Daniel Moser

About Daniel Moser

This author hasn't written their bio yet.
Daniel Moser has contributed 155 entries to our website, so far.

Rain and Clouds in Tropical Cairns

Oct 18, 2017

Cairns is a small city in the north east of Australia and is famous for its access to the Great Barrier Reef as well as the beautiful beaches and forests. All things that require good weather for visiting. But Cairns showed us its rainy side, and after three days of bad weather and a forecast of another 4 days of bad weather we decided to move south to Brisbane and maybe visit Cairns again later on our trip.

Cairns City

Just like Darwin, Cairns is a very small city for Australian standards, but unlike Darwin, it is very much set up for tourism. On its main street there are dozens of tour agencies trying to sell tours to the nearby attractions, many of them even have German-speaking girls in front of the shops to target the countless German-speaking tourists in Cairns. Also, there are restaurants from all over the world, and prices are set accordingly, and if someone wants to buy a didgeridoo, there is also a shop that offers lessons together with the purchase of one of those traditional wooden instruments. I felt very tempted to actually buy one, but priced up to USD 1000 it was a bit too much for something that will most likely just decorate my apartment back home.

Cairns is quite nice, has lots of trees, traffic is not very intense, and especially at the waterfront it is very beautiful. They have a very big public swimming pool called the Lagoon directly at the waterfront which on any hot and sunny day would invite hundreds of tourists for a swim. Given the wet weather however we decided to stay outside.

Around Cairns

As the city center can be visited easily in one day, Cairns is all about the region. Towards the north, there are supposed to be beautiful beaches, and a few kilometers off the coast there is the world famous Great Barrier Reef. Inland, there is rainforest and also large food plantations. Given the ugly weather however we only went for a day to the rainforest, the remaining attractions we want to visit once there is better weather.

Visiting Kuranda

The only place outside Cairns we visited was Kuranda, a small village located in the hills behind the coast that is surrounded by tropical rainforest. It was a quiet place and the walks in the patches of rainforest were nice, but it cannot even closely compete with the almost endless tropical rainforest on Borneo, but for tourists who have never seen a forest in the tropics, in is a good introduction.

The highlight of our visit to Kuranda was the Butterfly Sanctuary. At this place, domestic butterflies are bred systematically in order to populate the tropical hall nearby with hundreds if not thousands of butterflies. The butterflies were literally everywhere, landing on people’s shirts, backpacks, glasses, etc. Apart from the butterflies, there were also some giant moths like the Hercules Moth with a wingspan of more than 30 cm around, however, due to the fact that they are nocturnal, they were in a separate building and only few species were on display.

Also in Kuranda there was a small bird park and a koala park that we decided not to visit because they looked quite small and had a steep pricing as well. E.g. for the koala park, the admission was around USD 18, and if you actually wanted to hold a koala and take a picture with it, the price doubled. Extra costs would have applied for a digital copy of the picture…

Diving and Snorkeling at Great Barrier Reef

Tours out to the reef are very expensive, and given the bad weather, we decided to not go and wait for better weather. I am very tempted to learn how to dive, but if the water is all brown from the rain, it is not that appealing to me. If the weather gets better next week, we might however go back to Cairns and catch up on that.

Animal Parks in Australia

I have not been very keen on going to any animal parks in Darwin and Cairns apart from the butterfly sanctuary. This is not only because of the high prices, but more because it seems that animals are squeezed into very tiny spaces and are treated like toys for tourists that want to take a picture holding a young crocodile or a koala. The most ridiculous thing I have seen so far was in Cairns’ Casino: They set up a zip-line over the pool of a 4m crocodile so people could attach themselves to the zip line and basically fly with a close distance over the crocodile, which, at least on the advertisement, jumps up and tries to catch the tourist. At the same location, there was a koala kept on maybe five square meters on an artificial tree trunk and some leaves, waiting for tourists to lift it, take a picture with it, and then put it back on the trunk. There was no place to retreat for the poor animal.

I hope that we will also have the chance to visit a decent zoo at some point on our trip where the animals are treated with dignity.

Heading Off to Brisbane

We either had to choice of another 4 days of rainy weather in Cairns, or go more south hoping for better weather. We chose the second option and booked a last minute flight to Brisbane. Being a very large city, the options for bad weather here are better, and also the forecast for the next few days is slightly better.

