Category Archives: Forest

Usukan Cove

“A bay full of corals” is my first impression of Usukan Cove in Kota Belud district. In fact, the rich diversity and density of corals in Usukan Cove reminds me of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park 30 years ago, the time when the corals were in pristine conditions and found in shallow water only a few feet away from the sandy beach, before they were spoiled by thousands of tourists nowadays…

Above: Japanese Bridge

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To go there from Kota Kinabalu, just drive in the direction to Kota Belud town. After an hour, you will arrive a roundabout, just follow the brown signage that says “Jeti Ke Pulau Mantanani” (Jetty to Mantanani Island). Then you will see second roundabout (Kuala Abai), follow the junction at the left, and you will arrive the entrance of Usukan Cove Lodge within 10 minutes.

On the way, you will pass by a white steel bridge built by Japanese to transport the copper that they collected from Mamut Minefield about 30 years ago. The locals call it the “Japanese Bridge”. The funny thing is – it is a one-way bridge in arch shape. Cars entering from both directions can’t see each other until one of them reaches the top. One car has to give way (by reversing back) to the car that comes up to the top first. The traffic volume is low so the locals seem to get used to such inconvenience.

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Usukan Cove Lodge offers basic and economic accommodation, from bunk-bed room (2 to 4 beds) to sea front twin-bed room (Online Booking available). These building were used to be the staff quarter of Shell who has oil rig off Mantanani Island. A tour operator took over it in March this year and turned it into a lodge. Though the rooms have no attached bathroom cum toilet, they are clean and cosy. The lodge is able to host maximum of 50 people, so it is a suitable school retreat location. Many European tourists also like this quiet place, because other islands such as Sapi and Manukan are too crowded and noisy to them. But frankly, the beach area there is quite small.

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Snorkelling

Snorkelling is the best choice of activity due to the rich corals in Usukan. Diving is available but you should not expect “too high” coz in rainy season, the flowing river nearby would make the sea water a bit murky and poor in visibility. One of the highlight is the “Christmas Tree” coral, which I believe is a tubeworm. Turtles and seahorses were spotted here before but not common. There are about 4 dive sites in Usukan, and 3 wreck diving sites for advanced divers.

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The density and size of the coral reef is remarkable. The boat dropped me in Usukan Reef and Icy Point for the snorkelling. The Usukan Reef mainly consists of hard corals. Each species seems like gathering in large clusters. I saw large areas of big plate corals and stag-horn corals. In Icy Point, I also saw mainly hard corals, with more mix of soft corals and sea grass. The sea water in Icy Point is a bit funny. In one spot I felt warm, but moving a few Metres away I would feel cool, probably that’s why they call it Icy Point. The corals come in different shapes, like big boulders, brain, hand, pyramid, sponge and flower. Though the shore is quite a distance away, the water was shallow and the corals grew quite tall. I had to be careful so I would not destroy the corals by accident.

Above: Diving / Snorkelling sites of Usukan Cove

The sad thing I noticed was the coral bleaching. About 10% of corals here were showing sign of bleaching. You can even see these white spots (bleached corals) clearly from the boat. This was not present two months ago. I saw a big and white “coral tree” underwater. Its look was so stunning, like a big snowy tree with ice branches. But the corals were dead actually, a heart-broken but beautiful scene.

Due to global warming, the corals of Peninsular Malaysia are badly affected and they have to close down 12 dive sites. Now the coral bleaching is slowly spreading to Sabah. It is not a local issue, as other Sabah islands in west coast (in South China Sea) are also facing the same problem. In fact, the pollution from our mainland has been stressing the corals, global warming is just the last stack of grass that crushes the camel.

Above: clear spot of coral bleaching

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Deep Sea Fishing

Then I went “deep sea fishing” in the sea 20 minutes off Usukan Cove by boat. Ehem… it was only 14 Meters in depth, not really deep. The “real” deep fish fishing is going for the depth of over 30 Meters. This tour operator does take hardcore anglers to real deep sea but that’s another package. It was so nice that the workers prepared everything for us, the fishing rod, hook and bait, making our lives so easy.

Above: fishing bait (basung fishes & squid)

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Can you believe it? In 3 minutes, we got our first fish! I thought we were only lucky. But from there on, we got fish in every 3 minutes. That’s not my case though. At first my fishing line entangled, then my fishing hook stuck in a rock, no fish for 30 minutes but the bait was gone, my fishing became “feeding fish”. Then a worker taught me a tip, I had to release my fishing hook all the way down to the bottom, not letting it dragged in the mid water or surface.

Above: blue-dotted stingray that has venomous sting

Above: our caught in one hour

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The tip really worked! Within 20 minutes, I got 3 fishes, two blacktip groupers (red color) and a Jackfish (silver color). One of us even got a puffer fish and another got blue-dotted stingray. The capture of blue-dotted stingray caused a brief moment of fear onboard coz its sting is venomous. I’m not sure about other countries, stingray is considered a delicacy in Sabah. Its meat is quite delicious if you don’t mind it gets a weird “chemical” taste (can mix it with lime juice to cover the smell). The sea was a bit choppy, so I walked like a drunken man on the deck. Btw, it is perfect to enjoy some beer while fishing. After an hour of fishing, we returned to Usukan Cove Lodge with our fruitful caught and they cooked the fishes for us.

Above: They cooked our caught as dinner. I hope this is steamed though.

Above: meat of stingray

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River Cruise

We started our river cruise at Kawa-Kawa River at 4PM, to look for playboy of Borneo. I mean the Proboscis Monkey, which has many wives and always in “ready” mode to mate. On one side of this 15-Meter-wide river is human settlement and another side is mainly mangrove and nipah forest. Since the proboscis monkeys are used to people, they are relatively less elusive and we can get really close to them.

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Proboscis Monkey has the habit of spending the night on the trees next to the river in the evening. For them, riverside is the safest site to stay away from predators at night. About 4 to 5 herds of Proboscis Monkey were spotted at Kawa-Kawa River. But there is no guarantee we can see them. Luckily we found 3 groups of them despite the poor weather.

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Besides long-nosed monkeys, we also saw crab-eating macaque (long-tailed macaque), monitor lizard and many birds such as oriental darter, white-bellied sea eagle, little heron, blue-throated bee eater, white-collar kingfisher, frigate, doves, egrets and bulbul. After we exited the estuary of Kawa-Kawa River and on the way to Abai River, we were rewarded by the magic moment of the sunset.

Above: a male proboscis monkey showed warning then ignored us

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Then we proceeded to the mangrove forest of Abai River to look at firefly around 6:40pm. Normally there should be hundreds of them. Unfortunately, that night was rainy and bright with moonlight, the most inactive time for firefly, so we only spotted a few twinkling fireflies in the riverside. Weather is not something we can control so nevermind then. Anyway, I had so much fun that day and would call it an excellent trip.

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If you are interested in tour to Usukan Cove, you may contact Inno Travel & Tour Services (http://www.sabahholidays.com).

Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Part 7 of 8. Trip to Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World – Day 6

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Continued from Part 6

Maliau Rim Observation Tower

Day 6, 5am in the morning, when I was in deep sleep, someone shake me to wake me up. I thought it was Mr. T, who has been bugging me to join him to look for Banteng in early morning, so I just say, “No lah… don’t want!” Then I hear the voice of Mr. J, “are you sure you don’t want to see sunrise at observation tower?” Why not? This is an extra programme which was not in our itinerary. I don’t feel sleepy anymore.

Quickly everyone dresses up and head to Maliau Rim Observation Tower which is only 3 KM away from our hostel (24 KM from the security gate). This 4-storey wooden observation tower is 18.6M (61 Feet) tall and offers a 360 degree panoramic view of Maliau Basin rim. The surrounding area of this tower is clear so no tall tree blocking our view.

We are up there waiting at 5:35am and it is still dark. When the magic moment approaches, the forest is gradually lighted and we find that we are surrounded by sea of misty forest and mountains! The sunrise casts its warm golden light through layer of rising mist, and then the green forest emerges. As dawn passes, various birds start their morning orchestra. We hear or see Barbet, Great Argus Pheasant, Minivet, Swiftlet and Malkoha. Some birds perch on the trees quite far away, so it is advisable to bring a binocular for bird watching.

