Sarawak

The "land of the hornbill," Sarawak is a Malaysian territory in the north of Borneo. Charles Darwin described it as "one great wild untidy luxuriant hothouse made by nature for herself."

Sarawak has a swampy coastal plain and rugged jungle-clad mountains in the interior. In 1932, Patrick Synge wrote "as we moved slowly upriver Sarawak's forests were like a ... dream of abundance, beauty, and peace but also of mystery alive behind the wall".

The population is 1.5 million, most of whom live along the rivers. Sarawak is ethnically fascinating: 30% are Iban tribes people (also called sea dayaks) who used to be fierce head hunters and still live in traditional longhouses; 30% are Chinese; 20% Malay; the remaining 20% is made up of other smaller indigenous tribes.

Sabah

Logging has caused a tremendous loss of biodiversity in Sabah, and the squandering of a great resource. Out of the state's population of 1.4 million, about half are illegal, mainly Filipino, immigrants. Sabah is about the size of Ireland and has a lively political scene.

There are some 30 different tribes, speaking 50 languages, divided into 3 main groups: Kadazan, Murut and Bajau. The Kadazan are renowned for their gentleness and honesty -- they are farmers and mainly rice producers. The Bajau are the cowboys of the wild east, famous as pirates. The Murut are shifting cultivators, who live in longhouses and are known for their weaving, basketry, rice wine and dancing; they were also the last tribe to relinquish head hunting.The pride of Sabah is the great Mt Kinabalu.

Brunei

Until the early part of the century Brunei's main export was an obscure dye produced in a factory among the mangroves and used for dying leather.

Then oil on a massive scale was accidentally discovered by the petroleum giant Shell, and Brunei is now the wealthiest Asian state after Japan. The Sultan of Brunei has a personal wealth of $25 billion.

On the back of this oil revenue everything comes free for Brunei's people - giving rise to its description as a "Shell-fare state". Brunei was once an empire but is now only 5,769 sq km. It is an awkward shape, split in two by part of Sarawak. Brunei possesses some of the best preserved forests in South East Asia, simply because there is no economic imperative to destroy them.

Kalimantan

The southern, greater part of Borneo belongs to Indonesia. A sparsely populated land of swamps, jungle, rivers and mountains, myth had it that, if one could side step the hordes of savage head-hunters, Kalimantan had huge reserves of gold and diamonds.

Most of the 9.5 million population live along the coasts - the interior belongs to Dayak tribes people, although most upriver people now wear jeans and T shirts.

Kalimantan culture is not as accessible as Sarawak or Sabah and tourists have been beaten to it by loggers and missionaries. There were appalling bushfires in 1982-83, which destroyed 3.6 million hectares of rainforest. In 1987, '91, '94 and '97 more fires destroyed a further 5 million hectares. The extent of damage caused by the most recent fires has yet to be calculated.

Deforestation has now lowered the ability of the land to retain moisture and caused serious repercussions. Despite this terrible loss Kalimantan still preserves huge tracts of forest, and one can see Orang Utan, Proboscis Monkeys, elephant, hornbill and rhino, among hundreds of other, less rare species. In the south, Tanjung Puting Park has retained a vast area of rainforest, where you'll find the famous Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.