Brunei: The Little Philippines

As many of you are aware the southern Philippines butts up against northern Borneo with the closest distance between major islands being from Mindanao, Philippines to the Malaysian state of Sabah in NE Borneo. Ever since arriving in Borneo we were constantly hearing about all the Filipinos. It sounded like the place was crawling with them! They work in the oil palm plantations, the fishers illegally cross the border and steal fish, terrorists sneak across the border and steal tourists, they created Filipino markets in many of the cities, etc, etc. I was excited to try out my rusty Kinaray-a again as I hoped that some of the Filipinos would be Visayan natives. Too my surprise, it seemed like we hardly ran into any Filipinos and much to my disappointment the ones we did run into were born and raised in Zamboanga and didn't know a lick of Visayan.

However, upon entering the island of Labuan aka the gateway to Brunei, we were surrounded by the sounds of Tagalog and laughter. One of the first things I realized was that Filipinos, Filipinas especially are LOUD. Much louder than their Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts. And they laugh...a lot. These familiar sounds followed us all the way through the great Sultanate of Brunei. On the bus: a small group of Filipinas chatting away, in the photo shop: both cashiers jabbering Tagalog, and biggest gas of all in the cybercafe: Completely overrun by Filipinos chicka-ing (IMing) friends, family and foreigners; Filipino music was blaring from the speakers.

My question is this: why all of the Filipino imports? Does everyone in Brunei already have a job? Are they not willing to work for the wages offered by the service industry?

We met a nice Indonesian woman on her way back home after working for 7 months in Brunei. She said that many Indonesians, as well as Filipinos make there way to the Sultanate in hopes of make some decent money. She also said that many of them leave after working only a short while because the working conditions were so terrible. She herself was leaving and not looking back.

Orchids Galore

Dec 25 - 27

After 'roughing' it in the woods, Laura decided to splurge for Christmas and reserve a night at the Hyatt in Kota Kinabalu (KK). After living pretty modestly for the past 3 months and always searching for the cheapest option, this was a shock to the system, but a nice one. Comfy beds instead of a wood floor and bed bug infested mattress, a hot shower and tub instead of a cold bucket of water, a sit down toilet instead of a hole in the floor and a scrumptious breakfast buffet instead of a piece of toast was just all too much for us. Casey was a bit reluctant at first about the splurge but in the end, it was enjoyed immensely by both. KK was also a decent small city with a proper bookstore and many small handicraft shops which was nice for the day that we passed through.


Our next stop was Tenom, a small inland town reached by train where we planned to visit an agricultural park. Unfortunately the train ride was later than we had expected and so what we had been told was a nice scenic ride was almost entirely in the dark. On the way back we would see the scenery and it was in fact quite nice as we meandered along the river and through the mountains. We arrived in Tenom in the evening and left early the next day towards the Agricultural Park which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We were the first visitors and we thought that maybe we would be tho only ones all day. Later there were many more people who visited the park but we had the place pretty much to ourselves in the early morning. It was a large place and we had hoped to learn a bit more about some the plants in the area, especially the rainforest species. This ended up not being the case as the park did not focus on these species very much (I guess we should have guessed this since it is an ag park).

However some of the exhibits were done quite well and the park was a nice place to wander amongst the gardens for a day. The park boasts one of the largest orchid gardens in the world or so they claim, and many of these beautiful flowers were in bloom. The native orchid gardens had many gorgeous specimens ranging from minuscule, cute blooms to much larger flowers such as the rare black and lady-slipper orchids. It was very well laid out and nicely landscaped; however, the standing water in some of the garden pools provided a nice mosquito breeding habitat and these annoying pests proved unbearable at times. Across the way was another impressive hybrid orchid garden where over a thousand different types were displayed. It seemed like all of them were in bloom during our visit and these big, bold colored flowers standing out against the blue backdrop of the sky provided for some great photos. We also wandered through the orchard with hundreds of fruit species and sampled many of them (many of which we had never heard of or seen before) including rambutans, mangosteens and passionfruit. Other gardens in the park displayed pitcher plants, hibiscus, gingers and even cactus. Overall it was very well done and a nice place to explore.
Although it was not exactly what we expected and our knowledge of rainforest plants is still basically non-existent, it was still a decent little side trip.

