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Orange mushroom

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Lowland dipterocarp forest
    Occupy 11% of Maliau Basin. Tropical rainforest with abundant commercial timbers such as menggaris, seraya and ironwood.
  3. Lower montane forest
    750M – 850M asl, trees are only 15-30M high, fewer big tree but more epiphytes, conspicuous mossiness.
  4. 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:

>> Next Article (Part 2)

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

Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau)

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Last time I blogged that Tawau is an ecology desert and its ecotourism is over. Actually Tawau still has the last remaining natural heritage, Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau). After a few days of exploring this park, it turns out to be one of my favourite sites, and I will go there every week if I live in Tawau, which is so near to the park. Gazetted as a State Park in 1979 and 24KM away from Tawau town, Tawau Hills Park is an important water catchment area consists of five major rivers, i.e. Tawau River, Merotai River, Kinabutan River, Mantri River and Balung River. The park covers an area of 27,972 ha (about 280 sq. KM).


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Last month I took an express long-distance bus from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, which was an 8-hour journey (one way ticket costs RM45, about USD12). Taking a flight will only take 45 minutes. But sum up all the fees such as flight ticket, baggage charge, airport tax and transport from airport to Tawau town, it will cost over RM100 one way, too much for a poor traveller like me. From Tawau town, you need to get a taxi to the park, which costs RM30 one way, and there is no bus going there. The taxi driver may offer RM50 to pick you up for returning to Tawau. FYI, you can book such transport for RM30 at the counter of the park. Don’t waste your money.


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By the time I reached Tawau Hills Park, it was about 5PM. I saw many long-tailed macaque monkeys were moving from the nearby oil palm plantation to the park. The park became their playground and they were free to loiter around. They screamed, they f**ked, they fought, they chased one another, and they swam in the river. For unknown reason, I hate long-tailed macaque, probably it bite me before.


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The photo above looks like a happy monkey enjoying soaking in the cool water. In fact, it was screaming and beg for forgiveness from alpha male, after he lost the fight and escaped into the water.


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My late grandfather was used to keep a pig-tailed macaque as pet in his house in countryside. Though also wild, pig-tailed macaque is friendlier than long-tailed macaque. Villagers seldom keep long-tailed monkey as pet as they are more aggressive and tend to bite people. If you are lucky, you will see red-leaf monkey (maroon langurs) in the park. Further inside the jungle, you would see other primates such as Borneon gibbon, grey-leaf monkey and slow loris. Rangers say they spot orangutan very deep inside the hill forest. The rare white leaf-fronted monkey is only found here (too bad I didn’t see any, though a sighting was reported during my stay).


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Ok, enough with the monkey, just to let you know you can see them in morning and evening. I was staying in a 4-bed room in a chalet in the park. It was only RM20 a bed/night for a room with 4 beds, 2 small tables and a fan. The toilet and bathroom are at the end of the walkway outside. That time was not peak season, so I could have the whole room, and even the whole chalet! At night you could see many small animals such as frogs and lizards around the area, which is what I like.


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During my 4-day stay in Tawau Hills Park, I tried the trails to Sulphur Springs (3.2 KM) and Bukit Gelas Waterfall (2.5 KM). Each trail took only 1 hour+ of walking. Since I walked slowly and looked for photography subjects, I took more than 6 hours to go back and forth (it would take longer if it didn’t rain in the afternoon). Due to prolong drought caused by El Nino, the trails were dry and leech-free. As this park is a water catchment area, the trails could be flooded by rivers during heavy rain. The Park HQ even has siren to warn swimmers, if the upstream station detects any flash flood.


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Tawau Hills Park is a mix of primary lowland and hill dipterocarp rainforests, 60% of them is virgin forest and the remaining is secondary forest. Along the trails, you will see many giant commercial timbers such as seraya, selangan, keruing and belian. Some trees have huge buttress roots. I was told that if you were lost in a jungle, just hit the buttress with a wood, and the rescuer can hear you 1KM away. This is more effective than shouting for help. The trails are along the rivers, so it is quite refreshing.


