Borneo My Destination

Borneo My Destination

sipadan island

borneo my destination

Acknowledged as one of the best diving and unique spots in Southeast Asia, Pulau Sipadan is located off the small coastal town of Semporna on Sabah's eastern coast. Just 15 feet from the beach, the water turns indigo blue as the sea drops abruptly to 2,850ft deep! It is rather awe-inspiring. Myriad of colorful tropical fish swim in the warm water near the surface whereas huge groupers nose about. Moreover, the water gets so dark that one would not really know what lurks below. This famous feature won Sipadan island a "Best Beach Dive in the World" award in 1993.

The sea is overflowing with marine life. The main attraction for divers is the rich and unique variety of corals both soft and hard. Reef fish of every shape and hue can be found in these waters. Colorful butterfly fishes, angel fishes, damsel fishes of electric blue and bright orange colors inhabit the coral reefs, thus adding to the splendor of the underwater havens.

Between April and September, the Green and Hawksbill turtles will come ashore in droves to nest in the soft golden sands of Sipadan. When you dive during this time, you are bound to encounter these harmless denizens of the deep.

A beautiful white-sand beach fringes Sipadan but the real beauty of this island is in its waters. The season for diving is from mid-February to mid-December. Visibility ranges from 60 feet to over 200 feet. Several dive spots have even been identified and given exotic names after the variety of corals and marine life that are unique to these spots. There is the "Hanging Gardens", the "Barracuda Point", and the exciting "Turtle Cavern".

Professional diving companies operate on the island, complete with water, electricity, food, drinks, and comfortable accommodation for an unforgettable experience. To get there, one can take the 45-minute boat ride from Semporna.

sipadan borneo

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sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising 600 metres (2,000 ft) from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea east of the major town of Tawau and off the coast of Sabah East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that took thousands of years to develop.

. Sipadan is located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin, the centre of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. More than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem. Sipadan has been rated by many dive journals as one of the top dive destinations in the world.

Normally, rare diving scenes are frequently seen in the waters around Sipadan: schools of green and hawksbill turtles nesting and mating, schools of barracuda and big-eye trevally in tornado-like formations, pelagic species such as manta rays, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks.

A turtle tomb lies underneath the column of the island, formed by an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that become lost and drown before finding the surface.

Sarawak Longhouses

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Sarawak longhouses

In Sarawak, the dominant tribal groups are the Dayak. Tribal people live in longhouses. There are the Iban (Sea Dayak), and the Bidayuh (Land Dayak). All of Malaysia’s tribal people feel a strong spiritual connection to the rainforest. The Iban grow rice and fruit, and hunt and fish.
The longhouse is the very centre of communal life in Sarawak. There are over 4,500 longhouses in Sarawak. These communal houses, built on stilts, may contain up to 100 individual families in separate 'apartments' built under one long roof.

The rainforest is home to 27 ethnic groups each with own distinct language and culture.

The real longhouse experience begins with the journey upriver. River travel in a perahu - a shallow draught canoe - affords you the pleasure of seeing Sarawak at its best.
Longhouses differ slightly from tribe to tribe but share the same basic characteristic.

The Iban are the largest tribe in Sarawak and one of three native peoples whose past includes the practice of headhunting.