Below is a 1.5-minute video of Maliau Basin sunrise:

Click Here to see bigger video.

You Choose: “Monkey or Gold?”

Looking at this magnificent scenery that is rare nowadays, I feel sad how human greed destroys the beautiful creation of God. Some people just can’t sleep if they can’t cut these trees. Thanks to the Sabah government, the buffer zone of Maliau Basin Conservation Area is being logged now.

Maliau Basin is a coastal river delta 9.15 million years ago, where plant decayed and accumulated in peat swamp. After long period of compression, this carbon layer forms coal seams between mud and sandstone layers. An estimated 200 million tons of coal deposit is discovered in Maliau Basin. On top of the coal reserve is a huge area of pristine forest with the most valuable commercial timbers. Inevitably Maliau makes many politicians mouth-watering.

In 1992, an EIA (Environment Impact Analysis) report stated that conservation and coal mining are incompatible in Maliau Basin, so either you mine the coal to destroy the place, or you do nothing to leave everything intact. In 1997, Sabah government upgraded Maliau Basin to First Class Protected Forest Reserve, which means NO logging and mining are allowed. In 1999, Maliau was further gazetted as a cultural heritage site under the state Cultural Heritage (Conservation) Enactment. All these show our determination to protect Maliau Basin.

In year 2000, Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik asked Sabahans, “What do you want: Monkeys or Gold?” and said, “There is no reason for the Sabah government to prevent the prospecting of coal in the Maliau Basin.” Well, giving Federal 95% of our oil royalty doesn’t make Sabah rich, so why giving them our coal? Of course Sabah decides to keep the monkeys. Guess what? 10 years later West Malaysia wants to relocate some of our orang-utan to KL. Now they know our monkeys are as worthy as gold too. The response of Sabahans is a middle finger to them. Ok, orang-utan is an ape and not a monkey, but now you see my point right.

Therefore, Federal fails to get our black gold and monkeys. Sabahans don’t want to surrender Maliau Basin, but none of us believes that the evil federal government will give up. When Sabah Electricity proposes to build a coal power plant in east coast (so near to Maliau), everyone smells something fishy. We suspect the coal power plant is just a conspiracy for creating excuse to mine the coal in Maliau Basin in future. I’m not sure if this is true but I would say this is a credible doubt. Let’s hope Maliau Basin will be listed and protected as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site soon, so someone can stop daydreaming.

Since we talk about Maliau Rim, probably you are interested to know how Maliau Basin was formed. I copied the info below from the Internet. But to be frank, I don’t know what the heck it talks about.

How was Maliau Basin formed?

By early Middle Miocene, between 14 and 15 million years ago, the eastern part of Sabah was subjected to NW-SE compression as tectonic plate interaction continued in this region. Active volcanism in eastern Sabah during this time was probably related to this tectonic force. The compression resulted in the gentle folding of the older Neogene and concentric shape of the smaller basins, with the faults acting as their boundaries. At this time, most of eastern Sabah was still under the sea, mostly very shallow waters.

The concentric-shaped basins were subsequently filled by younger Neogene sediments continuously until about 9 million years ago when the basins was uplifted above sea level due to continued compression in eastern Sabah. The compression resulted in the gentle folding of the sedimentary layers and at the same time accentuated the concentric shape of the basins, through the reactivation of old faults.

The intrusion of Mt. Kinabalu in West Sabah occurred during this time. As a result of the crustal shortening of the region due to the continued tectonic plate collision in this region, the whole of Sabah, including the shallow coastal area we see today, was fully uplifted above sea level by the end of Miocene time, about 5 million years ago. The Maliau Basin and the surrounding areas were probably uplifted to its present height with a slight tilt to the South-east. Following the uplift, the Maliau Basin and surrounding areas were subjected to intense weathering and erosion that continued up to this day.

Get it? Don’t ask me okay. My geography sucks. I only know in Murut language, Maliau has three meaning, (1) Land of the Giant Staircase, (2) Milky or Murky (river) and (3) Bowl / Basin.

Return to Kota Kinabalu

We return to the hostel to pack our stuffs. Before we leave Maliau Basin, we collect our certificate at the Administration Office of Maliau Basin Studies Centre (MBSC). Yes, anyone who reaches Maliau Falls is eligible to get a certificate. The number is still in 3 digits (my number is 500 something). If it is a serial number, that means less than 1,000 people have seen Maliau Falls? Wow, such a big deal. Perhaps I should include this certificate in my resume or CV, together with my blood donation and Mt. Kinabalu certificates, to impress my interviewers. We also take a peek at the Nature Gallery in MBSC. The gallery presents a lot of interesting photographs and information about Maliau Basin. It will be open soon. My camera is out of battery so I didn’t take any photo.

We use the Tambunan road to go back to Kota Kinabalu. It is really misty and the visibility is poor. Our car always stuck behind the slow-moving trucks. On the way, we drop by a famous roadside stall that sells wild boar meat. I didn’t buy any wild boar meat. Yesterday I just admire the wild boar, then I put it on dinner plate today? It is kind of weird so I didn’t buy any. I am not really fond of wild boar meat because its smell is stronger than pork. Someone say this is because most wild boars they hunt are those that eat oil palm fruits in plantation. The wild boar from “real jungle” tastes a lot better.

At last I arrive home at 6:30PM and conclude my trip to Maliau Basin officially. I still have one last blog that contains useful info for those who plan to go to Maliau Basin.

>> Next Article (Part 8)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

All Articles of Maliau Basin Trip:
Part 1. Introduction to Maliau Basin
Part 2. Day 1 in Maliau Basin
Part 3. Day 2 in Maliau. Trekking to the 1st camp
Part 4. Day 3 in Maliau. Maliau Waterfall
Part 5. Day 4 in Maliau. Entering the garden of pitcher plant
Part 6. Day 5 in Maliau. Skybridge & Night Safari
Part 7. Day 6 in Maliau. Leaving Maliau
Part 8. Conclusion & Notes

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 6 of 8. Trip to Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World – Day 5

Continued from Part 5

Hundred-Feet Observation Tower

I wake up early at 5am in day 5, when others are still in their dream. Next to the Nepenthes Camp is an observation platform on top of a 33-Meter Agathis borneensis tree. I want to climb up there early to see the sunrise.

Soon Mr. J and Mr. T also wake up to join me. Ms. S doesn’t join coz she has issue with the height and says there is no way she will do it. It is already frightening just looking at this tall tree. Anyway, adventure is doing something that scares you. At 5:15am, one by one, we climb up to the tree top with aluminum ladder that fixed to the tree body.

Imagine you climb a ladder to the top of a building over 10 floors high in the dark (about same height as the Karamunsing Complex in Kota Kinabalu). This is the second scariest climb that I attempt so far (the first is Batu Punggul). A misstep and you will be a free falling object for hundred feet.

One good thing to climb in the dark is, you can’t see anything under your feet, so it is not that terrifying. Mr. T and J got up there first. I hang the camera and tripod over my shoulder and move up carefully. After a few days of holding camera to take thousand of photos, my fingers are really painful. The extra camera weight also makes my legs tired and shivers. I have to stop a few times to rest. Finally, I reach the top within 10 minutes.

Above: a helipad not far away from Nepenthes Camp

Above: Nepenthes Camp looks so small from top. You can see the solar panel on the roof.

Strictly speaking, the observation tower is only a wooden platform on top of a tall tree. It is not really a tower. The structure is fenced and solid enough to take 5 to 6 persons. It is 5:40am. We look out from this platform and see that our house is so small under our feet. We also admire and appreciate the pretty Agathis borneensis tree that house the structure.

Above: the beautiful skin of Agathis borneensis tree, note the pocked-marked, greyish-reddish bark.

Above: Mr. J waits to video sunrise

The sunrise comes at 6:10am. The surrounding and the trees are painted with golden hue of colors. The birds also start their days. Many colourful birds such as Iora and Scarlet Minivet gather around the canopy of this tree. This platform is quite a nice bird watching spot. We climb down at 6:40am for breakfast, when the sunrise show is over. Damn it! I find a crack on the LCD protector. Luckily it helps to block the damage to LCD which would cost hundreds to fix.