Crocodiles and Rock Paintings at Kakadu National Park

Oct 15, 2017

After Litchfield, Kakadu National Park was the second park one on our visit list close to Darwin. After another 300 km of driving we reached the visitor center of the national park at around noon.

About Kakadu National Park

The lands on which the National Park lies has been the home of the indigenous people for tens of thousands of years. There is a lot of history there incl. many art sites with ancient rock paintings. The land is separated into the lowlands, which is the area that is flooded every year during the wet season, and the highlands that are located inland and are at around 200m above the lowlands. Many clans (i.e. tribes) used to retreat to these highlands whenever the lowlands got flooded.

Apart from the history, the wildlife in Kakadu National Park is also very interesting. In addition to the parrots with the same name as the park, there are large numbers of freshwater and saltwater crocodiles, giant water buffaloes, birds, fish, and the usual smaller animals.

Rock Paintings

There are many sites in Kakadu National Park where there are ancient paintings from the Aborigines. Every painting tells a story, however, only the persons who painted the symbols know the story behind them, e.g. if they caught a large fish, they would draw it on the rock in real size. Therefore over the years the meaning of many of the paintings can only be guessed, and some are completely unknown. An interesting fact is also that not all paintings are that old, as some show men with rifles, which could only have been drawn after the invasion of Australia in the 19th century.

Sunset from Nadab Lookout

On the first evening we climbed one of the rocks that stands out from the lowlands to view the sunset. At the same location there were also rock paintings. The view over the vast lowlands was impressive.

Crocodile Safari at Yellow Waters

Not cheap, but very impressive was the early morning safari at Yellow Waters, a part of the lowlands that also has water during the dry season. And as the water is very concentrated during the dry seasons, we could see plenty of wildlife. Without having counted them, I guess we saw at least 30 crocodiles on the 2h tour, some of them were hunting and we could watch them feasting on catfish. In addition, we saw many birds incl. an eagle, some wallabies, a snake, and also some of the very impressive water buffaloes that live in this region. It was definitely worth getting up at 4:40 in the morning to participate in this cruise. We were told that during the day, due to the heat most animals hide and therefore the boat tour not nearly as exciting.

Noon-Hike in Nourlangie in Baking Heat

Just like the day before, temperatures were baking hot again that day. Temperatures were at around 40°C. Not very comfortable conditions for long hikes outside, but at Nourlangie we decided to go on a 30 minute hike to see some more impressive rock shelters and paintings of the Aborigines. A hot but worthwhile experience.

Bird Swamp at Mamukala

Our last stop at Kakadu National Park was Mamukala, a swamp that was full of birds. From the observation deck it was possible to watch hundreds if not thousands of birds in the swamp, and also some curious wallabies.

An Expensive Weekend at Kakadu National Park

While admission to Litchfield was free, we got acquainted with Australia’s way of milking their tourists. Admission to the National park was around USD 35 per person (as a comparison: The much more impressive Yellowstone N.P. costs USD 30, but per vehicle, not per person). At Kakadu National Park, included in the ticket price are guided ranger tours. Unfortunately, only Monday – Friday, so we did not get any guided tour. Accommodation in the park was also quite pricey, as was the 2h boat tour on Sunday morning. In total we spent almost USD 400 for about 30 hours in the park, excluding car and fuel expenses.

Natural Pools at Litchfield National Park

Oct 13, 2017

A one hour drive away from Darwin is Litchfield National Park that is famous for its waterfalls and, in the tropical heat most importantly, many natural freshwater pools that invite for a swim under the waterfalls.

Climate at Litchfield National Park

We planned our visit to the Northern Territory in October so we would not be there during the wet season where streets may be impassable due to the high water levels. October is the last month of the dry season and also the hottest month. In Darwin at the cost there were already temperatures of up to 34°C. Inland at Litchfield National Park temperatures were even higher, but the climate was also drier.

The heat and drought were on the one hand to our advantage as all park roads were easily accessible and all the natural pools were open for swimming. Some of the natural pools are closed in wet season due to strong currents coming from the waterfalls and the risk of saltwater crocodiles entering them. On the other hand, walking around at temperatures above 35°C in the sun is very exhausting and the dried out forests and savanna-like environment is definitely less appealing than everything being green.

