The Madison had booked an Airbnb apartment near the airport but still a long way out of town. The apartment was in a block of flats on an estate of similar blocks and our Uber car had a hard time finding it. The next day we moved into mermaid painted trekker's lodge. - I may have already said this, but am not sure as the bad wifi in this KK hotel seems to have lost some of an earlier post - Alice had a magic phone and card from work that could summon up Uber cars and we left very early the next day to take the six thirty bus to Tauau.
Sandakan to Tauau.
Our bus passed through the the endless oil palm plantations that now stretch between Sandakan and Tauau. I was asleep when we passed the two most interesting sights; the rocky pinnacle of Batu Tuluk;with its two caves that look out like eyes in a skull, and house the coffins of the river kings; and the Kinabatangan river that is the only corridor of forest left connecting to the sea.
We got off the bus at Tauau and were surrounded by taxi drivers while we tried to work out where the office for Maliau was located. One particularly persistent taxi driver was starting to get on my nerves when I suddenly noticed he was trying to
show me his phone with my name one he screen.
We loaded our bags into the 4x4 and set off on the second part of our journey, heading inland through more oil palm plantations. After something like three hours the oil palm was replaced by logged forest as we neared the turn for the Maliau Conservation Area. The road after leaving for Tauau was patchy, parts very good and parts that had been washed away leaving loose earth name deep potholes. Though you can now get to Keningau and Tenom on this road, and I almost completed a circle of Sabah after leaving KK, it is still not good enough for ough for the big buses. The only transport I saw were private cars and wagons loaded with logs. We finally turned off the main road and shortly after arrived at the security gate for the conservation area.
I confess I was a little disappointed to find that beyond the security gate there was a good surfaced road leading towards the Field Centre. I remembered going to Danum and having to drive for miles on rough, red earth tracks to get there. But that has probably changed now and it may have a good surfaced road too. The Maliau Field Centre was a little like Danum, wooden bungalows with long verandas, raised off the ground and linked by walkways, but Maliau seemed on a bigger scale and more landscaped.
We were given our dorms and introduced to our guide Cowboy. I forget his Malay name. We were the only visitors except for an Italian couple, the man wore a tee shirt that proclaimed he was a botanist. Later we we watched a short video about the Basin and the guidelines we were expected to follow. So far no one has come up with a satisfactory geological explanation of the huge volcanic crater like circle of steep ridges and cliffs that form the basin. The barrier of ridges has served to keep out any human settlement and only determined hunters ever penetrated the forests that lie inside the basin.
Sandakan to Tauau.
Our bus passed through the the endless oil palm plantations that now stretch between Sandakan and Tauau. I was asleep when we passed the two most interesting sights; the rocky pinnacle of Batu Tuluk;with its two caves that look out like eyes in a skull, and house the coffins of the river kings; and the Kinabatangan river that is the only corridor of forest left connecting to the sea.
We got off the bus at Tauau and were surrounded by taxi drivers while we tried to work out where the office for Maliau was located. One particularly persistent taxi driver was starting to get on my nerves when I suddenly noticed he was trying to
show me his phone with my name one he screen.
We loaded our bags into the 4x4 and set off on the second part of our journey, heading inland through more oil palm plantations. After something like three hours the oil palm was replaced by logged forest as we neared the turn for the Maliau Conservation Area. The road after leaving for Tauau was patchy, parts very good and parts that had been washed away leaving loose earth name deep potholes. Though you can now get to Keningau and Tenom on this road, and I almost completed a circle of Sabah after leaving KK, it is still not good enough for ough for the big buses. The only transport I saw were private cars and wagons loaded with logs. We finally turned off the main road and shortly after arrived at the security gate for the conservation area.
I confess I was a little disappointed to find that beyond the security gate there was a good surfaced road leading towards the Field Centre. I remembered going to Danum and having to drive for miles on rough, red earth tracks to get there. But that has probably changed now and it may have a good surfaced road too. The Maliau Field Centre was a little like Danum, wooden bungalows with long verandas, raised off the ground and linked by walkways, but Maliau seemed on a bigger scale and more landscaped.
We were given our dorms and introduced to our guide Cowboy. I forget his Malay name. We were the only visitors except for an Italian couple, the man wore a tee shirt that proclaimed he was a botanist. Later we we watched a short video about the Basin and the guidelines we were expected to follow. So far no one has come up with a satisfactory geological explanation of the huge volcanic crater like circle of steep ridges and cliffs that form the basin. The barrier of ridges has served to keep out any human settlement and only determined hunters ever penetrated the forests that lie inside the basin.