Above: Mr. T climbing down

Above: it’s me climbing down the tree

Back to Maliau Basin Studies Centre (MBSC)

We are very relaxing today, coz we will leave the total wilderness of Maliau Basin and the trail is mostly descending (easy) path. Even though I am cut off from civilisation for many days, I don’t really feel homesick, it’s a sad day for me actually. After we have our breakfast, we depart at 8:30am to Agathis Camp, which is 7.5 KM away and a move from 1,005 to 421 Meters above sea level.

Above: trail in red is our path to Agathis Camp today

Above: the trail in 3D model

The guides warn us about the steep downhill trail and we should “brake” always and don’t run too fast. And they are right. The descending trail is not easy and it does not make us move faster, and it poses another challenge. There is no way you can tell if the soil is soft or solid until you step on it. The slope area is dangerous coz the soil is soft and slippery. The slippery “trap” is so evil coz the mud layer is just thin enough to make you slip, but not deep enough to hold your foot. I have to make sure both of my hands are supported by a rope or tree before I take the next step. I can survive a fall but my camera might not. Just be careful of the precipitous hills…

Over the days, I discover a special ability of women. They just can’t stop talking, during trekking, eating and sleeping, ALL the time. I am already out of breath trekking and they still talk to me. At the end, I just pretend I don’t hear them. Sorry, I am just too tired.

Above: lookout point, where you can see Maliau rim through gap between the trees.

Since this is the last jungle trekking of our trip, we just walk slowly, open all our senses and enjoy the surrounding view. We saw a family of 3 Bornean gibbons swings on tree branches. Red & Hose’s Leaf Monkeys (langurs) and Bornean gibbons are very common primates in Maliau. We also hear the distinct calls of Black & Yellow Broadbill and Bornean Bristlehead, and also the loud pecking noise of a woodpecker. Then Mr. T is very excited and shows me a flower of Dendrobium cinnabarinum. He says this flower is very rare, the two (all) varieties are found in Maliau Basin only.

Above: flower of Dendrobium cinnabarinum.

Finally at 12:30pm, we arrive Agathis Camp, where we have our pack-lunch. We are asked to take a shower and put on clean clothing, before we are allowed to sit in the beloved 4-wheel of the guide. Then we leave Agathis Camp and go to the hostel of MBSC, where we will spend the last night in Maliau Basin. After staying 3 days in jungle camp, the hostel is really a 5-star accommodation to us now. The guides and porters are very happy too coz now they can watch World Cup 2010 in MBSC.

Above: don’t know who brings this tiger leech back to the hostel. It is fully fed with 1 year worth of meal, so fat… lol

Skybridge (Canopy Walk)

You are wrong if you think we are holidayers who can sit still for day doing nothing. After we unpack our bags in hostel, we start to get restless and want to go to Skybridge (suspension bridges built between tall trees high above the ground). It rains heavily in the afternoon so we go around 4PM.

The Skybridge is only a 10-minute drive from MBSC. Constructed in April 2007 and linked up with about 8 super tall trees (Uratmata, Sepatir, Merbau and Seraya), Skybridge is the second longest canopy walk of Sabah, with a length of 293.8 Meters (Highest Point: 21.35 Meters).

Above: can you see them? They look so small…

Maliau Basin is an Important Birding Area. More than 290 bird species are found here, with more than 20 are endemic to Borneo, and 26% are listed as threaten or near-threaten by IUCN. Here you can find all 8 species of hornbill of Borneo, 6 species of kingfishers and all 9 species of Bornean barbets. We see fruits of fig species (Ficus), which is the favourite of hornbills, who visit as many as 240 species of fruit trees. We spend an hour here and back to hostel later.

Above: fruit of Ficus tree

Above: a weird praying mantis looking at us

Night Safari

Tonight we have a night safari at 8pm. We just sit on the jeep and let the guide scans for wildlife by using a spotlight. If the guide spots anything, the car will stop and he will show and tell us what we see. This is highly depends on luck. In bad day, you would see nothing.

Above: this wild boar (Sus barbatus) always comes to MBSC. She got 8 babies.

During an hour of fun drive, we see Malay Civet cat, Sambar Deer (cervus unicolor), Flying Squirrel, Rhinoceros Hornbill and Buffy Fish Owl.

We have been seeing the fresh dung of Banteng and elephants and hope to see them tonight, but too bad none of them turn up. Anyway, below are their photos for you to know how they look like.

Above: Banteng (Bos javanicus), Asian Wild Cattle or Bornean Wild Ox, known as Tembadau locally. Left is the female and right is male Banteng. Banteng is extinct in West Malaysia (since 1950) and Sarawak (since 1980). It was used to be the favourite game species of hunters but now it is endangered and protected in Sabah. The domesticated Banteng becomes Bali cattle. Note the white “stockings” on the legs. About 15 to 20 Banteng are recorded in Maliau.

Above: Pygmy elephant of Borneo is the smallest elephant species in the world.

Above: Common barking deer (Red Muntjac), known as Kijang locally. It can grow in length up to 98 to 111 cm, a height of 50 cm and a weight of 15 to 35 Kg. You can buy its meat as it is still the game species.

FYI, all 5 cat species (i.e. flat-headed cat, marbled cat, bay cat, leopard cat, clouded leopard) of Sabah are found around Maliau Basin. They are very elusive and secretive animals active at night, so they are very hard to spot.

Finally, we have joined all the programme In Maliau Basin and will go back to Kota Kinabalu tomorrow. But there is still one more unplanned programme waits for us tomorrow.

>> Next Article (Part 7)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Other canopy walk in Sabah:
Poring Canopy Walkway (highest in Sabah)
Canopy Walk of Danum Valley (award-winning attraction)
Rainforest Discovery Center (best for bird-watching)

Part 5 of 8. Trip to Nepenthes Camp (Heath Forest)

Continued from Part 4…

Day 4 in Maliau Basin

I am ready to go home today morning. We have to cancel our trip halfway coz Ms. S is injured and suffer muscle pain. When all of us are in “quitting” mode, Ms. S has geared up and I can sense the “Go! Go! Go!” mood on her face. “Did you tell her… our decision?” I ask the others quietly. They look at one another and shake their heads. What?!! None of us told her the bad news? Probably nobody dares to upset her.

Then she is quite shock to find out the rest of us have decided (without her) to cancel the trip and return to Maliau Basin Studies Centre today. She assures J, our guide, and O, Senior Ranger, that she is almost fully recover, after she did the stretching exercise advised by the doctor over the night. J is very doubtful and tries to convince her to stop. Then they quarrel. The rest stay away from the “storm” and wait. It is not for us to decide because only Ms. S knows her own condition.

Above: GPS reading of Ginseng Camp

Soon the thunderstorm is over, the face of our guide looks pale, like a cock losing a fight; he comes and informs us to get ready to Nepenthes Camp. We almost jump and scream in joy. Though we wish to continue the trip, we really concern about her condition. We don’t want her to proceed just because she doesn’t want to spoil our trip. Again, she shows no intention of quitting. The guides say they will observe her condition, if she can’t make it for the first 500 Meters, then we have to turn back. If you read my last blog, you know how terrible the trail is. Later we find that we worry too much. She always walks at the front. The “Iron Lady” is back!

Above: GPS reading of Nepenthes Camp

Going to Nepenthes Camp

At 8:30am, we start walking from Ginseng Camp (566 M above sea level) to Nepenthes Camp (formerly Camel Trophy Camp) at 1,005 Meters. Today is also one of the best days. In 7KM of jungle trekking from 566M to 1,000M in elevation (a lot of climbing then!), we will pass through 3 types of forest, namely, mixed dipterocarp rainforest, lower montane forest and heath forest. We will stay in Nepenthes Camp for a night.

Above: trail (in red) from Ginseng Camp to Nepenthes Camp

Above: trail in 3D model

The terrain is as undulating as our previous trails. We first walk in mixed dipterocarp rainforest with many hundred-feet trees, quite similar to what I saw in Agathis-Ginseng trail. For every 100 Meters we ascend, the temperature drops by 0.75 degree Celsius, so it is getting cool and fresh.