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Wildlife you would see here are leopard cats, wild boar, giant tree squirrel, clouded leopard, forest tortoise, giant river toad, etc. Sighting is not guaranteed. Sadly, I didn’t see any of the above. The first bird you will notice is the noisy hornbill. Out of 8 species of hornbills in Sabah, you can find six of them here (black, bushy-crested, helmeted, rhinocerous, white-crowned and wreathed hornbills). Three rare species of pheasants (crested-fireback, great argus, Malayan peacock pheasants) also live in this park. I saw the very beautiful Asian Paradise Flycatcher that has an extremely long tail like paradise bird. At first I thought it was a “flying towel”. When my camera struggled to auto-focus it via the leaves and tree branches, it flied away, sigh…


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In the park, there are three main peaks in the form of extinct volcanoes, namely, Mt. Magdalena (1,310M), Mt. Lucia (1,189M) and Mt. Maria (1,067M). It takes 2 days to conquer the highest peak, Mt. Magdalena. The trail is 17 KM long and you will spend a night in Mt. Lucia Hostel (at 10.55 KM). After 1,000 M above sea level, you will enter mossy forest, a totally different vegetation from lowland forest. It is far more challenging than climbing Mt. Kinabalu. If this is too adventurous for you, you may try the 1.9 KM trail to Bombalai Hill (530M), which is a a remain of an ancient crater. The rugged volcanic landscape of the park is abundant with volcano rocks ranging in age from Middle Miocene to Quaternary. I save Mt. Magdalena for the future.


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Most part of the trail is next to a river. It is an ideal spot for nude swimming, coz I didn’t see anyone tried jungle trekking. The water is unpolluted and is piped to the households in Tawau and Semporna. Ever wonder why the rivers here still flow in dry season? The rainforest serves as a water retention system for the rain water. The forest ground can hold the water and slowly releasing it to the stream, even after month of drought. If the trees in this park are sold by greedy politicians to lumbering companies, the rivers here will be polluted by eroded soil and run dry. Most Sabahans underestimate the importance of rainforest. That’s why whenever there is any serious flood and landslide, the politicians can get away easily by saying these are the Act of God and has nothing to do with the forest clearance that is approved by them. Crocker Range Park and Maliau Basin are under threat now. So, just protect our forest and stop blaming God / Allah.


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Pay attention to the small stream and you would find something interesting, like the green sucker fish below. Before that, I thought all sucker fishes were dark in color.


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The water volume of Gelas Waterfall was so small during dry season. I lost my mood to photograph it when I also saw two big logs lean on the waterfall, spoiling the whole view. Anyway, my photo album has a few nice close-up of the waterfall. It is very tempting to jump into the clean and cold water under this waterfall. But be warned that there were many cases of drowning here, especially students. Their bodies couldn’t be found until they floated on top. No survivor can live to tell how they were dragged into the water. Don’t swim there alone. As a matter of fact, all waterfall is a beautiful dead trap.


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You would find the butterfly below sipping water in the river bank of Gelas Waterfall. They moved so fast and I only managed to get one shot. It looks like a Green Dragontail butterfly (lamproptera meges virescens).


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Frankly speaking, I felt very strong presence of spirits in the remaining 400 M to Gelas Waterfall. One of my photo even shows something like a ghost orb. Well, it could be reflection of dust or moist. After I heard the tragedy stories from my aunty later, then I confirmed there were probably unseen entity lingering nearby the waterfall area. I always had such goose-bump experience in certain jungle trails, but I don’t quite bother as I can’t see “them”.


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The thing bothers me the most is a flying blood sucker called Deer Fly. Its bite is worse than leech as the wound can stay itchy for week. The itch is under the skin, scratching also can’t help much. I encounter deer fly in almost every jungle trekking. They can follow you a long way, land on your exposed skin to look for opportunity to suck blood. I kept sweeping them away with hand but they never wanted to give up. If I sweated heavily, the smell would overexcite them and even attracted more deer flies, and I ended up having 3 or more of them following me. The only way to stop them is to kill them. I just waited for them to land on my face or hand, then hit them by palm. I don’t want to kill anything in the wild but I have no choice..


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Besides tall trees, you will be amazed by the rich variety of fungi, lichens, shrubs and undergrowth vegetation. Despite my visit in dry month, I saw many types of fungus and mushroom in different sizes, shapes and colours. I think this park really can open a Fungus + Mushroom Garden, no kidding. Previous scientific field trips found that Tawau Hills Park has over 150 species of orchid, include the rare elephant-ear orchid. Most of the forest is yet to be explored, and the researchers believe many new plant species are waited to be discovered and given a name.


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There are some big fungus that I’ve ever seen. Fungus decompose dead trees and recycle the carbonic substances, so they are very important for the forest. The humid and dim rainforest is suitable for their growth.


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One fungi also looks like hair.


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Everytime I went to Tawau Hills Park, I saw different lizard. This time I spotted a comb-crested agamid. Later I spotted a gliding lizard. It thought it did a very good job to blend into the tree, so I could go very near for more close-up photos.


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Just slow down and observe the surrounding, you will see some interesting bugs in the park. Even cricket can be so pretty. Is it a “tiger cricket” below?


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When threaten, pill millipede can roll its body into ball. This time I waited and saw how long it would stay rolled. It opened up bit by bit, kept watchful eyes outside, and started moving after 20 minutes.


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The photo below is a feather bug. I passed by a tree and saw a few “bird feathers” on the trunk. A closely look revealed that it’s a bug. A few of them even mimic the movement of feather in the wind. Amazing bug…


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The funniest bug of all is the ant-snatching assassin bug (Acanthaspis sp). It collects dust, sand and soil particles, plant parts and even empty ant corpses, and stick those stuffs on their abdomen. Such heavy “backpack” is a camouflage to confuse their predators. Can you see it in the photo below? I spotted 3 of them in the park.


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Most animals come out at night, so I joined the night walk (costs RM30) guided by a ranger. We toured around between the forest and a nearby oil palm plantation, also the Bombalai trail for two hours. I hoped to see the king cobra and big ular sawa snake that the ranger told me. Too bad I did not see any, but I spotted Malayan civets, fat porcupine and firefly.

The time between 6:30pm to 11pm is the best time to look for anurans (frogs & toads), especially after rain. There are 64 species of anurans in Tawau Hills Park, 31 species are endemic to Borneo and 3 are endemic to Sabah (research by Mr. Kueh Boon Hee, University Malaysia Sabah). That means for every frog/toad that you see here, more than 50% chance it is found in Borneo only!


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Basically that’s all about my trip. Luckily the weather was good. Now I can’t wait to have another trip to climb Mt. Magdalena. Do expect me to blog about Tawau Hills Park in the future. This park has sulphur springs, lowland rainforest, montane forest, mountains, waterfalls, volcano remain, etc. The tour operators should create a package and promote it.


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Most Sabah travel agents are still lacking some creativities as they only know to demand more quota to climb Mt. Kinabalu and dive in Sipadan, as if there is nowhere else is worth to visit in Sabah. They only wait for others to develop and promote a new tourism product, when it becomes famous, only then they try to offer the same package, trying to get an easy share of the profit. They should learn more about Blue Ocean Strategy, so we can have both monkey and gold.

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Photos taken in Tawau, Sabah Malaysia

Sulphurous springs (Tawau Hills Park)

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Every Sabahans know Poring Hot Springs, but few know that Tawau also has hot springs, in fact, more. The least famous and most beautiful springs hide deep inside Tawau Hills Park (Local Name: Taman Bukit Tawau). In 2006, I tried to go there but the heavy rain overflew the river and cut off the trail.


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However, the idea of exploring Tawau sulphurous springs was always on my mind. Finally I made up my mind and went to Tawau Hills Park early this month. In the park, you only need to walk about 3.2 KM by following the “Kolam Air Panas” trail, which will be a jungle trekking for about an hour. Since I walked very slow to enjoy and photograph around, it took me 3 hours to get there. Later I will blog about the interesting creatures and plant I saw on the way. When you see the suspension bridge at 1.5 KM, you are halfway done then. Just follow the signage to proceed.


