Sukau River Criuse; betrayal of last years Valentine

I returned to base non too anaemic to find we had many visitors; Daniel, the Ecoteer founder and his new assistant Charmaine, along with a Danish family, friends of Tobin the Humana director. It was great to have a little euro conversation. So it was straight off for a river cruise along the Kinabatangan River which is a reserve and wildlife corridor through the plantations. It is about 10 km away from the plantation and we all boarded the school bus to get there.

I am currently working with Hutan which is part of Kintabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project, see link on the left, who are bringing an exhibition to the schools here and we hope to visit with the older students to do some conservation work with them.

The river is the second longest in Malaysia and this reserve only one of two, home to 8 different species of primates.

Yes you have guessed it we did see another Orangutan, but again not very photogenic it was busy making a nest in the tree and all we could really see was an occasional long orange arm reaching out for another branch, apparently they make up to three nests a day and we could see many along the river bank trees.

We saw macaques too, performing startling acrobatics as though trying to get a better look at us!

The area is also famed for 

its bird life variety and I managed to photograph 2 varieties of hornbill, one of which is called the rhinoceros hornbill for obvious reasons.

We were really privileged to see 5 elephants having their afternoon bath, this is how I prefer to see my elephants, during day light and the other side of a river.

But here is my new Valentine, I think we are well matched, the Proboscis Monkey. One of the things small children are fascinated with me is the size of my nose, they always want to touch it, perhaps they think I have strayed from the jungle, but at least here I have met my match.

Treemendous Tawau

Tawau is a port on the Indonesian border and it holds a festival of regional cultures each year so we decided to visit.

We arrived a little late in the afternoon but some of the stalls were still showing the various tribal costumes and handicrafts.  Here are a few pictures for the beaders, perhaps you want to incorporate some of these flowers into your next projects!

The main event was the evening procession of the wedding ceremonial regalia, music and dance.  

It was amazing to see so many tribes from all over Borneo and surrounding areas.  It was magnificent but we didn't manage to see them all as I  was growing faint from lack of food

The next day I decided to head off to the hills, Tawau Hills reserve is home to the tallest tropical tree although I couldn't see the top.

This is one for the bashers and hashers: this area is home to many hashers, and I thought I had stumbled upon a trail, perhaps they do use fungi here, still wouldn’t work in the snow though. 

I then went in search of waterfalls and hot springs, this is secondary forest, i.e. logged out and with marked trails, some even cemented and others gravelled, so pretty tame jungle I thought. It didn't take long for me to slip and slide my way and stopping to clean my feet in a stream, I remembered too late about the leeches, they were so happy to drop in for a snack. I was wearing sandals, shorts and sleeveless top so really hospitable! 
I continued and made it to the somewhat lukewarm springs and couldn't wait to get in as I assumed the little critters didn't like sulphurous fumes.  I was right and it was a beautiful spot for a picnic lunch, when I was buzzed by a particularly hungry butterfly.  






Then the rains started and I had to stumble back through the dripping foliage, always wondering when the next leech would fall. 
 I eventually made it to the waterfalls to find another four on my feet and as I had slipped into the mud so many times I stopped to wash all my clothes and make sure there were no more passengers in any hidden places. Back to the 'trail' I was using my brolly as protection against falling suckers only to have it attacked by vicious although stunningly architectural foliage, I guess the 'trails' are not designed for brolly carrying woosies.

I made it back to the gravel path when I had to stop to answer the phone, tip always keep moving in the jungle to avoid stingers and suckers. I then realised I was looking like I had survived some head hunting massacre, my shorts, top and shoes were turning red. I had to return through the park full of locals relaxing by the river, to the toilets in order to strip off yet again to wash all my clothes. I couldn't get dressed as the anti coagulant injected by the leeches meant the bleeding just continued; I managed not to pass out as I normally do in such circumstances, I had a few plasters with me and managed to stem the flow to get a taxi back to town although I didn't really stop bleeding until after I went to bed. I think I have satisfied my jungle thing now, If that was tame I don't really need anything more hard core.

Semporna

We had another three day weekend for the prophets birthday so I decided it was time to visit Semporna which apparently translates as 'perfect'.

Mr Chee our most accomodating host found me a lift almost all the way and most importantly a town with an international ATM. Howver being the first Friday of the month the queue was very long and slow moving as people use these ATM to pay utility bills, top up phones, for each member of the family as well as to get balances and of course cash, it being a holiday weekend I guess even more was needed and Mr C had already warned me to take mine at the beginning of the weekend.

