Safari up the Rajang

BY SHEREE TAMS

Not long after reading about an eco safari camp that calls itself “NOT THE HILTON” we headed deep into bush. Less than an hour’s flight from Kota Kinabalu we were in Sandikan and from there it was two hours by road to a small village jetty, then another hour by motorized longboat. Part way down the Kinabatang the palm plantations flanking both sides of the riverbank stopped abruptly and tropical rainforest began. When we finally hit dry land, it was a long slog through dense forest before we arrived.

Uncle Tan’s Safari Camp was situated in the Kinabatang Valley, in the province of Sabah in Borneo, near an old river bed among vivid orange ox-bow lakes. the camp’s raised huts were completely open with no doors or windows, only a mosquito net and  mattress. Communal toilets were “biological,” semi-private holes in the ground with a bucket of rain water nearby for flushing. The shower was the same.

Lunch was served to the serenades of Borneo gibbons making “hootie” noises, and jumbo-sized bees chased guests into a frenzy and lunches went flying. Leftovers were scraped into a central fire pit, which doubled as a feeding trough for a family of wild boars and monitor lizards, who apart from looking like a scene from Jurassic Park, didn’t seem to mind each others company.

Ami, our guide would sniff the air often then follow the smell to a sighting. The first morning he led us to an adult orangutan and her baby. We stood silently as it defecated in the canopy over our heads. Later Ami’s nose found a family of proboscis monkeys, gibbons, macaques and wild elephant tracks.

From the rainforests of Borneo to the slick shopping malls and Petrona Towers of Kuala Lumpur, the most amazing thing about Malaysia is that one day you are climbing Mount Kinabalu and the next you’re singing karoke on a boat bound for an Iban longhouse. Days later, on our way to one such longhouse, the onboard entertainment including Exit Wounds starring Steven Seagal with Chinese subtitles followed by the three hours of WWE Wrestling. Sailing out into the South China sea, and then deep into the tributaries of the Rajang, while a well-worn Karoke machine kept people occupied on deck two. The social director pulled out a tatty yellow binder of song choices in Malay, Chinese, Iban or English. Selections include everything from “Help” by the Beatles, to the ”The Green Green Grass of Home” by Tom Jones. Meanwhile outside on the river, rogue logs float by, and they seem to be moving to the beat of the music. 

PUBLISHED IN OUTPOST MAGAZINE GLOBAL TRAVEL GUIDE • 2003