Category Archives: Forest

Batu Punggul Cave

Trip to Batu Punggul – Part 2 of 3

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Continued from part 1…

We reached the foothill of Batu Punggul after 10 minutes of boat ride. We walked and climbed slowly uphill. Probably due to the rainy season, the forest floor was wet and the surrounding air was humid. At the beginning of the trail, I saw a few ground leeches fully extended their slimy and elastic bodies to the air, wiggling in excitement. But they were no longer a concern when we moved further away from the river side. I wished I could spend more time in this dense jungle coz you would find rafflesia here (biggest flower in the world).


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After 15 minutes of walking, we saw the entrance of a cave. This cave may have existed for thousands of years and created by limestone erosion. It is quite a big and deep cave. You can walk straight to the end without climbing up and down.


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There is a broken coffin of an ancestor near the entrance. Too bad it was not preserved properly and I wonder how it looked. But this tells us there were people lived here before. FYI, there is another Batu Tinahas about 20 minutes walk away from Batu Punggul. It has more complex (and dangerous!) cave system, which may interest hardcore climbers.

About 10 Meters inside is a low opening. I had to lower my body to go continue. It was very dark so I just followed the light of people in front of me. I heard a few bats flapping their wings flying near me. The air was getting stuffy, with smell of amonia came from the bat guan.

Then I entered a space as big as a hall. I could see light coming from the holes on top. According to the legend, Batu Punggul is a fossilized longhouse, so this cave is probably its rooms. A old monument-like object (photo at right below) was built to mark the territory of the past residents. In the dark, I was sure that I saw a white and blur figure walked into this pile of rocks, but nobdoy would believe what I’ve seen.


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We only wandering in the cave for 10 minutes then we moved on. You see. It was such a rush. I really had no time to explore this place in detail, not to mention setting up a tripod to shoot better photos. Anyway, I still took a lot of photos and I will show you the photo gallery tomorrow.


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Bird nest is no longer available in this cave. Very likely the nests were over-harvested, before the broods had a chance to grow and reproduce. However, the interesting rock formation inside is already worth a visit.


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Haha… a heart-shaped hole on top. But this place is not romantic at all. The locals told us that in the very old day, some people dragged the women to this cave, rapped and killed them. I might have just seen one of the spirits lingering in this cave. At this point, the journey was fun until I climbed Batu Punggul.

Continue to Part 3…

Photos taken in Sepulot, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Trip to Batu Punggul – Part 1 of 3

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Batu Punggul means “Rock Tree Trunk” coz of the look of this 1,000+ feet (330 Meters) limestone pinnacle in the rainforest. It is located in the rainforest of Sepulot (Sapulut), a very remote area more than 100 KM away from Keningau town (200+ KM from Kota Kinabalu). Batu Punggul was the place I always wanted to go, but now I don’t dare to come back again.


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Sepulot was once the land of Murut headhunters, and the old legend makes Batu Punggul a very mysterious mountain. The locals believe there are spirits live in it. In the past, the adventurers needed to take 4 to 5 hours of boat ride to reach there. This area has become more accessible when the main road that connects Keningau, Nabawan and Tawau opened. In fact, my father came here many years ago, and he was complaining about the long hours of boat ride (that time the road was not ready) and staying in a haunted accommodation. He is physically fit and he also says the climb is so dangerous that he doesn’t want to try again. If he says tough, it is very though then.


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However, large part of the road to Sepulot is covered with gravel, so do expect a long time of bumpy ride, a 4-wheel is more advisable for the visit, though smaller car is still possible. 40 KM after Nabawan town and passing by a bridge, you will see Tataluan Village (Kampung Tataluan) at the left, the starting point of the trip.

People in Tataluan Village is living a very primitive life, as there is no gas and power. Two shaky public toilets are probably the only facility they have here for travellers. I guess they don’t understand why tourists are so interested in this cursed mountain. They told me that people will be hurt by black magic, if they climb Batu Punggul without permission.


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FYI, the official name of this place is Sepulot (on road sign), but the media calls it Sepulut and locals call it Sapulut.


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Well, there comes the legend of Batu Punggul (I cut short the long story). A long long time ago, there were two longhouses, namely, Punggul and Tinagas communities, living at each side of Sapulut River. One day the Bunggul community celebrated a wedding. Their fire was put off, and they needed fire to cook. Therefore, the Bunggul people asked Tinagas to tied the fire on the dog (poor dog!) and let it swam across the river. The dog was drowned and they laughed like mad. Then they tried the same thing on a cock and asked it to fly over the other side. The cock managed to cross but the fire was put off by water. Again, these crazy people laughed. Their sneering laughter angered the gods in the jungle, so the people, their longhouses and the cock were turned into stones. The longhouse of Bunggul community became Batu Bunggul.


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Batu Punggul is next to the Sapulut River, so we needed only 10 minutes of boat ride to reach its foothill. The boats we used were the wooden sampan boats equipped with engine. Hmmm… the boats look like some wooden slats loosely binded together and I could see holes between them. That reminded me of my terrifying first-time experience with sampan many years ago. The boat was only one inch over the surface and it was so unstable, a bit of force and movement would make it capsized.