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When I saw the “KAP 0 MTR” (Kolam Air Panas 0 Metre), I thought I had reached the hot spring and I smelled something like rotten egg (sulphur) in the air.


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But I only saw a river looked like photo above. It was a bit different from the beautiful hot spring photo I saw on the leaflet, though this site had a big rock too.


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Probably I needed to go further. But very soon there was no trail and signage for me to proceed, seemed like I had reached the end.


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Not sure if this was the site, I walked around and saw something like a sulphur pond. Well, quite a big disappointment, I guessed perhaps it was not the right season. I snapped a few photos and didn’t stay long. When I returned to the park and showed the photos to the park guide. He said there was not a hot spring! I was really pissed off and almost shouted why there was no trail and signage. He kept on denying that’s their fault and insisted the trail and signage were there, making me more angry. May be it has been a long time the park didn’t check the condition.


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Anyway, I had to go back again in second day, as it was late. On the second day, I came back to look for the trail and it was really not there. Luckily I knew the hot spring was along the river, so I tried to walk further up along the river. Finally I found the hot spring was only about 200 Metres away, but that took me more than half an hour to walk through the dense wood and hilly landscape. You know it is the right place if you see it, as it looks so beautiful and different. I never saw anything like this.


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First thing you will see is the “snowy white” stream from the sulphurous spring. The white color is the result of sulphur sticking and deposited in the stones and river for long period of time. It is so unreal and pretty. Compared to crowded and commercialised Poring hot springs, this spring is unspoiled and so pristine.


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“Wow!” was my only response. I was excited and explored around. In the flowing water, I saw hair-like sulphur threads. They moved with the current, like water weed.


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The water in sulphurous spring is crystal clear with cyan color due to the minerals, a calm and shallow pool under a mass body of silicified rock.


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The sulphur deposit blankets in the calm water is in cotton-like shape.


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Most photos you see here would be the only collection on the Internet. Before I came, I searched the Net and didn’t find many photos, so I was surprised by what I saw.


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I grabbed a small pieces of the sulphur deposit to take a closer look. It is very soft like semi-liquid jelly, like a small amount of sulphur particles being held loosely by water.


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Another angle of the spring. The water is calm and shallow. I would like to take a dip but I didn’t want to stir up the bottom and destroy the look. I photographed around happily. The locals believe the spring water can cure skin diseases.


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There were some yellowish sulphur foam floated on the water. It is something creamy and sticky when touched.


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Above the spring is a mass body of silicified rock, with a few trees grow on its thin layer of soil on top. I don’t know what you think it looks like. I felt that it was “staring” at me, a bit scary…


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See the bubbles and stirred sand above? An evidence that thermal process is still active. The fart smell is from the conversion of dissolved sulphur in water to H2S by anaerobic bacterial activity, which suggests the water is from deep underground.


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There are other hot springs found in different places of Malaysia but the volcanic-related hot springs are only found in Sabah. Technically, it’s caused by the Quaternary magmatic intrusion of Maria volcanic complex. People should learn more about this attraction and promote it as a geotourism site.


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There was no fish in the spring but I saw some unknown small bugs, with many legs, swam in this acidic spring (pH 3.68-4.10). Anyone knows what they are?


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The sulphur in the stream turns boulders and stones in the water into white colour (sulphur-coated boulders).


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The water is lukewarm (25-30°C) because it mixes with the river water (That is why I do not call it a hot spring). The scientists say the chemicals from the sulphur spring has very minor effect to the river so it won’t pollute the water.


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Moving further up along the river and you will see other sulphurous springs.


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Here is another sulphurous spring at the river. You can tell easily from the sulphur-coated stones.


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There are about 10 sulphurous springs along this 100 Meter stretch of river, but they are smaller and less impressive than the first one. I hope you are impressed. In future I will blog about the real “hot” springs of Tawau.