The waterfalls at Litchfield National Park

The first and also most beautiful waterfalls we visited were Florence Falls. Two waterfalls drop into a big natural pool, embedded in beautiful forest. As we arrived there early in the day we had the pool almost to ourselves. The water in the pool was very clear, and everything was set for our first refreshment of the day. Ilinca and I had a beautiful swim and shower under the waterfalls, and thanks to a German tourist who told me in advance to bring my goggles, I could see the pool also from the fish perspective, incl. some medium-sized fish. This was especially beautiful because the morning sunrays enter the water in a flat angle and illuminate half of the pool, while the water in the shadow side of the pool was still dark. Too bad my Sony Camera is not waterproof…

A bit upriver from Florence Falls is a place called Buley Rockhole. A sequence of small waterfalls followed by small pools, some of them several meters deep. Of course I had to explore all of these pools, given the temperatures again a pleasant refreshment.

After a short drive, we then reached Tolmer Falls. This waterfall is beautifully embedded into a gorge and also drops into a large pool, however, swimming there was not allowed to preserve the rare bats that live in the walls of the gorge there. Nevertheless, it was also beautiful to only look at the pool and enjoy the view over the flatland.

Our last refreshment we enjoyed at Wangi Falls, which seemed to be the most popular ones in the park. Due to the dry season there was unfortunately not much water coming down from the cliffs and the water in the huge natural pool below the two waterfalls was not very clear. Nevertheless, it was still a good refreshment to join the dozens of other tourists that were already swimming in the pool.

Wildlife at Litchfield National Park

In theory there is lots of wildlife in Litchfield National Park incl. freshwater and saltwater crocodiles. In reality however we did not encounter too many animals. We saw some kangaroos (or wallabies, I don’t know for sure), some pretty fish in the nature pools, and the usual such as big spiders, frogs, birds, and termites. Some of the termite mounds were really high, up to 6m. Amazing for an animal to build a structure that high while it is only 0.5 cm long.

The City of Darwin

Oct 12, 2017

We did not perform to much planning upfront when we decided that we will enter Australia in Darwin, it was simply the shortest destination from Southeast Asia and we knew that after October the weather in Australia’s Northern Territory will get wet along the coasts. The plan was to stay a few days in the city and then visit some of the National Parks in the proximity.

More of a Town than a City

Upon arrival at Darwin Airport, we realized quickly that the town must be rather small. There was not even a direct public bus or train to the city center, but only a quite overpriced airport shuttle which set us back by around USD 12 each. And also inside the city, public transport was not really useful as the line that we needed for reaching our Airbnb host only ran once per hour.

Darwin only has 137’000 inhabitants, making it even smaller than a few Swiss cities. There is a city center with a few shops and restaurants, but with even more restricted opening hours than in Switzerland. Most shops close around 17:00 during the week, only the two supermarkets are open until 22:00. But Darwin is still worth visiting. It is very relaxed in town and to me the beauty of Darwin was its location in the tropics with beaches, bays, and lots of green areas.

Our Accommodation in Darwin

For the first time on our trip we used Couchsurfing. For those who don’t know it, Couchsurfing is an Internet platform where people can offer free space in the apartment to travelers, or ‘Couchsurfers’. Accommodation is usually free, the idea is more that travelers and locals can meet each other. We stayed at Nathan’s apartment in the center of Darwin for in total three nights, and we even had a separate bedroom, so no couch to sleep on. And on one evening we all went out together which was also fun. For me it was a very positive experience, let’s see if we find more hosts along our trip

The Mindil Beach Sunset Market

Twice a week in the dry season, there is a sunset market at Mindil Beach. Dozens if not hundreds of vendors try to sell food, souvenirs, massages, or allow you to take pictures with snakes and lizards. For tourists a must, but also lots of local people visit this market regularly. The food options are very diverse, there was everything from Mexican to Southeast Asian and local food available, some French guys were even selling Raclette, a cheese-based French and Swiss dish. It showed how international Australia is. While Ilinca ate a Baked Potato and some mini-Pancakes for dessert, I followed my Mango addiction and ate 2-3 freshly cut Mangoes, a true feast to me, and a Greek wrap called Gyros.

