Expedition Malaysia

Malaysian Borneo

Green Turtle - Sipadan Borneo, Malaysia

Malaysian Borneo- This is your ultimate reef and rain forestdestination. The jungles of Borneo still hold a multitude of diversity from elephants to birds to the endemic proboscis monkey. While palm oil plantations are taking over the lowland forests, protected areas still allow room for the wildlife. Underwater the diversity is as rich as on terra firma. From macro to pelagic life…it has quickly risen to the absolute top of the list!

Borneo Facts

If you want cool things to do in Borneo, check out the next section. If you are looking for facts and figures, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borneo

The Adventure

Life comes in a multitude of styles in Malaysian Borneo! Some of our favorite things to do in Indonesia include:

  1. Dive Dive Dive, Scuba Diving in Borneo is our favorite thing to do!
  2. Go up the River without a Paddle! The Kinabatangan River just outside of Sanda-kan supports an incredible world of animals including, but definitely not limited to…pygmy elephants, at least 7 species of monkey, snakes including a python (by the way don’t get too close or you’ll freak out your guide…oops), birds galore including eight species of hornbill, orangutans and the endemic proboscis monkey, quite a sight to check out! Stay over a few nights at one of the lodges.
  3. Climb Mt. Kinabalu- located in a UNESCO world heritage site just outside of Kota Kinabalu (or KK as the cool people say) , Mt. Kinabalu is the highest peak in south-east Asia between PNG and the Himalayas. At 4100 meters (that’s over 13,000 feet) it’s a great hike. Put it on the list!
  4. Visit Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary- While it may sound touristy, the sanctuary is actually really cool and diligently working to restore the Bornean orangutan popula-tion. They feed at 10:00 in the morning which means they bring out some food and just hang out in case the animals come to eat. But after everyone leaves the feeding hang around and often they come right up to you. The sanctuary is located in San-dakan, Sabah.
  5. Bird Watch in an Oxbow Lake. During its meandering, several oxbow lakes were created from the Kinabatangan River. Take your binoculars and go out early in the morning for bird watching. The hornbills are other worldly!
  6. Swim with the crocodiles in the rivers – HA, Totally Joking!!!! They’ll eat you for a quick snack!
  7. Hike through the jungle and try to avoid the leeches. This is actually fun. The leeches here are small and they hang out under leaves. When you go by them, they sense your body heat and reach out to catch a ride and a meal! See how agile you truly are…..only one bit me!
  8. Visit Tabin and Danum Valleys for MORE wildlife encounters!
  9. Petronas Towers- On your way home if you fly through KL (Kuala Lumpur) be sure to stop at Petronas Towers. It’s definitely THE Malaysian landmark!
  10. Play basketball with the locals!- The local b-ball team is always looking for a game from 5:00-600pm on Mabul Island. Game ends promptly with the call to prayer at 6:00. Be prepared to get beat by guys in flip flops!!

Borneo Seasonality

The climate is influenced by the Northeast and South-West Monsoons, which blows alternately during the year. The North-East Monsoon blows from November till April, bringing rain, to Sabah and Sarawak. The South-West Monsoon season is a drier period for the whole country. (Humidity: 85 % – 95%). Generally the best time to travel is between April and November, but diving is year-round. January and February generally are windy and therefore choppy seas are common.

Some of our favorite scuba dive areas include:

  • Sipadan Island- is the jewel of Malaysian diving with an incredibly healthy coral struc-ture that rings the tiny islet. In 2004, the Malaysian government had all resorts removed from the island. Now, through a lottery system, 120 divers per day are allowed to dive the reefs. Nothing like getting PELTED with turtles! At low tide you can find piles of turtles at cleaning stations. So many that it’s impossible to get them all in your wide angle lens! A tornado of jack and barracuda await at Barracuda Point and if you can catch the right moment, you will be rewarded with HUNDREDS of bumphead parrotfish. An incredible dive spot!
  • Mabul Island- Forty minutes by boat from the crowded town of Semporna, Mabul Island hosts a few pension style hotels and two distinctive and beautiful over water dive re-sorts. Two separate villages that blend into one crowd the small island. Underwater it’s a treasure trove! While Mabul doesn’t boast the healthy corals of Sipadan, it’s critters can’t be beat! Everything from sea snakes to OrangUtan crabs (yes, these 2-3” crabs DO resemble their namesakes!) to mating mandarianfish can be found. We’re still looking for the flamboyant cuddle fish…..we know it’s here but it keeps alluding us! It is unparalleled! Mabul/Sipadan make for a perfect wide angle/macro combo!
  • Sea Venture- Ok, this place is just downright weird….and wonderful! Above water, it is an converted oil rig cum dive hotel and you can use the word dive in whichever form you’d like! Because of its height above the water, divers are carried up and down to the water level in an “underwater” elevator cage (yep, remember, I did say weird!). Below the surface it is a junkyard of well….stuff lying on a sand/muck/rubble bottom. They have created huge junkpiles and structures such as a playhouse with a suspension bridge and sunken boats. It’s almost erie! But this underwater playground is also a playground for eels, crocodilefish, frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, juv. sweetlips and TONS of other critters. Ugly but fabulous! We keep going back and back and back to this dive site just a 42 second boat ride from Sipadan Water Village Resort.
  • Kapalai- Just eight minutes from Mabul is Kapalai island. At low tide you can almost see an island but mainly it’s an overwater bungalow dive resort. Off it’s shores is fan-tastic macro diving within the sand and a small bit of coral reef. While the macro is fan-tastic, we often see large turtles and cuddle fish. Just put on your “little eyes” and go for it! Biologists are still finding and cataloging new species!
  • Si-Amil- This island lies about an hour off of Mabul Island and is a hilly, forested island home to monkeys and a military base. Diving here is a treat as it is chock a block with leap scorpionfish, blue ribbon eels, ornate ghostpipefish, frog fish and more.