Most Asian parents want their children to become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, or land on other money-making careers. Farmer is rarely on the list, as they thought farmers earn very little. However, the global price hike of food in recent years shows that food is king and agriculture has a bright future. Furthermore, Sabah is not lack of fertile land.
Left: group photo with Dr. Richard Gunting (middle) at roundabout of Nabawan town. Right: his durian plantation in integrated agriculture farm
As a PhD holder in agriculture economy, Dr. Richard Gunting knows the economy of farming. He showed me a simple math that answers why many traditional farmers of Sabah are poor. For example, rubber plantation only generates RM4,800 of income per hectare every year. After deducting the cost such as labour and fertilizers, not much profit is left. Oil palm is RM17,000/hectare per year, decent but we can do much better.
A visit to an integrated silviculture farm in Sapulut. Left is Ms Wong from media and right is Virgil, the son of Dr. Richard
Let’s look at other crops. Cocoa is twice the income of oil palm. A hectare of durian such as Musang King and Black Thorn can bring you RM155,000 and RM300,000 of revenue per year respectively. Agarwood (gaharu) is also a high-value tree. The strategy is to maximise the value (income) for every hectare of land as well as maintaining the highest biodiversity via integrated agriculture, which creates multiple revenue streams that are more profitable than monocrop plantation.
Example of mixing trees in integrated agriculture. At the left is an agarwood (gaharu), a.k.a. Wood of God, its oil is worth like gold.
To inspire the locals to become ‘Rich Dads’ in farming practices, Dr. Richard is an advocate of integrated agriculture (or integrated silviculture), which can potentially generate 8 times more income than oil palm. Such farm is a mix of trees and other cash crops such as cocoa, durian, agarwood, pineapples, coffee, pandan, vanilla, cempedak, jackfruit, coconut, langsar, tarap and sago. On the other hand, small scale monoculture makes ‘Poor Dads’, the subsistence farmers.
Fruits from integrated agriculture are another income sources besides food crops and timbers.
Integrated agriculture is more friendly to the nature. A researcher, who has visited the farm of Dr. Richard, was impressed by the biodiversity there, which is 2 to 3 times more than a typical Sabah farm. The forested land has healthier soil and some crops need shade to grow well.
Sapulut River and the farm of MunorAulai Guesthouse. Note the river bank is protected by dense wood to prevent soil erosion and pollution.
Besides crops, you can raise poultry, livestock (e.g. goats, pigs) and fishes on idle land that is not suitable for planting (I’m thinking of stingless bee (kelulut) farming). At the moment, Dr. Richard’s farm has a few fish ponds for thousand of pelian (Malaysian mahseer or River Carp), jelawat (Hoven’s carp or sultan fish) and tilapia fishes ready to meet the good demand of market.
Left: land that’s not suitable for planting is converted to fish ponds. Right: Virgil showed us the fish pond at MunorAulai
Do you know that eight out of 10 poorest districts of Malaysia are in Sabah? Dr. Richard hopes the wide adoption of integrated agriculture will turn the poor farmers into rich farmers in least developed districts. If every farmers know this wealth building formula, they can ‘grow money on trees’. This model works well for native title land, which is usually 10 hectares in size or less. 70% of native land are idle. Imagine the benefits it’ll bring.
Left: thousand of Jelawat and tilapia fishes in the pond. Right: this village dog has been hunting for the fishes in the pond. Yes, dogs eat fishes, and Virgil caught her stealing fishes in a video.
MunorAulai Guesthouse
For the proof of concept on integrated agriculture, Dr. Richard allocates 10 hectares of land in Sapulot (or Sapulut) for this farming technique and build MunorAulai Guesthouse there for visitors to experience farmstay and witness the result of integrated agriculture. Integrated agriculture is supported by WWF and Sabah government. It’ll become a trend because its approaches are friendly to the environment and ecosystems.
MunorAulai Guesthouse can accommodate up to 25 people. 10 to 12 people is the ideal group size.
When Dr. Richard walked around his farm, a small and colourful Munor, a bird of omen, followed him around and chirping positive messages, so he named the place as MunorAulai (means it’s auspicious by Munor bird). MunorAulai is equipped with toilets, showers (water heater available), activity hall and a simple lounge. They have clean bedrooms (with fan and power point) to accommodate about 12 to 25 people.
