Page 82 - World of Animals - Issue #31

Explore the Earth

Bornean adventures

Mulu Caves
This World Heritage site is a breathtaking system
of vast limestone caves. One of these, Clearwater
Cave, is argued to be the biggest in the world by
volume. The network is still being explored, with
new passages uncovered each year.

Equator Monument
Pontianak, the capital of Indonesian Borneo, is the
only city in the world to sit on the equator line, a fact
it celebrates with this monument. Popular sites
include mosques, museums and Sentarum Lake.

Jellyfish Lake
In Kakaban Island’s Jellyfish Lake you can get
up close and personal with clouds of jellyfish,
made up of four species that have evolved without
stingers, as they have no natural predators.

Hang with the orangutan

Orangutans are Asia’s only native great apes. Cut off from their
(now extinct) mainland relatives thousands of years ago, Borneo’s
orangutans adapted to forest life, their long arms allowing them to
Sarawak longhouse
For a glimpse at the reality of remote jungle life swing through the canopy as fast as you could run on the floor below.
you can book a stay with the Iban tribe, who live Cumbersome on land, orangutans spend around 90 per cent of
in communal shacks on stilts. Many families will their lives in the treetops, where they feast on fruits such as durians
share one long building divided into rooms. and lychees. They play an important role in the rainforest, dispersing
seeds through their dung and enabling sunlight to penetrate the thick
canopies when they break off branches to build their nests.
Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of wild Borneo’s poster child are
spoilt for choice. The most hassle-free (but somewhat artificial) way
is to visit one of the island’s many rehabilitation centres. Semenggoh
Wildlife Centre, in Sarawak, Malaysia, is one of the more ethically-
minded, geared towards reintroducing captive or injured orangutans
into the wild. Here you can watch them socialise and feed from a
viewing platform at a safe distance.
Cat City More intrepid explorers may prefer to visit national parks where
Sarawak’s largest city is Kuching, which translates sightings of wild orangutans are possible, if not always guaranteed;
as ‘cat’ in the Malay language. As a result, statues Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and Danum Valley, both in Sabah,
and museums throughout the city have taken on a
feline theme. Malaysia, are popular options.

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