After watching the beautiful sunset, there was a short didgeridoo concert accompanied with drums. It is hard to describe how this sounds, the short video should give you an impression however. It was a really interesting combination of the two instruments and I was deeply impressed what types of sounds one can get out of a wooden tube.

Other Things to Do in Darwin

While some things like the Crocosaurus Cove, an animal park inside one single building in the middle of the city, are ridiculously overpriced (USD 28), there is the excellent Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory with free admission. There are basically three topics inside: Aboriginal history and arts, animals of the region, and Cyclone Tracy which devastated Darwin in 1974. I was especially interested in the animals section as there were exhibits of basically all venomous creatures that exist in Australia: Snakes, spiders, fish, jellyfish, octopuses, insects, and so on. It was amazing to see how many dangerous creatures exist in Australia. Let’s hope the museum was the only place we encountered them on our trip.

Problems with Aborigines in Darwin

Even though Darwin is nice and mostly peaceful, it is impossible to ignore that for quite a few of the indigenous people (Aborigines) here, it is hard to adapt to the modern life in Darwin. They hang around in groups on the streets, begging for money, and especially when drunk, also yelling around and bothering other people in the streets. It is hard for me to tell if they really are that disadvantaged in society despite all the programs for helping Aborigines to be employed, or if their unemployment and alcohol problems are self-made. But Darwin would be much prettier if this problem could be addressed more effectively.

One Day in the Sultanate of Brunei

Oct 7, 2017

After our jungle adventure at Mulu National Park we were heading back to civilization. Our path went via Miri to Brunei, where we spent a full day of sightseeing before moving on to Bali.

The Journey from Mulu to Brunei

As Mulu can only be reached by plane or a combination of boat / car, we chose the first option to get to Miri, a coastal town in the north of Borneo. The jungle airport at Mulu is really small and things are quite relaxed here. From Check-In to entering the plane it is about 200 m on foot. And international rules like taking along a bottle of water do not seem to count here, it was no problem to get my 1.5l bottle of water through security check. Once we were boarding, we walked directly from the gate to the plane. The flight itself was beautiful as the propeller aircraft flew only at about 1500m, so the rainforest with its meandering rivers and closer towards Miri also the palm tree plantations could be seen from a quite a close distance. After only 30 minutes we already reached Miri, from where we took a 4 hour bus ride across the border to Bander Seri Begawan, the capital of the sultanate of Brunei.

About Brunei

If someone had mentioned Brunei to me half a year ago, I could not even have guessed on which continent it is located, not to mention anything about its history. Time to change that.

Brunei is one of the richest countries on our planet due to their oil reserves and Brunei today is what is left from a much larger sultanate that existed between the 16th and 19th century. Being a Monarchy, most of the money from the oil reserves goes to the royal family and in the public infrastructure such as huge mosques and the excellent roads. Apart from that, the common people receive only very little in return.

Having visited a few Muslim countries this year, Brunei is one of the stricter ones. The laws and in general the life of the citizens are influenced by the Sharia, however for tourists and non-Muslims the rules are a bit more relaxed and it is for instance allowed to take small amounts of alcohol in the country.

Brunei’s Old Town

Being located at a river, the old town of Brunei is a village built on stilts named Kampong Ayer. Up to 30’000 people live in wooden housed above the water, and the houses are connected by boardwalks and small bridges. They also have an own fire department equipped with boats as there are no roads leading into that village.

Meeting his Majesty

While visiting Kampong Ayer our local guide got suddenly very excited because he saw that the car of the sultan is parked in front of a mosque which meant he is visiting the mosque for the Friday prayers. He told us to come back to the mosque in 25 minutes when the prayers were over, and indeed, there he was, a 75-year old guy (who looks like he’s only 50) walking out of the mosque between dozens of local spectators, shaking hands, smiling. Then he entered his car on the driver’s seat and drove away, accompanied by some cars from the royal family and the police. And yes, he was driving himself, which I can understand. Who would not want to drive a luxurious Brabus 700 with 700 horsepower by himself?

By the way there were no security guards, and he literally passed around 50 cm in front of me. It is nice when as a monarch, you can still walk around in your city without armed bodyguards and without being afraid of your own people. I wonder in how many Western countries this would be possible.