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Photos taken in Tawau, Sabah Malaysia

Miki Survival Camp – Part 3 of 3

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Continued from Part 2…

Day 2

The next morning we waked up quite early. Jimmy brought back more wild durians. Compared to durian on the market, wild durian is smaller. Its meat is thinner but tastes good. After having some fried noodle as breakfast, we started our last program at 8:30am.


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Jimmy taught us more survival skills. The most useful one is starting fire without a lighter. Just stack two flat bamboo wood, hold some coconut husk in between, cut a small air hole and “fiction rail” on top of a wood, then rub the opening hard and fast, up and down, on another dry wood. We saw smoke in a matter of seconds. The drilling-hole method we saw on TV is so slow and stupid. I bet many had tried drilling the wood but it never worked right?


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Another useful skill is making a bamboo rice cooker. Just cut an opening on young bamboo, put rice and water in it, then boil it on the fire. You also can boil the water in same way, as uncooked water is not clean. It is really handy if metal container such as empty tin is not available. Jimmy also showed us how to make a bamboo cup and pop-gun. It is not as easy as we imagine.


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Lastly we “graduated” and left the camp at 9:30am. Though cloudy, the rain stopped and it was a good weather. This time we were walking non-stop so we reached Kiau Village in about 2 hours.


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Mount Kinabalu showed her face clearly that day, forming a nice backdrop.


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Yesterday I missed the photography opportunity, now I could shoot happily. We passed through the farm land and saw many crops grew on the slope.


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Tapioca, banana, rubber, pineapples, hill paddy and vegetables are common crops in Kiau. Besides for self-consumption, they also sell them in market.


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Nothing much I need to say already. We arrived Kiau at 11:30am. After having delicious lunch with Miki and other guides, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu, took a shower and went to bed.


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Personally, I am a bit concern about the clearing of forest on the slope. At the moment it is still ok. Hope it won’t be overdeveloped, which would cause flood, soil erosion and landslide.


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Miki Survival Camp not only shows us how to survive in jungle, it also makes us appreciate the nature a lot more, as we know more clearly how resourceful a jungle can be. People could get almost anything (food, herb, building and handicraft materials) from the jungle. If done in sustainable manner, there is almost an unlimited supply of food and raw materials.

I believe this is how Penan people in Sarawak live in jungle. Sadly, the greedy logging companies come in and destroy their forest and living. The Sarawak government doesn’t do anything to stop this. Instead, the politicians try to label the Penan people as rebel. No newspaper speak up for them. This is what happens if voters give Barisan Nasional the full power. Absolute ruling by one party will bring only corruption.

Photos taken in Kiau, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Miki Survival Camp – Part 1 of 3

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Rainforest is one of the worst places to get lost and there was one recent case in Sandakan. To learn the skills of a jungle man would make a difference. If you know how to use the resources of the jungle, the forest will be a buffet place, which offers plenty of food. That’s why I joined the Miki Survival Camp, a 2 day 1 night programme in Kiau last week. In Kiau, we still needed to walk to the forest in Mohan Tuhan, at the foothill of Mt. Kinabalu. The low mountain forest looks like the photo below, cool huh?


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Kiau Village (Kampung Kiau) is 29KM away from Ranau town. If you drive to Kinabalu Park, you will see a junction at your left, somewhere between Nabalu and Kundasang towns. There is a brown sign of Miki Camp. Kiau Village is under Kota Belud district. I waited at the junction, and Mr. Sadib Miki, the owner of the camp, picked up me and drove another 30 minutes of bumpy road to the starting point (Kiau Nuluh Village). Most people in Kiau are Kadazandusun work as farmers and civil servants. Every house seems to have a farm there.


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However, the weather started to turn bad, and the rain was kind of putting off my passion on photography. Below is a photo of the Miki team. From left, Jimmy, Sadib Miki (owner), Maik (his brother) and Danson. The rain didn’t seem to stop, so I had no choice but to proceed at 10:20am. Jimmy, Maik and Danson were our guides. They were so nice and helped to carry my heavy tripod. Thank you!