Bedrooms of MunorAulai Guesthouse
You will feel exclusive at MunorAulai Guesthouse because it’s Murut customary to serve their guests with hearts. Murut is the third largest indigenous group of Sabah. Though Murut people are portrayed as the descendants of fearsome headhunters, they are the friendliest when come to hospitality.
Lounge and activity hall of MunorAulai Guesthouse
At MunorAulai Guesthouse, you will eat, drink, party and dance like a Murut. The following are my experience at MunorAulai. I felt like I was living in a traditional longhouse of Murut.
Misty farm of MunorAulai Guesthouse. It’s a nice place for a morning walk.
Drinking Party
Tapai, a home-brew Sabah wine made from rice or tapioca fermented in a jar, is the soul of Murut people. Tapai is prepared by the villagers in accordance to their strict customs abiding to all taboo belief being passed down through generations.
Murut has a special way of enjoying Tapai together during social occasions, and it’s an honour to be invited to this hundred-year-old merrymaking tradition. It’s really fun if you have this drinking party with a group of friends.
Tapai drinking challenge. Everyone takes turn to sip the wine from jar.
Tapai is served right from the fermentation jar. After unsealed, a marker and a bamboo straw are inserted into the jar. Everyone will take turn to sip tapai until the liquid level drops to the marking. You can take small bites of comfort food along.
Good tapai is sweet and sour, with a bit of bitter taste. Tapai is quite potent. Even after first or second round, it warms my body and I start to get high. Many guests love this unforgettable drinking marathon and bonding experience with their friends.
Cultural Show
A party isn’t a party without dance and music. The local youth and children will perform traditional Murut dance to welcome and entertain the guests. During my visit, my heart melts when I see two of the dancers are only 5 years old. They dress in traditional Murut costumes and dance gracefully under the gong music.
Children and youth Murut dancers of Sapolut
The highlight is the magunatip bamboo dance. Dancers follow the rhythm to place their feet between the clapping bamboo poles and get out before the poles close the gaps. The tempo of gong beating and clapping will go faster and faster, and dancers have to be agile to avoid their feet being trapped.
You can watch this video to see how funny I danced
Guests will be invited to try out the bamboo dance. After some drinking, I was leaping like a headless monkey and being clapped by bamboo again and again. Everyone laugh and we have a wonderful time. Goodness, it’s really a good exercise.
Food
Murut mean it when they welcome a visitor. To make sure the guests are well-fed, Murut host would cook the last chicken they have. They also would not eat before the guests are done with the meals first. I always have a happy full stomach at MunorAulai Guesthouse.
Deer meat and soup
To be honest, their cook never disappoints me. I sample a good variety of delicacies and Murut dishes. Some are fresh fruits and vegetables from their farm. I appreciate their home style cooking with balanced diet, simple and tasty, and in big quantity.
Kinurutuk, a sweet and smooth Murut dessert made with tapioca starch, coconut milk, brown sugar and sago
One of my favourite is the steamed pelian, the most delicious freshwater fish of Sabah. Its meat is sweet, tender and fatty, even the scales are edible. Pelian is similar to Empurau, the most expensive freshwater fish of Malaysia. I love their deer meats too.
Steamed pelian, one of the most tasty freshwater fishes. Even its scales are edible.
This is just the first stop of my journey in Sapulot. Sapulot was used to be the land of headhunters in the past. Headhunting is long gone, so now we can travel freely in Sapulot. I can’t wait to show you some beautiful places that were once a sacred ground. In fact, many tourists from USA and Europe have visited Sapulut for a raw Borneo experience.
About Sapulot (or Sapulut)
Sapulut is a small district of Sabah interior about 47 KM away from Nabawan town (217 KM away from Kota Kinabalu City. Accessible by paved road). Most of the population in Sapulot are Murut. Sapulot (or Sapulut) means “sticky” in Murut language because the Sapulut River takes longer time to clear when it turns murky after rain.
Location map of Sapulot and its surrounding
For a tour in Sapulut, you can contact Borneo Outback Tours Sdn Bhd (Licenses: Co. No. 846369-H / KPK / LN:9247) at: Website:www.borneo.tours Facebook:orou.sapulot Instagram:@orousapulot Phone:+60 19 2277077 (Whatsapp), +60 87 337 277 Address: A-7-2, Apollo Atrium, 89008 Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
The tourism operations in Sapulot are managed by Orou Sapulot (means the Sun of Sapulot), a community based project to promote tourism and in sustainable manner.
