Lonely planet borneo regional guide 5th edition lonely planet

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Lonely Planet Borneo Regional Guide

5th Edition Lonely Planet

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Borneo

Contents PLAN YOUR TRIP

Welcome to Borneo

Borneo's Top 15

Need to Know

If You Like...

Month by Month

Itineraries

Outdoor Adventures

Diving Pulau Sipadan

Regions at a Glance

ON THE ROAD

SABAH

Sabah Highlights

Kota Kinabalu

Around Kota Kinabalu

Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park

Northwestern Sabah

Mt Kinabalu & Kinabalu National Park

Around Mt Kinabalu

Northwest Coast

Offshore Islands

Eastern Sabah

Sandakan

Sepilok

Sandakan Archipelago

Sungai Kinabatangan

Lahad Datu

Danum Valley Conservation Area

Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Semporna

Semporna Archipelago

Tawau

Tawau Hills Park

Maliau Basin Conservation Area

Southwestern Sabah

The Interior

Beaufort Division

Pulau Tiga National Park

Pulau Labuan

SARAWAK

Sarawak Highlights

Kuching

Western Sarawak

Bako National Park

Santubong Peninsula

Kuching Wetlands National Park

Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Kampung Benuk

Kampung Annah Rais

Kubah National Park

Bau & Around

Lundu

Gunung Gading National Park

Sematan

Tanjung Datu National Park

Talang-Satang National Park

Batang Ai Region

Central Sarawak

Sibu

Batang Rejang

Bintulu

Similajau National Park

Niah National Park

Lambir Hills National Park

Miri

Northeastern Sarawak

Gunung Mulu National Park

Kelabit Highlands

Limbang Division

BRUNEI

Brunei Highlights

Bandar Seri Begawan

Tutong & Belait Districts

Tutong

Jalan Labi

Temburong District

Pulau Selirong

Bangar & Around

Batang Duri

Ulu Temburong National Park

Brunei Survival Guide

KALIMANTAN

Pontianak

Sungai Kapuas

Sukadana

Tanjung Puting National Park

Kumai

Pangkalan Bun

Palangka Raya

Banjarmasin

Kandangan

Negara

Loksado

Balikpapan

Samarinda

Sungai Mahakam

The Muller Mountains

Kutai National Park

Berau

Merabu

Derawan Archipelago

UNDERSTAND

Understand Borneo

Borneo Today

History

Peoples & Cultures

The Cuisines of Borneo

Natural World

SURVIVE

Responsible Travel

Cultural Etiquette

Wildlife

Diving

Volunteering

Directory AZ

Accommodation

Children

Customs Regulations

Electricity

Embassies & Consulates

Food

Insurance

Internet Access

Legal Matters

LGBT Travellers

Maps

Money

Opening Hours

Public Holidays

Safe Travel

Telephone

Time

Toilets

Tourist Information

Travellers with Disabilities

Visas

Women Travellers

Transport

Getting There & Away

Getting Around

Health Before You Go

In Borneo

Language

Behind the Scenes

Our Writers

SPECIAL FEATURES
Borneo in Colour

Welcome to Borneo

It's a jungle out there! Borneo has some of the world's most species-rich equatorial rainforests with prime patches that are easily accessible from modern, multiethnic cities.

Ancient Rainforests

If you've always longed to experience the humid fecundity of a real equatorial rainforest, Borneo will fulfil your wildest dreams. The island's jungles conjure up remoteness and adventure, bringing to mind impenetrable foliage and river trips into the 'heart of darkness'. But look a little closer and nuances emerge: the pitcher plants, lianas and orchids of the lowland forest give way to conifers and rhododendrons as you ascend the flanks of Mt Kinabalu. Deforestation makes for depressing headlines, but significant parts of the Bornean rainforest remain intact, protected by conservation projects whose viability depends in part on income from tourists.

Jungle Wildlife

For many visitors to Borneo, their most memorable moment is glimpsing a wild orangutan swinging through the jungle canopy, spotting an Irrawaddy dolphin in the shimmering waters of the South China Sea, or locking eyes with the reptilian gaze of a saltwater croc. Jungle animals are shy by nature, but a good guide can help you tell the difference between a vine and vine snake, between a twig and a stick insect, and between the call of a gibbon and the cry of a hornbill.

Cultural Riches

Borneo brings together an astonishing array of cultures, religions and languages, and age-old traditions of hospitality mean visitors are welcomed. Most cities have significant Chinese communities, while the picturesque coastal kampung (villages) of Sabah and Sarawak are populated mainly by Malays, but head inland and the dominant culture is indigenous. Borneo's Dayak groups stopped headhunting long ago, but many other ancient customs and ceremonies live on in longhouse communities. There's no better way to experience the indigenous way of life than to drop by for a visit – easy to arrange with a local guide.

Culinary Melting Pot

The varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds of Borneo's people means the island's cuisines are as wide-ranging as they are delicious. Seafood from the South China Sea is served fresh at Chinese restaurants, smoky chicken satay stalls beckon at Malay night markets and Indonesian eateries offer spicy sambal. Even tiny Brunei has its own culinary traditions, not to mention Borneo's numerous indigenous groups. From the sublime cooking of the Kelabit people – including Bario rice and pineapple curry – to dishes such as bamboo chicken and midin jungle fern, Dayak cuisine is unlike anything you've ever tasted.