About two hours later, a forest of huge trees changes to a forest full of slim and short trees only about 15 to 30 Meters high. Conspicuous green cushions of mosses, liverworts and lichens are seen along the trail. We have entered the Lower Montane Forest (750M – 850M above sea level). There are some weird plants that you would notice in montane forest (see photos below).

Above: Tristaniopsis sp. tree with orange bark, you can peel off the skin easily.

Above: a Rengas tree which can cause intense allergies, and is related to the well known Poison Ivy.

Above: Fan palm is common in montane forest

Heath Forest: Garden of Pitcher Plant

Then we saw the first pitcher plant at 11am. Very soon we saw many more small pitcher plants along the trail. The guide asks us not to waste our time to photograph these ordinary pitcher plants, because there are more big and special ones ahead. And they are right. We enter the tropical heath forest, also a garden of pitcher plant! We can see very obvious change of vegetation; the heath forest contains dense stands of smaller sized, small-crowned & shorter trees mostly shorter than 20 Meters. The trail is quite narrow, but more sunlight due to smaller canopy.

Above: first pitcher plant

Occur from 900 to 1,600 Meters above sea level and occupy 21% of Maliau Basin, heath forest is a type of tropical moist forest found in areas with leached, acidic, white sandy soils that are extremely nutrient-poor. Heath Forest is locally known as Kerangas in Iban language, the word means a forested land with underlying soils which are unsuitable for growing rice. There are not many heath forest in Sabah and this is the first time I see it.

Above: white sandy soil in heath forest

Because of the infertile soil, the plant is rich in tannins, which is indigestible or toxic to plant eaters. The tannins leaching out of the peaty leaf litter is hard to be broken down, so it stays in the water. The reddish brown color of river water in Maliau Basin is mainly caused by heath forest. The forest floor is criss-crossed by tangled roots encrusted in moss, making the ground very marshy and soft.

We can see fascinating pitcher plants in every few steps. Some are on the ground, and some dangled up to tree top, attempting to capture high flying insects. Except Maliau and Mesliau, there is no other place in Sabah where I can see such a big concentration of pitcher plant. 9 species of pitcher plant are found in Maliau Basin, namely, N. veitchii, N. tentaculata, N. stenophylla, N. mirabilis, N. hirsuta, N. lowii, N. gracilis, N. reinwardtiana, N. stenophylla x veitchii (hybrid). Most of the pitcher plants I see in this heath forest are Nepenthes veitchii and Nepenthes stenophylla.

Besides rich variety of pitcher plant, we also found some flowering orchids and Rhododendron. 21 species of Rhododendron are found in Maliau Basin. I was told that many Japanese tourists and botanists don’t want to leave this natural botanical garden as they love it so much. Mr. T is a plant expert, so he keeps me busy taking photos by showing me some unique and rare plants around.

There are fewer leeches in heath forest, but they are bigger here. Probably due to the white sandy soil here, the tiger leech has white, instead of yellow, stripes at the side of its bodies. We don’t see any other animals except a noisy Temmink’s Sunbird. We are close to the camp when we enter the Jalan Babi (Wild Boar Road), which is a clear and wide trail created by migration of wild boars that feed on fallen acorns. You better stay close with your guide because there are many junctions here, as you could be lost easily.

Above: “Wild Boar” road

Nepenthes Camp (formerly Camel Trophy Camp)

We arrived the Nepenthes Camp at 2pm (a total of 5.5 hours of walking). Constructed by the participants of Camel Trophy (hence the old name “Camel Trophy Camp”) in 1993, Nepenthes Camp was the first and oldest permanent camp within the Maliau Basin and it is located strategically at the meeting point of lower montane forest and heath forest on southern plateau of Maliau Basin.

Nepenthes Camp is a 2-storey wooden house smaller than Ginseng Camp. It is complete with bunk beds, showers, kitchen, toilet and solar electricity, which can accommodate up to 15 visitors. Personally I think it is more comfortable than Ginseng Camp, coz it has proper rooms with beds. The ground floor is the kitchen, dining area, toilet and shower room, and our rooms are in 1st floor.

Nepenthes Camp is the oldest camp and frequented by most visitors, so it has the most number of plaques (nearly hundred) created by tourists. Some plaques are very creative and interesting. We can spend hours just to look at them, which is great, as we have nothing to do at night. We also find the names of our friends on some plaques.

Above: part of the plaque collection in Nepenthes Camp

Above: Honeymoon in Maliau Basin. Are they serious?

Above: this one made in 2002, probably the oldest plaque

Giluk Falls

I have a quick lunch at Nepenthes Camp, then proceed to Giluk Falls at 2:30pm. Ms. D and Mr. T are tired and so they don’t follow me and Ms. S. We walk so fast that we arrive Upper Giluk Waterfall in an hour. Giluk Falls is also a multi-tier waterfall but it is much more smaller than Maliau Falls. However, it has the beauty of its own.

We can see white foams flowing slowly on the water (look like someone does her laundry in the upstream). Actually these frothy white foams are created by soapy saponins from the leaves, and they are commonly seen on the river around heath forest. The reddish brown river is rich in Humic acids, produced by, and washed from, the very slowly decaying leaf litter beneath the heath forests and highest montane forest. Humic acids are difficult to degrade so they remain in the river. The water is also low in oxygen level, so only 4 fishes and 2 crab species are found in the rivers of Maliau Basin.

Due to time constraint, we don’t go to Takob-Akob Waterfall, which is far away with very challenging landscape. We are back to the Nepenthes Camp around 5:20pm.

Update (May 2011): I visited Takob-Akob Falls, the tallest waterfall (38 Meters) in Maliau Basin, in my second trip. You may watch the video below:

Click Here for bigger video

The Evening

The water pump in Nepenthes Camp broke down, so we have very limited water that we have to take our shower in a river nearby. But I have to climb down a 5-feet drop, walk on the dirty muddy riverside to the river, so I give up. I get a scoop of clean water in the toilet to wash myself with wet towel.

Nepenthes Camp is powered by 6 solar panel on the roof. The electricity is only enough for lighting of our dinner. During dinner time, about 3 Malay Civet cats (Viverra tangalunga) turn up outside our house. We give them our leftover food and they enjoy it. Though they keep a distance from us, they seem to get used to human already. One of them is lack of one limb and being chased away by other two. If you stay still, they can come as close as 2 Meters away. From the info of other web sites, visitors and guides have been feeding them since year 2001 (but I’m not sure if it is always the same group of civets).

The night in Nepenthes Camp is not too cold, probably we sleep in a proper room. The sky is so clear and full of stars. I can even see the Milky Way (our galaxy) runs across the sky like two parallel silver rivers. It’s so great to be alive. You can’t see this in city coz it is overshadowed by street light and dusty air. We feel so relaxing because we have finished all the challenging trails. Tomorrow we will go back to Agathis Camp and it is mainly descending trail.

Late in midnight, I heard someone was shouting to the air. Next day I was told that it was a guide who asked for “permission” from spirit so he can pee from the balcony. The reason was – when he took shower with another guide at the river in evening, they felt that “someone” throwing thing at them. He might think that the spirit in forest dislikes him, so he tries to be respectful.

>> Read Next Article (Part 6)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 4 of 8. Trip to Maliau Waterfall

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Continued from Part 3

Day 3 in Maliau Basin

I open my eyes and say good morning to a cockroach on my bed. Today we will go to the famous 7-tier Maliau Waterfall, which is one of the highlights of our Maliau Basin trip. Due to its hilly terrain and network of rivers, Maliau Basin has the densest number of waterfalls in Malaysia. To date, about 20 waterfalls were discovered in Maliau, and there should be more waterfalls that are not found and named.

Above: route in red is our trail to Maliau Falls today

Above: trail in 3D

The book “Maliau Basin” describes, “The Basin represents a single catchment, and is drained by a set of radiating tributaries of the Maliau River, one of which descends a magnificent series of waterfalls, known as Maliau Falls. The Maliau River then drains through a gorge out of the southeast of the Basin into the Kuamut River, which in turn feeds into the Kinabatangan, the longest river in Sabah.”