About 110 million years ago, when dinosaurs were ruling the Earth, a marine creature has existed in the ocean. They survived the predation of Megalodon (a 20-metre-long, the biggest extinct shark) and live until today. It’s the sea turtle, some species can live more than 100 years old.
You can see three stages of turtle life on Selingan Island
However, without any protection, human can wipe out this ancient animal in 20 years. Luckily, sea turtles are fully protected in Sabah, as well as their main nesting grounds in Sulu Sea, the Turtle Islands Park, which is about 40 kilometers to the north of Sandakan of Sabah (Malaysia).
Two sea turtle species of Sabah. Left: Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas). Right: Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). Can you spot their differences? (Photo Credit: Green turtle by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, Hawksbill Turtle by Tchami)
Turtle Islands Park comprises the islands of Selingan (8.1ha), Gulisaan (1.6ha) and Bakkungaan Kecil (8.5ha), covering a protected area of some 1,740 hectares, of which 18.2 hectares are on land while 1,721.8 hectares at sea.
Beach of Selingan Island protected by reef balls (to stop beach erosion)
Only Selingan Island, which provides accommodation and basic facilities, is open to tourists, who will witness three stages of a turtle life by looking at the hatchery for the eggs, releasing of hatchlings and nesting of mother turtles in close distance.
Why Protect Sea Turtles?
Turtles don’t beat up villains like what Ninja Turtles do, but they are unsung heroes of maintaining a healthy coral reef ecosystem and food chain balance in the ocean. For example, a Leatherback Sea Turtle can consume 200 kg of jellyfish a day. Green turtles graze on seagrass to stop the overgrown sea meadows that obstruct the sunlight to seabed.
Sea turtles have existed on earth for over 100 million years. But human can wipe them out in one or two generations. Then our children only can see this ancient animal in an aquarium.
Sea Turtles are also the important assets of tourism in Sabah. Diving with gentle sea turtles is one of the most exciting experience, and scuba divers can see more than 10 turtles whenever they dive at Sipadan Island, the top dive sites of Malaysia.
Sea turtles are also important for tourism because tourists love to see them, especially scuba divers
Unfortunately, all seven species of sea turtles are on the endangered list (IUCN Red List). Four of the seven extant species of marine turtles occur in Malaysia (leatherback, green turtle, hawksbill and olive ridley). Selingan Island is a safe haven for the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).
A Painful Lesson
In the 1950s, about 10,000 leatherback turtle nesting were recorded annually in Terengganu state. Nevertheless, in 1980s, I had been hearing bad things such as people turned the turtles over, sat on them to take pictures and even took their eggs. The mother turtles couldn’t lay their eggs in peace, the consequence is no more landing of leatherbacks there after 2006.
Nesting trends of sea turtles in Sabah and Terengganu. Left: Leatherback turtles in Terengganu. Right: Green and Hawksbill Turtles in Turtle Islands Park of Sabah. Without conservation, leatherback turtle is extinct in Peninsular Malaysia.
Terengganu government tried to curb the collection of turtle eggs in 2005 but it’s too late too little. Though leatherback is sighted occasionally after 2015, there is no hope to recover the past glory as one of the world’s largest nesting grounds of leatherback turtles. WWF Malaysia states that the leatherback turtle population in Malaysia has plummeted by more than 99 percent since the 1960s.
Four species of sea turtles found in Malaysia are Leatherback turtle, Green turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Olive ridley turtle. They are all endangered species. In Sabah, they are fully protected by laws (Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997). Offender could face a fine of up to RM250,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
Therefore, it’s significant that Sabah gazetted Turtle Island Parks as a turtle sanctuary on 1 Oct 1977, which stops the declining trend of green and hawksbill turtles population in Sabah.
Visit Selingan Island
Selingan, the turtle island of Sabah, is the place where turtles and tourists meet. To visit Selingan Island, visitors need to contact Crystal Quest (Website: turtleisland.com.my, Facebook: Turtleislandresortsandakan, Phone (Whatsapp): +60 11-51665923) to book a 2-day-1-night tour, which is a full board package that covers land / sea transportation, permit, accommodation and meals.
Sabah Parks jetty in Sandakan City is the departure point to the Turtle Islands Park (Selingan)
Turtle Islands Park is managed by Sabah Parks, but they are focus on conservation and offload the tour booking and activities to Crystal Quest. The island sets a limit of maximum 50 tourists per day, so the tour to Selingan is always full. You better book this popular trip a few months in advance.
The main office and dining hall on Selingan Island
The Itinerary in Brief: 9:15am Register at Sabah Parks jetty 10:00am Depart to Selingan by boat 11:15am Arrive Selingan, check-in and have lunch 6:30pm Visit Exhibition Hall 7:30pm Dinner. After that wait for turtle landing and releasing of hatchlings Day 2 7:00am Check-out, breakfast and leave Selingan
Only Selingan Island has chalets for tourists
The peak nesting months for Green turtle are from April to August, and for the Hawksbill turtle is between January to June. Overall, for Selingan the peak time is during April – August. Turtle landing on Selingan is almost guaranteed every day, so you don’t really need to pick a best time to visit.
You can watch this video for a quick overview of the tour to Selingan
Note: It’s a family and muslim friendly tour. English is spoken for non-Malaysian tourists.
The Turtle Hatchery
The first thing that you would notice on Selingan Island is the turtle hatchery zones with thousand of turtle nests fenced by green mesh net, which keeps away the predators such as monitor lizards, rodents and crabs. A well-protected nest has a hatch rate of above 80%.
Turtle hatchery on Selingan Island. The temperature determines the gender of the hatchlings, so part of them are placed under the shade, which provides higher chance to hatch male turtles.
The first turtle hatchery was built on Pulau Selingaan in 1966, followed by Pulau Bakkungan Kecil and Pulau Gulisaan in 1968. But the hatchery on the smallest island, Gulisaan, closed in 2015 due to beach erosion.
The total number of turtle eggs collected in the Turtle Islands Park from 1979 to 2016 is 22,449,572 eggs, namely 10,428,711 (46%) on Selingan Island, 6,381,682 (28%) on Bakkungan Kecil Island, and 5,629,179 (25%) on Gulisaan Island.
Tourists looking at their adopted turtle nests. You can participate in the Turtle Nest Adoption Program by donating RM100 to adopt a turtle nest.
The sex of baby turtles depends on the nest temperature. Warmer nests can lead to hatching of more female babies, while cooler nests lead to more males, so you would see some hatcheries are placed under the cooler shade. Without such measure, overwhelming majority of the hatchlings would be female due to global warming.
You can adopt a turtle nest. Your name will be labelled on the nest that you adopt.
Turtle Nest Adoption Program
You can adopt a turtle nest at RM100 (about USD27). Each sponsor will receive the following as an appreciation:
Have your name displayed on the nest’s label
A certificate of adoption
A Turtle Nest Adoption T-Shirt
You will be informed via e-mail when the eggs in your adopted nest hatch.
Other Turtle Hatcheries in Sabah
The combined island size of Turtle Islands Park is only 18.2 hectares, which is smaller than Manukan Island (20.6 hectares). We can save more turtles if we build more hatcheries because Sabah has 394 islands and nearly 1,000 miles of coastline.
Turtle hatcheries of Lankayan (left) and Sipadan Island (right)
In fact, some Sabah islands such as Libaran, Lankayan, Mabul, Mataking, Sipadan and Dinawan have small turtle hatcheries built under the support of resorts, government and local communities. For example, Libaran Island has released more than 42,000 baby turtles since 2010.
Accommodation on Selingan
A few chalets are available for tourists. Most of the rooms are twin standard bed room, which is clean and comfortable, so is the attached bathroom cum toilet. Electricity is available 24 by 7 to power the air conditioning and ceiling fan. Towel and shower gel are provided.
Twin bedroom and attached bathroom of Selingan Turtle Island Chalet. Towel, shower gel, air-conditioning, ceiling fan and toilet are provided.
Beach of Selingan
The beautiful white sandy beach of Selingan is a bonus of the tour. The beach is kept in clean and pristine state, the way mother turtles love it. What turtles need is just a simple and natural beach for nesting. Sadly, nowadays most beaches are either having too many rubbish or people.
Left: site map of Selingan Island, Right: No nudity warning sign at the beach
After lunch you will have plenty of free and easy time until dinner time. It takes less than an hour to walk one around of the island. North side of the island is rocky shore, so I only explored the sandy beach. I saw hundred of holes dug by the turtles for laying eggs, and the tyre-like tracks they left on the beach.