Town Center of Brunei

Just across the river from Kampong Ayer lies the modern town center. There are some small shopping malls, nice mosques and other modern buildings. But the center is really small and can easily be explored on foot in one day.

Night Market

The place to go for authentic local food (as compared to KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. that exist as well in Brunei) is the night market. There are dozens of food stalls selling freshly cooked local dishes, fruit, and beverages. The right place to eat something after a long day of sightseeing.

Public Transport in Brunei

As it affected our day a lot, I want to say a few words about the public transport or its lack of it. When we arrived at around 20:00 in Brunei city, there was no single taxi available as I was told they only work during the day. As our hotel was located 7 km away from the center, and because we did not have any internet or telephones available, this was unfortunate. Luckily there was some local guy who offered us transport to the hotel for a not so cheap rate, but it was the only alternative to walking in the tropical heat.

In general, public transport in Brunei is bad, and even getting a taxi can take quite a while. Taxis are also not so cheap, and platforms like Uber do not exist in Brunei. Since May 2017 however, there is a local startup trying to clone Uber for Brunei. The app is called Dart and the one time I used it, it actually worked fine. So far it only works for licensed taxis and hence does not allow for cheap transports, but the plan is to extend it also to private drivers (that have the correct driver’s license).

The alternative is to find your own driver for a day, but that’s usually not so easy. On our sightseeing day, it was our guide who organized a driver, which saved us a lot of money and time as compared to taxi rides.

Luxury Resort

Around 20 km north of Bandar Seri Begawan there is a luxurious beach resort named The Empire. One night here costs from USD 250 upwards. Given the location directly at the seaside and the gigantic swimming pools not such a bad deal. I however let the pictures speak for themselves.

Gigantic Caves at Mulu National Park

Oct 4, 2017

While there is rainforest at many places on Borneo, the combination of gigantic caves embedded into dense tropical rainforest makes Mulu National Park one of a kind. The dimensions of the whole network of caves that are connected with each other reaches a length of 240 km. While some caves are made accessible to us tourists, many caves still remain to be discovered and cannot be accessed due to various reasons such as being underwater caves or being situated too deep inside the mountains.

During our five-day stay Ilinca and I visited four different caves, and in Clearwater Cave I participated in a guided tour off the tourist path which involved climbing, walking through water, and even swimming in small rivers about 2.5 km inside the mountain in the complete absence of any natural light source. The caves in the park are generally classified in three categories:

Dry Caves are caves that don’t contain running water anymore. The underground rivers that formed those caves now flow through caves at lower levels. The absence of a river at the cave floor allows the growth of stalagmites and stalactites, making these caves look very beautiful. Lang Cave, Deer Cave and Wind Cave belong into this category.
Wet Caves still contain a flow of water which continuously makes the cave grow, mostly vertically but also horizontally. Clearwater Cave belongs into this category.
Underwater Caves are completely filled with water and are located at lower altitudes than wet caves and dry caves. These caves are the least explored ones as diving equipment is necessary to access them and the exploration also involves big risks due to the missing oxygen. Naturally, no such cave could be visited by us tourists.

Exploring Clearwater Cave

The Tourist Section of Clearwater Cave

The entrance to Clearwater Cave is very impressive. It is decorated with various plants, and lots of daylight can enter through the huge hole to illuminate the tourist section that is secured by board walks. The dimensions of Clearwater Cave are very impressive. Over some stairs tourists can reach the crystal clear river that runs through the cave.

Going off the tourist path

Apart from the caves that contain a solid board walk, Mulu National Park also arranges guided adventure caving tours. I participated in one of those tours called Clearwater Revival that started where the tourist section ended in Clearwater Cave. At the end of the boardwalk where the cave started to get dark, we stepped down to the river and started going deeper and deeper inside the mountain. After only a few meters, the daylight from the cave’s entrance was gone and we were completely in the dark, the only source of light were our headlamps.