Going to Maliau Waterfall

We will come back to Ginseng Camp after the visit, so we can pack light and don’t need any porter. Unfortunately, Ms S hasn’t recovered from her muscle pain so she cannot join us. To stock more energy, I eat as much as I can for breakfast, and we depart for Maliau Falls, which is about 4.8KM one way, at 7:50am. Folklore has it that the Maliau Falls keeps a secret of a sleeping dragon under the water falls, and the movement of its big tail can cause flood.

Very soon we reached the most torturing part of the trail. It was a 300 Meters of very steep trail, which is our fierce battlefield with the gravity. We have to get a hold of the ropes and small trees next to the trail to move up slowly. It is only a small section of the trail but the climb already drains nearly half of my energy. This day is my worst day in Maliau trip. The straps of my heavy camera and tripod causing pain to my shoulder too. The good news is, after this challenging part, there are about 3 easier hilly trails to overcome ahead. The bad news is, tomorrow we will need to cross this part again to go to Nepenthes Camp.

Above: a huge Agathis tree

We stopped by Lobah Camp for a refreshing break. Lobah Camp (formerly Helipad Camp), which is 2 KM away from Maliau Falls, is a helipad on a clear hill. From here you will get a 230 degree panoramic view of Maliau Basin, a nice midway stop between Ginseng Camp and Maliau Waterfall. FYI, there is a water tank nearby for you to refill water (unboiled rain water).

Above: Lobah Camp got its name from the Lobah palm tree, which is abundant around the camp.

Above: Lobah Camp

Above: view from Lobah Camp

Below is a 1-minute video of Lobah Camp and its water tanks.

Part of the trail is quite flat and comfortable to walk on. I really enjoy the “ridge walk” on Bambangan ridge, the constant cool breeze there is like a natural air-cond. We are greeted by the calls of numerous Bornean gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) and even see a few of them swing very fast from tree to tree (but they look really clumsy walking on the branch, haha..). We saw a group of red-leaf monkey too. Do you know that every square KM in Maliau Basin has 35 individuals of gibbons / leaf monkey? This is the highest density in Sabah.

The guide in front also spotted a sun bear. Very often we hear the loud wing flapping noise of hornbills passes by the canopy, and the funny call of Helmeted hornbill that sounds like laughing. In Maliau Basin, you can find all 8 species of Hornbills of Sabah, with Rhinoceros Hornbill as the dominant species here. We see some interesting mushroom and fungus along the trail.

We start to descend to lower altitude (about 300 Meters asl) and feel the sweltering heat of lowland forest. Then we hear the waterfall about 1KM away. It should be a gigantic waterfall as it is so loud. We are motivated to walk faster. The last 100 Meter to the Maliau Waterfall is another steep descending trail. It was such a joyful moment to reach the waterfall at 11:35am! We were at the 6th tier of the 28-Meter-high Maliau Waterfall. The cascading waterfalls are caused by alternating hard sandstone and softer mudstone beds, wear out in different speed of water erosion.

Above: The signage of Maliau Falls. Don’t you think the warnings “No Swimming” and “Swim at Your Own Risk” are contradict to each other?

Below is a 1-minute video of Maliau Falls:

The Majestic 7-tiers Maliau Falls

OMG OMG WOW it is so cool! Due to last 2 days of raining, the roaring Maliau Waterfall is in its most beautiful form. In no time, I setup my tripod and shoot photos like crazy. Ms D swam in the tea-color water (rich with caustic tannins & soapy saponins leached from the fallen leaves). Actually we are between the 6th and 7th tier of Maliau Falls. With a height of 28 Meters (about 9 floor high), the 6th tier is the highest. The lowest tier is about 15 Meters. To me, the Maliau Falls look more like a few separate waterfalls on the same river. Is the “7-tier” a marketing gimmick or it is really a multi-tier waterfall “technically”? No matter what, Maliau Falls is one of the most photogenic waterfalls in Malaysia.

Maliau Falls is the most popular attraction of Maliau Basin and most visitors target for it. FYI, any visitor who reaches Maliau Falls will earn a certificate. We deserve it as the trail is so far and more challenging than climbing Mt. Kinabalu. We enjoy our packed lunch at the river side, and then continue with more photography (and swimming). After living under the dark and humid forest for days, I am really pleased with the view of flowing water under bright sun.

There are so many sweat bees, stingless bees and honey bees fly around and harvest the sweat on our skin. Probably they are lack of salt in the forest. To avoid agitating them, I just ignore them, but one of the big wild honey bees bites me. It’s so painful! I guess it is just too excited and want to bite off a piece of the salt (my skin!). Below are a few photos (taken in Agathis Camp) to show you how crazy these bees are when they smell salt on the shirt.

Return to Ginseng Camp

The sky turns cloudy and it might rain anytime, so we leave the waterfall at 1:20pm. I finish 1.2 Litre of my drinking water, so I refill my bottle with the tea-color water from the river. Yes, I know drinking uncooked water is not safe, but the risk of getting dehydration is a lot higher than diarrhoea now. From what I read from blog of others, many visitors don’t have enough water for the returning trip and they were badly dehydrated, so be warned. No, the tea-colored river water does not taste or smell funny. It tastes like normal fresh water. If you are very thirsty in the forest, water is the sweetest thing in the world. I advise you to bring some Iodine tablets to purify uncooked water before consumption. Mr. T is also short of water, but he refuses to take uncooked water. Then he suffers dehydration followed by fatigue and almost passed out twice. Luckily we all return safely to Ginseng Camp at 5:15pm.

Above: a natural wall that looks like man-made structure. This area was sea million years ago and the fossils of corals and seashell were found around this place.

A Sad Night

Sitting still for day to rest didn’t help, Ms. S doesn’t get any better. Her muscle is still in pain and she walks like an injured cat. Then a group of Canadian tourists enter the camp, one of them is doctor and one is an athlete who is familiar with sport injury. After listening to the problem of Ms. S, they seem to fully understand what she goes through, so they teach Ms. S the stretching exercise that could ease her muscle to recover faster. Ms. S really wants to get well soon, so she even wakes up at night to do the stretching every hour, and taking anti-inflammatory every 8 hours.

We have cabbage, mixed vegetables, egg plant, scrambled eggs and Miso soup as our dinner. Since we are so hungry, we really enjoy the dinner time and keep talking about the exciting things of the day. After the dinner, our guide, Mr. J has a discussion with us when Ms. S is not around. In view of her situation, we all think that she won’t make it next day, and we shouldn’t leave her behind and have fun on our own. We all agree to cancel the trip and turn back to Maliau Basin Studies Centre tomorrow morning. The porters will prepare a stretcher to carry Ms. S out.

When the trip is so fantastic until now and my spirit is so high (and I pay so much $$$), and I have to quit at this moment?!! This decision is such a big blow, my heart sinks to my knees, but I know that’s the best decision and we have no choice. I can’t describe my feeling; it’s a mix of disappointment, sadness, dismay, frustration, etc. But accident happens. I don’t blame her. I start to pack my stuffs for the trip back to starting point next day.

Tonight is not too cold but I can’t fall in sleep. Since there is no street light, it is pitch dark, 100% dark. Even though I open my eyes widely for a long time, I still can’t see a thing, as if I am blind! Then I hear something as big as a cat running around our beds. Without light, I wonder how those nocturnal animals see at night.

Later I have a dream that the God takes us home. Just kidding..

>> Next Article (Part 5)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 3 of 8. Day 2 in Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World

Continued from Part 2…

The Real Start

Though this is my second day in Maliau, today is the “real” day as I will go to Maliau Basin on foot. We wake up early in the morning to prepare our breakfast and packed lunch. The porters arrived shortly after we had our breakfast. At first, we thought our porters will be a group of muscular tough guys like King Kong. We are surprised that our porters are youngsters who are “smaller” than us. Most of them are 18 or 20 something, and a few even married with kid.

Above: our strong porters. Look like boys huh?

To ease my burden, I get a personal porter that carries 12 KG of my stuffs, so I only need to carry 5KG of my camera and tripod. One of the porters even carries over 30 KG! Seeing the heavy bags pressing their back, I have a bad feeling, like I am treating them like camel, just for a fee of RM100 (USD$32) per day. They are nice people but speak very limited English.