Monitor lizard and Philippine megapode are two common residents on Selingan Island
Do apply mosquito repellent before you walk in the wood. The three most common animals on Selingan are the roaming monitor lizards (harmless unless provoked), Philippines megapodes (or Tabon scrubfowl) busy scratching soil for food, and hermit crabs (most active at night).
The sandy beach and rocky beach on Selingan Island
The favourite afternoon activity of tourists is snorkeling (gears available for rent on Selingan). Only the beach on the east side of Selingan is open for tourists to swim and snorkel because of the calm and shallow sea. There are life guards on duty at the beach from 8:30am to 5:30pm. You can sunbathe in sexy bikini, but no topless and nude please.
Left: snorkeling on Selingan Island. Right: sea cucumbers. There are probably thousand of sea cucumbers in the shallow sea of Selingan.
From the beach, you can see Lihiman and Great Bakkungaan Islands of the Philippines only 6 Kilometres away. They are the “Philippines side” of the turtle island park. Turtle island parks from Malaysia and Philippines establishes the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the world’s first transborder programme between two countries to conserve sea turtles and their habitats in the Sulu Sea since May 1996.
You can see the islands of Philippines from Selingan. They are also part of the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the world’s first trans-border protected area for marine turtle. Left: Lihiman Island, Right: Great Bakungan Island at the left and Pulau Bakkungaan Kecil (of Sabah) at the right
The sea water is crystal clear and inviting to beachgoers who want to swim between Malaysia and Philippines water. The sea floor is rocky so a pair of water shoes would help. I saw hundred of sea cucumbers near the shore. The corals and macro lives in deeper water are spectacular. During low tide, avoid snorkel too close to the sharp corals or you would risk getting cut.
The Exhibition Hall of Turtle Islands Park on Selingan Island. It is open from 6:30pm to 9pm.
Exhibition Hall
No walking on the beach is allowed after 6pm, as the turtles would land anytime. You may visit the small exhibition hall, which is open from 6:30pm to 9pm. Some photographs, specimens and skeleton of marine animals such as turtle, dolphin and giant seashells are displayed.
Items displayed in the exhibition hall of Selingan Island. Left: model of a turtle hatchery, Right: skeleton of Irrawaddy dolphins
The labels and information are written in Malaysian and English, for you to learn about the sea turtles and the conservation projects of Turtle Islands Park. This short visit is a good time filler before dinner. Halal / Muslim-friendly food is served. If you are a vegetarian, you can inform the operator of your food preference in advance.
Turtle Nesting
After dinner at 7:30pm, everyone was asked to sit and wait in the dining hall for the highlight activity. Based on the landing records from 1981 to 2016 of the Park, a total of 85,870 unique turtles have been marked involving 81,149 (94.5%) green turtles and 4,721 (5.5%) hawksbill turtles. The Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) rarely comes here (only 6 landing).
After dinner, tourists wait in the dining hall for the tour to see nesting turtle
The number of turtle landings at the Turtle Island Park has increased to between 6,000 to 15,000 annually since 1991. The highest number of turtle landing was 15,219 nests in 2011. It’s safe to say that Turtle Islands Park is one of the most important nesting sites for green turtles in the world.
Green Turtles lay about 120 eggs while a Hawksbill can lay up to 160 eggs on average. Batches of 50 – 80 eggs are the most common.
The wait took less than an hour. Around 8pm, the ranger brought us to the beach where mother turtle nested. It’s only a 10-minute walk, but we were so enthusiastic and brisk walking behind the dim flash light of the rangers. We were requested to keep quiet and turn off our torch, or the excessive noise and light would stress the sensitive mother turtle and turn it away.
Nesting pits dug by the sea turtles for laying their eggs on the beach. These holes are everywhere on the sandy beach of Selingan Island.
By the time we got there, a green turtle had already dug a 16-inch-deep hole in the sand near vegetation line (above high water mark) and started laying eggs. We gathered around the turtle and looking at clutch of ivory-color and perfectly round eggs being laid into the pit.
Tourists gather next to the nesting site of a mother turtle
Everyone was given turn to shoot photos (extra torch, flash light and video taking are prohibited) so we didn’t need to elbow others to move to the front for the best angle. But we still need to keep a distance from the turtle.
The nesting usually takes 30 to 60 minutes. The clutch size varies between 40 – 200 eggs but batches of 50 – 80 are the most common. After the mother turtle was done with nesting, the ranger collected her fresh eggs into a bucket.
