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Rare orchid of Maliau Basin

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

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Continued from Part 5

Hundred-Feet Observation Tower

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

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

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

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


Above: a helipad not far away from Nepenthes Camp


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

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


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


Above: Mr. J waits to video sunrise

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


Above: Mr. T climbing down


Above: it’s me climbing down the tree

Back to Maliau Basin Studies Centre (MBSC)

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


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


Above: the trail in 3D model

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

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


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

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


Above: flower of Dendrobium cinnabarinum.

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


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

Skybridge (Canopy Walk)

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

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


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

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


Above: fruit of Ficus tree


Above: a weird praying mantis looking at us

Night Safari

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


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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

>> Next Article (Part 7)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

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

More Photos

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

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

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

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

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Continued from Part 2…

The Real Start

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

Above: our strong porters. Look like boys huh?

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

Agathis Camp

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


Above: the trail in red is our route for today


Above: the trail in 3D model

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

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


Above: fruits of Agathis tree

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

Going to Ginseng Camp

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

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

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


Above: wild orchid


Above: camera trap


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

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

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


Above: yummy… the fungus look like sweet bun.


Above: cookie fungus? Look tasty…

Legion of Leeches

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


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

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

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

Ginseng Camp

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


Above: almost there


Above: Malaysian Ginseng

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

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

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

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

Cold Shower

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

The Night

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

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

>> Next Article (Part 4)

Photos taken in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

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

More Photos

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

BONUS! More new photos of Maliau Basin…

Orchid De Villa, Horticultural Show 2005

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I went to the Orchid De Villa Horticultural Show 2005 on Aug 27 – 29. I would say this is one of the best places to hang around with your family during weekend. The only problem is the road condition. After my 20-year-old car running on 1 KM of gravel road full of mud, holes, rocks and dust, I was almost faint when I reached another sign saying “Orchid De Villa 2 KM”. Fortunately, if you don’t have a 4 wheel, you can take a FREE mini bus in front of the Sin Hin Bookstore in Inanam so your car does not need to suffer the 3 KM gravel road. The bus will move whenever it is full or it waits long enough.

It was an interesting experience. Many activities such as Little Miss Orchid De Villa, Children Body Building and other shows were organised during the exhibition.


I also took a walk in their orchid garden. Actually I was a bit disappointed in the beginning because I didn’t see a lot of blooming orchids around. Luckily I saw Mr. Liew (the owner) and his wife before I left. He asked if I found anything interesting to shoot. Before I answered, he already pointed out 5 to 6 orchid flowers NEXT to me. “Did you see this?”, “Did you see that?”… I was a bit embarrassed to say No coz I didn’t pay close attention to my surrounding. The flowers were so near but I didn’t “see” them.

Many wild orchids are very small and low profile. They could be hiding in the grass, under the leaves, and other corners. You could not discover them without paying very close attention. He also mentioned that’s why many visitors were disappointed and said they saw “nothing”. For me, this is an important lesson. Not all beautiful thing is OBVIOUS. They might be very near to us, but all are ignored by busy, insensitive and impatient city people like us. Probably we can learn to pay more attention to the little thing around us, such as the new haircut of our wife, the good little thing others do for us silently… then we would appreciate the world better.

I also visited their zoo. The Sep 16 Malaysia Day is coming. There is a bird would like to say something to greet you. Click Here to hear what it said (48 KB).

Photos taken in Inanam, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo