Audley's tour leader, Simon Boyes, gives a first-hand account of his recent trip to the Sabah and Sarawak regions of Malaysian Borneo.

Sarawak

Thursday, 17 April

…is my first full day in Kuching, after arriving late last night. Relaxing day, with a chance to meet local agent Panch, and guide Selvam.

Kuching is a quiet, slow-paced, beautiful city built alongside the Sarawak River. The comfortable Hilton Hotel commands superb views over the river and the monstrous government building being built on the opposite bank. Local fishing boats called sampans are in constant view, either moving across, up or down stream. Having read that no visitor to Sarawak should leave without tasting a laksa, I try one at the James Brooke Bistro across the road. It is a delicious spicy, soupy stew with noodles.

Friday, 18 April

The group arrives this morning on the morning flight from Kuala Lumpur, which connects with the London flight. In all, flight times are about 12 hours from London to KL, and 90 minutes from KL to Kuching, across the South China Sea. Here we are seven hours ahead of British Summer Time.

Selvam leads us on a walking tour of the city in the afternoon, once everyone has unpacked and rested a little. On the agenda are: a Chinese Taoist temple, narrow shopping streets, the superb Sarawak Museum, and a short crossing to the north bank to look at the Malayan stilt-houses. The museum has equally interesting natural history and ethnological sections, with a few dried human skulls taken years ago from an Iban long-house.

Our first group meal is at the Top Spot Food Court, a group of rooftop restaurants specializing in seafoods near the hotel.

Saturday, 19 April

We leave after breakfast for the Bako National Park, Sarawak's oldest, founded in 1957. Leaving our main luggage in store, we take just what we need for one night in the sticks. The journey is a short one by coach and open boat along an estuary and along a short length of open coastline. The sandstone cliffs are spectacular, and offshore islands jut vertically into the sky. Leaving our bags in one room, we set off on a short trail before lunch. Our first male Proboscis Monkey soon appears, feeding on mangrove leaves and showing off his huge floppy pink nose. Birds along the way include Common Iora, an Ashy Tailorbird, and a couple of Common Sandpipers, taking a winter break from the Siberian summer. The tailorbird is a long-billed warbler that uses bill as needle to puncture two large adjacent leaves, then inserts a grass thread to stitch the leaves together, thus making a safe basket for a nest-site.

After a tasty rice, chicken and vegetable lunch, it's siesta time in the heat of the afternoon. Cold showers are a blessing, for those who can brave the large spiders that frequent some bathrooms. Long-tailed Macaques bring their large families round the chalets, hoping a kitchen door may have been left open by an unwary visitor. The afternoon trail passes a venomous pit viper, skilfully spotted by Selvam, and later a soft-shelled terrapin by the trail. Much of the walk is along boardwalks, so we must choose between watching our steps and the Proboscis Monkeys above us. Selvam stops us frequently to explain life-cycles of such things as fungi, ants, stingless bees and termites, and to inform us of the medicinal uses of many wayside plants. One of the best finds of the day is a Colugo or Flying Lemur, though it is not a close relative of the lemurs. This large, mottled herbivorous animal is flattened against the side of a large tree. It has more complete membranes between its four legs than the flying squirrels, which enables it to glide long distances between trees during its nocturnal feeding forays.

After dinner a heavy shower falls, which helps a little to cool down the bedrooms where we try to sleep.

Sunday, 20 April

Anne's birthday is greeted by an unusual breakfast of crinkle-cut chips, noodles, sausages, toast, jam and bananas. A family of Proboscis Monkeys pass right alongside the dining room, but prefer their diet of leaves. Unlike most monkeys, their digestion can't cope with anything sweet.

The morning walk is up onto the plateau above the coastal strip. First we have to contend with an untimely downpour. But the five of us who reach the top with Selvam find many different insectivorous pitcher plants among the stunted hilltop vegetation.

After a final cold shower, we leave Bako in the little boats, and enjoy another typical local lunch of rice, fish and vegetables in a café along the shore. The afternoon is at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Sambutong. Here seven typical tribal longhouses have been built in a beautiful rural site, with demonstrations of typical crafts and music in each one. The longhouse of the Orang Ulu (the 'People of the Interior') has a man playing the sappe, a rectangular guitar-like instrument with four strings. His melody is simple, repeated and almost hypnotic. At the Chinese house is a demonstration of picking the tiny black feathers out of the swiftlets' nests (made mostly of saliva) as a preparation for the essential (but tasteless) ingredient of the much prized birds' nest soup.

