The Last Train of Borneo - White Water Rafting the Padas River

A journey up a track and down a river.

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A video of a train journey on the Last Train of Borneo and White Water Rafting the Padas River.

White Water Rafting Padas River Borneo

See photographs of Taren and myself get thrown out of a raft - twice whilst being pummeled by the Padas River in Sabah Borneo.

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A short film about survival

EXTREME! Survivalist tips from deep in the heart of Borneo. To survive most guys need a big knife, some handy piece of rope and a bandana but this guy makes it through with his sharp wit.

"This guy makes Rambo look like a blouse wearing Nancy!" Sly Stallone  

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No Smirking

Big Hands

Checking Things Out

A Happy Family

Hangin' With Mum

Big Belly, Skinny Legs

Wranglers Pit Viper Borneo

More Orang Utans

Big Ritchie and some Babes

All these shots were taken at Semmengoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre is not far from Kuching. We walked from our hotel for about 20 minutes to get to the bus stop, climbed aboard bus No.6 and enjoyed listening to Malaysian breakfast radio at ear splittling decibel levels whilst being snap frozen by the turbo a/c for the 45 minute drive to the drop off.

The bus ride cost 3 ringgit each (about $1 USD) and we had to shell out another 3 MYR for entrance to the park. The walk from the entrance took about 20 minutes along a undulating road and as we approached the carpark some excited folk were pointing at a large lump in a tree top. This turned out to be a big male Orang Utan named Ritchie and to see the bulk of him high in the tree tops was fantastic. We were hoping he'd make an appearance at the feeding platform but he decided to just hang out on his own, not fussed with females and the bananas on offer. Though we'd been snubbed by the big guy we still had lots of action with the females and some youngsters.

As a matter of fact I completely forgot about Ritchie as I was to engrossed watching the others coming in grab a few bananas and climb back in to the forest. The keepers don't want the Orangs to enjoy a feast just enough to tide them over and they keep it bland so the animals learn to go in search of their own food and at this time of year there is plenty of fruit on offer.

The feeding hour goes very quickly and what I find interesting is the number of people that make the effort to show up and stay long enough to get some happy snaps and then go. Good for them but better for us. On this occasion once feeding was done the tourists began the amble from the feeding area back to the waiting cars and minivans but we noticed a keeper calling up into the trees, yelling out to Ritchie. Would he grace us with his presence or would he remain aloof? There was no way we were going anywhere until we were either kicked out or the big guy showed up.

Then crashing through the trees he came breaking branches with his weight as he swung towards another small feeding platform and within minutes there he was right in front of us and let me tell you that being stared down by an Orang Utan that has been described by the staff as "bad tempered and angry" is intimidating. We had seen photographs of human limbs that had a run in with Ritchies teeth and it didn't look like a whole lot of fun.

Ritchie

Kuching Temples

Siang Ti Miao & Hong San Si Temples - Kuching, Sarawak

Civet Cat, Monkeys & Monitors

More photos from the Kinabatangan, Sabah, Borneo.

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Photo Essay - Civet Cat, Monkeys & Monitors

Borneo's Pigmy Elephants

Pigmy Elephants

Pigmy Elephants live in the disappearing forest of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. I have been to the Kinabatangan region of Sabah 3 other times before this journey and I heard rumours the elephants were nearby, I heard "You should have been here 3 days ago!" or they came through just over there only an hour ago, and I have had plenty of elephant dung pointed out to me but up to this point I had never seen them.

However some people we met on a our travels mentioned that they had seen them in the Kinabatngan area so, though I was hopeful, I was doubtful that we would see them.

We chugged up river in the late afternoon and whilst the Belgians behind us kept their eyes peeled for Orang Utans, Probiscis Monkeys and Macaques we scanned the banks in search of small elephants.

Our boat seemed to have devoloped a problem and both myself and Taren were anxious that we might miss any chance of seeing them if they did come down to the river but in the meantime the boat driver got on the phone and requested help, parts or a new boat. So, there we were getting occasional glimpses of Proboscis Monkeys in the tree tops when the guide pointed across the river to the oppostie bank where two small Asian Pigmy Elephants were grazing.

This was, as a moment in time incredible but before long the elephants had merged back into the bush letting loose the occasional trumpet and though it was all too brief both Taren and myself were pretty excited. The boatman started to reverse the boat out of the area and we realised the show was over but then he pointed the nose of the boat down a creek and to our complete amazement came across mothers and babies, males sporting tusks a veritable mass of elephants!

The elephants had come to raid an old local fishing camp and they were there with intent, knocking things over, tearing off the roofing and smashing down poles. We had a sensational view point from the water as the animals were above us looking down. Though our presence agitated them to a small degree they didn't seem to fazed as long as we kept our distance.

 

Truly an incredible experience!

The Borneo Elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), a well-documented variety of elephant, is also called "Pygmy Elephant." This elephant, inhabiting tropical rainforest in north Borneo (east Sabah and extreme north Kalimantan), was long thought to be identical to the Asian Elephant and descended from a captive population. In 2003, DNA comparison revealed them to be probably a new subspecies.^[1][2]. A 2010 study found that there are an estimated 2,040 elephants in Sabah.^[3]. 

Wikipedia

World Photography Organisation - WPO

http://www.worldphoto.org/members/individual/images/

Recently I joined the WPO. I have entered some photographs into their Open competition and other photos to the Image Library.

Have a look, write sensational comments, convince the judges that my photographs are by far and away the best they have ever seen otherwise I will have to send this gentleman around for a bit of a chat.

Laban Rata, Mt.Kinabalu, Sabah

Lightning Strike, Sandakan

Billions of Bats, Mulu National Park

Rainbow, Kuching

Beyond Hot, Kinarut