Still On the Hunt

Dec 20-25, 2006

Our next stop after Kinabatangan was a place called Danum Valley which is found in the interior of eastern Sabah (Malaysian Borneo). We had first heard of the place in Lonely Planet and had also heard rave reviews of it from other travellers and people in the area as a great place for wildlife and intact lowland rainforest. We still had a long list of animals we wanted to see including those elephants and our plan was to camp out in Danum for about 5 days.

Danum Valley is actually a conservation area within a much larger logging concession awarded to the Sabah Foundation. The purpose of the concession is to use the money from 'sustainable' logging in the area to improve the health and education services for the citizens of Sabah. It is an interesting concept and I am not sure the logging is always sustainable or how well the overall scheme works but it is better than the indiscriminate and illegal logging we have seen in many other areas. The concession is broken up into many plots and many international corporations have stake in the area including IKEA. At least the Sabah Foundation has had the foresight to set aside a number of conservation areas where biodiversity has been found to be especially high such as in Danum Valley. Within Danum, the Foundation has also forged a relationship with the Royal Society in Britian to set up a research station which has become internationally recognized as an important location for lowland rainforest research.

This research station is the place where we wanted to stay since they have a large complex for for use by international and Malaysian researchers as well as 'keen naturalists.' The only other option for staying in Danum is a prohibitively priced rainforest lodge so we opted for the research station.We had heard of some travellers staying at the station but had also heard of others having a bit of trouble getting in the place. So before heading to the Kinabatangan we had gone to the office of the research station to check it out and get things sorted out with reservations and transport. When we arrived we were met with a bit of resistance as the receptionist informed us that Danum Valley was not for tourists and only limited to researchers despite the fact that their website and brochures billed the center as a venue for small scale nature tourism. We talked with her a bit longer and told her that we had heard of other travellers visiting the area and also about our background as biologists and conservation work. Slowly she softened up and told us that it would probably be OK but we still needed the clearance from the main office in another city. So we spent the rest of the day trying to e-mail and phone the office and when we finally got in touch, they told us that it was no problem and seemed surprised that we were asking permission. It seems like there is a bit of a lack of coordination and as we found later it seems that these folks cannot decide if they really want tourists in the area or not. It is understandable since the main purpose of the station is for research but it is a bit confusing since they have spent time and money to advertise the area as a tourist destination. So in the end we had wasted a day for bureaucracy and were still unsure if we were really wanted but we were excited about going nonetheless.

So upon returning from the Kinabatangan, we took the afternoon shuttle to the research station along with an older Swedish couple and an American family who was checking out the area as a potential research site. They also had similar problems with coordinations with the station but we were all excited to be headed there. We arrived in the evening and when we said we wanted to camp we were met with a bit more resistance. We insisted and found out that the resistance was probably because they had not cleaned the camping area and it seemed like it was seldom in use. But it turned out to work very well. It was a covered area set up wtih hammock, electricity, water, a kitchen are and even Western toilets (a bit dirty, but functional).

The next morning we woke up to rain and decided to sleep in a bit longer. It ended up being an overall wet day with light rain interspersed with downpours and a bit of sunshine. This is not great for wildlife spotting but we went hiking a bit on some of the trails including a trail to some 400 year old coffins and imported Chinese pottery left by indigenous people. We were lucky to spot the endangered Bornean Horn Frog in midday as well as a cool frill headed lizard in the late afternoon. From the nice research station veranda where we rested during the hottest hours of the day, we spotted a pig tailed macaque, a giant squirrel (these are as big as cats) and a number of gorgeous rhino hornbills. This spot ended up being one of our favorite resting places and amazingly a great spot for wildlife viewing. Later in the week we would see pigs feeding below us, a gibbon swinging silently by and a white-fronted falconet catching butterflies.