During the next 1.5 hours, we entered almost two more kilometers into the cave along the river. We were walking on sharp limestone rocks, on slippery mud, sometimes also inside the river. On the way out we could also swim some parts in the river which was especially exciting. Whenever we had to climb over some big rocks along the riverbed or cross the river, fixed ropes were in place, so it was not as difficult as it may sound. At the deepest point in the cave, our guide told us to turn off our lamps. And there we were… 2.5 km inside the mountain, and it was completely dark, we only could hear a few bats and the river flowing through the cave. This was a very impressive moment. Thoughts went through my head, what if I went in here alone and my lamp’s battery died? I would never make it out alive… It was nice to turn on the lamps after one minute again and see the beautiful rainforest when exiting the cave after more than 3 hours in the dark.

Fauna inside a cave

It is hard to imagine that any animals live in such unfriendly conditions, however, we saw several species: bats, crabs, fish, bugs, crickets and giant spiders, some of them with a diameter of around 25 cm. They all adapted to the absence of light.

Wind Cave

Being a dry cave, wind cave was beautifully decorated with stalactites and stalagmites. Its name however it got due to the fact that in the narrowest part of the cave, there is usually a slight breeze because the cave is open in the middle as the rock collapsed there and hence wind is blowing towards the entrance from there.

Lang Cave

Named after the guy who discovered it, Lang Cave is also a dry cave with nice decorations. It was the least spectacular cave I have visited, but as it is neighboring Deer Cave, it was worth a visit as well.

Deer Cave

The last dry cave we visited at Mulu National Park was deer cave. Unlike the name suggests, the cave is not inhabited by deer anymore as they have been hunted down by the local tribes a long time ago.

However, deer cave is home to millions of bats. They all live at the ceiling of the enormous cave during the day, and then in the evening usually all of them fly out to feed from tons of flying insects in the nearby forest. This creates a huge spectacle for visitors that are seated in front of the cave when a black swarm of bats flies out of the cave. However, bats are picky with the weather and they only fly out if it is not raining. This is not mainly because they do not want to get wet, but rather because their ultrasound navigation does not work well in heavy rain.

We were unlucky this day because there was actually rain until shortly before sunset so the bats decided not to fly out (yet). Most likely they have flown out later, but because it was dark already, it was not possible to see them anymore. Nevertheless, Deer Cave was absolutely fascinating as the diameter of the cave was the largest I have ever seen (and the second largest in the world) and we still could witness the presence of the bats because most of the cave floor was covered by huge pile of bat excrements.

Jungle Trekking Adventure to the Pinnacles

Oct 4, 2017

The highlight of my stay at Mulu National Park in Borneo was a three day trek and climb to the pinnacles, an interesting limestone rock formation at an altitude of 1200m, embedded in the dense rainforest that covers the plains and mountains at Mulu National Park. A trekking adventure that involved boat transfers on longboats on beautiful jungle rivers, walks through the flat part of the rainforest, and moderate climbs over roots, leaves, and at times slippery limestone, supported by fixed ladders and ropes.

Meeting my companions

This trekking adventure was only available as part of an organized tour and a minimum number of three participants. Unfortunately I could not convince Ilinca to join me, so I subscribed alone for the tour. As the groups will be up to ten people per guide, I was hoping that at least two more people subscribe to the tour, but not too many because the larger the group, the higher the chances to get people on the group I would rather not travel with.

I only met my companions on the morning the trek started: Three girls. I was a bit surprised because I assumed this kind of activity is more of a guy’s thing, but probably I am just too old-fashioned. But of course the surprise was clearly on the positive side. All fun people with their own interesting past. Claire from the UK, and Evelyne and Lucil from the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Moving to Camp 5

On day one of the trek, we went upriver on a longboat. As the water in rivers through the jungle can be very shallow, longboats are the perfect means of transport as they don’t go deep into the water. But even then sometimes it is necessary for everybody to get out of the boat and push it over the rocks. Luckily for us, there was heavy rain last night and the water levels were high enough to pass without getting wet feet.

After around one hour upriver, we were dropped off in the middle of the rainforest. From there, it was an unguided 10 km walk through the rainforest. Thanks to the heavy rain last night, it was not very hot that day, but still hot enough to arrive soaking wet from sweating at Camp 5.

On the way to Camp 5 we did not see any interesting wildlife, which might also have been due to the talking along the way. The only animals that we noticed were leeches as they were suddenly attached to my socks and trying to make their way through them to suck my blood. Two of them I could stop before they reached their goal, a third one was more successful and at least made me bleed for a while. But I should not complain, because I was carrying special leech socks in my backpack but I was too lazy to put them on.

