Sabah Society Visit to Maliau Basin – 9th to 14th June 2010

Four days trekking up and into the stunning Maliau Basin in Sabah, and then out again, is not for the faint hearted! Aside from the very steep ascent into and descent out of the Basin, which can challenge even the fittest, there are literally thousands of Tiger and Brown leeches waiting to pounce – the Tiger leeches from leaves, while the Brown leeches wait on the ground! Somehow they can find the one bit of skin that hasn’t been securely hidden away behind shoes, leech socks, belts and long sleeve shirts! However, despite the difficulties, Maliau is a must to visit!  (Just click on photos to enlarge)

The word Maliau in the Murut language, we were told, means “Large Staircase”, and this seemed a very appropriate description when we were climbing and climbing and climbing!

First discovered when a pilot almost crashed into the rim of the basin in the late 1940s, and known only to the Muruts before that, Maliau Basin remained untouched and unknown until the1980s, when the first Maliau scientific expedition was undertaken, and over the intervening years it has been visited by researchers from all over the world.

Over 30 species of mammals have been found in Maliau, 270 bird species, as well as rare and endemic orchids and many species of Pitcher (Nepenthes) plants. Majestic hornbills swoop through the air above your head.

The endangered clouded leopard lives in these forests, together with sun bears, the Tufted Ground squirrel and the Bulwer’s pheasant, (which puts on a display equal to any peacock to attract it’s mate), as well as the shy Gibbon monkeys.

Fortunately Maliau escaped the chainsaws in the 1990s, and also an attempt in 2000 to mine coal, even though it had been gazetted as a Class 1 Forest Reserve in 1997, which banned all logging and mining.

It has now been nominated for World Heritage listing, which will hopefully ensure the preservation of this magical place.

Our journey started at the Sabah Society office in Damai at 7.30am where Daisy Kho, Tham Chee Keong, (both Sabah Society members who had flown in from Sarawak), Murphy Ng and myself met up, loaded down with our knapsacks, sleeping bags and must-have food!

Jimmy Omar was to lead our trip to Maliau Basin. Jimmy has spent nearly 30 years working in Conservation in the Danum Valley and other conservation areas in Sabah and also runs educational programmes for students  to teach the younger generation the importance of protecting our fragile and beautiful environment in Sabah.  He has taken many groups to Maliau over the years, including accompanying several trips by the Sabah Society between 2001 and our current trip.

With our backpacks under a tarpaulin and the five of us cosily installed inside his Hilux, we left KK around 8.10am on our long journey to the Maliau Basin Study Centre. I had never driven on the road to Keningau and was surprised by the beautiful scenery through which we passed. It was wonderful to see magnificent trees and no palm oil, as we climbed and climbed up the steep winding roads and negotiated the U- bends up to Keningau, which stands nearly 400 metres above sea level. We arrived around 11.30am and after stopping briefly to purchase Adidas Kampong shoes, we headed to the Hotel Juta for a very enjoyable Chinese lunch.

As we had decided to cater for ourselves, in order to save some money on the trip, we called in to the local supermarket and stocked up with dozens of eggs, tins of pilchards, tuna and other fish, dried fish, packets of noodles, 5 kgs of rice and apples, pears and oranges. A final stop to the markets, where Jimmy purchased a large piece of fresh tuna and chicken, and we were on our way again.

We headed towards the small town of Sook and then on to Nabawan. During this part of our drive we saw numerous logging trucks trundling out of the forest areas, loaded down with extremely large trees cut from the forests. From Nabawan onwards to the Maliau Basin Security Gate a four wheel drive is not necessary, and the road is wide and well graded despite not being tarred. It seemed a long drive on the gravel road and around 3.30pm we finally arrived at the Security Gate.

After signing in, we now traveled on a narrower dirt road, which could obviously be a bit treacherous when wet, and a four wheel drive is definitely advised for this last part of the journey. However it is worth noting that it is possible to drive to the Security Gate, leave your car there, and be transported up to the Maliau Basin Study Centre (MBSC) for a small charge. The forest was stunning as we drove on towards the MBSC and we were fortunate to see a Sambar deer standing by the side of the road. Whilst Daisy was hoping to see Tembadau (some of the only wild Oxen left in Malaysia), all we could see and smell were piles of fresh Tembadau dung along the road!

We were staying at the hostel accommodation at MBSC, and it was certainly quite comfortable with curtained areas sectioned off containing two sets of bunk beds. There was a clean, communal bathroom, with the best facilities we would see until our return 4 days later!

From our balcony we spotted our first wild boar, before setting off to get dinner organized. Jimmy turned out to be an accomplished cook, and on this first evening we had fresh tuna, rice, green vegetables and soup.

The MBSC arranges a briefing on the Maliau Basin each evening which included an excellent video explaining what we were likely to see and do in Maliau, and a description of the various types of accommodation available, from hostel bunk beds to luxury chalets.

We headed to bed early, everyone feeling somewhat apprehensive about what lay ahead of us the next day!

Day Two

After breakfast and packing lunches of boiled eggs, rice and bottles of water to take with us, we piled back into Jimmy’s truck and headed to Agathis Camp, about a 20 minute drive from MBSC. The camp is built along the pretty Agathis River, and we noticed the amazing colour of the water, a rust red, tea hue, which we were to see over and over again the next few days. This is a result of the tannins in the water which have leached out of the peaty leaf litter. It makes the water very acidic, hence the lack of fish in the rivers.

Huge Agathis trees populate this area, hence the name of the camp, and Tham, who is incredibly knowledgeable in all things related to the environment, explained that Agathis trees were also found in New Zealand. He also told us that the wood is very popular with the Japanese as it is used for building attractive ceilings and walls, and as a result there are not many left in Sabah. Fortunately they are protected in Maliau!

We had all decided to hire porters to carry our backpacks (which can weigh a maximum of 12 kgs) and were astounded to see that our young porters would hook one backpack onto their back, and another on their front, and could carry up to 24 kgs.  As these young men only weighed around 60kgs this seemed a heavy load to bear!  Fortunately I was the only one with 12 kgs, and Tham, Daisy and Murphy’s packs were a lot lighter!

Our park ranger, Ood, led us off through the beautiful forest at Agathis Camp, and we started our climb up and up on our way to Ginseng Camp, nine kilometers from Agathis, listening to the excited calls of the Gibbon monkeys.

As we walked along under the Canopy of the huge, 200 year old trees, we were protected from the sun, but not from the leeches! It wasn’t long before Ood pointed at me and said “Leech”. (Ood did not speak any English and so it was difficult for me to communicate with him during our stay in Maliau). I glanced down at my white shirt and realized I was covered in blood from my stomach half way down to my knees! I found the leech, which was happily replete and had disconnected from me, and threw it back into the forest!

Agathis Camp sits at just over 400m above sea level and over the next 9 kms we were to climb to around 750 metres. It was a steep climb and broke us in to our trek with a vengeance!

We decided to break the back of the journey and make the six kilometre mark before stopping to tuck into our packed lunches.

During the walk I realized that I had pulled a muscle on the outside of my right leg, and was very concerned my leg was going to seize up on me in this difficult terrain. I kept  going as fast as possible with Ood leading the way and we were fortunate enough to see a male Asian Paradise Flycatcher – with its stunning long white tail, Gibbon monkeys swinging through the trees and a male Bulwer’s pheasant. I eventually reached Ginseng Camp, after crossing a wooden bridge that had no sides or rope handle to cling onto, (which tested my fear of heights), around 3.00pm, just as it started raining. Murphy spent much of the walk taking stunning photographs of the flora and fauna with Tham providing interesting information on the different species.

We liked the camp at Ginseng. We slept in beds laid out in the open air, dormitory style, with just a roof over our heads, but no outside wall and with mosquito nets keeping us comfortable at night.

Hungry after our exhausting nine kilometre walk up to Ginseng, we tucked into miso soup, sardines cooked with white chillies, and mixed vegetables with rice. We fell exhausted into bed around 8 pm, with everyone excited about the trip to Maliau Falls the next day.

