“Welcome to the jungle,” the skinny kid with a backwards cap sneers as we walk past him and his friends.
It’s late and we’re lost on a dark street in Sabah’s capital, Kota Kinabulu. Backwards cap and his friends don’t look like much help so we backtrack down hushed streets, towards the noise and glow of KK’s Night Market in search of food and our hotel.
This is KK. Where there’s plenty to see, but we’re not here for the concrete jungle. We’ve just landed from Singapore. We’re here to forget the city for a week. We want adventures in the jungle wild and that’s exactly what we’re going to get. This is Borneo. And we’re here all week.
Day 1: Mount Kinabulu
It's 5am the next morning and we’re hurtling along in the dark on a 90-kilometre journey to Mount Kinabulu National Park
Mount Kinabulu is the inescapable iconic image of Sabah. It dons the state’s flag and even the state capital Kota Kinabulu is named after the mountain. The 4,095-metre jagged colossus rose from the depths about nine million years ago. A botanical bounty of fauna drapes the mountainside, including orchids and rhododendrons, ferns, pitcher plants and all manner of fungi in this Unesco-listed World Heritage site.
One option, if you can’t or don’t want to do the summit climb is the non-summit 10-kilometre trek. That’s what we’re on due to a fractured foot throwing our plans into disarray. It’s still a good day’s slog and will get you above 2,700 metres, where the views are stunning. You take a longer route than summit-seekers take to get to that altitude, but it’s more scenic. You’ll pay roughly S$200 for the one-day trek with mandatory guide with transport to and from your hotel either in KK or near the mountain thrown in.
The two-day, one-night summit climb is traversed by about 40,000 people each year. You have to be reasonably fit and will set you back more than SG$300 per person including your night’s stay on the mountain.
Only 146 permits are issued each day for the two-day, one-night summit hike, due to the same number of beds at Laban Rata, the lodgings summit-seekers must stay at overnight to reach Low’s Peak. Laban Rata is at 3, 272 metres. You stay here and set off on your clamber to the summit at 2am to make sunrise at the peak.
Book way in advance for the summit hike, at least one month prior. You can book here. There is also a one-day summit hike, but this is only for extremely fit climbers and not advised as the view from the peak in the afternoon will most likely be draped in cloud.
Day 2: Bus across Sabah to Sepilok
We opted to stay the night just outside Mount Kinabulu National Park. The lodgings may be simple but you’re here for the views. Ceyln Resort is one of many hotels scattered on the hilltops about eight kilometres from the park with stupendous views over the valley and the Crocker Mountain Range. A room will set you back S$70 per night.
So after coffee and a nod of appreciation to Mount Kinabulu and we’re off on our adventure to the other side of Sabah, to Sepilok. We head about 10 kilometres to the small town of Ranau to catch our11am bus. About S$10 a ticket for the 4ish-hour journey is a great travel option. You’re in for a bumpy ride along cliffside roads as you continue your descent into the flatlands but the scenery makes you forgive the driver for his heavy gas foot.
So we get to Sandakan, the second largest city in Sabah, after 3pm and grab a toothless elderly gent who own a car about the same age and make the short journey to Sepilok, home to Sabah’s most famous locals: orangutans and sun bears.
We’re staying at Sepilok Forest Edge Resort, five minutes’ walk from the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre. A mix of jungle-cool chalets and a simple lodging dorm room, but it’s the majestic gardens and pool at Forest Edge which makes the stay memorable. The Malay-fusion food is also a massive thumb up. A dorm room per night is S$35, a chalet S$85 low season and S$95 peak season.
Day 3: Hanging with Sepilok locals
Get up early. You’ve locals to hang with. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) and Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) are side-by-side and a short amble along a dusty track from the resorts which have been created to cater for visitors to the centres.
The SORC has been looking after injured and orphaned orangutans, or “men of the jungle”, for 50 years and is one of only four sanctuaries of its kind left in the world. The ginger tree-huggers gather at two feeding time daily when you can catch a glimpse: 10am and 3pm. There are some decent trails in the 40-kilometre sanctuary to explore with a myriad of critters and insects to aim your lens.
The BSBCC is epic. Sun Bears are the smallest species of bears in the world. The little bundles of joy feast, laze and climb trees in open-air enclosures. When we were there one squat little 12-year-old happily rolled around, showed off his tree-climbing abilities and then promptly passed out in his den made of branches for an hour.
For pudgy little things they are expert climbers and most nest and sleep in trees. The International Union for Conservation of Nature list Sun Bears as “vulnerable” species and the work carried out at the centre helps to ensure threatened, orphaned and abused bears are nursed back to health and integrated back into the wild. Visitors to the centre are kept at bay from the bears but highly knowledgeable staff will give you all manner of useful info about them. Here’s one: Although they are small, only 120 to 150cm in length they have enormous tongues, up to 25cm, used to slurp insects and honey.