The fresh turtle eggs look like ping-pong balls. They are transferred to the turtle hatchery for better protection.
We followed the ranger to the turtle hatchery, where he buried the new turtle eggs for incubation. The nest is labelled with date, clutch size and serial number. These are what rangers do until dawn when they find new nests during night patrol.
Releasing Baby Turtles
The next program is the releasing of baby turtles to the wild. Turtle eggs take about two months to hatch. Once they emerge from the sand, the ranger will put them in a basket ready for releasing at night later.
Newly hatched baby turtles got photographed by excited tourists before their release
Everyone walked to the beach. The baby turtles were so cute and we were in a photo frenzy. Before the release, we were instructed to stand still because the small turtles would run all over the beach and around our feet.
A sleeping sea turtle can remain underwater for 4 to 7 hours
The ranger pointed the torch to the sea, to guide the hatchlings to enter the water. Baby turtles normally use the brightest horizon as clues to find the ocean. Artificial lights would distract them from finding their way, so coastal reclamation is a threat to their habitat.
You might ask, isn’t it easier to pour them all into the water? Sea turtles can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it as an internal compass. Release them on the beach would help them to register the magnetic signature of their birthplace, so they will come back to lay eggs in future.
Releasing of baby turtles on the beach. The female turtles would come back to the same beach to lay eggs after 20 years.
During their lifetime, sea turtles will travel thousands of miles across the oceans. It’s remarkable that adult turtles can use the Earth’s magnetic field as a global GPS to navigate back home for laying eggs.
Daily scoreboard of records on turtle landing and number of eggs collected. (GT = Green Turtle, HB = Hawksbill Turtle)
About 22 million hatchlings from over 315,000 turtle nests have been released into the sea from 1979 up to 2023 (1st quarter) in Turtle Islands Park (94% are green turtles, 6% are Hawksbills). The number is impressive but only one in 1,000 hatchlings would survive to adulthood. Every egg counts.
Starry sky of Selingan Island, which is free of air and light pollution
The releasing is the last activity of our tour. Most of the light was off and we were not permitted to wander near the beach until 6am next day, to avoid disturbing the landing of turtles. Without light pollution, the starry sky on Selingan was stunning. Many hermit crabs crawled out in the night. It’s funny but worrying to see that many hermit crabs used plastic waste as their shelter instead of normal seashells.
Hermit crabs use plastic waste as their shelters. This bizarre adaptation is getting common as more beaches are polluted.
People told me that Selingan Island is haunted. The rangers also shared some paranormal activities that they experienced during night patrol. Sometimes they heard people whispering but there was nobody around. One of the most terrifying story is – they saw huge shadow of turtle stood up in the sea. I’m not sure if these are fake stories to discourage tourists from going to the beach at night. I’ll leave it to you to find out. I had a good sleep there anyway.
Beautiful sunrise at Selingan Island
Before we left Selingan next morning, we caught the nice sunrise view over the Philippines islands. Overall, this is a leisure and educational tour that I would highly recommend to someone who love turtles and tropical islands.
What to Bring
The following are some necessary or useful items for the trip:
Sunblock lotion / spray
Sunglasses & hat
Swimwear or beachwear (e.g. swimsuit, bikini, rough guard)
Beach mat
Cash
Passport / MyKad
Water in refillable bottle
Insect repellent
Light clothing (e.g. T-Shirt, short)
Slipper / Sandal
Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash, soap, shampoo, toilet paper)
Camera & spare batteries / memory cards
Mobile / Cell phone and charger
Portable power bank and charging cable
Torch / Flashlight
Optional: dry bag (water-proof), goggles, waterproof casing for phone / camera, snorkelling gears (mask, snorkel, fins, life vest), water shoes, personal medicines
Note: you can rent the snorkelling gears on Selingan.
Challenges
Having turtle hatcheries and conservation acts are not enough to stop sea turtles from extinction, unless the threats below are mitigated effectively.
Not all Malaysian states ban the consumption of turtle eggs
Poaching of turtle and its eggs
Between 2,000-3,000 turtles are trapped as bycatch of commercial fishing in Malaysia every year
At least half of all sea turtles have already consumed plastic, which is hazardous to their health
Coastal development destroys the nesting beach of turtles
Threats to marine turtles include poaching of turtle eggs, and thousands of turtles trapped and drowned in the net of fishing trawlers every year