After the wilderness adventure, we are happy to have time to rest at the Hilton and enjoy Anne's birthday dinner at the Waterfront buffet. Sushi is a popular starter, with plenty of birthday cake to follow the main course. Many thanks to Anne and Mike for the wine!

Monday, 21 April

At the breakfast buffet, local fruits such as lychee, longan and rambutan are delicious. We leave in a large, comfortable coach at 0745 for Batang Ai, with many stops along the way. At Semenggok we are in good time for the feeding of the Orang-utans. There are 23 in this sanctuary, which are either rescued orphans or confiscated from logging camps and even private houses where they are kept as 'pets.' Many have also been born wild here. We have a close encounter with Ritchie, the dominant male, 28 years old. He is in a bad mood, according to one ranger, as he has been in a fight with George, a likely lad of 20 years. Also here is a female with her young daughter, and later an older son, Anuar. The best photos are of the mother and daughter looking wild up in the trees, away from the tarmac and ropes which act as their short cuts through the canopy. Bananas, papaya and bananas are equally popular; and Anuar smashes a coconut against a tree-trunk, spilling most of the milk.

As Abu drives us further east, Selvam gives us a history lesson about the White Rajas from the Brooke family who ruled what is now Sarawak from 1839 for a hundred years. In Serian market Selvam buys aubergines, jungle fern and other vegetables for our lunch tomorrow. We wander round, completely at ease with nobody hassling to sell us anything, admiring the huge selection of fruit, vegetables and fish (many of them still swimming in shallow tanks). The famous durian - heaven to taste, hell to smell - is unfortunately out of season. It is ripe during the wet season (which co-incides with our winter).

In and above the busy market are Tree Sparrows, Little Swifts, Asian Glossy Starlings and Indian Mynas, while a few Dusky Munias (tiny waxbills) are nesting in trees right by the bus station.

We continue eastwards, almost on the border with Indonesian Kalimantan. Now Selvam's clear and fascinating explanations turn to the customs of the Ibans, in whose territory we now are. Famously known as fierce head-hunters, they have been pacified in the last 60 years. One of their most interesting customs is the berjalai or looking for fortune. The young men leave the longhouse, singly, and travel round to distant parts of Malaysian Borneo like Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. They work for a while in construction or public service, and receive a tattoo on the arm at the end of each stint of work. When they eventually return, the tattoos (or articles they have bought, such as televisions or outboard motors) read like an account of their journeys. Also a good way to impress a future bride.

Just before Lachau we stop at a pepper farm where packs of whole black and white pepper are for sale. Lunch is a delicious but simple Chinese meal in a restaurant in Lachau. Here we buy gifts for the Ibans, which we will take by boat to their longhouse tomorrow. At 4 pm we arrive at the Batang Ai dam, where we take a boat with all our luggage across the lake. On the other side is our splendid accommodation, built in Iban longhouse style, at the Batang Ai Hilton. (Batang means river: the lake is formed by damming the Ai River). Seven of us celebrate our arrival with a swim in the warm pool. The buffet dinner is a barbecue as rain pours down outside.

Tuesday, 22 April

After breakfast we go in three longboats along the Batang Ai Lake to visit Ukum Longhouse. The 40-minute voyage takes us past a few other longhouses and occasional chapels built by missionaries. The hills are mostly clothed in forest, but around the longhouses plantations have become established.

"Our" longhouse has 40 families living in adjacent rooms, with a ruai, a covered gallery shared by all, with a balcony for keeping watch (traditionally over the movements of potential enemies). We are welcomed, and offered seats on mats in the ruai, opposite the chief's rooms. We are given tuak, a pleasant rice wine, and offered the distilled schnapps-type version too. There follows a ceremony connected with invoking the good spirits and keeping away the bad, and three loud shouts of 'hoo-haa!', signalling that we may drink. Young men and women lead the dancing, which we join in with great pleasure. We have a song to reply with, which bears some resemblance to the Skye Boat Song:

We took a longboat to the longhouse Along the Batang Ai It rained all night but now we are here Under a clear blue sky We're feeling fine, drinking rice wine Singing a loud Hoo-haa!

Many of us buy artefacts such as images of fish, butterflies or human figures woven in grass, wooden carvings, bracelets and necklaces. Abu and Selvam help to cook an excellent meal for us in the chief's bedroom, with most of us sitting on mats on the floor. After goodbyes to our hosts and a demo of blowpipe shooting, we head down to the longboats and back to base. We have learnt that the hornbill is the Iban's messenger - but I suspect they get few messages these days, since hornbills and other bird life are scarce in Sarawak. Neither native Ibans nor settling Chinese are renowned for their enlightened attitudes to wildlife conservation.