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TREKKING

Walking from Kiau Village to Miki Survival Camp (in Mohan Tuhan, foothill of Mount Kinabalu) takes about 2 hours. We would stay in the forest for a night and came back in next morning. At first I was disappointed with the poor weather and hang my camera under the raincoat. Suddenly I saw a 5-inch earthworm crawling near the trail. Grew up as half a village boy, I noticed this earthworm crawled in an unusual way. After a closer look, I almost screamed, “that’s a giant Kinabalu Leech!!!” Giant Kinabalu Leech can grow up to 30cm long and we saw the baby leech. As sighting of this leech is very rare, I was as happy as a lottery winner. Giant leech only comes out after heavy rain, to chase for its prey – earthworm. Once it finds the earthworm, it will swallow the earthworm like a snake. Surprisingly, it doesn’t suck blood. Miki says such leech can be found in Kinabalu Park and Kota Belud, but it lives in very confined area. Very little is known about this creature. I should thank the rainy day.


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Beginning of the trail was to walk pass a farm land for about an hour. Due to the cooling fresh air, I didn’t feel really tired or dehydrated. Then we walked into the dark, humid and dense low mountain forest. With an altitude of 1,000 Metres, this forest is characterized by abundant amount of mosses, lichen, algae, fungus, and mushroom on the tree and forest floor. Frequented by fog and mist, some trees even have hanging long roots that can absorb moisture from the air.


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During the trekking, Jimmy, the Bear Grylls of Sabah, would stop occasionally, showing us some of the edible and herbal plant in forest, more like an interpretation walk. We didn’t only see, but also touch, smell and taste the forest produces such as wild durian and salak (snake skin fruit). Whenever Jimmy talked, I would take note. Otherwise I will forget what he says. I decide to post these info in my blog here. It is only a record, do not use my info as a forest eatery guide ok! Some food still needs special handling in order to consume safely. Don’t blame me if you get ill.


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According to the guide, sometimes honeymooners also had their vacation in Miki Camp. A couple once carried a 2-year baby into the jungle. The 2-hour walk made us sweat but it was not too physically demanding. A walking stick and “kampung addidas” shoes (Village Addidas, a Malaysia made rubber shoes) will be your best friends. The forest floor can be wet, muddy and slippery, and you also need to cross a river. If you wear your hundreds dollar hiking shoes such as Camel and Timberland, you will soon find your shoes soaked with water and its bottom sticks a thick layer of mud. Kampung Addidas costs only RM3 (USD $1) but it is sold for RM7 (USD$2.20) in city. It is easy to dry and have firm grip on slippery rocks, but will not stick mud. Most guides wear it to climb Mt. Kinabalu and even won climbathon race.


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Friends, I have 1 good news and 1 bad news for you. Good news – even though the forest is dark and wet, there was no mosquito. Bad news is – there are plenty of blood-thirsty slimy leeches, 90% of them are tiger leech. If you stop walking, they can crawl on your shoes in seconds, moving up and sucking blood on your feet, legs, neck and armpit. I was wearing leech socks with anti-leech spray on it, so I was safe. If you are a leech-phobia like me, you can wear leech socks or come in dry season. We crossed Hoya-Hoya, Inokok and Mohan Tuhan Rivers on the way, by slippery bamboo bridge, swinging suspension bridge and on foot (3 methods!).


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CAMPSITE

Finally, after nearly 3 hours, we arrived Miki Survival Camp at 12:45pm in Muhan Tuhan. Actually the trekking took 2 hours, but we stopped many times for learning thus taking longer time. Probably coz of the rich negative ions, I didn’t feel exhausted, and the chocolate bars and 100Plus that I brought were untouched.

