun bears for a few years after the upgrade until the Sabah Wildlife Department was ready to take them.

Over the past few years, the surrendered sun bears have been rehabilitated back into the forest at BSBCC, learning important skills like climbing, digging and finding food. They have adapted so well that they were chosen out of the 44 bears at the centre, as the first release for 2018.

Both bears were fitted with GPS satellite collars which will enable the BSBCC to monitor their movements on a regular basis.

On March 6, a final medical check-up was conducted by Dr. Nabila Sarkawi. Then, at 3 am on March 7, under the cool cloak of darkness, four vehicles left Sepilok with their important cargo for the helipad at Tabin Wildlife Reserve Headquarters.

The cages were then airlifted by helicopter using cargo net high above the treetops to the chosen release location at the mud volcano site in the middle of the reserve.

The project was a joint effort between Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department, and the BSBCC team.

Dr. Wong Siew Te, chief executive director and founder of BSBCC, said a great deal of planning had gone into the release and the effort had been very successful.

Continue reading at: Two rescued sun bears go back to the wild at Tabin Wildlife Reserve

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Sabah quake: All MountKinabalu climbers safe

KOTA KINABALU: All 130 climbers have arrived safely at Kinabalu Park headquarters early this morning, according to Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.

In a Twitter update, he said the last climber arrived at Timpohon Gate, the starting point of climb, at 4.20 am.

Masidi shared another update of a picture of Mount Kinabalu from Kinabalu Park headquarters taken by Sabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais, captioned “beautiful day, calm & peaceful.”

To a question by a netizen regarding town alarm systems in Ranau and Kundasang as well as preparation of boarding schools with standard operating procedures in times of emergency, Masidi said, “Alhamdulillah semua selamat” (Praise God, all are safe).

Others who were stranded on the mountain when the earthquake occurred have safely arrived at Timpohon, making it a total of 239 persons accounted for.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Sabah quake: All Mount Kinabalu climbers safe

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TheWildlifeDiaries: Looking for the wild cats of Borneo in Deramakot @WildDiaries

Riding through the night in the back of a beat up 4WD truck converted into a makeshift safari vehicle, we are perfectly exposed to the tropical downpour that hasn’t let up for the past two hours. Soaked to the skin, we sway with the truck as it slides in the mud and thunders through the crater-like wheel ruts cut into the main road of Borneo’s Deramakot Forest Reserve.

Eventually, the rain eases off just in time for us to spot the first mammal of the night – a Colugo – one of Borneo’s gliding mammals and one of its strangest. Also known as a Flying lemur, Colugo doesn’t actually fly, nor is it a lemur. But it is an excellent glider, equipped with flaps of extra skin that extend from its face all the way to its tail. 

It labours onto a branch about 40 meters above the forest floor and as it hangs upside down above us, a small face pokes out of the folds of its gliding membrane. It is a young Colugo, clinging to its mother’s belly and surveying the dark jungle around it.

“They are so weird”, muses Duncan, one of my companions in the car. “Said a bunch of people who went for a drive in the rainstorm” quips Pieter, his husband. “And paid for it!” pitches in Steve, the fourth member of the team, and we lose ourselves in a fit of laughter. 

In search of the wild cats of Borneo

This is the third night of our 10-day mammal-watching trip in Deramakot Forest Reserve in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo and so far, it has rained every day and every night. But we are a team on a mission. We are here to see the elusive wild cats of Borneo, particularly the Clouded leopard – a cat so rarely seen that not much is known about its life in the wild.

Led by Mike from Adventure Alternative Borneo, we ‘go nocturnal’ to match the leopard’s activity pattern: up for most of the night, asleep for most of the day.

Mike has been organizing mammal watching tours in Deramakot for three years and in that time, he has probably seen more Clouded leopards than anyone else in the world. The sightings are not frequent – one or two a month; sometimes two in one night and other times none in more than a month, yet this is the highest success rate of anywhere else on earth.

It is counter-intuitive that a logged forest would be the best place in the world to see a rare feline. Yet in Deramakot, the Sabah Forestry Department seems to have attained the perfect balance between sustainable logging and wildlife conservation – an achievement recognized by the international Forest Stewardship Council. An impressive 75% of mammals in Sabah are found in this 55,507-hectare reserve, including all five species of wild cats of Borneo.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics & Vids) at: TheWildlifeDiaries: Looking for the wild cats of Borneo in Deramakot

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Ice reappears on MountKinabalu as temperature drops to below freezing

KOTA KINABALU: Ice formations have reappeared at the top of Mount Kinabalu for the second time this year.

The temperature near the summit dropped to -2 degrees Celsius over the past few days.

The ice was discovered by mountain guide Jomius Binte at around 6.30am today, chairman of the Mount Kinabalu Mountain Guides Association Junaydie Sihan said.

Pools of water near the summit were seen covered with layers of ice thanks to the sub-zero temperatures.

The first such occurrence was recorded on Jan 8, this year.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Ice reappears on Mount Kinabalu as temperature drops to below freezing

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