Recently by Bez

Having taken a brilliant trip to Pulau Tiga with BorneoDreams for some beautiful diving earlier in the year , four of us from DiscoverBorneo decided to head over to the island for a little bit of an expedition over the weekend. Pulau Tiga was made famous by the TV series 'Survivor Island' a few years ago where a group of people were placed on the island and, well, had to survive.

Away, for our trip, we were departing from Kota Kinabalu (KK) on the Kuda Laut a nice speed boat that we own with two 85 horse power engines on the back she really can cut thought the waves at a good pace. Having spent most of the previous day running around getting provisions; food, fuel, camping stuff ect ect, we could make a early start. As the engines started the sun was still low in the sky and there was a very pleasant cooling breeze, we headed out and away from KK.

We did have a GPS on board and the co-ordinates for Pulau Tiga, however we had elected not go straight there. Pulau Tigau lies 50Km south of KK and 23Km off the coast around about a 3 hour boat drive, we were taking a longer route that would allow us to stick close to the main land and see all the lush jungles and mountains, the little villages and fishing's station build on stilts out at sea and generally some interesting stuff.

Now Pulau Tiga is a marine protected area so no fishing, however before we got there, about half way between the main land and the island, we stopped off for a little fishing and a little general frivolity; swimming, drink and a little lunch. We did catch a fish which was a Remora (one of those fish that cline to big fish like sharks) it was quite a respectable Remora as well about half a meter long. I have never know anyone to eat Remora, they are ugly things and none of us what to give it a try so we through it back, wondering where it had come from and what fish had giving it a ride, had it been a shark?


Pulau tiga, the first job was to pay the marine park fee at the ranger hut, not too bad only 10 RM about 2 US dollars per head. Also the pier provided a great opportunity from some diving practise the water was crystal clear and just full of life. We then hunted around for some good dive spots, the diving was good; no really big stuff and the visibility was only about 15 meters but still a nice dive with lots to see, you just had to pay attention and look for the little stuff. Not bad considering we really had no idea of where the real dive spots actually where.


As we relaxed on the boat the sun was already begin to dip towards the horizon, we selected our camping beach and then our camping spot pretty quickly since the whole place was beautiful it was not very difficult. Now I should point out that when I say camping I really don't mean tents. We just had a massive tarpaulin sheet that we strung up in a tree to give us a bit of shelter if it happened to rain, we did have one tent but that was for supplies.


So after all this was done and the wood for the fire collected we when off to hunt down the mud volcanoes that the island is famous for. At one point as massive monitor lizard jump from a tree, into a pool next to the path sending up a great plume of water. Making camp and collect the wood had take some time and now it was getting dark fast in the island jungle, Ants began to nip at peoples feet and the path became harder to see, we turned back disappointed in not making it to the volcanoes but know that a dark jungle is a dangerous.


When we got back to the beach there was still a little light left from the setting sun, we sat drank and ate watching as the sun gave way to the moon and the stars began to light up the heavens. It was still a little dark though so we lit the fire. The fire was really quite impressive we had so much wood that the flames flicked thought till the sun came up the next morning. Sleeping on the edge of an island jungle at night with the waves crashing in front of you is a fine place to sleep. The jungle did make sounds lots of sounds and every now and again foreign eyes twinkled in fire light. The morning was fresh and clear but busy we had to get the dive tanks back to the shop early that morning, so there was no time to make another try for the mud volcanoes only for a quick jump into the sea, remove every trace that we had been there and then head for home. 