Miki Survival Camp started in year 2000. They have about 1 thousand tourists every year, mainly from UK. Miki Camp is in the middle of a forest, which was considered a sacred forest in the past. The hunters always buried some offering near the river, wishing for a safe and fruitful hunting trip. There are about 6 or 7 scattered raised floor huts, which house 1 or 2 camping tents. The campsite can accommodate 40 people at a time. Sleeping bag and carpet are provided, but this is not quite enough to fight the cold night. Besides, they have a kitchen that uses wood and gas for cooking.


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Electricity and warm water are not available in the jungle. Since the camp has no attached bathroom, you have to walk to the toilet nearby. You shall not expect a 5-star toilet in a jungle right? In my previous camping, we only dag a hole, surrounded it with canvas and called it our toilet. I posted some more photos of the campsite in photo album, in case you like to see more. The guides said primates like orangutan, slow loris and tarsier were spotted in deeper site of this jungle. Wild boar and monkey were living around but they seldom come to the campsite.


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They also have bathroom, but it is “underutilized”. It is so cold that none of us took a shower, haha… The temperature can drop to 8 degree Celsius, between wet and dry season. The Mohan Tuhan River is only a stone throw from our campsite. It is so clean that you can drink it right away, and the water is also freezing cold. Jimmy said we could take shower in this river, but I’m afraid I would never see my “little brother” again if I did so. In fact, this area is an important water catchment area, with unpolluted water straight from our majestic Mount Kinabalu.


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Besides the guide, our cook, Rayner and his daughter, Diana also came in earlier. Dinomysia, the little daughter of Sadib Miki, was there too. The girls were very shy, probably I am too handsome, hehe… And their dog, Kurak (means white in local language), was a friendly company too. Kurak likes to hang around with Dinomysia and Diana, following them in and out of forest.


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Another heavy rain approached, making afternoon even colder. We setup a fire place and sat next to it, to keep ourselves warm and dry. Same as us, Kurak also loved to stay near the fire, so near that I worried she would become a hot dog. If she was not sleeping, she would patrol around in the campsite, keeping wild animals at bay.

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Photos taken in Kiau, 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

Leech Bite

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In making of this blog, I had walked over 50KM of jungle trail but never bitten by a leech (surprise!). Personally I am quite afraid of leech, as if it is a slimmy monster that can crawl into my brain. Anyway, my passion on photography still makes me to explore area potentially lurked with army of leeches. One day I was taking photo in Botanical Garden (behind Liwagu Restaurant) of Kinabalu Park.

When I was busy shooting photo, I saw a leech crawling on the camera toward my eyes. Luckily I discovered it earlier, otherwise it would land on my eye. Quite a surprise coz I never expected to see leech in a garden where many people walking around. It is a small ground leech. I used a stick to relocate it to an open space for photo shooting.

The ground leech sensed my body heat and came to me in joy. As you can see in the photo below, it is a very tiny leech. Then I had a “crazy” idea of donating some blood to it. My friends probably thought that I was nut.

Even though leech scares me, I know it can do very very little harm to me. I decide to overcome my leech-phobia by letting it to bite me. I placed it on my arm. It crawled a bit then stopped. When I saw its head turned into pointy shape, I knew it was looking for sucking point.

The leech bite was less painful than a mosquito bite. In fact, I didn’t feel it. I was curious how much blood it could take, so I put a 50 cent coin next to it for comparison. In 10 minutes, its body size doubled.

After 15 minutes, its size tripled and showed no sign of quitting its dinner. I wanted to go for my dinner, so I just detached it with finger. It was very easy to be removed (probably it is small). Only a tiny wound left on my arm.

During blood sucking, the leech released a chemical that prevented my blood from clotting. The leech was gone, but my wound kept on bleeding for 2 hours. Imagine if you are bitten by 10 leeches, the mess they left behind will be quite a “scary” view, though it doesn’t hurt at all. I heard that the cigarette ash can stop the bleeding.

Anyway, this reduces my fear of leech by more than half. May be next time I can try Tiger Leech, which is about 15 times bigger than Ground Leech. If you think this is a big deal, try to look at this guy, who tried leech 30+ times bigger than Ground Leech! *me faint from fear*

Photos taken in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo