Sabah - Borneo - page 178

you'll be rewarded with a nice view of the surrounding jungle and the Kinabatangan
River. An interpretive information centre is also located on the site.
The easiest way to get here is to include the caves in your package tour of the Kin-
abatangan. If you've got your own vehicle, look for signs indicating the turn-off to Batuh
Putih or Muzium Batu Tulug on the Sandakan-Lahad Datu road. The village is south of
Sukau Junction, about 1½ hours from Sandakan and 45 minutes from Lahad Datu. GPS
coordinates are N5024.935' E117056.548'.

RESEARCH CENTRE

Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project (KOCP)
( 088-413293; www.hutan.org.my ) Inside Sukau village is this conservation camp ded-
icated to studying and protecting Sabah's most iconic animal ambassador. The project is
run in partnership with HUTAN, a French NGO, which also works with villagers to estab-
lish environmental-education programs, reforestation initiatives and an elephant-conserva-
tion project in the Sukau-Bilit area. This is not a tourist-oriented outfit like the Sepilok
sanctuary, and as such is not open to casual visitors, but it may be worth contacting it as
staff may be willing to hire out guides should you want to go searching for wild oran-
gutans.

THE BUSINESS OF BIRD NESTS

The Gomantong Caves are Sabah's most famous source of swiftlet nests, used for the most revered, rare, luck-
and-'strength'-inducing dish of the traditional Chinese culinary oeuvre: the eponymous birds-nest soup. Wait, you
ask, people want to eat bird nest? Well, it's not twigs and stones folk want to devour: swiftlets make their nests out
of their own dried spit, which is the main ingredient in the soup. When added to soup broth, the swiftlet spit dis-
solves and becomes gelatinous. Wait, you ask, people want to eat bird vomit? Well, yes. Very much so.
There are two types of soup-worthy bird nests: black and white. Black are a mix of twigs and spit, while the
white nests are purely made from the birds' saliva. The white nests are significantly more valuable and Goman-
tong's got a relatively large amount of them. A kilogram of white swiftlet spit can bring in over US$4000, making
nest- grabbing a popular profession despite the perilous task of shimmying up bamboo poles.

In the last few years visiting has been restricted due to dwindling bird populations (cash-hungry locals were
taking the nests before the newborn birds had enough time to mature). Today, the caves operate on a four-month
cycle, with closings at the beginning of the term to discourage nest hunters. It's worth asking around before plan-
ning your visit - often the caves are empty or off-limits to visitors. The four-month cycles are strictly enforced to
encourage a more sustainable practice of harvesting.