Some relax by the pool, while others climb the hill behind the hotel and experience the canopy walkway.

Wednesday, 23 April

...is mostly a travel day. We leave Batang Ai by boat and coach, and make good speed back towards Kuching. One good stop is for a fine selection of pitcher plants and bamboo orchids growing wild by the road. The traditional Chinese lunch is at a restaurant at Ranchan, overlooking a beautiful waterfall, with Liverpool playing Arsenal on the TV. Oh, the contrasts and surprises of travelling to the ends of the earth! Coconut milk, served in the coconuts with a straw, makes a popular choice for a drink.

At the airport we say farewell to Selvam, an excellent guide, and board the plane to Kota Kinabalu. Here we have plenty of time for an early evening meal as it gets dark and pours with rain. The connecting flight has us in Sandakan on time at 2030.

Sabah

Here we are met by John and Glenn, two local guides of Filpino origin. It's a short drive to our lakeside accommodation at Sepilok Nature Resort. Some head for an early night; others enjoy the prawns in the open-air restaurant.

Thursday, 24 April

This morning we visit the Sepilok Orang-utan rehabilitation centre, which is a stone's throw from our chalets! Looking at an aerial map, we see that the feeding platform is less than 100m away from our rooms. The event is more crowded with visitors than Semenggok's, but the Orangs still put on a good show. There are six, including a mother and baby, and one young male who's a born entertainer, cartwheeling along the ropes. When they have finished, Long-tailed and Pig-tailed Macaques move in to finish the feast. A DVD presentation helps to put the place into context, explaining why so many Orangs need rescue. Sabah's recently declared end to all logging and deforestation must give hope for the future of these wonderful, quick-learning apes, who share over 96% of our human DNA. A scheme exists to adopt Sepilok's Orang-utan babies (two are available for adoption at the moment), but it is not widely publicized.

We take a cool shower and leave our rooms, heading for the lunch buffet at Hotel Sandakan. Now a high-speed launch rushes us across Sandakan Bay, past an aquatic police post, and up the River Kinabatangan, where Brahminy Kites, White-bellied Sea Eagles and Great Egrets appear. A shout from Glenn brings a bigger prize: two wild Orang-utans quietly feeding on figs in a riverside tree. The youngster soon disappears in the canopy, but the mother is quite relaxed, watching us occasionally but far more interested in the figs. A great sighting! In late afternoon we arrive at Melapi Lodge, Sukau, on the banks of the milk-coffee-coloured river.

After a few minutes in our new rooms, we have a short dusk cruise, in which the Proboscis Monkeys are real stars. We see several family groups, and one bachelor group. Pot-bellied circus clowns! One family group has severe arguments and fights, resulting in huge falls (one female only just escapes total submersion). They are good swimmers when they need to be! Stork-billed Kingfishers and Black-naped Monarchs are bonuses. And at last there are hornbills - both Pied and Black.

Friday, 25 April

Dawn at 0600 finds us swigging coffee, ready to leave on a pre-breakfast cruise up-river to an ox-bow lake. Storm's Storks, Pied Hornbills and a Changeable Hawk Eagle perch together on nearby tree-tops - the stork is an endangered species. Nearby is Borneo's largest woodpecker, the White-bellied. The finest discovery is more wild Orang-utans, this time a group of three including one mother and youngster. They are in a fruiting tree, a different Ficus, which produces far smaller figs, Smartie-size. They are scoffing at speed. Many birds are also attracted to the feast, including one hornbill, Green Imperial Pigeons, a Fairy Bluebird and a few Black-headed Bulbuls. There is much else too, but too high up to identify. In the ox-bow are Oriental Darters and Black-crowned Night Herons. The Orangs are still in their tree (alongside the narrow channel connecting lake to river) on our return. A Stork-billed Kingfisher poses for photos, the early sun illuminating its scarlet bill.

After the buffet breakfast, we go tree-planting. We are lending our hand (and donating 40 ringgit, less than £7) to the excellent cause of reforesting a patch of degraded forest upstream at Bilit. This is part of a large WWF project to plant important trees for Orang-utans and other wildlife. We meet the three WWF staff and help to plant nine saplings of Pterospermum javanicum, a tree used by Orang-utans both for food and medicine. Each one is firmed in the ground, watered, and labelled with our names. Lesser Adjutant Storks, a close relative of the African Marabou, are a feature of our journey to Bilit.

