Exploring urban and natural jungles
Borneo – the name alone is enough to conjour up images of wild jungles, unspoilt wilderness, pristine beaches and rugged mountains. However, unfortunately, that's not quite what we found...
We started our traverse of Malaysian Borneo by flying into Kuching in the south of Sarawak with Nathan, Yui and Mk, friends from Tangalooma. Kuching was a pretty cute little town, quite and clean, situated along a pretty river. It is pretty much surrounded by national parks and makes a great base from which to explore. As I (Robyn) was stuck in bed with a bad bout of Gastro, our first day saw us exploring, not jungles and forests, but doctors.. If only doctors in Australia were as cheap, accommodating, listening and overall, concerned as they are in Malaysia. After barely being able to move, I was literally better the next day (or maybe it was the drugs??) so we set out to explore Bako National Park. Bako was simply beautiful and pretty much what we had expected Borneo to be like - Jungle. The only way to access it is by bus to a small village, then by boat. You can stay overnight or just do a daytrip like we did. We did a hike to a secluded and stunning beach that wasnt quite as easy as they had said it would be but it was a nice challenge and a really nice chance to sweat. We even saw some wild probiscus monkeys swinging in the trees above us which was completely unexpected! They seriously are the strangest looking monkey with huge noses and constant erections!!!
As Nathan, Yui and MK had sped ahead while I was sick, we too unfortunately didnt spend too much more time in Kuching and headed north to Sibu to try to catch up with them. Sibu, however is not exactly a hub of activity so by the time we arrived, Nathan and Yui had already left whilst MK waited behind for us to arrive.
To get to Sibu you can either take a bus or a boat – it wasnt really a question for us and so by boat it was! Being used to boats in Asia, we knew there would be an outside smoking section, and an indoor, AC pumping, Karaoke/Movie blaring non-smoking section. Even as non-smokers, we opted for the smoking section and had beautiful views of the (de)forested landscape. It was actually quite confronting, watching as hundreds of de-branched tree-trunks went floating past, pushed by a small tugboat, over and over again.. These tree-trunks were destined for one of the hundreds of timber mills that line the river.. Being faced with such a stark reality, our first instinct was to try to rationalise the environmental madness around us - Surely this must be the processing centre for ALL of Borneo! This number of trees simply cant be being felled everyday from this one area.. Surely!?! However there came a point, somewhere during the 3 hour trip when we just had to accept what we were seeing.. That beautiful national parks like Bako were in fact the rarity, and this was the real modern Borneo.
Sibu was Dull (with a deliberate capital D). It is a big, hot dirty city with literally NO landmarks or attractions at all. We struggled even filling our half a day with activities and the lovely man at the tourist information centre couldnt help us either. It is mainly used as a departure point for people travelling further up the river to some of the smaller towns and tribes in hope of seeing the traditional way of life. Sadly, this traditional way of life is now only maintained as something to show to tourists, and the majority of tribes have long since left their jungle homes (or in a lot of cases, had their jungle homes “removed” from them.) and so we decided not to go.
From Sibu we (plus MK) headed by bus north to Miri on the Bruneian border. Miri, although being a big city was actually quite a fun place. The population seem obsessed with eating outdoors and there are outdoor restaurants and eateries everywhere- even on the traffic island in the middle of the road! We visited Hawaiian beach nearby and regretted not checking the bus timetable beforehand as we amused ourselves on the side of the road for 2 hours watching MK play with shy-grass and sing Korean songs!
From Miri, we boarded a tiny Fokers plane for a 30minute journey into the interior of Borneo – Mulu National Park – one of the last remaining patches of “untouched” jungle. So with camera in hand we peered out the window of the tiny plane eager to get some photos of the pristine jungle below. Instead, what we saw was the earth on fire.. Forested, burning, black and even worse, covered in hectare after hectare of palmoil.. The land was bisected by hundreds of man-made rivers flowing through it like unnatural veins – brown from the eroding soil and the sap of the trees polluting it as they were floated down stream. It was truly a sad sight.
Mulu itself, whilst being a national park and world heritage listed, unfortunately isnt immune either. The government has permitted “selective logging” within the park which has seen most of the mature hardwood trees dissapear from the perimeter and sometimes, from well within it.
Mulu is most famous for its caves. It is home to the longest cave in the world, the largest cave, and well, lots and lots of other caves. The caves are an impressive sight (although by the 4th cave we were a little caved-out) and are also home to millions of bats and an elaborate ecosystem that revolve around them and their poo. Every afternoon you can watch as the bats fly out of the cave in search of insects to eat for dinner (keeping the area pleasantly mosquito free!!) – the sheer number of them flying overhead in swarms of thousands sounds almost like a very loud swarm of bees!