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Having just got back from Labuan, a brilliant opportunity came along to head out to Pulau Tiga, AKA Survivor Island from the hit US TV series, where people are placed on an island and have to survive without the benefit of modern equipment. But enough about the land, as this is a dive trip let. Pulau Tiga is surrounded by a Marine Park and it appears to be working well since we saw no evidence of blast fishing and a high level of both hard and soft coral diversity.
It is about a two hour boat ride to Pula Tiga from KK, for us this sped by onboard a catamaran called BorneoDreams 4, we were assured that nothing untoward has happened to 1,2 and 3. BorneoDreams 4 is a really nice practical dive boat, very smooth on the water, lots of space, a toilet and a bed for those in need of a quick nap. Top side dive racks are placed along the side each side, which can take 8 tanks so there is rooms for 8 divers doing 2 tank dives. There is a central table for water, tea, coffee and hot chocolate; personal tip: if you mix coffee and hot chocolate you can create your very own mocha which is just the very best thing in the world, after a dive. Snacks; let's not forget the snack side of it all, simple but really nice sandwiches, crisps, papaya and bananas, all good fodder to keep you going.
So Borneo Dreams are just one of the many dive operators that are present here in KK, but they do stand out in a number of areas, first of which is safety, yes I know some of you are thinking about yawning all ready. Luckily in this case safety also makes for a much more enjoyable diving atmosphere, many of you may have found yourselves in the annoying position of having taken a slightly cramped and uncomfortable boat out to a dive site, then you're just expected to jump in and get on with it. Personally I really like to get a few bits and pieces of information; just really simple stuff such as: Are we diving on a pinnacle or a wall? Which way are we going? Is there a current? What is there to look out for in terms of wildlife? This stuff just makes the dive so much more enjoyable, I find at least. Then there is are the proper safety features, such as a well maintained and full bottle of oxygen on the boat, it just makes you feel a bit safer, well actually a lot safer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys and girls from BorneoDreams were great; really chatty, knowledgeable and just fun to be around, they showed a good knowledge of the topography (bathymetry) of the dive sites and explained the general lay out of the sites before each dive, and what to look out for, another good aspect was the fact that someone jumped in for a quick dive to check the currents both at the surface and on the bottom and they also drop a marker buoy with massive cement weight nick named Bessie which provides a nice descent line to the site, there is also a current line attached just to makes life simpler.
So on to the dive sites, we dived two sites around Pula Tiga both broad shallow pinnacles on her South West side both sites had a fair amount of current but since we had been informed about its strength and direction before we started the dive, and taken this into account when planning the dive, it was not a problem. Both sites consisted of patch reefs with coral bommies, visibility was about 10 meters and water temp a nice 29 deg cel. Personally I was both surprised and pleased at the high diversity of both hard and soft coral species as well as sponges present at both sites. The fish life at the first site was dominated by blue and yellow fusiliers and a variety of damsel fish with the odd butterfly and occasional parrot fish and wrasse thrown in. The highlight of the dive was a beautiful lion fish hiding away in a barrel sponge and a perfectly camouflaged cuttle fish. Great!
The second dive site had all the coral diversity of the first but here the fish life was much better clouds of fusiliers and damsel fish dominated the water column at some points but by far the best spectacle of the day was the schooling yellow fin barracuda myself and dive buddy found ourselves in the middles of this school which must have numbered around the 250 mark, elegant and graceful, just a wonderful experience.
Exiting both dives was also simple, we just sent up a delayed SMB so we could be found easily and not run over by boat traffic, there's a current line off the back of the boat and a nice broad ladder to ascend. Then we chatted about our dives, as you do, over some food and a few drinks and lounged around on the bow taking in the site of Palau Tiga and basking in the warm sun.

Hello all, so I'll just quickly introduce myself, my name is Will Berry and I have been out in Borneo now for about a month doing a bit of work for DiscoverBorneo. It's mostly office based so when Ritch, one of my friends from England came over to Borneo, it was a brilliant reason to go off to the jungle, so here is the tail of our trip.

Getting there was really very simple, just a very quick ride in the taxi to KK airport. We arrived, with just enough time for a quick coffee for breakfast. Then up up and away for the 40 minute flight to Sandakan. If you go try to get a window seat you can get some really good views of the jungle, again very simple to get out of the airport, internal flights really could not be simpler.

So out in to the blazing sun of Borneo again we were picked up from the airport and taken down to the pier for a fast speed boat journey up river, here we meet John who had just taken his yacht up river to have a little snoop around, he could not get that far apparently because of an overhanging power lines but his description of the river was definitively interesting. We could not wait to get started!!!

As we started to leave Sandakan bay we must have passed over a huge school of fish since they started to jump up out of the sea flying in all direction and then we were in to the Kinabatangan itself a really broad river, as you travel up you can see civilisation begin to disappear the villages get further and further apart, the jungle get thicker and the trees taller.