In the middle of the day we have more rest time than usual, for relaxing and recharging both literal and metaphorical batteries. The late afternoon boat trip follows a serving of hot doughnuts by the Melapi chef. We head downstream, passing Bushy-crested and Wrinkled Hornbills along the way. A system of caves overhanging the river bank gives us close views of a colony of Glossy Swiftlets, a species not affected by the bird's-nest-soup trade as they build mossy nests of no commercial value. Orang-utan night-nests are visible in riverside trees.

The River Resang is our destination, a quiet tributary that has a few Proboscis Monkeys. The stars are a family group of Pig-tailed Macaques, whose playful youngsters give us great entertainment as they play rough games on the lianas, sometimes falling (or being pushed) great distances. In the same area we find a Rufous-bellied Eagle, several Dollarbirds and overflying Blue-throated Bee-eaters, and a liquorice-allsort of a bird, the multi-coloured Black-and-Yellow Broadbill.

Back on the main river at dusk, a thunderstorm approaches with spectacular lightning. Rhinoceros Hornbills fly in to feed on riverside fig trees. This Borneo icon is our fifth hornbill species in two days - after a week with no hornbills in Sarawak. During the excellent dinner a light rain falls, but it's an anti-climax after the celestial fireworks earlier!

Saturday, 26 April

After an early breakfast, we say farewell to the friendly Melapi staff, and take one last trip across the river. Two vehicles wait to take us to Lahad Datu. The journey is through endless oil-palm plantations. John tells us about Elais guinensis, the new gold for the landowners of Borneo. He shows us a palm nut, and explains the milling process and its commercial value. Palms produce one ton per acre every month: a price of 500r (£83). They originate in West Africa but grow better here. The only birds of interest in this section are a Greater Coucal and a Wallace's Hawk-Eagle, with long crest, on a telegraph wire.

We will probably remember Lahad Datu best for its cake-shop, where we enjoy a mid-morning snack with coffee. Changing vehicles, we complete the journey to the Danum Valley in the Rainforest Lodge's own vehicles. A Crested Serpent Eagle perches in a tree, carrying a long, slim snake. We pass many huge logging trucks, laden with their last loads. A ban on cutting or moving timber comes in on May 1st, less than a week away. All cut timber will then be confiscated by the Sabah government. After a late lunch we meet Denny, our senior guide here. There is time to explore a little and settle into our comfortable rooms near the river.

Denny's introductory walk is taken at a very slow pace, explaining everything from dipterocarp forests, lianas, and epiphytes to leeches, millipedes and fungi. The tallest tree in these forests is the Mengaris, in the family Leguminosae. It can reach a height of 93m. We pass a giant yam (Alocacia) which has the largest undivided leaf of any plant. In a small pond is a slim snake named Red-sided Keelback. Birds of the clearing include White-crowned Shama and Black-backed Kingfisher. Mike photographs a Blue-throated Bee-eater and a Plaintive Cuckoo from his verandah; and Jane finds a White-crowned Forktail and a Greater Mouse Deer. At dusk six Rhinoceros Hornbills fly past the rooms and into a roosting tree across the river.

After the delicious buffet dinner, a night drive produces a Red Giant Flying Squirrel, a Slow Loris walking upside down along a branch, and a fleeting view of a civet named Banded Linsang.

Sunday, 27 April

Dawn at Danum is a mysterious misty place, with huge hornbills flying down-river from their roost at 0545. We set off for a walk to the Canopy Walkway, well protected in our leech-socks (a bargain at 16r from the gift-shop. One colour only, dove-grey: hurry, while stocks last)! A short diversion leads us to two Bornean Gibbons, swinging through the canopy, and allowing views in the lodge's telescope, which Denny has brought. The walkway is a magnificent structure, with several suspended sections and tree-platforms between them. It seems quiet for wildlife in the clearing mist. Further along the track a fruiting fig attracts one Black and many Rhinoceros Hornbills. The sun illuminates their magnificent plumage in the scope. Also here is a Gold-whiskered Barbet.

After breakfast, Denny leads Denise, Steve, Jennifer and me up to the viewpoint at Coffin Cliff, with a dramatic view down to the lodge far below, in a sharp bend in the river. On the way back, we cool down in the refreshing waters of the 'jacuzzi pool', on a clear-water tributary of the Danum. The main river is still opaque after recent rain.