After 2.5 hours we finally arrived at Camp 5, a forest camp with a surprisingly nice infrastructure such as showers, toilets incl. toilet paper, a kitchen, and dining tables. The only problem: the place was infested with hundreds if not thousands of huge bees which were going after everything sweaty. So the first thing to do was to jump inside the river nearby and was the clothes. Afterwards the situation was slightly better and during the night, the bees also got their well-deserved sleep. We were told afterwards that the main reason the bees are here is not our sweaty trekking gear but the fact that the durian trees nearby were in blossom.

After a simple self-cooked dinner, we met our guide Imran for the climb to the pinnacles the next day. Somehow he felt the need to scare everybody a bit by exaggerating how tough the climb would be and many people already got insured. The next day would show that it was just a normal hike as we have tons of them in the Swiss Alps.

Climbing to the pinnacles

Camp 5 is only located at 150 m above sea level, the pinnacles are at around 1200 m. So we had a 1000 m climb ahead of us. And in contrast to the walk the day before, it only went in one direction: upwards! First we were climbing through dense rainforest on a small path, but the closer we got to the top, we had to climb over rocks and roots. The slippery and risky passages were all secured either by ropes or metal ladders. The most challenging part of the climb however was the heat and humidity, and I was really happy that at least we were walking in the shadows of the trees and not in the sun.

After nearly four hours incl. all breaks, we finally reached the pinnacles. A beautiful view on limestone rocks that have been transformed into sharp needles by the rain, however my expectations were a bit higher. Only for the rocks I would not do that hike again, but the path up through the jungle was really awesome.

On the way down, which took at least as long as the climb, we met a few animals. A snake decided to cross my path about 1m in front of me, and lots of big butterflies, caterpillars, and worms were sitting on trees right next to the path.

Back at Camp 5, the same story as the day before: tons of bees. And the same solution: A quick bath in the river and washing out our clothes.

Returning to Mulu

On day three, we walked back the same 10 km path to the river where we went downstream in a longboat to Mulu National Park’s headquarter. As it had not rained the last two days, the water levels were lower today and at one point everybody had to go out of the boat and push it for about 10m.

At noon, we reached our goal. It was an awesome adventure and we were a great group of companions. And even though the pinnacles alone would not be worth such a trip, it is the whole adventure with sleeping in a jungle camp and the climb up in the rainforest which made this trip an unforgettable adventure.

Canopy Walk at Mulu National Park

Oct 1, 2017

As part of our stay at the Mulu National Park in Borneo, we not only explored caves as described in another post, but we of course also explored the dense rainforest with its rich flora and fauna. One way of doing this is by going on unguided walks on wooden boardwalks. But as most of the life in a rainforest takes place in the canopies and not on the ground, we wanted to get a monkey’s perspective of the rainforest.

At Mulu National Park, apart from the excellent network of trails, there is also a Canopy Walk where visitors walk up to 35 meters above the forest floor from tree to tree. The canopy walk itself is a series of rope bridges that go from one tree to another. The total length of that walk was 450m, which does not seem like very long, but given that those were all shaky bridges, the walk took much longer than expected.

There is lots of wildlife in the jungle, but also lots of trees and plants that hide them from our sight. I was hoping that from the canopy walk we would spot more animals than when walking on the trails, but in the end we did not see any monkeys or other larger animals this time, and only a few insects, some birds flying by and a small green lizard. Nevertheless, the walk was still very impressive as it gave us a completely new perspective of the jungle.

Orang-Utans at Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Sep 29, 2017

After returning from Bako National Park, we had one more day here in the Kuching area before we fly to Gunung Mulu National Park. We spent this day visiting the Orang-Utans at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and preparing for the next few days in the jungle.

Semi-Wild Orang-Utans at Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Orang-Utans are one of the much endangered species on this planet and except from zoos around the world, they can only be found on Borneo and Sumatra. Orang-Utans are especially fascinating to us humans as they are one of our closest relatives, as it is also reflected in the name. Orang is Malaysian and stands for people or human, and Utan stands for forest. So the name Orang-Utan has nothing to do with the color orange even though their fur looks orange.