There was another group of five heading up the river with us, so we chatted about what we hoped to see and how we had come to be in Borneo. The guide was really friendly and always kept an eye out for wildlife thought he explained that most animals slept during the mid day heat, the speed of the boat was keeping us nice an cool however. Just before we reached the lodge the driver suddenly cut the power to the engines and there just beside the boat was a 3 meter Crocodile he was only there a few seconds but he was a very beautiful animal, this gave us some really high hope for what we would see in the evening.

Then we arrived at the Melapi Lodge here we were welcomed with a cool glass of juice and a simple buffet lunch, then off to our cabin, much better than I had been anticipating for the middle of the jungle air conditioning, and a lovely veranda on watch the sun setting over the river. They have a big central lodge where they serve food and then there a reasonably well stocked bar and very friendly staff, nothing nicer then a cold beer after a hard days animal watching.

So now on to the important bit seeing the animals, this is all done by boat, our tour only included an afternoon trip for about 2 hours, but you can book morning and night trips when your there, just make sure you take enough money ATMs are a little hard to come by in the jungle. In total we took 2 afternoon, 1 morning and night time tour. This was just about perfect for us but then again we did get very lucky.

The boats are traditional long boats with a fifteen horse power engine on the back, when full they can fit about 6 people sitting two by two and then there is the guide and the boat driver. They have plenty of life jacket which you can us or not depending on your preference. On our first outing we saw a small herd of pygmy elephants just down by the water our guide had in the pasted work for WWF and pointed out the radio collars around some of the elephants necks, they were meant to allow WWF to track their movement but apparently deep in the jungle they where next to useless !!! The only way is the more advanced but more expensive GPS tracking. We stayed with the elephants for about 10 minutes, time for everyone to get some good shots and just admire this creatures apparently the reason they so small is evolution.

The big elephants in Africa don't have to worry too much about their size since they just have loads of open space but in Borneo big elephants would find it just about impossible to move around the jungle, so they shrunk.

The next animal we encountered were the hornbills now I' am in no way a twitchier, really I love the undersea world being a marine biologist, but these are some really spectacular birds with their massive beaks, we saw in the space of five minutes 3 different types of hornbills .

So then we headed of down a small tributary that lead off the Kinabatangan river this is where the jungle closes in a bit more, and you really feel inside the jungle. There are loads of Macaques all over the place, travelling around in there troops, mothers carrying little babies and grooming each other all very cute.

Then we encounter the one bad thing about the trip, lots and lots of other boats, some sitting six people per row and having six rows, we nick named these boats busses, how any one got to feel the remoteness of the jungle on these things is beyond me. There were a load of other small boats there as well it was like a traffic jam, this was where I really appreciated our boat driver he just zoomed passed all these boats and head off far up stream. It turns out that the boats from Melapi Lodge try to leave about half an hour earlier than all the rest of the boats and are not as concerned about using a little more fuel, to get you back to the peace and tranquillity of the jungle thank you thank you thank you, it really was these little touches that made the trip so good. Having left the gaggle of tourist well in our wake we could proceed to get back to watching the jungle.

Next on the list was a bird that I think no one could fail to be amazed by, kingfishers, they have 7 or 8 different type in Borneo depending on who you speak to , but that's not the point they are just magnificent birds, a real startling blue offset by a really powerful and vivid orange very very beautiful and the look so elegant, when they dive for a fish great just great birds. Then there are the fly catchers very very fast birds all I ever saw was a small black blur but apparently that what it was ( this is why I'am not really a twitcher). Then we came upon some quite extraordinary bridges these where actually crossing points for the orangutans, built from donated Japanese fire hoses to allow orangutans to cross the river, they really don't like to get wet apparently. I really really wanted to see an orangutan in the wild but I was not going to get my hopes up, since they are so rare.

So we crossed under the bridges which was swarming with Macaques and pushed a little further up river we had been going for about two hours by now and the sun which had been clear in the sky when we set out was now rapidly sinking over the horizon, the guide and boat drive were happy to go on looking for wildlife a little bit long, which was lucky because then we saw the proboscis monkey, which you can only see here in Borneo. They were having great fun jumping from tree to tree with the massive long white tails and let's face it really ugly noses, then we made an about turn and headed for home, really very pleased with ourselves for getting a really impressive haul of animals first time out. So that is enough for now watch out for more about this trip later.