The Orangutans

On our final day of the great Malaysian Adventure, Rosa and I made our way from the hotel to Semenggoh Nature Reserve , a thirty-minute, reasonably priced taxi ride away from Kuching. Orangutans come part in parcel with the stereotype of a Bornean holiday but unfortunately, their habitat in continually threatened by human activity, particularly in Indonesian Borneo where palm oil farms encroach on their habitat.  

There are two major reserve/rehab centres in the Malaysian half of the island. The first is Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, a drive from Kota Kinabalu, but rumour has it that the place is overrun with tourists who are overcharged to see orangutans that could be treated just a little bit better. 

These rumours set up our expectations for what we might see upon arrival in Semenggoh. Once in the car park however, we were told to get out of the car and make our way on foot down a long dirt road. As we emerged onto the park path, a ranger stopped up rather sharpish. Out in front of us, a mother and child lolled about with little heed to the 10-15 humans looking at them: 

On the other side of the path, a full grown male orangutan descended a series of ropes to gather up a bunch of bananas. His antics were closely watched by the visitors who were closely watched by the park wardens. Every step of the way, these guides were knowledgable about their wards and did their most to protect them from the potential stupidity of my fellow human beings:

The park's main goal is to retrain these beautiful beasts for rehoming in the wild. Many of them have been kept in captivity as pets or have been orphaned. As they become more and more self sufficient, the orangutans spend more time in the trees surrounding the reserve. For example, this guy:

Male orangutans are very territorial and tend to spend their time alone in the forest, whilst the females tend to breed and rebreed over a series of years, living and raising their female offspring. This lady, Delima, came back to hang out on the cool cement at towards the park's closing time.

The people who remained at the park at this point maintained a respectful distance to watch Delima's hilarious antics:

The park was a stunning conclusion to a very special trip to Borneo.

Kuching

Rosa eventually made her way to and from The Pinnacles with only minor wildlife brushes. She confirmed that my knees would have struggled on the hike back down but was most grateful she did it. Together, we made our way back to tiny Mulu airport and onto Kuching, in Sarawak province. 

By some miracle of Asian hotels, we booked ourselves the executive package for the low low price of £40 a night. Besides free printing, this came with free snacks and a delightful view of the still-less-sleepy-than-Melaka city below:

 

In Kuching proper, we were greeted with a charming, albeit quiet, city. Cute cafes dotted the streets and we found delicious bowls of noodles in a daytime street market.

Graffiti lined the streets:

And as we wandered, we were greeted with a cute little river walk and some kind of Chinese New Year style parade. Touches of China-meets-Malaysia-meets-India were everywhere.

I'm not exactly sure Kuching's got the bustle of a place that I would live but it was certainly one of the more exciting places in our tour of greater Malaysia. To make matters better, we were also in spitting distance of one of Borneo's best orangutan sanctuary. The next day, we made good on our plans to visit these charming, enigmatic creatures and were not disappointed.

The Caves of Gunung Mulu

The National Park is home to five 'Show Caves', places accessible on small group tours, some by boat, others by a 45-minute walk through the park.  The caves are rife with activity--a daily bat migration entrances park visitors at Deer Cave, which is home to 3 million wrinkle lipped bats (i'm not making this stuff up, I promise). Weather dependant, visitors can attend the appropriately named 'bat exodus', a 5:30pm evening migration of the tiny flying mammals. 

Before any of this could happen, however, we first toured the cave. It boasts its status as the Largest Cave Passage in the World! (the sign used the exclamation mark, not me). Inside, a unique guano-y smell fills your nostrils and darkness abounds. When our tour guide shone a light on the surroundings were were terrified to find snakes, gigantic tarantula-esque spiders and layer upon layer of bat shite. 

My indoor pictures do the caves very little justice but hey ho.

Next door to Deer Cave is charming, or as charming as a cave can be, Lang Cave. Here a shock of stalactites and stalagmites dot the ground and ceiling of the caves. David Attenborough does this a lot more justice that my words or pictures possibly could. You can even watch a clip of his musings on youtube by clicking here. 

The view on the way out:

Our second tour took us via boat to twin cave complexes of Clearwater Cave and Cave of the Winds.

Though the sheer magnitude of these caves was a bit smaller, they were by no means less impressive. A series of well-cared for wooden pathways took us up, around and over the underground river that roared beneath the rocks and fed the river we'd just been travelling on. 

Had I chosen to, an overnight guided tour takes visitors to various other cave-beyond-the-cave destinations. It's difficult to give mediocre pictures the impression I got when I was here. Perhaps I can only say that, in a ten-week tour of stunning cities, countries and beaches, Gunung Mulu National Park was the standout place.

That's not a particularly descriptive or detailed thought but you'll have to trust me here. There's something special in the solitude, in the greenery, in the rainforest rain. 

Go. You won't be disappointed.

Gunung Mulu National Park

Early the next morning, I hopped on my little hopper flight knowing that Rosa was already making her way towards a jungle trek to The Pinnacles, Gunung Mulu National Park's pride and joy. The view from the air proved Borneo to be every bit as gorgeous as people told us it would be: 

The Pinnacles themselves are a series of jagged limestone crags only reachable via a three-day, two-night hike/climb through the leech-infested forest. Originally, I told Rosa yes, I was willing to do this. But as the school year waned, I quickly changed my mind. The online reviews boasted of knee-defying climbs, both up and down, as well as leeches, snakes, scorpions and other less-than-satisfactory brushes with nature. 

Instead, I checked myself into the region's only hotel, a recently repurposed Marriott Hotel. One with rooms built straight into the jungle and a covered outdoor sitting area with views of the river lazily floating by. I took my book, my expensively shipped in glass of wine and felt a bit smug when it rained and still I remained dry: 

The area surrounding my hotel was bereft of humans. As a cloud descended over the foothills, the air felt oppressively heavy with oncoming rain. But my goodness, the air smelled and tasted different here. A peace descended on one of those fleeting moments of complete contentedness: 

The next morning, I made my way via free shuttle to the gates of the National Park, another World Heritage Site. The park boasts miles of walking trails, world famous caves (featured on David Attenborough's Planet Earth) and a series of bunk-bed style accommodation. 

Armed with information from the knowledgeable and very kind national park guides, I made my way to the park's many trails. They function on a check yourself into this little book and if you don't come back by x time, we'll come and look for you.  I had a little battle with my inner nature demons--what if I get eaten by a leech? What if I fall and no one finds me? Because for hours, I ran into no one.

And my goodness, the humidity. Eventually I got used to the solitude; the sheer beauty of the surroundings made that fairly easy.

Later that afternoon, I booked myself onto a canopy walk and a cave exploration for the next morning. The canopy walk proved a little vertiginous and made me further grateful I hadn't signed up for the Pinnacles trek:

Up in the trees, we spotted lots of charming flora and fauna. Plus, I managed not to vomit or pass out--heights are doing something to be in old age.

As I made my way back to the park entrance at the end of the day, the cave entrances loomed in the distance. More to come on day two!