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We found a cheap flight from Bangkok to Kota Kinabalu with Air Asia. This was great as it brought us directly to Borneo so we could avoid traveling via Kuala Lumpur, saving us some time and money.

The Unique Wildlife of Borneo

Odv
2006-04-15 18:37:04

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Close to Kuching lie a few national parks, we spent 3 days and 2 nights in Bako national park, a proboscis monkey sanctuary. These monkeys have a striking appearance, they have orange fur, a long thick hanging nose and big bellies. Malaysians named them orang belanda which means "Dutchman". The park is rather large, two days are required to cross it on foot.

Our attempt to see the monkeys at Telok Delima on the day of our arrival failed. However we heard from other visitors that the monkeys had been spotted near Telok Paku. So the next day we decided to walk to the beach at Telok Paku. I had already been fortunate enough to see 2 proboscis monkeys near the park HQ in the early morning but on Telok Paku it became a whole lot better! We had spotted a few of the monkeys in a tree not far from the beach. When the other visitors left, we stayed and waited to see what would happen.

More and more proboscis monkey appeared, at one point a group of 11 monkeys were visible on one side and 2 on the other side of the beach. Seven monkeys were even in the same tree! As we spotted another three single monkeys on the same walk, this brought the total sightings to 18 that day.

During a night walk we also saw a few interesting animals, namely a scorpion (that we nearly stepped on), a pit viper, fluorescent mos and mushrooms as well as a colorful frog.

On our last day at the park we asked to be dropped off by boat at Telok Pandan Kecil, from where we walked back to the park HQ. Walking this path we saw another of Bako National Park's highlights, namely pitcher plants. These are meat eating plants, that live off catching insects and devouring them.
Kuala Lumpur

As everything our Borneo adventure also came to an end, we would spend just a few more days in Kuala Lumpur before heading out to India. Borneo did make an impression and the island is a place that we hope to return to one day in the not too distant future.

The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is not bad for a large city. It boasts what was once the tallest building in the world (by certain measures), the famous Petronas towers. What I can't quite understand is why they do not allow people to go up the towers. The only thing open to visitors is the bridge connecting the two towers, which is not even halfway up. Instead KL tower (a nearby telecommunications tower) has an observation platform from which you have a rather nice view over the city and its surroundings.

One thing that has struck us all through our travels is how much nature and certain species are under threat from human activity. From the Galapagos to Borneo, the fight to preserve the last few remnants of unspoilt habitat and stop (illegal) hunting of endangered species, sometimes feels like a desperate attempt to still save something!

As Bill Bryson put it in his book Down Under: "[...] it seems that an awfully large part of travel these days is to see things while you still can."

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