Due to a minor overbooking problem, the manager asks me if I would mind changing rooms. Expecting to be bumped into some airless staff room as sometimes happens, I have a surprise. The only room available is the master suite in the Royal Chalet, built for the Sultan of Brunei. It has since been occupied by royalty (Sweden) and a head of state (Malaysia) among others. Makes a change! There’s plenty of room to swing a Tiger in here.

Lunch and siesta are followed a variety of activities. Jennifer chooses a long hike, and Steve and Glenn travel on the tube. No, not a commuting, strap-hanging experience with brief case and The Times, but a river-rafting adventure in an inflated truck-tyre. Later we hear that the jacuzzi waterfalls and river-tubing are carefree and relaxing; and that Jennifer sees Pig-tailed Macaques, and disappearing Bearded Pig and Mouse Deer. Joan, Denny and I come across Whiskered Treeswift and Dark-throated Oriole. Denise has a Black-and-Red Broadbill visit the tree outside her chalet D8. Thunder rumbles as dusk falls, turning into a spectacular storm during dinner.

Monday, 28 April

Anne, Denny, and I are up at six to watch a Greater Mouse Deer on the lawn by the chalets. By the frog pond, three Crested Fireback Pheasants are unconcerned by our near approach. A White-crowned Forktail, usually a bird of fast-flowing rivers, finds the track quite damp enough after last night's downpour.

After breakfast we leave Danum and head back to Lahad Datu. The logging trucks have left deep ruts which are a challenge to negotiate in some places. The Danum entrance road is locally described as a 'free massage.' All the same, we are in good time for a Chinese meal in town, before catching the early afternoon flight to Kota Kinabalu in a Fokker 50 twin-prop.

Walter is our new contact here, very proud of the city's new developments with its hypermalls and opulent, shiny government offices. Mount Kinabalu is partly visible to the east as we drive north. After 40 minutes, we arrive at our final Borneo hostelry, the splendid Rasa Ria Resort. There is time for swimming in the warm, buoyant waters of the South China Sea, and the pool too. There are four restaurants on site to choose from: the simplest one, Coffee Terrace, serves a superb buffet.

A ranger with a torch takes Jane, Anne, Mike and other guests to watch two semi-wild Bear Cats (often called Binturong) and wild Long-tailed Macaques coming for food in the resort's nature reserve after dinner.

Tuesday, 29 April

Walter is our guide for the day excursion to the slopes of Mount Kinabalu, whose granitic peak is usually regarded as the highest peak in South-East Asia, at 4,100m. The displays at the Interpretation Centre, just inside the National Park gate, help to put the place in context - it was Malaysia's first World Heritage Site. The rest of the morning we spend wandering slowly around the lovely Botanical Gardens, where Walter proves an expert in uses of medicinal plants. He shows us a good variety of orchids, pitcher plants and other Borneo specialities, some endemic to the mountain. The cool mountain air is a great pleasure after the humidity of the lowlands: we are at 1500m here.

After a buffet lunch on a balcony overlooking the montane forest, we drop down to Poring Hot Springs, at 500m. Here the attractions are a canopy walkway, a butterfly farm and education centre, and the hot tubs and pools themselves. Steve describes the walkway as the bounciest of the three we have tried. Among the butterflies flying in the large enclosure are the world's largest (Rajah Brooke's Birdwing) and the lovely tree-nymph (Idea stolli) which we have often admired floating high above us in the wild. As we leave, a Black-and-Red Broadbill flies past us - one of Borneo's more extravagantly coloured birds.

Back at Rasa Ria, many of us swim in sea and/or pool. Our final dinner is at the Malaysian restaurant by the pool, where the food counters are set out like a street market. The huge prawns and stir-fried vegetables, cooked to order, are special favourites.

Some of the group return to the night viewing in the nature reserve, where wild Porcupines and semi-wild Bear-cats turn up for food.

Wednesday, 30 April

Farewells start at breakfast, as Jennifer is the first to leave for a Singapore flight. Most of us visit the Orang-uan feeding platform for either the morning or afternoon feed. The Rasa Ria nature reserve is a nursery for young orphan Orangs, which are later sent on to Sepilok. Most of us leave at 4.30 for the evening flight to KL and onwards to London, but Steve and Denise have another 24 hours in this beautiful resort.

Thursday, 1 May

The flight arrives on time at Heathrow at 6 a.m. Having retrieved our luggage, we disperse to various parts of the country.

Many Thanks to Selvam Nagalingam in Kuching, and to John Prudente in Sandakan for guiding us. Thanks also to Glenn Hernaez in Sandakan, Denny and Paul in Danum, and Walter in Kota Kinabalu for additional guiding.