Day 4 to 6: Gaya Island
We’re on the 8am flight from Sandakan to Kota Kinabulu. A 45-minute flight, 10-minute taxi ride and 15-minute speedboat voyage west off the coast from KK and we’re stepping foot on Gaya Island. This part of the trip is a well-earned slice relaxation. My still-fractured foot needs it.
We stayed at Gaya Island Resort. This is a great choice for some down-time after backpacking. A five-star resort where paddleboarding, snorkelling and kayaking is the extent of excursion for a couple days. And a welcome place to rest that injured foot. Rooms are available for S$300.
Day 7: Back to the concrete jungle
We’re back where it all started, sitting on the edge of the dock, the noise and aromas of the KK’s Night Market drifting from behind us as the sun’s final embers singe the clouds and the day’s last fishing boat idles it’s motor and eases up to the dock. The day is winding down and so is our week in Sabah.
One short sleep and we’re back to Singapore and work life. To reality. But that’s okay because we’ve tasted a slice of Sabah and it was a treat. As far as breaks from Singapore go, it’s the best so far. A break from the concrete jungle we live and a welcome leap into the jungle wild. This has been Sabah, Borneo. And we were here all week.
Safety beyond the headlines
Sabah, Borneo has been in the news of late for all the wrong reasons. The kidnapping a Chinese tourist and a Philippine resort worker early April by armed gunman from a resort near the eastern town of Semporna prompted a string of international “no travel” advisories. The two women are still being held captive. Reports suggest Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf is responsible, notorious for kidnappings for ransom.
There’s been little reporting about on this story other than when it first broke. One report suggests a call has been made to the Chinese tourist’s family for S$14 million ransom, but that’s the only news.
The eastern wedge of Sabah is a huge lure for tourists due to its mesmeric dive sites. But the remote, water-front location for many of the resorts used as bases for dive junkies also makes for easy access for water-born acts of kidnapping.
Last November, Abu Sayyaf militants abducted a Taiwanese woman and killed her husband from a resort in Semporna. She was released within a month.
In February last year, about 200 armed militants from the autonomous island of Sulu, Philippines, seized the village of Lahad Datu and killed several policeman. Twenty-six people died in the violent clashes. The militants believe they have a territorial claim to Sabah.
In 2000, Abu Sayyaf gunmen took 21 hostages, including 10 tourists from Europe and the Middle-East from Sipadan Island. The tourists were released five months later but a Philippine dive worker was held for three years.
Currently, on Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs website there is no travel warning for the region. The UK Foreign Office, however, is currently (as of April 28, 2014) advising against all but essential travel to all islands off the eastern coast of Sabah, from Kudat to Tawau, including Lankayan, Mabul, Pom Pom, Kapalai, Litigan, Sipadan and Mataking.
To put this into perspective: If you’re going for a diving holiday to Sipadan these warnings concern you. If you’re not venturing to the east coast then they don’t. Due diligence is the best bet. Check travel advisories before you go. The same day as the latest kidnapping tourists were still travelling to Semporna in droves. It’s a personal choice.
Getting there from Singapore
Don’t swim. It will take ages. Check AirAsia and SilkAir, they fly direct. For domestic flights in Sabah we found AirAsia and MAS Wings had the best deals. The latter is also good travel for Malaysia’s southerly state in Borneo, Sarawak.
More to do in East Sabah
Due to my foot issues, the extent of our trekking was hampered. We missed a lot and there’s oodles of other things to do and see in Sabah. Here’s a taste of other things not on our seven-day itinerary.
Diving:Some of the world's best dive spots are off the East of Sabah, including the main star, Sipadan.
Monkeys: The Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary isn't far from Sepilok. These endangered monkeys are the ones with the long hook noses. Native only to Borneo, only a few thousand proboscis monkeys are left in the world. The LBPM is located 24 kilometres from Sandakan. Most resorts in Sepliok will help you arrange travel to the Sanctuary. Admission is SG$25
Homestays and river roaming: A voyage along the 560 kilometre Kinabatangan River is a leap into simpler Sabah life. Numerous tours are available and homestays with the Orang Sungai (people of the river) will take you on a journey into the lives of the people who call this region home. See www.misowalaihomestay.com.
Caves: By no means as staggering or as large as the caves at Gunung Mulu National Park in the state of Sarawak to the south, the Gomantong Caves are still awesome. If seeing two million bats and thousands of beetles and cockroaches feeding on a monolith mound of guano is your thing, then go here. When staying in Sepilok or Sandakan ask your hotel to arrange a minibus. There is also a bus available. Admission S$15
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