Agathis Camp

Then everyone is transferred by 4-wheel to Agathis Camp, the starting point of our 9-KM jungle trekking to Ginseng Camp today. Agathis Camp is 8.82KM away from Maliau Basin Studies Center (our hostel) and located at the southern-most edge of Maliau Basin Conservation Area, about 20 KM to the north of the Security Gate and 500 Meters above sea level.

Above: the trail in red is our route for today

Above: the trail in 3D model

Agathis Camp is named after Agathis trees (Damar Minyak), the large conifers, growing up to 55 Meters, with 3 species being found in Maliau. It is easily recognised by the abundance of resin and distinctive jig-saw patterned bark and absence of buttress. Agathis tree is very limited and scarce in distribution and found in mixed dipterocarp, heath & lower montane forest.

The largest Agathis tree in Maliau has a circumference of more than 7 Meters. Agathis trees were also found in New Zealand. The wood is very popular among the Japanese as it is used for building attractive ceilings and walls. Agathis is considered as the “iconic” tree of Maliau Basin.

Above: fruits of Agathis tree

Explorer who spent 6 days in Agathis Camp recorded 109 birds and 30 mammals. The camp is near the edge of rainforest and Agathis River. The camp is furnished with very basic facilities such as canvas beds (for up to 30 visitors), kitchen, dining area, electricity supply, toilets and showers. A 1-KM self-guided nature trail at the camp provides visitors with a fascinating introduction to the forest and its wildlife. If you want to stay inside the forest but don’t want to explore deeper inside Maliau Basin, Agathis Camp is a good choice.

Going to Ginseng Camp

But we do not stay in Agathis Camp. After we looked around in Agathis Camp for a few minutes, we proceed (at 8am) to the next destination, Ginseng Camp, by jungle trekking over a rugged terrain of 9KM. The forest ranger (with VHF radio sets) and porters were also going with us. Forest Ranger is not a guide. He monitors the visitors to make sure they don’t violate the park guidelines (such as poaching and stealing Gaharu wood (Aquilaria malaccensis)).

Before this, everyone told me they were either too old or weak and said something like “I will be very slow, please wait for me lah”, but when the trekking started, I was always the last one. Anyway, it is the worst day of Maliau trip for most of us. We are inside the mixture of lowland and hill rainforest, and many trees are over 50 feet high.

Due to the dense canopy created by the tall trees, the space below is wet, shady and lack of undergrowth plant. Most of the time we walked on thick layers of foliage and saw many tiny insects such as ants, spiders and cockroach fleeing around (and leeches that come to us!), when our steps stir the leaves. I spotted many interesting mushroom and fungus along the trail.

Above: wild orchid

Above: camera trap

Above: message on camera trap. I guess they are really pissed off already, lol…

Basically most of the trails are uphill roads and part of them is suite steep and need the use of ropes and ladder for moving up. The trail about 3.5 to 4.5 KM before the Ginseng Camp is the most terrible part, due to the steep uphill trail. We saw the sky on higher point. But after the long long walk, we still see the sky, like the highest point is unreachable, very de-motivating. So I quit to look up, I lower my head and only focus on small distance of trail in front of me and move up slowly.

The nice thing is – when we move up to higher altitude, the air getting cooler and refreshing. We have our lunch in the jungle. But frankly I lose my appetite and only take a few bites of the dry rice in lunch box. Then we continue again. On the way, we were constantly asking the guide “how many kilometres left?” and hope to get motivated from smaller number each time. Mr. T is a plant expert so he is able to identify the rare plant for me to photograph. Without him, the trip would be less fun.

Above: yummy… the fungus look like sweet bun.

Above: cookie fungus? Look tasty…

Legion of Leeches

Due to the heavy rain the day before, there are hundreds of slimy leeches on the trail because these little blood suckers are active in wet environment. Though they are blind, they can detect heat and vibration and also extremely persistent, with so many of them around, a few of them will crawl onto your skin eventually.

Above: two leeches f**k each other on the shoe

Whenever we stop and rest, we will see dozens of leeches coming to our feet. As expected, very soon the leech claims its first victim, Ms. S, who got a leech bite on her stomach. She didn’t even notice it until a guide told her the bleeding under the shirt. I was once very afraid of leeches. But I become so used to them in Maliau trip and even help others to remove the leeches by hand.

Because I know the leech prevention method, I got only one leech bite in the whole trip. In fact, that only leech bite happened in the camp. Someone didn’t remove the leeches hidden inside their shoes when they entered the camp. So a brown leech crawled out of the shoe and came to me. I didn’t know I was eaten until Mr. T told me. Please always de-leech yourself before you enter the room ok. Usually leech bite only takes a tiny amount of blood and it does not bring any infection and disease. The only problem is the anti blood-clotting agent from the kiss of leech will cause non-stop bleeding for hour. The amount of bleeding from only a few leech bites is as shocking as a devastating injury.

Ginseng Camp

After 7 hours of trekking, we arrived Ginseng Camp at 15:20pm. Ginseng Camp is 645 Meters above sea level. This camp is named after Ginseng plant (Renellia borneensis, coffee family – Rubiaceae) around this place. This “Malaysian ginseng” has reddish-yellow to orange color roots, with medical properties that improve your energy and vitality.

Above: almost there

Above: Malaysian Ginseng

The 27-Meter Ginseng Waterfall is about 500 Meters away from Ginseng Camp, so I took a 20-minute walk to check it out. Below is a 1-minute video of Ginseng Fall:

Constructed in 2005, Ginseng Camp has toilets cum shower rooms, cooking area, dining area and staff quarter. The structure is on stilts and built with wood and aluminum / zinc roofing. Our accommodation is just a wooden hut that has canvas bunk beds (with mosquito net) that can accommodate up to 20 visitors. As everything is so primitive, Ginseng Camp looks like an army camp to me. We also cook with firewood. The camp has electricity supply, generated by generator from 6pm to 11pm.

Below is a 1.5-minute video of Ginseng Camp surrounding:

The river is the only source of water inside Maliau, so Ginseng Camp has gravity water pipe that collects water from the river. The river water of Maliau Basin is tea-coloured and acidic, due to the tannins leaching out of the peaty leaf litter. Some even call it “tea river”, as the water is naturally stained by tannins from vegetation. It looks like urine but absolutely safe to drink after boiling.

Cold Shower

I am a typical city guy. I take hot shower even in warm day. I have no choice in Maliau coz there is no heater. The water is from the river and it is so icy cold, making me skipping and moaning. Then I also hear a Canadian girl next door moans. I’m not alone then. You better take shower earlier when the water is not too cold.

The Night

After dinner, everyone is exhausted and there is nothing to do in the evening, so we go to bed earlier. Very soon I hear everyone snores. I lay on the bed and glad that the first day is not as bad as I expect. However, this is not the case to Ms S. She complains that the muscle on her right hip is painful and she wakes up in agony that night at 2am. We call her “Iron Lady” coz she walks very fast and always in front of us. We guess she will be fine in next day.

Our sleeping area only has a roof over us and three sides of wall. One side is an open area and has no wall and door. Such setting is same as putting our beds in an open area exposed to the cold. The night was so cold that I wake up at 3am to wear socks. As my torchlight cut through the dark, I can see tiny droplets of mist in the air. It is so cold and humid that the jean and clothing hanging next to me turn wet. I got a good sleep anyway.

>> Next Article (Part 4)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Part 1 of 8. Trip to Maliau Basin, Sabah’s Lost World

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Also known as “Sabah’s Lost World“, Maliau Basin looks like a huge volcanic caldera from the aeroplane, which spans 25 Kilometers in diameter. This saucer-shaped geological structure, which is formed about 5 million years ago, is not the remnant of a dead volcano. In fact, it is a plateau gradually uplifted by volcanic & tectonic movements, and the middle was eroded to a basin due to weathering. The basin is a sedimentary formation comprised mainly of gently inclined beds of sandstone and mudstone, deposited between 15 million and 9 million years ago when Maliau was a coastal delta.

