 A mystical haunt of jungles and traditional dayak longhouses, Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Much of the island is accessible only by river, and the remote atmosphere conjures up dreams of head hunters and heroism, White Rajahs and the stories of Somerset Maugham.Wildlife such as Proboscis Monkeys, Orang Utans, hornbills, elephants and rhino still survive, and despite widespread logging and fire damage extensive tracts of tropical rainforest remain. Politically the island is divided between the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah in the north -- which surrounds the tiny, mega-rich sultanate of Brunei -- and the Indonesian region of Kalimantan, which comprises the bulk of the south. Borneo has a rugged interior penetrated by a number of large, navigable rivers. At least half of island is low lying, especially the swampy south coast. Mt. Kinabalu -- over 4000m high and still growing at a rate of 5cm a year -- is a granite giant with its head in the clouds and its feet in tropical rainforest, so immense that Allied bombers used it as a navigational aid during WW2. |
The Nation of Indonesia is one of the most biodiverse on Earth and nowhere is this bounty more amply reflected than in the rainforests of Borneo. Deep and mysterious, these forests still represent a challenge to the adventurous even in this day of easy transport and ecology conquering machines.