Meeting the man of the forest

After a few days of "sciencing" as hard as one possibly can for a short period, it was time to say goodbye to the concrete metropolis of Kuala Lumpur. A quick flight took us across to the town of Sandakan, and our first steps on the mystical island of Borneo (mystical according to years of Nat Geo and David Attenborough movies that is, perhaps less so for the local people). A quick geography lesson may be necessary here - Borneo is the 3rd largest island in the world (behind Greenland and New Guinea) and following colonisation and the establishment of national territories is now comprised of three nations, namely Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. We have travelled to the northern most tip of Borneo (with distant views of neighbouring Phillipines), where we plan to spend a month or so exploring the Malaysian province of Sabah. I don't expect you to pass any exams on this geography at a later stage, but perhaps you may want to look it up on a map...

Following a few hours in the Sandakan airport, we were then amongst the only five people who boarded a much smaller plane for Lahad Datu, landing at an equally tiny airport. The town would provide a one night stop over before our true target - the Danum Valley Conservation Area.

The Danum Valley field station was previously solely a research centre with the adjacent forest trail network laid out in a grid pattern in some areas to facilitate ecological research. The field station has subsequently been expanded to allow for tourist visitors. Our base was to be the Danum Valley Field Camp, a small camp set up by one of the tour companies (we used Sticky Rice Travel - who provided excellent service). The camp was limited to about 10 people and set a little way back from the main field station area, thus providing a deeper jungle experience. Sleeping with, and waking up to, the myriad sounds of the jungle is a feeling hard to beat! Beds were laid out in rows and took the form of stretched plastic pulled tight between two poles, suprisingly comfortable, especially after a long day of hiking.

But we had not come to this ancient rainforest for the comfy beds or the great camp food (although they definitely add to the experience) - we had come for the biodiversity. To that end we were not disappointed. The day's activities generally involved an early morning hike, watching the sun's rays strike out over the jungle, listening to the birds stirring from their slumber as the mist lifts. This was followed by breakfast, before taking another hike. Lunch and a nap was generally the order of the day in the afternoon, with a late afternoon hike and a fun night hike after dinner to top it all off. Fortunately I have spent years accustoming Esti to extended periods of hiking and so we managed all of this quite well. One of the essential hiking items which we were not accustomed to from home were the leech socks. I had encountered land leeches on my recent expedition to Madagascar, and we had found a few stalking the jungles of Taman Negara. Fortunately the leech socks help protect against attacks, while you're wearing them that is, which we did not do around camp (mostly for reasons of fashion and integrity), leading to me prising a leech off Esti's big toe on our first day in Danum. She had been appropriately welcomed and initiated by the jungle.

The day and night hikes exposed us to much of the jungle's biodiversity. Our first afternoon trip had us enjoying views of the cute Red Leaf Monkeys as they showed their agility whilst leaping from branch to branch. The next morning served up Northern Grey Gibbons, which swing through the branches with a dexterity and grace we can only dream of. Provost's Squirrels scurried around the trees near camp, startling with their jet black coats and bright red-orange belly fur, whilst Pygmy squirrels of intense cuteness patrolled the large trees...both certainly not your average squirrels! The ancient looking Flat-backed millipede proved that the invertebrates could be just as fascinating as those creatures with a backbone.

Our night hikes produced equally astounding critters in the form of Wallace's flying frog, File-eared Frog, an incredible Long-horned cricket and Striped bronze-back snake. But perhaps the highlight of the nightly walks was stunning views of a confiding Buffy Fish Owl right near the camp - a great addition to our bird list.

It would be remiss of me to not comment on the floral component of this incredible jungle, but lacking in botancial knowledge, I can only provide limited information. The jungle is characterised primarily by trees of the Dipterocarp genus, so named for their four-winged fruit which spins and carries their seeds gracefully to the forest floor far below. And far below is apt in this case - these are among the tallest tropical trees in the world. In fact, the record holder itself lies deep in the Danum Valley, scraping the skies at an impressive 108m! These are not as tall as the temperate trees such as the Sequioa's of North America for example, but rather the tallest tropical trees. A feat which should not be overlooked as the clay soils provide little purchase and prevent very deep-growing roots. Rather these impressive trees grow large root buttresses above ground, which provide the support they need, with the longest visible buttress supposedly pointing in the direction of the nearest river (useful if you happen to find yourself lost in the rainforest).

Our guide Mohamed had grown up in the jungle, at a village slightly deeper in, once again provinding a true first-hand experience of this ecosystem. He led us to an ancient burial site which the original indigenous people of the forest had used. The community which had lived in the area about 400 years ago carried their dead in extremely heavy hardwood coffins up to a cave for their burial, but only a cave which faced towards a river would do, given that these are considered scared spiritual spaces. Equally interesting and exciting for us was a sighting of a group of Great slaty woodpeckers just nearby - the largest woodpecker species on the planet!! This was one of six woodpecker species spotted. Our total bird list ended on 75 species, and included some exciting sightings such as the very large Black, Wrinkled and Oriental Pied Hornbills, the endemic Bornean Bristlehead, 10 species of Babbler, regular views of the stunning White-rumped Shama (sadly threatened by illegal exploitation for the song bird trade), and the Green Imperial Pigeon soaring over the forest canopy. The local Black Eagle resembles Africa's species previously of the same name very closely, but is a different species. One of our more interesting bird observations from this trip was a sleeping Bornean Banded-Pitta, puffed up on a branch to keep itself warm during the night. We of course changed its name to the more appropriate fluffy cannon-ball pitta...

But the cherry on the top, and one of the main reasons we had booked this trip, was to see a wild Orangutan. The name "orangutan" is derived from the words orang, meaning "person", and hutan, meaning forest making them the original "people of the forest". After scanning the canopy for a few days we were finally rewarded. After our guide stalked off into the forest we heard the tell tale sounds of a large male Orangutan, but having heard Mohamed mimic them a number of times we falsely decided that it was him yet again. It wasn't. He came hurrying back through the jungle to say that he had disturbed a very impressive male Orangutan, who was now doing his best to let us know who was boss. Not that we needed any convincing. This creature spends its life swinging through the trees, supporting a body mass of over 100 kg. Think about that the next time you try a few pull ups at the gym. The crowd of tourists quickly gathered as word spread on the bush telegraph, a sighting of a male not being common in this area. Male Orangutans develop a very large facial desk which indicates their dominance. The story goes that each time they win a territorial dispute their hormones pump once again, further flattening and expanding the facial disk with each successive win. This individual was clearly a winner...

The jungle had offered us all that we could ask for, and a final cooling swim in the Segama river rounded off an incredible few days, deep in the jungles of Borneo.