Heading upstream, your boatman will take you along idyllic waterways with white pebble beaches, under the over-arching branches of tropical hardwoods, whose dense emerald foliage allows through only a dappling of sunlight. As you meander upstream, and your boatman punts through the river's shallows, kingfishers glide past, hornbills fly overhead, and local children dive from the riverbank into the cooling waters.
Longhouse inhabitants are very well known for their hospitality. It is normal for people to just turn up and expect to be invited in by the headman (gifts are expected in return). As you arrive at the longhouse, it is customary to be greeted by the longhouse maidens and young men performing traditional dances and playing ceremonial gongs.
At the entrance to the longhouse there is a wooden arch with small baskets made of palm leaves hanging from the top. Offerings such as a few coins or a cigarette are occasionally put into the baskets and help keep evil spirits out of the longhouse. From the moment you step inside the longhouse you will be treated as an honoured guest. Visitors will be offered a glass of tuak - the very palatable local rice wine. Or more often than not, several glasses of tuak will be offered to wash down a banquet of local delicacies. Then your hosts will start beating the gongs. This is the cue for the traditional dance, usually the Ngajat. The inspiration for the graceful movements of the dancers comes from the effortless flight of the hornbill, Sarawak's emblem. Then your newfound friends will enthral you with stories of Sarawak's legendary past. Usually a longhouse party lasts all night. As the sun is eclipsed by the moon, weary from your day's travel, and a night of dancing and feasting, retire to the ruai- a covered verandah - for a good night's sleep.

In recent decades much of their rainforest has been cleared by logging and plantation companies. The Iban and other tribes have frequently blockaded logging roads to try to protect their forest.

In many Iban longhouses you find only old people and young children. I got the feeling that the whole community is reduced to an exhausted past, and an uncertain future.
Naturally, without the younger generations to inherit their rich cultural legacies, but traditions are dying. The ancient crafts of making boats, building longhouses, weaving, dancing, tattooing, and native art are now dying fast. Even the whole oral tradition of telling tales and myths is disappearing.

Copy from http://malaysiasite.nl

11th Rainforest World Music Festival Finale

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The rainforest World Music Festival

Borneo my destination

The rainforest World Music Festival is a unique festival that brings together on the same stage renowned world musicians from all continents and indigenous musicians from the interiors of the mythical island of Borneo.

The 3 days festival is held at the Sarawak Cultural Village, a living museum where the traditional habitats of Sarawak's major ethnic groups have been lovingly reproduced. Set amid lush rainforest greenery at the foothills of jungle clad Mount Santubong, and a stone's throw away from the beach resorts of the Santubong peninsula, the village provides the ideal venue for this festival that celebrates nature, ethnic music and the indigenous cultures of the world.

Its formula of afternoon interactive workshops, ethno-musical lectures, jamming sessions and mini concerts, followed by evening performances on the main stage has proven to be a hit with the audience, a hodgepodge of locals, expatriates and a growing number of tourists from near and far.

The festival village has a variety of food and drink stalls, an arts and crafts area as well as a counter far festival memorabilia, Sarawak souvenirs and CDs by the performing artists, all this contributing to a fun filled, wholesome festival experience.

This year again, children workshops, dance workshops and story telling are among the many festival activities. And after the live music is over around midnight, the fun will go on with our own World Music Dance Party !

The Rainforest World Music Festival : a not to be missed occasion guaranteeing a smashing time in the heart of the Borneo Jungle

Deer Cave

Borneo my destination

Deer Cave is reached by following a three kilometre plankwalk which passes through peat swamp, alluvial flats and limestone outcrops. There is much to see on the way to the cave, including some superb rainforest, jungle streams and an ancient Penan burial cave.

When you reach the cave entrance you are left in no doubt that you are about to enter the largest cave passage in the world. Deer Cave is simply huge - it is just over 2 kilometres in length and never less than 90 metres high and wide. The main chamber, which is partially lit by sunlight, is 174 metres wide and 122 metres high. This is the area where deer used to shelter so the local Penan and Berawan people named the cave Gua Payauor Gua Rusa (Deer Cave).

A path leads into the cave and winds its way around, following the natural contours of the cave floor. Although the path is lit, a flashlight is useful for examining the guano-covered cave floor and its population of insects. The path eventually leads to the Garden of Eden where a hole in the cave roof lets in a shaft of light which allows the rich green vegetation to thrive. Another feature is the famous profile of Abraham Lincoln, which guards the southern entrance of the cave.