During the evening, the rain let up a bit and we had arranged to go on a night drive to spotlight some wildlife. We had heard that sometimes these drives can be great with many animals spotted along the roadway or in the trees (clouded leopards and slow lorises among this list). Unfortunately we were not so lucky and the only animals we saw were the bearded pigs, sambar deer and Buffy Fish Owls that had made a residence near the research station. On our drive we saw nothing else outside the station proper but upon returning and after we had dropped off the other visitors at the hostel and headed towards the campground, we did see a small leopard car in the garden and a civet crossing the road. So no clouded leopard or slow loris that we had been after but at least we did not come up totally empty handed.

The next morning we got a bit of a late start again since we were tired from the late night spotlighting. But it proved to work well since we were lucky to spot our first troop of red leaf monkeys very close to the station. We watched these strange looking guys (they look like old men with furry beards) for more than an hour as they climbed and swung from tree to tree. We also found a family of pig tailed macaques and these provided us with further entertainment as well as a bit of a scare. Macaques are very social and are fun to watch as they groom or wrestle with each other. We were highly content just following this particular family from a distance. We noticed that there was the large patriarch watching us as well and making sure that we did not get too close. Long tailed macaques are pretty small and while they can be pesky at times and have a tendency to steal food, I do not they could do too much damage if they went after you. Pig tails, like these, on the other hand and males in particular get quite large, look pretty mean and have large fangs. We were a bit wary and when this male made aggressive territorial motions of pacing and raising his eyebrows, we tried to keep our distance. We still enjoyed watching the family though and they eventually crossed the road and headed out of sight and into the forest.


Or so we thought. They had actually turned when they hit the treeline and when we started to walk down the road where they had been, the male determined that we had come too close to his family. He rushed out at us and to say the least we got a bit worried. We did not know the best protocol but began to slowly back up. He continued to chase us very aggressively and got within a few feet. We hoped that he would not attack as we did not have any way to fight him off other than with our hands. Luckily he did not attack but he did chase us about 50 meters until we reached the safety of a nearby building. With our hearts thumping, we decided to stay indoors for a bit and make certain the monkeys had passed from our path. Lesson learned: do not get too close to potentially dangerous animals even if they are nice and cute. After our excitement for the day, we took it easy and did spot orang number 12, a small juvenile male that was very low in the trees and near the station.

The next few days were spent hiking in the nearby forest in search of more wildlife and marvelling at the huge trees. The forest around the station was quite good with the biggest trees that we had seen yet. It was green and wet with many vines and butresses and every bit as beautiful as we had hoped. As for wildlife, we found the best place to be in very close proximity to the station complex. Furthermore many of the trails were not very clear so we ended up staying near the station. In our time at Danum we saw some more red leafs and macaques, a monitor near the river, many hornbills and on our last day our last orangutan for this trip (number 13). This large female was our best view from just a few feet away. She was not disturbed by our presence at all and we watched here eating just feet from the ground but without touching it for about an hour and then watched as she climbed the tree to build her nest for the evening. In the nighttime we saw many spiders, another leopard cat, a cool tree frog and a number of unidentified civets. Our elephant searching was in vain although we did see signs of their presence along the road and we were told that they had just passed through the area. It always seems that we just miss them. Oh well. Some of our other most sought after species (slow loris, sun bear, pangolin) also were absent from our spotted list but after 5 days our food was gone and it was time to move on.

So on Christmas morning, we hopped in the van to head back to civilization. Along the way we were hoping to spot an elephant and our wishes were granted. This was a nice Christmas present for us both and it was a big bull with tusks to boot. We only caught a short glimpse before it headed into the forest but it was nice way to end our trip to Danum.

On the Hunt

On our next day we arranged for an all day excursion on the river with the main purpose of trying to find elephants. Along the Kinabatangan there are a few hundred elephants and they usually stay in fairly large groups which makes them easy to find especially when they come to the river for a drink and bath. Unfortunately a few weeks before we arrived the larger herd split into many smaller groups of just a few individuals each, making any sightings of these big guys a lot more difficult. Our guide told us that he ahd not had any luck the past two trips when he had taken tourists in search of the elephants but we still wanted to try.