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Luckily the river cruise was a smooth one. There were a few rapids but the boats were under good control. The splashes still made me felt uneasy anyway. I think I saw the “cock stone” (mentioned in legend) in the river. Do you see the big tree in the photo below? It grows on top of a very thin layer of rock and doesn’t collapse. Within minutes, we saw Batu Punggul in front of us. This limestone pinnacle, discovered by two Japanese visitors in 1968, Eizo Yogawa and Tamio Yamamoto, is a lot taller and bigger than something that I think I can conquer. But it is so beautiful..



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Yayasan Sabah building would look small standing next to it. If going up to the top of Yayasan Sabah by staircase is terrible, what if climbing to the top of this mountain by hand? I was speechless. On the way, I kept on struggling whether I should give up.

Continue to Part 2…

Photos taken in Sepulot, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Horseshoe Crab

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This is a common animal lives in mangrove mud and river. I only saw it once in the wild decades ago. I have been visiting KK Wetland Centre since year 2005, but this was the first time I saw it there, though I expected there should be many of them. If you look at the photo below, you will know why they are so hard to spot. It was covered in mud and moved slowly.

After washing off its soil with water, you can see that it is so cute. This is a baby horseshoe crab only as big as a 20 cent coin. Though it looks like crab, it is more closely related to spiders.

When I turned it over, it tried to use its tail to flip its body. Don’t worry. It won’t use its long and sharp tail to poke a hole on you.

After the photography session, I released it unharmed back to the mudflat.

Scientists call horseshoe crab a live fossil coz it has existed for over 400 millions years. Its blood is in blue color (you curious guys please don’t kill it to find out ok), also making it sounds like an alien. I heard that its blood is highly priced (US5,000 per Litre) due to its medical value. Someone even farm them.

The horseshoe crab can grow as big as a plate. I don’t know if it is a vulnerable species, but I know the villagers live by the seaside like to catch them for meal. I wonder how many can survive up to that size. Hope they will not really become a fossil in this century.

Many years ago, I found a beautiful big skeleton (shell) of horseshoe crab at Tanjung Lipat beach. However, my family called it ugly and disgusting. They threw it away when I was not at home.

The mud skipper was checking out the horse shoe crab. I heard that horseshoe crab got 10 eyes but I could not see them..

You can even buy it at Tamu (Native Market) of Kota Belud and other towns. They say it tastes like crab. Its gall contains poison so you need to remove it before consumption. I am not interested in trying though.


Above: Horse Shoe Crab can grow really big

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Mangrove Anemone

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I was taking a mangrove walk at Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre. I found some semi-transparent and jelly-like buds under a mangrove tree. Whenever I passed by, I always kept an eye on that spot for snakes and other animals. I guess they are new residents coz I never saw them.

When the water (high tide) ran over them, the buds opened and looked like anemone. This is interesting coz I never see anemone grows in mangrove forest. I wonder when and how these sea creatures set their foot there.

Anyway, they are nice looking though they are smaller than a thumb. Very hard to photograph them coz they were under running water and there was reflection.

Anyone knows what species it is? It is a Striped bead anemone if I am not mistaken.

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Wild Gaya Island

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Gaya Island is big. If you walk inside its forest, you would not believe that you are on an island.

Below are photos of what I saw along the jungle trail there. The cup fungi is so cute. I am quite curious what function its hair has.

You can find many snails on the forest floor. They seems to be more sensitive than normal garden snails, probably they smell the insect repellent on my skin. It is so warm and humid in the forest. No wonder people call it rainforest, I sweat like rain.

Mangrove forest near the beach area, with some rubbish trapped between their root.

This hermit crab as big as my fist. When I held its shell, it slipped its body out of its shell
and ran away nakedly.

Very often you will hear red skink lizard running on the dry leaves when you approach. They are not only commonly found here, you can see many of them in inland forest too. They have beautiful red skin.

There were about a dozen of bats roosted under a big rock. They kept an eye (or an ear?) on me. The photo below shows them in an alert and ready-to-fly-away mode.

The ranger at Padang Point showed me an antique they dug out from the ground during site construction. It looks like an old machine left behind by British and its function is unclear. Do you know there is another “Gaya Island” in Semporna? Note its mountain looks like the face of an old man.

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Photos taken in Gaya Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tambunan Forest

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Sigh… no rafflesia blooming at Tambunan Rafflesia Center, after driving 1 hour to get there. Rafflesia is a weird flower. It does not bloom regularly, and its flower can last only 1 week. Actually I was supposed to call them to check first, but their phone number was not working. No luck… probably next time then.

Since I was there, it was a lost not to walk in their forest. The conservation fee is RM50 (about USD15) per group, so you better go in group to share the fee. I waited and joined a group of students, so I paid only RM10.

The main jungle trail is one-way and about 1KM long. At the start, most of the trail is going downward. That means you have to walk “upward” when you come back from the same trail. The tips are – walking slowly and try to save energy at the begining. It is a beautiful rainforest with a lot of tall trees.