Not surprisingly, Deer Cave is home to many species of bats. Between 5 and 7 pm, if the weather is fine, visitors may be treated to the spectacular sight of a black cloud of free-tailed bats emerging from the entrance of the cave to go in search of food. Originally, this cloud was thought to contain hundreds of thousands of bats but a recent study suggests that the figure is well over a million.

A visit to Deer Cave is usually combined with one to Lang's Cave, whose entrance is a short distance away from that of Deer Cave. Lang's Cave is the smallest of the show caves but its rock formations are well worth seeing. These are made all the more attractive by the strategically positioned spotlights which highlight stalactites and stalagmites. As the cave is relatively small and well-lit, it offers good opportunites to see some of its inhabitants such as bats, swiftlets and even cave-dwelling snakes.

Rafflesia

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Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It was discovered in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr.Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Sir Thomas Raffles, the leader of the expedition. It contains approximately 27 species (including four incompletely characterized species as recognized by Meijer 1997), all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula , Borneo,Sumatra , and the Philippines. The plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is an endoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its root-like haustoria inside the tissue of the vine. The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled flower. In some species, such as Rafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over 100 centimetres (39 in) in diameter, and weigh up to 10 kilograms (22 lb). Even the smallest species, R. manillana, has 20 cm diameter flowers. The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower" (but see below). The vile smell that the flower gives off attracts insects such as flies and carrion beetles, which transport pollen from male to female flowers. Little is known about seed dispersal. However, tree shrews and other forest mammals apparently eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. Rafflesia is an official state flower of Indonesia, also Sabah state in Malaysia, as well as for the Surat Thani Province , Thailand.

The name "corpse flower" applied to Rafflesia is confusing because this common name also refers to the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) of the family Araceae. Moreover, because Amorphophallus has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence, it is sometimes mistakenly credited as having the world's largest flower. Both Rafflesia and Amorphophallus are flowering plants, but they are still distantly related. Rafflesia arnoldii has the largest single flower of any flowering plant, at least when one judges this by weight. Amorphophallus titanum has the largest unbranchedinflorescence, while the Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) forms the largest branched inflorescence, containing thousands of flowers; this plant is monocarpic, meaning that individuals die after flowering.

Tanjung Datu National Park

Borneo my destination

This National Park is located in the Kuching Division, at the westernmost tip of Sarawak near the Indonesian border. Gazette in 1994, it is Sarawak's latest addition to its string of National Parks and also the smallest, covering an area of only 1,379 hectares. Situated in a mountainous region whose steep ranges almost hug the shore, the area features swift flowing rivers whose crystal clear waters bear no traces of pollution. Its shoreline comprise some of Sarawak's most beautiful beaches with sparkling sand and seas of aquamarine glittering in the sun. The existence of a coral shore also sets it apart
from the other coastal areas of Sarawak.

The Pinnacles Of Gunung Api

Borneo my destination

Take up the challenge to view the pinnacles, located in a shallow valley 1,200 meters above sea level. The adventure begins with an exciting 2-hour boat trip over rapids. On days when the water level gets low, be prepared to help shove the boats over the rock strewn rapids. A 3-4 hour trek through virgin forests brings you to a park hut on the bank of the Melinau river where you stop for the night. The next morning begins with a4-hourclimb, up 1000 meters via a steep path to a viewing point overlooking the pinnacles. The smooth razor edged pinnacles measure 20 meters wide at the base and 45 meters in height. Separated by deep fissures and low bushy mountain forest, they present a spectacular sight when viewed from above.

Tidal Bore at Batang Lupar

Surfing Benak Batang Lupar [Sri Aman]

Sarawak Layered Cakes

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It is a tradition in Sarawak, Malaysia to serve Sarawak Layered Cakes on special occasions. In the Malay language they known as Kek Lapis Sarawak, Kek Lapis Moden Sarawak, Kek Sarawak or Kek Lapis. They are often baked for religious or cultural celebrations such as Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, Deepavali, birthdays and weddings.

People in Malaysia practice an open house on festival day. A unique feature of Sarawak's open houses is the modern layered cakes.