Around 2.00am in the morning I woke up in excruciating pain from my right leg, which I judged on a scale of 1 to 10 as an 8! I found some anti-inflammatories and tried to get back to sleep despite the pain!

Day 3

My heart sank when I woke up, pulled back my mosquito net and tried to get out of bed! I could barely walk, and realized I would miss this special day!

However everyone else was already dressed in anticipation of the exciting day ahead, and after breakfast Ood and Jimmy set out with Daisy, Tham and Murphy. The climb out of Ginseng Camp is extremely steep and treacherous for the first 500 metres, with the chance of a bad fall quite possible if you put a foot wrong! However once they had successfully negotiated this part of the trek, they walked along a ridge towards Lobah Camp, enjoying the spectacular scenery out over the Maliau Basin. (The ridge walk was Daisy’s favourite part of all the trekking we undertook at Maliau.)

Lobah Camp is 2.8 kms from the Maliau Falls and the path drops straight down to the falls which are at 300 mts above sea level. As they climbed down and down they were very aware that they were going to have to climb back up the 2.8 km, almost vertical trail, after their visit to the falls!

Arriving around 12.00pm, and hot from walking in the sun on the ridge,  and the difficult climb down, Daisy spent the next hour  swimming blissfully in the water at the base of the Falls. Tham found the journey extremely tiring and suffered fatigue with the intense humidity levels around the Falls.

Around 1.15pm they set off to face the uphill climb back to Lobah Camp, finally making it back to Lobah Camp around 3.00pm, where Tham recovered from the climb and heat. It was great to see the group safely back at Ginseng at 5.10pm. Murphy too found the day extremely tiring, and said it was the hardest part of the trip for him. However they had all thoroughly enjoyed the awe-inspiring Maliau Falls and would not have missed it for anything! Jimmy was fortunate to come across a Sun bear, and watched it scuttle back through the trees when it was disturbed.  About an hour after the Sabah Society group returned, four young Canadian tourists arrived into Ginseng Camp. They had undertaken a huge trek that day, starting at Nepenthes Camp, trekking to the Gilok Falls and then on to the Maliau Falls and then coming back the same way as our group, via Lobah Camp!

After dinner I asked Jimmy what would happen to me if I couldn’t walk the next day. I could still barely make it down a single step, and felt as if I needed a crutch! He went off to discuss the matter with Ood and I started talking to the Canadians. It turned out that one was a recently qualified doctor and the other man was an athlete who knew all about sports injuries! They immediately diagnosed my complaint and showed me exercises that would help. The doctor told me to keep taking anti- inflammatories every eight hours and exercise. As soon as I tried the exercises they had recommended I noticed I was in less pain, and I was now determined that I was going to go to bed and try to wake up every hour or so to exercise my leg, so that I could make the trek to Nepenthes Camp the next day. The rest of our group had already fallen exhausted into bed after their long trek.

Day 4

The next morning I gingerly tested my leg and found that I could walk almost normally, with far less pain than before. Exhilarated I dressed for the trek and went to have breakfast. Jimmy asked how I was and I said I was feeling much better. He looked very dubious, and Daisy asked me, “Are we going to Agathis Camp or Nepenthes” ? I said, “Nepenthes of course”. I then discovered that the night before the group had decided to abandon the rest of the trip and try to get me back to Agathis Camp that day! In addition the porters had planned to make a stretcher and carry me out! I was horrified, as I had had no intention of not continuing on the trek if I could, and if I had to be taken back I intended going on my own, not spoiling the trek for the rest of the group!

A long discussion ensued in Malay between the Senior Park Ranger, Ood and Jimmy. I kept intercepting in English to assure them I would make it, that I had checked with the young doctor that morning and he felt I could walk to Nepenthes, and that I intended to go!

Finally they agreed that if I could make the difficult 500 metre climb out of Ginseng Camp, then they would let me continue on the Field Trip.

We packed up our things and set off for Nepenthes. I made it up the 500 metres well ahead of the rest of the group, and there was no more talk of returning to Agathis Camp! However it did make me wonder what happens when someone falls sick on a group trek into Maliau. Apparently the Helicopter evacuation that we had paid for, did not apply in my case, and I thought it extremely unfair that the others might have been penalized because of me!

The journey to Nepenthes Camp, which was formerly called Camel Hut, would take us 7.5 kms through very different scenery. We walked along a mountain ridge and the path started climbing and climbing – we kept looking up and no matter how far we walked, the path continued to climb in front of us! It was certainly a very good cardio workout for us all.

When we finally reached the top of the climb, Jimmy’s GPS registered 929 mts above sea level. We had started around 560 metres and climbed straight up 370mts! The view from the top was beautiful. Jimmy had placed his backpack against a tree and Ood asked him to move it as the tree was a Rengas tree which can cause intense allergies, and is related to the well known Poison Ivy. The wood of the Rengas tree is beautiful and would be used for furniture were it not for the severe rash it can cause!

As we continued on our walk the environment changed significantly. The soil was not as fertile and we walked through areas containing beautiful Nepenthes plants and pink orchids.

Soft green ferns and mosses surrounded us, and the landscape was quite magical. Every now and again we would cross a small bridge over the tannin red water of a small stream. It was one of my favourite walks of our expedition.

Murphy was in his element photographing the many different orchids, Nepenthes plants, rhododendrums and myriad of insects he and Tham found along the route.

The approach to Nepenthes Camp is very pretty – it is set in a clearing amongst huge trees, and a platform has been set up 100 feet above the ground around one of these trees. Daisy was the first one up to bravely climb to the top after lunch that day!

Around 2.30pm, Murphy and I set off at speed with two rangers and Jimmy, to cover the 3 kms to Giluk Falls as fast as possible, and before we lost the afternoon light. It was quite a difficult trek – up and down – with a final steep, slippery descent to the falls. It is not possible to reach the bottom of the falls at the moment, due to erosion, but the falls were still spectacular. I sat down on some rocks and for the next half an hour just enjoyed listening to the roar of the water crashing down, and soaking up the atmosphere and  stunning scenery.

We trekked back to Nepenthes Camp and calculated that we had walked 13.5 kms that day – quite a hike considering we had climbed so high up to Nepenthes, and then up and down to the falls!

We discovered on our return to Nepenthes that the water pump was broken, which meant that water was in very short supply. It was a steep, very slippery slope down to the river and I decided instead to have a basic wash from half a bucket of water back at camp!

Whilst dinner was being cooked several civet cats appeared out of the jungle.   Dinner was very welcome after all our exercise and then we headed for bed about 8.00pm. However our porters were obviously not ready to sleep yet, and chattered on until at least 10.00pm. Nepenthes Camp is very small, and noise travels easily. I did not sleep well, as I discovered that the porters couldn’t sleep without light, so had lit two candles, placed them in small saucers on the floor, and gone to sleep! We were in a wooden structure and if a rat, wild animal or even wind had knocked over the candles we could have been in an inferno! It was about 1.00am when someone started shouting. A couple of voices joined in, and I couldn’t decide whether there was a fight taking place, or what was happening. Eventually the commotion died down and everyone went back to sleep – candles still burning….

Day 5

In the morning I asked Jimmy what had happened in the early hours of the morning, and he told me that one of the porters had needed to relieve himself over the edge of the balcony, and he had to ask the spirits of the forest whether he could perform this function!

Murphy, Tham and Jimmy were up before dawn and started climbing the 100 steps to the platform to watch the sun rise and do some bird watching. They all said it was an extremely frightening experience, climbing up to and then down from the platform!

With breakfast cleared away, we packed up, took our Sabah Society group photo, and headed off on our last day’s trekking in Maliau Basin – it was all downhill and very, very steep!

At Nephenthes we had been at an altitude of around 950 metres above sea level and we would now drop almost vertically back down to 421m at Agathis Camp!

MBSC has eased the descent slightly by providing ropes and vertical ladders in very dangerous places, but the first 2 kilometres are challenging to say the least. Daisy commented on how lucky we were to be going down that way, and not up!   The photos say it all!

It took us four hours (including stops on the way)to climb down the 7.5 kms to Agathis Camp. Along the way we saw many Gibbon monkeys swinging quickly through the trees high above our heads and calling as they went. In addition we heard Black and Yellow Broadbills and the distinctive sound of the Bornean Bristlehead.

It was lovely to arrive back at Agathis Camp where Daisy and I took a dip in the river to wash off several days of blood (literally), sweat, and tears  and then we sat down to enjoy our packed lunches!

There is a spectacular Skywalk at MBSC and Ood arranged to take us there at 4.00pm that afternoon. As I was waiting outside, I suddenly heard a loud “whoosh” and looked up to see a large male Rhinocerous Hornbill flying over my head. It was very exciting, as the only place I had ever seen one before was at Lok Kawi. To see such a large bird flying freely through the air was exhilarating, and a few minutes later we saw at least 4 Black Hornbills flying around MBSC.

The Skywalk was much longer than we had expected, and it was just a pity that we had the first rainy afternoon of our trip.

We returned to the Hostel for dinner and dressed warmly, ready for our night drive to spot wildlife! As we set off we spotted two wild boar, together with eight piglets trotting along up the road!

We piled into the back of a Ranger’s truck and drove off into the night with one of the rangers flashing a very powerful torch into the trees and rivers along our way. We had been travelling for about 10 minutes and seen nothing, when Daisy happened to switch on her torch and shine it at a tree near to us and the flashlight settled on a bird. The ranger moved his more powerful torch in the same direction and we realised it was a large male Rhinocerous Hornbill resting for the night on the end of a large branch. Two branches above we discovered the female! It was amazing to see the two birds settled for the night, watching us as carefully as we were watching them. We didn’t bother them for long and continued on our way. We also saw a Sambar Deer and a Buffy Fish Owl during the drive.

Our rangers were obviously champing at the bit, very reasonably after such a long day,  to get back to watch the World Cup matches, so we turned around and were back in our hostel around 8.00pm. We sat chatting about our experiences over the past 5 days. We were not concerned about an early night, as there was nothing specific planned for the next day, except our departure from Maliau, and we didn’t turn in until nearly 11.00pm.

Day 6

I awoke to find Daisy leaning over me, asking gently if I was awake. It was 5.00am! Jimmy had decided to take us on an early morning drive to the Observation Tower, to watch the sun rise and do some bird watching.

As it was cool, we took jumpers and raincoats just in case, and all piled into the Hilux. The Observation Tower is just a short drive from MBSC, and it was well worth the bleary eyed start to the morning. We had hoped to come across grazing Tembadau oxen, but there was no sight of them or fresh droppings this morning!  The views from the top of the tower were spectacular in every direction. We had arrived in the dark, and slowly the dawn broke over the mountains, with early morning mist rising up from the valleys. We could see the outline of the rim of the Maliau Basin, and it seemed amazing that we had climbed into and out of it! No wonder our knees and muscles ached!    As dawn broke, birds began singing out across the forests, with ever more joining in, until we had a full dawn chorus.  In a large tree near us we saw yellow and orange Minivets setting off on their morning foraging, and hundreds of swiftlets.  In the distance we heard the call of the Great Argus Pheasant.

It was a fitting finish to our wonderful trip to Maliau. One thing that struck me continuously throughout our trekking was the lack of any rubbish on any of the trails. I never saw a Coke can, a plastic bag, or a chip packet. At each camp the rubbish was bagged and taken out of Maliau Basin. It was one of the least polluted places I have ever been, and long may it stay that way!

Just before we left Maliau we were able to take a sneak pre-view of the new Gallery being opened at MBSC.   The photographs and information were excellent.  We left Maliau around 10.00 am, and it was a long, slow trip back to KK, as we stopped several times, and when we reached Keningau we were caught in thick fog for many kilometres behind container trucks on the escarpment and U-bends in the road. We finally pulled in to the Sabah Society office in Damai at 6.30pm – exhausted but happy!

(Photos courtesy of Murphy Ng and Sandy Pike)