Borneo - Sandakan Wildlife SearchWritten by Walter Rajah
Sandakan is situated on East Coast of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. On its West is interior mountain range and on East is Sulu Sea. Sandakan is definitely a dream location for travelers interested in wildlife and nature. Our Sandakan Wildlife Expedition brings you closer to three of worlds most exciting conservation programmes: Turtle Conservation on Turtle Island Parks, Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center in Sepilok and Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition, this expedition takes you to Gomantong Caves where largest collection of edible birds' nest is found. Turtle Island Park The Turtle Island Park, lying some 40Km north of Sandakan and close to Philippines border, comprises of a group of three beautiful tropical islands - Pulau Selingan, Pulau Bakungan Kecil and Pulau Gulisan. The total park covers an area of 1,740 hectares embracing not only three islands but also surrounding coral reefs and sea. Pulau Selingan and Pulau Bakungan Kecil seem to attract Green Turtles to come and nest here while Hawksbill Turtles prefer Pulau Gulisan. No obvious reasons can be found for these turtles' choice of nesting areas. The Green and Hawksbill Turtles come ashore to nest all year round but best time to visit is between July to October because more turtles come to lay their eggs during this period. However, at least a few turtles do come up to nest every night of year. Turtles normally arrive on islands after dusk. While waiting for sun to set and arrival of these turtles, there are many activities that you can explore. The tropical white sandy beaches are ideal for relaxing and tanning whilst crystal clear water is fantastic if you fancy snorkeling or watching beautiful sea lives and corals. The park is also a great spot for a BBQ picnic under long hours of golden sunshine. You can also wander around island to witness how many turtles have arrived in island previous few nights as these turtles leave their marks on sand. The Park Rangers will inform you after first sighting of incoming turtles. You will be escorted to nesting turtle by rangers to watch eggs being laid. Clutches of freshly laid eggs are then excavated and transplanted to protected turtle hatchery, with minimum delay, to ensure that other wild predators, mainly monitor lizards, do not eat or destroy them. After a period of incubation, eggs will hatch and hatchlings will be released to sea. The release of hatchlings is normally done early morning or night and are released at various locations on islands again to avoid wild predators. When hatchlings are released on shore, they scatter in all directions and instinctively head for sea. Once they enter water, they are washed ashore by incoming waves, but after a few attempts they swim strongly out to sea. The hope is for these hatchlings to survive rough sea and to one day return to Turle Island Parks. Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre The most popular native of Borneo is Orang Utan; one of nature's most endangered animals. Located 25Km from Sandakan is world-famous Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre which has been around since 1964. Set in 43 square km of protected and beautiful rainforest at edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve, sanctuary helps once captive Orang Utans learn to fend for themselves in wild. This sanctuary also enables you to come in close contact with these amazing animals and witness an exciting conservation programme in action. However, you are restricted to walkways and are not allowed to touch these animals in order to protect them from any diseases. The centre also provides medical care for orphaned and confiscated Orang Utans as well other wildlife such as Gibbons, Sumatran Rhinos and Elephants.
| | A 7 day vaction in KodaikanalWritten by Vijay Chidambaram
Hai! My name is Vijay and I live in Chennai. Chennai, though a very pleasant city in many other ways, gets intolerably hot in summer. This year, Chennai recorded second highest temperature in two years! We were melting in our clothes. This is why, we shouted with joy when my father told us he was taking to Kodaikanal (a hill station) for a leisurely summer vacation. Our father booked tickets through Internet, for our railway journey. On May 11th, we started off our railway journey to Kodaikanal. My father explained that our train would stop at Kodai Road, from where we would take a taxi to Kodaikanal. Our train started from Chennai at 8pm on May 11th. Early next morning we arrived at Kodai Road. The air was fresh and deliciously cool. We took a taxi, an old Ambassador car. We were informed by our taxi driver that journey would take 3 hours. On way, I relished in seeing beautiful scenery – tree-covered hills, village folk, and morning sun. It was delightful. After a while, my younger brother and I began to get bored. My brother took out walkman and began to listen to film music. I took out my trusted book, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin by P.G.Wodehouse. After reading for sometimes, I put away my book. I told my mother that I was hungry. We stopped at a roadside restaurant, Sapeet At Sapeet, we had light breakfast. It was a wonderful place, with domestic rabbits, lovebirds and fish. On fish-tank was written, Spin around twice and drop a coin into tank, Like for so many people before you, Your wish will come true! I was amused by this little verse and peered into tank. I could see all kinds of fish, and also, two coins! After driver finished refilling diesel tank of car, we once again set off. As we traveled to Kodaikanal, we came across many little towns. As we started climbing mountain, air began getting cooler and cooler. As we climbed hill on which Kodaikanal was located, we had a panoramic view of plain below – entire towns, lakes, wide fields, they were all visible. The taxi had a FM Radio, and we listened to songs chosen by listeners, thinking about poor taste of majority of listeners. Finally we arrived at Kodaikanal. We saw dozens of Kodaikanal natives, rushing about, clad in woolen sweaters, going about their daily lives. In Kodaikanal, we stayed in The Kodai Resort Hotel, which was a three star hotel, located centrally in Kodaikanal. My father had booked rooms in Kodai Resort Hotel, through internet. The check-in time for most hotels in Kodaikanal is 9 am. After we checked into hotel, we went to our rooms, which were quite cozy. After bathing, we went to Coaker`s Walk, which was quite near Kodai Resort Hotel. It is long walk at edge of mountain. It gave a birds-eye view of plains below. However, there was mist over plains and this spoiled our view to a great degree. We returned to our hotel and had our lunch. Then, we went to Bryant Park, which was also quite near our hotel. We brought a Frisbee at a shop near Bryant Park. We had no idea how many hours of joyous play Frisbee would give us. The Bryant Park was a large park, about size of a football field. All kinds of pretty flowers grew there. There was also a great deal of empty ground, where many people where playing Frisbee. The park was a place, where tourists and natives of Kodaikanal relaxed and enjoyed their leisure. Big families came here and relaxed on lawn and played Frisbee. It was a grand sight. From Bryant Park, we went to Kodai Lake. The Kodai Lake is a magnificent man-made lake. It is star-shaped and has three main boat-houses. We went to boat-house nearer to us and rented a row-boat, with a native doing rowing. We went for a full round. The boatman took us around lake in his boat, showing us grand Carlton hotel, which was only five-star hotel in Kodaikanal and also only hotel in Kodaikanal which had its own boat-house. The boatman also showed us Sathya Shree Sai Baba temple, where Sai Baba was staying at time. Because of this, Kodaikanal had more than normal amount of tourists. We finished our boat-ride and alighted at our boat-house. Then, my brother and I went horse-riding. There were a number of men there, who took people horse-riding for a fixed amount. We went for a full round on a horse, for one hundred and sixty rupees. The trainer of horse would ride on a cycle, holding reins of horse and nudging horse with a stick. It was a queer experience, riding on a horse. I had never before ridden on a horse. I swayed from side to side and had a sensation that I would fall off. But as ride went on, swaying stopped and I found myself enjoying experience.
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