Besides rafflesia, another feature of this forest reserve is a legless lizard that looks like snake. Too bad I didn’t see it. But if you find any fungus, try to look at its bottom and you may find something interesting.

Anyone knows the name of this cute beetle? I read from somewhere that it likes to live under fungus. You can find a lot of them under bigger fungus. I am more interested in the small bug under it. It got many legs and has a pair of “yellow horn.” What is it?

Well… I will come back again if there is rafflesia blooming.

Photos taken in Tambunan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Papar Forest

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Not really a forest. I just took a walk in nearby jungle of Mai Aman, a Papar homestay centre, which is located 35KM away from KK city (you can see the sign at the left when you drive from KK to Papar town). Most visitors would be attracted by the fish ponds there, but I was very curious about the strange tall trees at the far end of this centre.

Actually those are mangrove trees. They also can grow in water or wetland, but they look very different from the mangrove trees that live in swampy area between sea and river. According to Uncle Robert, these are the more “inland” type of mangrove trees. The weird shape of their root helps them anchor firmly in the water. Odd but beautiful…

When I got closer to check them out, I found a nice pitcher plant grew next to one of the trees. I am not a botanist, so I don’t know its species. It looks like Nepenthes mirabilis.

Mai Aman is also a place where we can relax and enjoy the freshwater fishes caught from the pond. I tried the Tilapia fish. Usually freshwater fishes got a bit of smell of mud, but surprisingly, I could not taste that. According to Uncle Robert, this is because the water of the fish ponds is from the fresh and clean stream from the hill nearby.

After lunch, I continued my jungle trekking at the hill. I was told that if you find fern in the hill, you could also find pitcher plant grew among (or under) them, but you had to be very observant. After nearly an hour of searching, finally I spot it. It got easier when I learnt where it grew, and I found 2 species of them.

For me, it is far more exciting to see pitcher plant, than seeing them in the garden. There are 2 main types of pitcher plant, i.e. “Upper” and “Lower”.

Below is an example of “upper” pictehr plant. It grows on higher spot and usually slimmer. It feels like paper when held in hand (Note: I didn’t pluck any of them for photo-taking). I tried to look for its species name in the book but couldn’t find it. It could be a hybrid of two species. I am guessing only.

Another picther plant species I find is Nepenthes hirsuta, an example of “Lower” picther plant. It grows under other vegetation so it is even harder to spot. Lower pitcher plant uses ground to support its body (with bigger capacity), unlike upper pitcher plant which hang from the leaf. Lower pitcher plant has 2 hairy lines (called wings) along its body.

Not bad huh… I find 3 species of pitcher plant in a day. Mountain and beach forest also got very different types of pitcher plant. I will find to photograph them and share the photos in future. There are only 20 species of pitcher plant in Sabah, but it is not easy to see all of them.

Photos taken in Papar, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 7 of 8

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Night Safari

Night jungle trekking is the most exciting activity of Uncle Tan’s adventure. The forest in the dark is a busy world. Our night safari started at 9 PM, the time where all the creepy creatures such as snakes, spiders, scorpion and centipedes come out to hunt for prey. Our camp area is both a jungle and a flood plain, so the forest floor is wet and muddy. We had to wear rubber boot.


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Don’t touch the leaves and branches in the dark, as there might be something poisonous hiding in it. We were walking in the dark with torch light. To look for animals, just scan the surrounding with the torch light and look for the relection from animal’s eyes. From the colours of the eye reflection, you can tell what type of animal it is. I’m not sure if I remember correctly. Red colour is small mammals, green colour is snakes, white colour is spider.


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We saw a lot of frogs. It is a good sign. That means there are plenty of bugs. If there are a lot of frogs, it will attract snakes. Too bad we didn’t see any snake that night. We found whip-tailed scorpions in the tree holes. The guide said if he caught a scorpion, he would put it on our hand. Yes, he meant it. This is part of the experience.


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Our group moved slowly in the dark. The guide is really good in spotting animals. Sometimes you have to look above your head. We saw the big Ghost Spider. We also found birds such as Kingfisher and Heron. They rest motionless on the tree branches. They were so near that we could catch them by hand, but they didn’t flee, as long as we kept quietly. I tried to take more photos, so I was left behind the group a few times. I wish I could stay longer for more.


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Leech is not so common there. I was bitten by leech before. They can crawl into your shoes without alerting you, until you feel a bit cold and itchy between your toes (leech sucking blood). They say you need to be “lucky” to get one there. Somehow the fear still made me felt that there was something crawling on my legs. Later a guide showed us a tiger leech he caught. Beautiful, isn’t it?


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Another “exclusive” experience of this camp is to take shower with the river water. The water is pumped directly from the river. Its colour is a bit yellowish but consider clean. I used it to take shower and brush my teeth, just like other villagers living next to Kinabatangan River. Though I have a weak and sensitive stomach, I didn’t get sick. Of course, you have to filter and boil it before drinking.


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Next day we saw every house along the river got the thing below, hahaha…


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Photos taken in Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo