Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ancient Rainforests
If you love tropical greenhouses and can't wait to be enveloped by the humid fecundity of
a real equatorial rainforest, Borneo will fulfil your wildest dreams. The island's jungles
conjure up remoteness and peril, bringing to mind impenetrable foliage and river trips into
the 'heart of darkness'. But look a little closer - on a nature walk with a park ranger, for
instance - and nuances emerge: the pitcher plants, lianas and orchids of the lowland forest
give way to conifers, rhododendrons and different kinds of orchids as you ascend the
flanks of Mt Kinabalu. The vegetation changes just as radically as you sail upriver from
the mangroves along the South China Sea. Deforestation makes for depressing headlines,
but significant parts of the Bornean rainforest - among the most ancient ecosystems on
earth - remain intact, protected by conservation projects whose viability depends, in part,
on income from tourists.
Orangutans at play, Sepilok (
Click here
)
RICHARD I'ANSON/GETTY IMAGES ©
Jungle Wildlife
For many visitors to Borneo, their most memorable moment is a personal encounter with a
living creature: glimpsing a wild orangutan swinging through the jungle canopy, spotting