Maliau means “Land of the Giant Staircase” in Murut language. The reason Maliau Basin is called Sabah’s Lost World is because of its almost circular outer rim, with steep slopes and cliffs range from 300 to 1,600 Meters in height, creating a natural barrier that isolates the basin from the world (and “gene exchange”). Some flora and fauna, which are “trapped” in the basin for millions of years, may have evolved into new species. The only “opening” of Maliau is via Maliau Gorge, a narrow gap to South East, where Maliau River flows and joins Kuamut River outside basin, then to Kinabatangan River, the longest river of Sabah.

The Maliau Basin Conservation Area covers an area of sprawling 588.4 square Kilometers (nearly the size of Singapore!) in Tawau district, at the South Central Part of Sabah. The Basin itself is about 390 sq. KM in size, the additional 200 sq. KM is the buffer zones surrounding the basin for extra protection. The highest point of Maliau is Gunung Lotung (Mt. Lotung) on the north rim, which is over 1,676 m in elevation.

Sorry if you are bored with the geography stuffs above. However, those are the basic knowledge for you to really understand why Maliau Basin is such a special place.

Below is a 5-minute video of jungle trekking in Maliau Basin:

Forest Types & Vegetation

Because of its unique geology, topography, soils & range of altitudes from 215 Meters to over 1,650 Meters above sea level, Maliau Basin houses at least 12 forest types. They can be divided into 4 main groups:

Mixed dipterocarp forest
Occupy 12% of Maliau Basin. Tall rainforest trees with 25M-45M in height, greatest plant & animal diversity, dipterocarp means “two-winged fruit” in Greek, lianas & rattan crawling plant prevail.
Lowland dipterocarp forest
Occupy 11% of Maliau Basin. Tropical rainforest with abundant commercial timbers such as menggaris, seraya and ironwood.
Lower montane forest
750M – 850M asl, trees are only 15-30M high, fewer big tree but more epiphytes, conspicuous mossiness.
Tropical Heath forest (kerangas)
Occupy 21% of Maliau Basin between 900M and 1,600M asl. In Iban language, kerangas means underlying soils are unsuitable for growing rice, dense stands of smaller sized, small-crowned & shorter trees, up to 20M high.

Above: dipterocarp rainforest

Their distribution is complex, with many overlapping and transitional zones, which are called “ecotone” by the scientists. Researchers are pretty excited by ecotone, because the hybrid conditions produce unique plant form, some can be new to science. For travellers like me, walking from one zone to another is like entering a different world each time.

Above: heath forest (kerangas)

Over 1,900 species types of plant have been identified in Maliau Basin, including 9 species of pitcher plants, 440 tree species and 80 species of orchid. 54 plant species are endangered. For fauna, over 69 mammal species, 290 bird species and over 35 species of amphibians are recorded so far. A rare Rafflesia tengku-adlinii flower has been spotted in Maliau Basin.

Why Maliau Basin?

A 6-day-5-night “Full Loop” tour package to Maliau Basin costs me about RM2,000 (about USD$630) even after deep discount and exemption of some fees. Wow, with RM2,000, I can go to China, Bali, Thailand, Vietnam and other foreigner countries already. Going to Maliau Basin is like paying $ to buy suffering, as the trip demands a lot of physical strength. Exploring Maliau is more like an achievement, an adventure, than a trip.

Why didn’t I use that $$$ to go to more popular tourist destinations? The first reason is, to me, popular means “many had seen it”, I dislike places that are too commercialized or frequented by millions of tourists. For example, just do a Internet search on Great Wall of China or Phuket of Thailand, you will find tons of info and photos. I want to see something pristine and less popular.

Above: Maliau Waterfall

For second reason, I love Sabah, so I would like to promote Maliau Basin to more nature lovers. To promote an attraction, we need a lot of beautiful photos and interesting info. Since not many photographers are keen to go deep inside the forest with heavy camera equipments, probably I can help to present Maliau Basin to the world with my blog.

However, it’ll be too lengthy to cover the 6-day trip in one single blog, so I break the stories into 8 parts like below:
Part 1. Introduction to Maliau Basin (this blog)
Part 2. Day 1 in Maliau Basin
Part 3. Day 2 in Maliau. Trekking to the 1st camp
Part 4. Day 3 in Maliau. Maliau Waterfall
Part 5. Day 4 in Maliau. Entering the garden of pitcher plant
Part 6. Day 5 in Maliau. Skybridge & Night Safari
Part 7. Day 6 in Maliau. Leaving Maliau
Part 8. Conclusion & Notes. Useful if you plan to visit Maliau
BONUS! More photos of Maliau Basin…

Below are some important items that you should pack for the Maliau Basin trip.

Things to Bring

Backpack (avoid the bulky one. Best if come with raincover)
Torchlight
Clothing (T-shirts, jeans, socks, underwear, etc.)
Light sleeping bag
Mini towel
Anti-Leech Socks
Insect repellent (Mosiguard with anti-leech formula)
Raincoat
Water container / bottle (1 Litre or more)
Lunch box & spoon (for packed lunch enroute). Can seal to avoid leaking
Snacks and High energy bars
Cash
Personal toiletries (e.g. tooth brush & paste, soap, cloth pegs)
Adidas Kampung (rubber hiking shoes) or other good hiking shoes
Sandals / slippers
Plastic bags (to store dirty clothing or waste)
Hand glove (I’m ok without it. Recommended for lady with “soft” palm)

Camera & Accessories

Canon EOS 50D DSLR camera (LCD screen protector is a MUST!)
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC, Canon EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.
Memories cards (a total of 18GB)
External Flash 580 EX II
Battery Grip (Phottix brand) and 50+ AA batteries
Tripod (ball head): Manfratto
Filters: UV, GND, ND8, CPL
Camera bag (with raincover)

After I packed everything, the total weight is about 17 Kg (about 10Kg are camera stuffs!). I hired a porter to carry 12Kg, so I only carried about 5Kg of weight, coz shooting photos around with 17Kg on my back was not very convenient. 3 day of porter service costs me RM300 (less than USD$100).

For long hours of jungle trekking, every pound counts. Keep your burden as light as possible or hire a porter. If you plan to carry everything yourself, I strongly recommend you to keep the weight between 6 to 8Kg only. 10Kg and above is for those who are really tough and experienced. You can wash your clothing so you can bring less clothing. I wore the same jean for 5 days. You think this is terrible? One of us wore the same cloth & jean for 5 days, I had to stay 10 feet away from this person while trekking, due to the strong smell like sour rotten food.

Above: the trail in red color was the trail I covered in 4 days.

Physical Exercise

Everyone says the Maliau Basin trip is tough and physically demanding. I was very lazy and never did any exercise for years, and I knew Maliau Basin trip was no joking matter. I felt really apprehensive when the Maliau Basin trip was only a month ahead and I was running out of time. Without hesitation, I started my intensive training. If weather permitted, I would jog about 4 KM every day. I also did some push-up and sit-up to strengthen my muscles, so I could carry heavy stuffs. Though the training was only one month, it did help me a lot. The Maliau Basin was not as terrible as it sounded. The trip was tiring but I was not totally exhausted, and that extra energy kept my photography going. Taking photos really can drain your energy. What I can tell is Maliau Basin is a nightmare to those who are lack of exercise.

More Photos

You may check out my Maliau Basin photo album for more pictures:

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Danum Valley, 130-million-year old Borneo rainforest

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Though a large part of Sabah is covered by forest, very few have seen the beauty of virgin Borneo rainforest. Most forest that we see around our cities and countryside is degraded jungle or secondary forest. Compared to regenerated forest, undisturbed virgin forest is characterised by taller trees, with denser, richer and more biodiversified of flora and fauna.

If you want me to name the jungle that is best representing Borneo tropical rainforest, I will say Danum Valley. With a size of 438 square KM, this 130-million-year old forest is older than Amazon rainforest (60 million years) and the habitat of Borneo’s rarest and most precious plant and wildlife.

