In the middle of nowhere

We got up early today leaving Tawau heading towards Maliau Basin (Sabah’s lost world) Conservation Area, trying our luck getting in without a prior reservation. It is basically a circular basin with pristine forest inside, has only been open to the public since 1981, and receives very few tourists. It was really pricy but the chance to stay in the middle of a rainforest in the middle of nowhere and nobody else around us was too good an opportunity to miss, so we decided to go for it!

Malau basin was open but no car to drive us in, poo !

In order to get inside, someone had to pick us up, as our little 4-wheel drive wouldn’t make it, so we sat and waited… and waited… Eventually Chris went to go and find what was going on and we discovered that the owner of the place had left with the car keys to Kota Kinabalu, which is about 300km away from here! This was the only vehicle insured to take tourists so we had no choice but to continue on our adventure.

There goes some more virgin Borneon jungle

Roadside cafe, Borneon styley

We then made our way to Sapulut to try our luck with somewhere to stay. Once there we realised that we were once again in the middle of nowhere and stopped at a random shop to grab a drink, which was dirt-cheap and sat surrounded by indigenous locals trying to work out our next plan. A trucker came along after a while who luckily spoke a bit of English and acted as translator for us so we could ask where would be best to stay. He told us there was a missionary just down the road and we could stay in the Catholic Church, but apart from that there was nowhere except to stay with the shop owner and we could negotiate staying at her house. But as she didn't speak any English and quite possibly lived in a tiny shack with all her family and not wanting to offend anyone if we turned up there and it was horrible, we made a quick getaway.

Elephant poo, we were on the trail

All we can say is, not often !

We waited, and waited!

Wee stop #1

Then we headed towards Keningau, which was the closest city in search again of finding somewhere to stay. So after about 11 hours of driving on some very dodgy rounds, written in the Lonely Planet as virtually ‘impossible to travel to on your own’ and only if you were ‘a proficient 4 wheel driver’ you could give it a go, we made it and found a great place to stay for really cheap.

Keningau stop night #2

We then wandered around once again no tourists whatsoever amazed at how happy everyone was to see us in their city, pointing, giggling, and wanting to be our friends.

written by

chrischarly on May 16, 2011 from Keningau, Malaysia

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia

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