Hanging...
It’s not for nothing that Sabah, the Malaysian state on Borneo island is promoted as a place where one can enjoy nature and adventure in its fine element from the mountain top to the bottom of the sea. If divers can enjoy one of the world’s finest, if not the finest, wall diving in Sipadan Island, a completely different adventure awaits extreme wall climbing enthusiasts at Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain between the New Guineas and the Himalayas.
Vertical camp
No one proclaims yet that Mount Kinabalu is among the world’s finest wall climbing destinations but looking at how these dare-devils conquer the mountain on its most treacherous route — what can be more treacherous than hanging from rocks or scaling the mountain walls at 90 degrees gradient — I couldn’t help but thinking that the mountain could be among the finest place for wall climbing.
Check out this amazing production, not to mention stunning photography, which documents of the whole Mount Kinbabalu wall climbing adventure.
[Photo credit: Borneo Dispatches]
Leaders of six countries — Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste — are gathering in Manado, in Sulawesi, Indonesia in a bid to save the region’s coral.
Amazon of the Ocean... Graphic by WWF
Dubbed the Coral Triangle Initiative, the meeting seeks to arrest the degradation of the region’s corals and marine heritage, which are under threats from global warming and destructive fishing methods.
Borneo, in particular the waters off its eastern coast, is an integral part of the WWF-led Coral Triangle initiative that covers 5.7 million sq kilometre area dubbed the “Amazon of the Ocean”.
The coral triangle, which houses 76 per cent of the world’s coral species and 50 per cent of the world’s reef fish species, is WWF’s top priority in its marine conservation.
Three coral-rich waters in Sabah in the northern tip of Borneo, are among areas in the Coral Triangle.
They are the Tun Mustapha Marine Management Area in Marudu Bay, Turtle Islands Protected Area off Sandakan and Tun Sakaran Marine Park off Semporna which houses world premier diving site and New Seven Wonders of Nature nominee, Sipadan Island.
WWF says the Coral Triangle “holds the richest concentration of iridescent corals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and marine plants in the world”.
“Labyrinths of limestone reefs, extensive sea grass meadows and coastal mangrove forests attract sea turtles and giants of the sea such as humpback whales to feed, breed and rest in the rich and sheltered waters.”
Sipadan has finally broken the Number 14 “psychological barrier”, the first time it does so since its nomination for the New Seven Wonders of Nature more than a couple of months ago. It reached Number 14 several weeks back but fell a rung to Number 15 soon after, before picking up speed and now it is in 13th position in the Island Category.
It needs to move up two more rungs to reach Number 11, the magic number that will qualify the island for the next round of voting. If votes are forthcoming, the island could reach Number 11 by the July 7 deadline.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered that a species of endemic Bornean frog, known scientifically as Huia cavitympanum (picture), found in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, communicates using ultrasonic sound.
Huia cavitympanum... Photo by UCLA
This is the only known frog species which can communicate using purely ultrasonic calls, whose frequencies are too high to be heard by humans.
Read the report after the jump. [Read more...]
The sister-in-law of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, film-maker Clare Rewcastle, has been documenting the lives of the Penan people in the Malaysian Borneo state Sarawak.
Penan... AP Picture
Financial Times UK’s Sue Cameron quoted Rewcastle as saying, “We were told numerous stories of rape and intimidation and, in one case, of the murder of one of the headmen.”
Rewcastle, who is married to Andrew Brown, younger brother of Gordon, has been coming to Borneo since a couple of years ago and secretly filming companies destroying the rainforest fo make way for oil palm plantation.
Rewcastle said the Penan, the last nomadic tribe of Borneo, was desperate “to smuggle out news of their plight”.
“So in the end, they bundled us under some bin bags, secreted us upstream in the bottom of a shaky old longboat and then led us into the jungle to a hidden-away old hunting hut. It became our home for the next three days, during which time at least 50-60 men, women and children came to meet us, many arriving at night to avoid detection.”
Ten Dollar Malaya and British Borneo Note
This is how a 1953 Malaya and British Borneo ten dollar currency note looks like, in case you are wondering. It is now currently on sale on eBay by seller
vinycy2000 and bidding is on for the remaining two days or so.
I guess red has always been the colour of ten dollar notes.
[Source: Malaysia Paper Money and Banknotes]
Sipadan regained its 14th position in the race for the New Seven Wonders of Nature after slipping into 17th spot in the Islands Category.
Now that the island has regained its previous high, everyone who supports the island must now ensure it won’t slip lose anymore ground.
Sipadan needs to reach the 11th position to qualify for the next round of voting. Bocas del Toro, Ko Phi Phi Island and Maldives Archipelago remain the island’s stumbling block.
Representative of indigenous peoples from around the world, including from Borneo, have gathered in Alaska to discuss issues related to climate change.
I wish I was there and cover the proceedings live on Borneo Blog.
Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, one of the groups sponsoring the meeting said indigenous peoples, including representatives from Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Mexico, Kenya and Nepal would issue “recommendations for actions that we will take from here,” reports AFP.
Cochran described indigenous peoples as being “on the front lines of this global problem, at a time when their cultures and livelihoods in traditional lands are already threatened.”
AFP said the gathering in Anchorage is being held some 800km ast of the Alaskan village of Newtok, where intensifying river flow and melting permafrost have forced 320 residents to relocate to higher ground.
The New York Times has published a series of 10 pictures taken in Borneo by Swedish photographer and natural historian Mattias Klum. The series, titled “Borneo: A Biodiversity Managerie“, is accompanied by brief but informative write-ups about Borneo natural heritage.
Who would have thought that Borneo would have a role in the resignation of United States Department of Trade Commissioner Astrid Glynn [picture, left]
As strange as it may seems, the Borneo vacation seems to have precipitated her resignation from the post that pays her USD160,000 a year.
Glynn flew to Borneo on a three-week vacation in March as officials were rushing to get out USD$1.1 billion in stimulus money for road and bridge projects. Her absence made contractors “frustrated and nervous”, reports said.
Glynn has tendered her resignation, effective May 8, saying, she wants to spend time with her family in suburb Boston.
Daily News quoted her as saying that, “This is something I have been thinking about for some time. We are at the point in the cycle when it is time for me to move on.”