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5-STAR RAINFOREST

Mostly lowland dipterocarp and riverine forest, Danum Valley is one of the richest conservation areas in the world with over 200 species of tree per hectare. You could find huge commercial timbers such as Kapur,Keruing, Seraya and Belian everywhere. To lumbering companies, these trees look like standing gold bars. To scientists, this forest is the least explored treasure, which holds the secrets that can change our future. But sadly, to most Sabahans, these are just wood that ought to be cut to give way to development.

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I was in Danum Valley last month but stayed for less than 24 hours. Danum Valley is 97KM at west of Lahad Datu. After travelling over 2 hours over a gravel road, I reached Borneo Rainforest Lodge, the accommodation in Danum Valley, about 8pm. I left at 1:30pm in the following day, so I only tried night drive at night, 2.6-KM jungle trekking in next morning and canopy walk in next afternoon.

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NIGHT DRIVE

After every tourists got to the back of a jeep, we started our night drive around 8:30pm. The jeep moved slowly on the road, with a “spotter” who held a spotlight and scanned the surrounding forest for reflection of the animal eyes. Once an animal was spotted, the car stopped and the friendly guide would explain what we saw. That night we saw only flying squirrel (the tail), firefly, mouse deer, bearded pig and Sambar Deer, not much. Due to the bright full moon, most animals were hiding deep inside the jungle to avoid predators. Another group who did night walking inside the forest saw many interesting things though, e.g. huge stick insect, colourful frog, civet cats and leopard cat.

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JUNGLE TREKKING

The next morning we started our jungle trekking at 6am in the morning. I was already there at 5:40am and I saw a big orangutan fed on the fruit tree in front of Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL). According to the BRL staff, its name is “King” and it always comes here during fruiting season. There is also another orangutan family also comes here quite often. Seeing orangutan in the wild is such a wonderful experience. King didn’t seem to bother about the presence of people and carried on his feeding from branch to branch.

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There are over 50KM of jungle trails for visitors to appreciate the pristine rainforest in Danum Valley. One of the most recommended trails is the 2.6-KM View Point trail, the one that I was trying. Be observant and you will spot many types of orchids, lichens, lianas, fungus and mushroom along the trail. The morning of Danum Valley is always misty and cooling as if it has a macro-climate of its own. It’s a leisure walk coz of the cooling fresh air (but can be tiring to those who are lack of physical exercise). You also can hear lot of loud gibbon calls.

Ancient Kadazandusun Burial Site. After 40 minutes of walking, we took the junction that led us to an ancient burial site at a cliff. We were asked to be keep quiet and be respectful. The guide showed us a 200-year ancient coffin, who was made of strong Belian wood (Diamond Wood) and belongs to a chief. There is also a blowpipe inside the coffin. These coffins belong to Dusun Supan who lived around this area in the past (now they had moved to lowland at Kinabatangan). Later we went to a platform high above the ground, to see a small coffin of a child. Besides the coffin is a pile of old human bones and skeleton. Then we returned to the View Point trail and continued the trekking.

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View Point. After 16 minutes, we reached the View Point which has two wooden platforms to get a breathtaking bird eye view of rainforest and Borneo Rainforest Lodge. You won’t understand how happy I was to see an ocean of pristine rainforest. After seeing so many oil palm “forest” everywhere in Sabah, I had doubt if big forest really existed in Sabah. As a matter of fact, most Sabah wildlife attraction areas such as Kinabatangan are the “Concentration camp” of wildlife because the animals are pushed to small patches of forest fragmented by oil palm plantation.

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However, Danum Valley is naturally an animal kingdom and 124 mammals, 72 reptiles, 56 amphibians and 37 fishes live happily under one big mass of forest. Whichever rarest and endangered Borneo wildlife you can name, you find them all here in Danum Valley. For example, large mammals such as Sumatran Rhino, Sun Bear, Benteng and Pygmy Elephants, primates such as Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Leaf Monkey, Tarsier, Slow Loris and Macaque, highly secretive cats such as the Sunda Clouded Leopard, Bay Cat and Leopard Cat. The elusive Bay Cat, which is a sub-species endemic in Borneo, was only spotted in Mulu (Sarawak) and Danum Valley.

Our lodge looked so small under our feet. Couldn’t believe we walked that far. Too bad it was nearly 8am so sunrise view was not available. I took out my packed breakfast, with ham sandwich & fruit, and enjoyed a great break time with nice view.

Waterfalls & Pool. Later we dropped by the Fairy Waterfall (27 Meters high) and Serpent Waterfall next to the trail. Too bad it was dry season, the water volume was so small that the waterfalls didn’t look big and impressive. Though it was drought season, little sunlight contacts the forest ground so it is always wet. The last stop is a Jacuzzi Pool where you can swim and enjoy “fish massage”. The small fishes will nibble your feet and remove the death skin. It is a bit painful but doesn’t hurt. Lastly, we were back to the lodge about 11:30am. The jungle trekking took us about 5 hours, as we stopped briefly in every interesting site.

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Before the trip, we were warned that there were many big tiger leeches in Danum Valley, but we saw only two small brown leeches. If you are bitten by a tiger leech, you will be qualified to get a “Blood Donation” certificate from Borneo Rainforest Lodge. Of course this is for fun only, you still need to pay RM5 (about USD$1.50) to buy it. Since there was no leech biting me, I caught a leech and let it sucked my blood. Later I was told that it was a brown leech (not tiger leech), but I was still qualified to get the certificate. Well, I did it for fun but the 1-hour bleeding annoyed me.

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CANOPY WALK

I went back to my room, take a shower and packed my bag for check-out at 1:30pm. On the way out, we dropped by the Canopy Walk. For bird-watching, you will really appreciate the 300-Metre-long and 27-Metre-high canopy walkway built by Borneo Rainforest Lodge and it won the Best Nature Attraction award in Sabah Tourism Awards 2009. In year 2008, a bird guide Richard Webster discovered a new bird species (Spectacled flowerpecker) on this canopy. Who knows you might discover a beautiful new bird that can be named after your beloved wife (mother-in-law if it is an ugly and noisy bird). If you look carefully, you will see many bee hives on Menggaris tree, the favourite nesting tree of wild honey bees due to its height.

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In Danum Valley, you can see or hear flock of big hornbills flying over your head almost every hour. This is one of the few places in Malaysia where we can find 8 species of hornbills. Do you know there are more than 290 bird species in Danum Valley? That is almost half the bird species of whole Borneo! Some birdwatchers pay thousands to come to see only one bird in Danum Valley, the Bornean Bristlehead (only found in Borneo). Other rare birds include Great Argus, Bulwar’s Pheasant, Giant Pitta, Bornean flycatcher, Bornean Ground-cuckoo and many more.

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BTW, I saw a leopard cat and some long-tailed macaques on the road. The staffs say you might see elephants if you are lucky. I also saw the helicopter of Martha Stewart heading to Danum Valley. I don’t know why the whole world is so crazy about her. Anyway, too bad I didn’t see her. From her blog, she is so happy to see “King”, the orangutan. She is quite crazy about our Borneo wild man I guess. No wonder West Malaysians want to “steal” our orangutan. So the federal government is interested in rehabilitating our orangutan? A middle finger to you! You only want the tourist $$$. But I’ll be more than happy to send illegal immigrants to KL, as we have nearly million of them here. I can guarantee that they are also wild men.

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It is no surprise that Sabah government is planning to nominate Danum Valley as a world heritage site. Actually Sabah has only about 92,400 hectares of virgin forest, less than 5% of all forest area in Sabah. If we clear them, they will never be the same again; the millions-year old ecosystem will be lost, no matter how hard we try to recover them later. Rather than cutting down the trees for their wood and paper, we should keep the forest as nursery ground for our priceless wildlife, world-class research hub for tropical rainforest, sustainable income source for tourism and high quality conservation area to combat global warming. And no coal plant near to Danum Valley, please. The Sabah Chief Minister always says conservation is important to protect the eco-treasures of Sabah, but he is the one who approves the logging at Danum Valley and Maliau Basin. What a joke!

Other canopy walk in Sabah:

Poring Canopy Walkway (highest in Sabah)
Skybridge of Maliau Basin (longest canopy walk)
Rainforest Discovery Center (best for bird-watching)

Photos taken in Lahad Datu, Sabah Malaysia