Summit of Mt KinabaluYVES ANDRE/GETTY IMAGES ©

Why I Love Borneo

I've often found that it's in places of true wildness and potential peril that human warmth and kindness is most immediate, and nowhere is that more true than in Borneo There is a sense of magic in this land where the forest itself is believed to be inhabited by spirits who may or may not wish you well, and trekking from longhouse to longhouse means shimmying across rickety bamboo bridges, collecting wild mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns for dinner and keeping an eye out for wildlife – possibly even shaggy orangutans –moving through the canopy above.

Borneo's Top 15

Gunung Mulu National Park

If the only marvel at Sarawak's Gunung Mulu National Park were some of the biggest caverns on earth, and the only fauna were the twirling, spiralling clouds of bats that emerge from the Deer Cave at dusk, it would still deserve Unesco World Heritage status. And if the only activity was spotting 20cm-long stick insects on a night walk, the flight from Miri would still be worth it. But add in Gunung Mulu and the Pinnacles and you have one of Southeast Asia's true wonders.

ROBBIE SHONE/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Maliau Basin

You came to Borneo looking for something wild, right? The Maliau in Sabah is as wild as it gets. The basin is a rock-rimmed depression filled with primary rainforest – that's untouched, uncut jungle, as old as the hills. We asked a local ranger what he thought of the Maliau, and his Malay response was 'Adan da Hawa' – Adam and Eve. That's how fresh and perfect this forest feels, and while it may look expensive to enter, with a bit of initiative you too can experience the world as it once was.

Maliau FallsJASON ISLEY - SCUBAZOO/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Tanjung Puting National Park

Arguably one of the best places in the world to experience close-up encounters with semi-wild orangutans, Kalimantan's Tanjung Puting offers an unforgettable upriver journey on a chugging klotok: a boat that's both your home and your lookout tower. Sleep with fireflies under the stars on the top deck, wake to the call of gibbons in the morning, and watch Borneo's critically endangered, charismatic orangutans as they swing ponderously through the open jungle to the feeding platforms.

BARRY KUSUMA/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Mt Kinabalu

Sabah's Mt Kinabalu is so many things we don't know where to start. Highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia? Check. Climbable even by novices, but great fun for veteran trekkers? Check. Abode of the spirits of local indigenous tribes? Check. Home to several unique-toBorneo ecosystems and some 6000 plant species, many of them endemic? Check. Even on an island bursting with astonishing natural beauty, the sight of Mt Kinabalu's peak early in the morning causes most folks to lose their breath.

MATT MUNRO/LONELY PLANET ©

Top Experiences

Kelabit Highlands

The air is clean and cool, the rice fields impossibly green, the local cuisine scrumptious, and the hiking – from longhouse to longhouse –some of the best in Borneo, but the star attraction in the Kelabit Highlands is the people, justifiably famous for their ready smiles and easy way with visitors. Getting to this remote corner of northeastern Sarawak is half the fun – you can either bust your butt on logging roads for 12 hours or take an exhilarating flight in a 19-seat Twin Otter turboprop.

Bario Asal LonghouseVICTOR PAUL BORG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©

Top Experiences

Danum Valley

If the primeval jungle of Sabah's Danum Valley makes you think of dinosaurs, we'll understand – the area really does look like Jurassic Park. Confirmed sightings of a T. rex eating a lawyer? Not that we know of, but visitors often spot pygmy elephants, wild orangutans and clouds of bird life. Some, though, don't actually see any animals at all, as the jungle is so thick it can cloak fauna mere metres from where you're standing. But that’s part of Danum's enchanting and timeless appeal.

MINT IMAGES - FRANS LANTING/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Kuching

Borneo's most sophisticated city is a charming combination of atmospheric old town, romantic waterfront, fine cuisine for all budgets and buzzing nightlife. But the city's biggest draw is what's nearby: some of Sarawak's finest natural sites, easy to visit on day trips. You can spot semi-wild orangutans or search out a giant rafflesia flower in the morning, look for proboscis monkeys and wild crocs on a sundown cruise in the South China Sea, and then dine on super-fresh seafood or crunchy midin fern tips.

TOM COCKREM/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Loksado

Nestled by a rushing stream in the foothills of the Meratus in Kalimantan, scenic Loksado feels more like a mountain retreat than part of Borneo. There are waterfalls, swimming holes, endless hiking opportunities, hot springs, bamboo rafting, and lots of friendly locals. Accommodation options are sparse, but you'll find everything you need for an extended stay, including a great riverside budget lodge and a new private resort. Backpackers take note: if you need to reenergise, this is the place.

PITGREENWOOD/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Semenggoh Nature Reserve

With free-roam of the reserve's rainforest and fruit trees, the semiwild orangutans at Semenggoh Nature Reserve near Kuching in Sarawak are not guaranteed to show up at the twice-daily feeding sessions, but there's a pretty good chance of catching the endlessly entertaining sight of our shaggy jungle cousins stuffing half a dozen bananas into their mouths, grabbing a coconut and then scrambling back up into the jungle canopy – swinging from tree to tree, dangling nonchalantly from vines and taking care of their adorable infants.

Male Bornean orangutanRMNUNES/GETTY IMAGES ©

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