Ever since we arrived in Balikpapan, we have wanted to visit Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, previously known as British North Borneo. Until now, the only way of getting there involved 3 flights each way, an overnight stop and a lot of hassle. But now, courtesty of Malaysian Airlines, you can fly directly from Balikpapan to Kota Kinabalu for US$125 - a veritable bargain in the lands beyond Easyjet!!! And once you get there, you have the choice of TWO Shangri-La resorts to stay in (Alex was beside himself with indecision), but in the end we plumped for the Rasa Ria resort - big on wildlife and golf, but not so hot on diving.
So off we went for our summer holidays - 10 days with just the sounds of the sea, the rainforest, and the hotel bar gently calling us for cocktails...
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Most
of our days were spent lazing by the pool, playing on the beach, walking
through the jungle.....
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Elizabeth took a shine to the trampoline in the hotel gardens, Alex joined some twitchers for a spot of bird watching, whilst I took it easy with a gently walk along the beach on horseback.... |
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We spent one day on the tropical island of Mamutik, where we tried to empathise with the contestants of 'Survivor', who were stranded on the nearby island 'Pulau Tiga'. I don't know what they were complaining about - it was idyllic! |
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For
my birthday, Alex indulged my love of train journeys, and we all took
a trip on the North Borneo Railway - a steam train which runs from Kota
Kinabalu to Papar, a small town in the jungle.
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And
when Elizabeth was safely tucked up in bed, off we went to the hotel restaurant
for a few cocktails and a bite to eat.... as Alex said, the food was so
good, even the French couldn't complain!
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But maybe the main reason for coming to this part of Borneo, was to see the Orang Utan, or 'Man of the Forest'. The Shangri-La hotel has a Nature Reserve with about 60 acres of secondary rainforest, which is currently home to 6 orphaned orang utan, who are in the first stage of their rehabilitaion into the wild. The orang utan are tree dwellers, rarely coming to the forest floor, but spending large parts of their day foraging for food - they are herbivores and only eat fruit and young shoots (with occasional insects). They are solitary animals and each one needs a large area of rain forest to support it's nutitional needs, and requirement for territory. Each night, they build a fresh nest in the tree-tops to sleep in. As this is the first stage in their rehabilitation, the Nature Reserve provides the orang utans with food twice daily, and the orang utans turn up whenever they are hungry. It is only at feeding time that these endangered animals can be seen by visitors to the Nature Reserve, and then from a respectful distance... |
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And
for all of you who want to see some more of these wonderful animals, just
scroll down for a few pictures of cuddly balls of fur.... but to see them
in the flesh, you might just have to book your flight to Malaysia, and
the Shangri-La hotel in Kota-Kinabalu. But you'd better hurry - the destruction
of the rain forest means that they may not be around forever!
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