I arrived in Semporna just before dark with out any bookings but went to the local backpaking budget operator Skuba Junkie. It is generally accepted that as this is the gateway to the world class diving area around Sipadan that it is rather expensive just to snorkel. But I managed to secure a good deal and cheap dorm room for the night. Even some hummous bread and beer for supper, accompanied by a local band playing an increadible range of cover versions, from the beatles to Beyonce (I think). Ready for an early start in the morning, It is about 45minutes by speedboat to the island of Mabul. From there if you have booked one of the limited permits you can go on to Sipadan for a days diving. I was happy to stay on Mabul. I was the only snorkeller in my group but still managed to see turtles who were very chilled about me swiming just above them. They are so graceful and dignified in the water, I saw both the larger green turlte and a smaller hawksbill turtle. In the afternoon we went to Stingray city, and again I was on my own snokelling but still managed to see two blue spotted stingrays, one was quite large. I was some way above them and felt much more secure about that. I also saw a metre long moray eel and a large parrot fish who didn't like my presence so close to the nest and so I moved on quite quickly.

I went for a walk around the island in the late afternoon, there is a large population of 'sea gypsies' who are stateless and so have little access to education or other provisions of state such as sewer processing and rubbish collection. They live in stilt villages around the shores, except where the resorts have taken over, and try to eak a living from working in the resorts, providing homestays and tourist trinkets of shells and sharks teeth.

The island is beautiful fringed with coconut palms and sandy beaches and apparently only takes fifty minutes to walk around. But yet again I got lost and ended up wandering around endless walkways through the endless resorts not getting anywhere, eventually I found a barman willing to show me the way, but he was on his bike and I was running to keep up with him but at least I got back in time for dinner.

After dinner there was what appeared to be a village council meeting, the subject of which was getting support from all the diving resorts to work together to put on a Marine Festival. Surprise surprise every one was sitting on their hands, 'tis the same the world over MVA! The function of the festival is to raise environmental awareness, with a rubbish clean up and other fun and frolics to ensure the sustainability of marine tourism here. Because of the statelessness of the local population then it is up to the resorts, who are providing employment and making money to protect their USP a clean, well stocked, and enviornmentally sustainable marine park for their well paying clients along with a properly educated ad trained support staff.

The company I was with, Skuba Junkie,appears to be the most proactive, supporting initiatives to provide a school of hope and alternatives to gain income apart from shark finning and over fishing of the area. It does not serve any sea food in order to support the move towards sustainable fishing practises. Some other guest did witness sharkfinning of about six shark pups that day, so please sign the petition on the link on the left to bring to the attention of the government. If I have time I hope to return to help at the school with some craft ideas for the children to make and perhaps generate some income rather than from sharks teeth and shells which are not sustainable. Also of course to enjoy the incredible variety of marine life, fish, plants and corals of amazing variety and colour.  I will try to get one of those natty little waterproof camera pouches to give more photos.

Beading and Rocket Stoves

I think I may have lost the plot a little now, I am ostensibly here to alleviate child labour in the planatations however I may have gone native as I have employed the children to further my current passions, beading and rocket stoves

We do various activities in the afternoons, not formal lessons. Wandering around the plantation in the rain it is apparent that there is plenty of clay so I thought a suitable activity would be a little modelling and beads came to mind so we had a very messy afternoon making beads and buttons along with various other creations, some of which were very fine considering the quality of the clay.

I thought we would try to fire them in the ashes of a hot fire, so I sent the students out to collect wood and stack to dry. Then I spotted some bricks, so got them to transport them to the school to build a rocket stove. You don't need the science, save to say that it comprises an elbow chamber to create enough draft to ensure secondary combustion of the waste gases, thus burning the fuel hotter and more efficiently, see I told you you didn't need the science. 

 So we piled the bricks accordingly (who needs lego) and then plastered the outside with yet more messy clay. Left it for a day to dry out, should have have left it longer in this humidity and then guess what, we made a fire, and it worked! 

 Could I do this in a uk primary school? I would still be doing the risk assesment. 

 These kids know what they are doing, the only one who got burnt was me as I got hold of the wrong end of a burning stick! However, they seem to have asbestos fingers as they couldn't wait to put their models on top of the stove to fire and then take them off to check how they were 'cooking'!

It remains to be seen what the end product will be, many refinements will be required, so much more fun to be had