At Semenggoh Nature Reserve, the Orang-Utans are semi-wild, meaning that they don’t live in a cage but in an open forest, however they are fed and taken care of by the park rangers. Some of the older monkeys there were freed from captivity, the younger generations however were born in the nature reserve and don’t know the concept of captivity.

For me as a tourist the fact that they are getting fed is welcome, because like this I had a chance to actually meet a few Orang-Utans at the time I was at the reserve. Finding an Orang-Utan that lives in complete wilderness is much more difficult. On the day of the visit, we saw around 4-5 different Orang-Utans. In the whole reserve there should be 28 of them.

Next Days in the Jungle

After the interesting visit to the Orang-Utans, we were heading back to Kuching to prepare for our upcoming 5 days in the middle of the rainforest at Gunung Mulu National Park. We needed to buy some dry food for the treks, a dry bag for protecting the electronic equipment from water when crossing rivers and also from tropical rainfall. As Kuching has a few malls, we found everything we needed and will head to Gunung Mulu National Park tomorrow.

Tropical Paradise at Bako National Park

Sep 27, 2017

Bako National Park is almost the perfect tropical island. Almost because first it’s not an island but only a peninsula north of the city of Kuching, and second the beaches are not safe for swimming here due to the presence of jellyfish, stingrays and saltwater crocodiles that can reach a length of up to six meters. None of them I consider nice companions for a swim in the tropical sea.

Apart from that, Bako National Park really offers everything. Beautiful remote beaches, surrounded by palm trees and dense rainforest, good trails for accessing the inner areas of the jungle, incredible wildlife, and most importantly, in a peaceful atmosphere with not too many tourists around. So far I have really not got disappointed by Borneo!

Hiking in Bako National Park

There is a total of 16 trails available in the park, all of them originating from the headquarters. While some trails only are a short walk to some pretty beach, other trails take you for more than eight hours across the whole national park. Unfortunately though, more than half of the national park was closed for hiking due to maintenance. But the remaining trails still did not disappoint. On the first evening, Ilinca and I hiked for 30 minutes to Paku Bay, a lonely beach surrounded by steep limestone cliffs embedded in the rainforest. Apart from two other tourists, a few monkeys and some crabs, we were completely alone.

Today, we followed the 5.8 km Lintang trail which starts in the mangroves near the headquarters, then leads uphill through dense rainforest towards the inner part of the island. Once on top of the hills, there was no more dense rainforest, but much dryer forest and at parts even blank limestone because there was no soil available for plants to grow. This part was especially hot to walk, luckily the sun was hiding behind some clouds every now and then, but also the rest of the trail was hot and humid. When we arrived back at the headquarters, we were both soaking wet, incl. the shorts. Now would have been the time for a swim in the sea, but safety first – we took a shower in our bungalow.

Wildlife in Bako National Park

Bako National Park is home to the endangered proboscis monkeys that only exist in Borneo and it is estimated that there are only around 1000 animals left in Sarawak. The males are known for their very large noses and the big stomach which helps them digest leaves that would otherwise be inedible. Compared to the macaques which are very common in this area, proboscis monkeys only live in coastal areas close to mangroves. And neither do they interact with humans nor are they afraid of them. You can approach such an animal to one meter without it running away or becoming aggressive.

Apart from the proboscis monkey, Bako National Parks offers also plenty of wildlife – some of which can be spotted easily during the day such as the also endangered silvered leaf monkeys, bearded pigs, squirrels, various birds and insects. Some of them require a bit more luck, such as the 80 cm long lizard which I met by chance, or the help of an experienced guide during a night walk such as the venomous green pit viper, wild cats, tarantulas and other nice spiders, scorpions, frogs, catfish, stick insects, and so on.

Accommodation in Bako National Park

The headquarters and the few chalets are nicely located between the beach and the rainforest. When looking out of our bedroom, we can see dense jungle, and nothing else. Quite a nice atmosphere. The only problem is: The rooms are VERY basic. There is no air conditioning, only a noisy small fan and the windows cannot be opened due to the monkeys that surround the apartment. The consequence: Hot and steamy climate inside the room, mosquitos (because the nets have holes in it), and a moldy smell. For two nights this is acceptable, but for a longer stay we would need to get a more comfortable room!