So we had planned to start our trip around sunrise to get the most out of the best wildlife viewing hours early in the morning. Unfortunately the rain (which has so far been mostly absent on our trip) foiled our plans and we did not start until about 8. At least it did not rain the whole day (as can be the norm for this time of year) and we were able to go out, even if a bit later than hoped. We began to slowly make our way downriver with Sion, our excellent driver/guide/spotter and his daughter who served as first mate. Just a little ways from our lodge we saw our first sign of elephants which was tall grasses matted down on the side of the river. Our guide told us that it was very fresh (maybe only a few hours old) and we thought we were on the right track. We continued along the river and when our guide saw that we were also interested in birds, his own speciality, he began to point out and identify many birds (many that we could not have seen on our own). We saw many birds of prey (Changeable HAwk Eagles and Brahminy Kites) and waterbirds (the endangered Storm's Stork and darters) and many hornbills just to name a few. Macaques, proboscis monkeys and silver leaf langgurs also made their presence known and we spotted orangutans number 9 and 10. We continued to make our way down the river towards the sea since our destination was the coastal city of Semporna where Sion wanted to be dropped off. After a few hours, the vegetation began to change from lowland rainforest to nipa and mangrove and we realized that our chances for elephant spotting were slim but we would try again on the way back upriver.

After dropping Sion off and taking a bit longer than expected for lunch and refueling, we headed back upstream for a bit more wildlife searching in the late afternoon and our elephants if we were lucky. It turned out that our extended stopover in town on top off our late start in the morning did not leave us much time for animal viewing in the afternoon and our elephant search had been a bust. In the early evening we reached the settlement of Albai and our guide told us that he had an obligation to speak at a workshop there so he turned us over to his brother-in-law. The plan was to take the boat out to look at the abundant fireflies in the area and also do a bit of spotlighting when it got dark. However I guess there had been a bit of miscommunication and there was no light which made it a bit hard to spotlight anything including seeing exactly where our boat was heading (oh well). We were in for a treat with the fireflies though since they gather in thousands on certain trees along the river. As we passed them it certainly looked like the trees were lit up with Christmas lights which coincided with the time of year very nicely. After cruising around for an hour or so and being priviliged to the natural light show, we decided to head back for dinner. They had prepared three dishes for us with the biggest freshwater prawns that I have ever seen (more like miny lobsters in fact). It was absolutely scrumptious and afterwards we relaxed to wait for our guide to finish at the workshop. It ended up being later than expected and after a long day of some unexpected circumstances, we decided to just stay the night and head back to the lodge the next morning. Maybe we would still get a chance to see the elephants on the way back.

The next morning was a foggy one and many of the monkeys slept in. It was funny to see the resting in the trees when they are usually so active and playful. We saw many more birds and a large male orangutan (number 11) right by the river but no elephants. We did hear a gibbon calling in the forest as well and decided to track down this magnificent creature. Gibbons are almost entirely arboreal and are the fastest flightless animal in the forest which makes them amazing to watch but they are also very shy and this on top of their speed makes them very hard to see. Each morning they do make an amazing call like that of a siren which can be heard from far away which enables you to at least figure out where they are and if you are quiet and careful you can track them down. We were lucky and did get a quick glimpse of this guy and along the way Lora got another unexpected gift from the forest. A leech actually attached itself to her eye. Luckily she was wearing her contact and when she pulled it off, the contact came off as well. No harm done but a good story.

We finished this cruise in the later morning and we decided that it was our last. Even though both of us wanted to stay a bit longer, the boat trips were expensive and we had already made reservations at our next destination. So we packed our bags and hitched a ride with the son of an oil palm plantation owner who had just dropped some other travellers off at our B&B. This guy turned out to be another really nice one who went 60 kilometers out of his way to drop us off in the town where we were headed. He also showed us around his father's oil palm plantation. We learned that the palm oil is used not only for cooking but also in many shampoo products in Western countries. He told us also that Shell was cutting down forest and opening a few plantations here to be used for biodiesel fuels (maybe biodiesel is not always the best idea). Palm oil is quite a lucrative business and it is no wonder why so many plantations are springing up especially since the Malaysian government seems to be encouraging the widescale plantation establishment and forest destrcution. I did feel a bit weird riding in this guy's truck after spending days watching wildlife that is threatened because of plantations like his, but such is life.