Lucy's Diary - Exploring Borneo: Its a tough job but someone's gotta do it!

Lucy worked for Borneo Holidays for a month over the summer period, she helped at Treetops Lodge, with guest enquiries, tours and work in the rice padi fields! She has also had time to explore parts of Sabah and Sarawak. Here are her accounts of what she has been getting up to and her own impressions of what she found.

On top of the world - the highs and lows of climbing Mt. Kinabalu!

I’ve just returned from climbing Mt Kinabalu. As the saying goes – I went, I saw and I conquered! And to be honest I’m pretty pleased with myself. After all at 4095.2m and with the accolade of being South East Asia’s highest peak it’s definitely no stroll in the park – unless you’re exceptionally fit – and that’s certainly not me! But I’ve made it, got the certificate to prove it and the aching muscles to match!

The journey began with a short flight to Kota Kinabalu, it was just possible to make out the Cocker mountain range, a large ridge of mountains forming the spine running through Sabah, from the window, flick through the Borneo Post and grab an orange juice before touching down to the bustle of Borneo’s largest city.

Leaving Kota Kinabalu we headed upwards, towards the mountains, out of the city on a scenic route through the country. Swapping the hot and humid temperatures of the chaotic city for the higher altitude and cooler, fresher climate was a welcome relief – even if we were cold after a little while! Views of jungle, hill faming communities and small roadside shops as well as the surrounding mountains provided a great contrast from urban life. We stopped in Tamparulli  for a welcome leg stretch and wander through the markets, an opportunity to purchase supplies for the climb, sample local fruits – rambutans are a certain favorite of mine, and mix with the friendly, if not somewhat bemused, locals about the stall and stores of the small town. 

Onwards and upwards, reaching further rural areas, and distinctly colder temperatures. The scenery really is spectacular, especially if the clouds lift and you can view the mountain, on our drive it was hiding – probably trying not to scare me ridged at the thought of scaling it!

We arrived at Kinabalu Park around lunchtime and feeling a mixture of excitement, trepidation and definite lack of fitness, registered for the climb – no going back now! After we went on a guided walk through the Parks Silo-Silo trail through lush tropical rainforest vegetation at the lower levels, the guide pointed out famous and interesting plants such as the Pitchers and discussed the medicinal values of certain plants – through I’m not sure I’ll be trusting the relevant plant used as a female contraceptive - our guides mother swore by it and he was one of 9 children!?! Ummm.. Effective! This stroll in the Park was followed by a short and informative slide show, ensuring we knew what to expect and look out for on the way to the summit – if we could summons the energy!

Feeling rather keen to get our walking boots on we followed a few trails around the Park Headquarters in the afternoon. The relaxing walk through the jungle environment, testing our newly found plant and insect identifying skills as well as spotting a few birds and stopping for photo opportunities, was a gentle introduction for the next couple of days. Good food and an early night followed in preparation for the 2 day, 2500 steep hard slog to climb Lows peak, the summit of Mt Kinabalu.

By 9am, we’d eaten hearty breakfasts, packed as lightly as possible and were back at Park HQ being introduced to our guide, Michol and eagerly journeying to our start point at the power station. We set off keenly! Day one – the plan to walk 6km to Laban Rata, about a 5 hour uphill walk, relax, eat and bed down for the evening. Off we set, upwards – a trend that continued for rather a long time to come! Luckily Michol was a brilliant guide, with good English, excellent knowledge of the vegetation and a mere 11 years of guiding experience to his credit. (That’s three summit walks a week and some very large thigh muscles!) Naturally the climb was a mere stroll for him and he hardly broke a sweat. The rest of us slogged it out! The walk was lovely – despite the thought of steps, steps and more steps! Through rainforest, dense vegetation and all on well trodden and maintained paths. There was also plenty of opportunity to stop for rests, all of us needing regular breaks for water and chocolate – purely for energy purposes of course! After a couple of kilometers people began to pass us heading down from the summit – they varied from being very positive to very much in pain! Either way at least they had survived – it was hope and fear rolled into one! The weather up the mountain is very changeable and warning of change short – naturally it rained and in true British style  I was dressed impractically in shorts and a t-shirt, nevertheless I battled upwards!

It seemed that within no time I’d made it to Laban Rata – no mean feet in itself, standing at 3272m. The strange hut-like building was to be home for the night for me and my fellow walkers. I entered the building soaked to the bone and freezing cold, naturally the priority was a cup of tea! After a change into dry clothes, locating my bunk bed and eating, I warmed up and felt a little more human and settled in for a rather basic night on the side of the mountain. We swapped a few stories with other climbers, some good, some bad, discussed the difficulties of drying walking boots and then bedded down for a pretty unsettled sleep.

At 3am we were ready to tackle the summit. Still half asleep, I’d managed to force a round of French toast down (which proved not to be a very sensible decision), tied my laces and attempted a few leg stretches just for peace of mind! Only another 3km to do – that didn’t sound like much, but throw in 800m in height and you’ve got a pretty steep incline to face! Our group left with the same enthusiasm as the previous day – luckily with no injuries, blisters or pains and no problems with the altitude. The early start began with more steps – which, although expected, were pretty uninviting. The scrub, highland vegetation soon gave way to desolate granite rock faces and that’s when our amateur (or non-existent) climbing skills came into the foreground! Its not necessary to have climbing certificates to get to the top of Kinabalu which is one of its attractions for ordinary people wanting to do something a little different, just as long as you can grab hold of the ropes, scramble up the rocks and hold on tight. Which is exactly what we did. The darkness was pretty disorientating but after a while my eyes adjusted and we plodded on for the last few hours safe in the knowledge that the peak was within reach, even if it wasn’t visible!

The final 400m looked difficult, being tired, out of breath and feeling my breakfast a little too high in my stomach was certainly not helping matters! However I had come this far and there was no stopping me now, even if someone would have to carry me – unfortunately there were no capable volunteers – so I just plodded on! Minutes later I was on top of the world – well Lows Peak, Mt Kinabalu – and what a relief!

Prefect timing by our guide ensured that the sun rose and clouds lifted as if it had been ordered! Along with our fellow survivors I relished the panoramic landscapes, from harsh rock face, to Tropical Rainforest and dense jungle, over valleys, mountains and hills, rural communities and through to Kota Kinabalu and the coral islands surrounding the West coast of Sabah. My limited expectations of what to expect were easily surpassed, the vision of vastness and diversity, breadth and depth was amazing. The view was simply breathtaking – in more ways than one as it was absolutely freezing! After snapping a few photos for the album, huddling behind a rock as a wind break and overcoming the initial excitement we headed back down the mountain, definitely taking our time and enjoying the views. The highlight was over and I had made it, but it was still a very long way down.

We stopped for a short recharge in Laban Rata, checked out of our rooms and warmed up with tea. The mood at Laban Rata was markedly changed from the previous evening to that of contentment and triumph! Now we were keen to get to the bottom of the mountain, walk down the last 6km and get into a clean set of clothes. The way down was tough on the knees and my legs felt a little wobbly, but it was definitely welcome to be journeying downwards and we seemed to almost run down the mountain at quite a quick pace - not wanting to prolong the pain further!

The last few uphill steps to the Park exit were a struggle, but there was also the incentive of sitting down and resting, with this in mind I had no problems. We had reached the end of the adventure, disappointingly there was no clapping, cheering or excitement made for our arrival, so we settled for a celebratory Sprite and afforded ourselves a smug grin and yet another leg stretch before hobbling off to Poring Hot Springs for some well deserved rest and relaxation.