To see the caves you have to join a tour which was a little dissapointing, but at the same time was also extremely rewarding when we were lucky enough to get a knowledgable guide. Henry was an extremely passionate guy from the Penan tribe. The Penan are the last surviving true jungle people in Borneo, and our guide still lives a semi-nomadic lifestyle and is passionate about preserving his peoples culture. Henry is trying to document and learn as many of the traditional skills before they become lost as more and more Penan leave the jungle and move to the cities. On our last day we did the skywalk through the canopy of the forest with Henry which was just amazing as he pointed out different edible plants and gave us a completely different look at the world around us. If we had have had more time I would have loved to have seen the pinnacles – limestone formations that jutt out from the jungle, and learn more about the jungle with Henry, but we just didnt have an extra 3-4 days..
It was awesome, yet sad at the same time, to know that we have witnessed some of the last remaining Borneo jungle..
But Mulu, beautiful as it is, isnt completely innocent either and it was quite a moral struggle deciding whether to go or not.
Firstly, there are several different guesthouses outside the park but most people (including us) stay inside at the park HQ. The park is run as a business, and as such, if you stay outside of it, you have to pay an entrance fee each time. We always try to spread our money through the surrounding community, however as most of the guesthouses outside the park were in fact run as businesses by non-locals, and adding into it the extra entrance fees involved, we decided to stay inside the park. We stayed in the huge dorm room, which was surprisingly quiet and comfortable and secure. The food in the restaurant was also quite good and even had lots of vegetarian options, and of course, MK's personal favourite – Nasi Goreng Ayam – Fried rice with chicken which he seriously ate for every meal!!
Getting to Mulu isnt easy. You either fly (about $80 with MAS), or when the water level permits and which no-one can guarantee before you leave, you spend 2-3 days boat-hopping up the river. If you fly, you will land at the airport owned and managed by the national park and be ushered into a minivan to take you straight there. However, being only 2 kms away, we walked and it was really a beautiful walk past little restaurants and shops and also, the only opportunity we really had to spend any money in the local community.
I wont elaborate too much on the politics and corruption surrounding the park here, but check out www.sarawakreport.com if you are interested.
Borneo – the name alone is enough to conjour up images of wild jungles, unspoilt wilderness, pristine beaches and rugged mountains. However, unfortunately, that's not quite what we found...
We started our traverse of Malaysian Borneo by flying into Kuching in the south of Sarawak with Nathan, Yui and Mk, friends from Tangalooma. Kuching was a pretty cute little town, quite and clean, situated along a pretty river. It is pretty much surrounded by national parks and makes a great base from which to explore. As I (Robyn) was stuck in bed with a bad bout of Gastro, our first day saw us exploring, not jungles and forests, but doctors.. If only doctors in Australia were as cheap, accommodating, listening and overall, concerned as they are in Malaysia. After barely being able to move, I was literally better the next day (or maybe it was the drugs??) so we set out to explore Bako National Park. Bako was simply beautiful and pretty much what we had expected Borneo to be like - Jungle. The only way to access it is by bus to a small village, then by boat. You can stay overnight or just do a daytrip like we did. We did a hike to a secluded and stunning beach that wasnt quite as easy as they had said it would be but it was a nice challenge and a really nice chance to sweat. We even saw some wild probiscus monkeys swinging in the trees above us which was completely unexpected! They seriously are the strangest looking monkey with huge noses and constant erections!!!
As Nathan, Yui and MK had sped ahead while I was sick, we too unfortunately didnt spend too much more time in Kuching and headed north to Sibu to try to catch up with them. Sibu, however is not exactly a hub of activity so by the time we arrived, Nathan and Yui had already left whilst MK waited behind for us to arrive.
To get to Sibu you can either take a bus or a boat – it wasnt really a question for us and so by boat it was! Being used to boats in Asia, we knew there would be an outside smoking section, and an indoor, AC pumping, Karaoke/Movie blaring non-smoking section. Even as non-smokers, we opted for the smoking section and had beautiful views of the (de)forested landscape. It was actually quite confronting, watching as hundreds of de-branched tree-trunks went floating past, pushed by a small tugboat, over and over again.. These tree-trunks were destined for one of the hundreds of timber mills that line the river.. Being faced with such a stark reality, our first instinct was to try to rationalise the environmental madness around us - Surely this must be the processing centre for ALL of Borneo! This number of trees simply cant be being felled everyday from this one area.. Surely!?! However there came a point, somewhere during the 3 hour trip when we just had to accept what we were seeing.. That beautiful national parks like Bako were in fact the rarity, and this was the real modern Borneo.
Sibu was Dull (with a deliberate capital D). It is a big, hot dirty city with literally NO landmarks or attractions at all. We struggled even filling our half a day with activities and the lovely man at the tourist information centre couldnt help us either. It is mainly used as a departure point for people travelling further up the river to some of the smaller towns and tribes in hope of seeing the traditional way of life. Sadly, this traditional way of life is now only maintained as something to show to tourists, and the majority of tribes have long since left their jungle homes (or in a lot of cases, had their jungle homes “removed” from them.) and so we decided not to go.
From Sibu we (plus MK) headed by bus north to Miri on the Bruneian border. Miri, although being a big city was actually quite a fun place. The population seem obsessed with eating outdoors and there are outdoor restaurants and eateries everywhere- even on the traffic island in the middle of the road! We visited Hawaiian beach nearby and regretted not checking the bus timetable beforehand as we amused ourselves on the side of the road for 2 hours watching MK play with shy-grass and sing Korean songs!
From Miri, we boarded a tiny Fokers plane for a 30minute journey into the interior of Borneo – Mulu National Park – one of the last remaining patches of “untouched” jungle. So with camera in hand we peered out the window of the tiny plane eager to get some photos of the pristine jungle below. Instead, what we saw was the earth on fire.. Forested, burning, black and even worse, covered in hectare after hectare of palmoil.. The land was bisected by hundreds of man-made rivers flowing through it like unnatural veins – brown from the eroding soil and the sap of the trees polluting it as they were floated down stream. It was truly a sad sight.
Mulu itself, whilst being a national park and world heritage listed, unfortunately isnt immune either. The government has permitted “selective logging” within the park which has seen most of the mature hardwood trees dissapear from the perimeter and sometimes, from well within it.
Mulu is most famous for its caves. It is home to the longest cave in the world, the largest cave, and well, lots and lots of other caves. The caves are an impressive sight (although by the 4th cave we were a little caved-out) and are also home to millions of bats and an elaborate ecosystem that revolve around them and their poo. Every afternoon you can watch as the bats fly out of the cave in search of insects to eat for dinner (keeping the area pleasantly mosquito free!!) – the sheer number of them flying overhead in swarms of thousands sounds almost like a very loud swarm of bees!
To see the caves you have to join a tour which was a little dissapointing, but at the same time was also extremely rewarding when we were lucky enough to get a knowledgable guide. Henry was an extremely passionate guy from the Penan tribe. The Penan are the last surviving true jungle people in Borneo, and our guide still lives a semi-nomadic lifestyle and is passionate about preserving his peoples culture. Henry is trying to document and learn as many of the traditional skills before they become lost as more and more Penan leave the jungle and move to the cities. On our last day we did the skywalk through the canopy of the forest with Henry which was just amazing as he pointed out different edible plants and gave us a completely different look at the world around us. If we had have had more time I would have loved to have seen the pinnacles – limestone formations that jutt out from the jungle, and learn more about the jungle with Henry, but we just didnt have an extra 3-4 days..
It was awesome, yet sad at the same time, to know that we have witnessed some of the last remaining Borneo jungle..
But Mulu, beautiful as it is, isnt completely innocent either and it was quite a moral struggle deciding whether to go or not.
Firstly, there are several different guesthouses outside the park but most people (including us) stay inside at the park HQ. The park is run as a business, and as such, if you stay outside of it, you have to pay an entrance fee each time. We always try to spread our money through the surrounding community, however as most of the guesthouses outside the park were in fact run as businesses by non-locals, and adding into it the extra entrance fees involved, we decided to stay inside the park. We stayed in the huge dorm room, which was surprisingly quiet and comfortable and secure. The food in the restaurant was also quite good and even had lots of vegetarian options, and of course, MK's personal favourite – Nasi Goreng Ayam – Fried rice with chicken which he seriously ate for every meal!!
Getting to Mulu isnt easy. You either fly (about $80 with MAS), or when the water level permits and which no-one can guarantee before you leave, you spend 2-3 days boat-hopping up the river. If you fly, you will land at the airport owned and managed by the national park and be ushered into a minivan to take you straight there. However, being only 2 kms away, we walked and it was really a beautiful walk past little restaurants and shops and also, the only opportunity we really had to spend any money in the local community.
I wont elaborate too much on the politics and corruption surrounding the park here, but check out www.sarawakreport.com if you are interested.
