It has been my dream for a few years to go to Maliau Basin. I have never heard of the place until a friend mentioned it. I googled it and keep yapping on how I want to get there. However, it never materialised as one needs to go in a big group to get a cheap price. I have surveyed prices for 2 persons or a single person and the price is more than RM3K.. No.. I am not willing. I must have wished really hard because the Universe heard me. I saw a post few months back in Facebook in Round Malaysia Round group on a trip to Maliau Basin! WHEE! YAY! The price is RM1,700 for 5 days 4 nights but it does not include the meals in Tawau town. The flight ticket was RM642.74 without checked in luggage. Altogether RM2,342.74. Not too bad.
Here is the itinerary:
Day 1 - Morning flight to Tawau. Take 4WD to Maliau Basin Studies Centre. Stay the night in the hostel.
Day 2 - Take 4WD to Agathis Camp. Start trek to Ginseng Camp. Initially, we were supposed to stay in Nepenthes Camp but the generator broke and there were lots of fallen trees. We missed out 3 waterfalls because we opt out Nepenthes Camp. Visit Ginseng Waterfalls. Stay the night in Ginseng Camp.
Day 3 - Start trek to Maliau Waterfalls. Stay the night in Ginseng Camp.
Day 4 - Trek back to Agathis Camp. Take 4WD back to Tawau town. Stay the night in Heritage Hotel.
Day 5 - Free and easy. Mid-afternoon flight back.
First, let me describe what is Maliau Basin and why I am so keen to go there.
"Maliau Basin is the single best place in Borneo to experience the wonders of primary tropical forest. More than that, it is one of the world's great reserves of biodiversity, a dense knot of almost unbelievable genetic richness." Lonely Planet Borneo, 2008
In 1947, a British pilot was heading towards Tawau when he flew over what he thought was a mist-shrouded jungle. But as the cloud dissipated, he found himself encircled by a wall of steep cliff rising some 915 metres above the jungle floor. This serendipitous discovery was reported in the Borneo Bulletin which was first published in 1953; this episode did not generate much interest and quietly slipped back into obscurity. The mystical Maliau Basin is one of Malaysia's finest remaining wilderness areas. Bounded by a formidable escarpment reaching over 1,675m asl, the almost circular Basin encompasses reaching over 390 km2 of pristine forest, a virtually self-contained ecosystem, never permanently inhabited and with large areas still remaining to be explored and documented. Remarkably, the whole basin is a single huge water catchment, drained by one river only, the Maliau River, which flows through a gorge in the southeast of the Basin, joining the Kuamut River and eventually the Kinabatangan, Sabah's largest and most important waterway. (Source from Maliau Basin)
Maybe the above description don't describe much of my keenness. Haha. Actually, the main reason it got me interested was its nickname - Sabah's Lost World.
*fast forward to the day of the trip*
06072016 : Our trip started on the first day of Eid Mubarak. I took the taxi on the eve to the airport. My flight was 740am, and taxi fares will be expensive if I board the taxi before 6am to the airport. Hence, the decision to stay overnight in the airport. I was not sleeping alone. I was sleeping with other passengers on the floor. Good thing I brought a sleeping bag (because we were required to bring one for the trip). I admit, it is not a comfortable sleep because the floor is hard and not to mention, a bit dirty too. I have tried sleeping in Capsule Hotel before and I did not want to repeat my experience.
This is the 4WD that was going to drive us to MBSC. It was a 3 hours drive. Along the way, we stopped at Pasar Sin On for lunch.
This is my lunch. Almost everyone seem to be eating noodles. This is dry noodles with pork soup. RM5. And the coffee costs RM2. If you ask my opinion, it is not cheap. The coffee did not taste very strong. I was still hungry.
I saw a stall selling dumplings that were wrapped differently from the ones I usually see. The small ones on the left were selling for RM1.50 and it contains peanut fillings in its glutinous rice. The big ones on the right cost RM3.50 and has pork and peanut filling. I did not buy any. I am glutinous-rice-intolerant. Yes, boo-hoo to myself.
We reached the security gate of MBSC at 3pm. It was very hot. At the guard post, everyone is required to sign in the date of arrival. There was a schedule of the groups who are going in. MBSC and the camps in Maliau Basin cannot fit too many people. It was at the guard post that I got stung by a bee or maybe a wasp. It was painful! It became red in a few seconds. Fortunately, I did not fall sick from the sting.
After registering, we walked to the Museum which is just opposite the guard post. It was a small Museum and it illustrates on Maliau Basin. There was also a Maliau Cafe but it was empty. There is also a Souvenir Shop but it has minimal items.
It was about an hour drive to MBSC. It was told the only phone connection available is Celcom 019 at MBSC. However, my 019 Celcom did not have a very strong line either. So, I gave up trying to send messages or photos to my siblings.
When we arrived at MBSC, I was wow-ed by the huge model of Maliau Basin in front of the Studies Centre. The effort. Amazing.
The Hostel we stayed in is spacious. There were double decker beds and labelled for Male and Female. Even the toilets are clean. The toilets are located inside the Hostel and at the end of each room. As there were 19 of us, we occupied one whole room. It is a huge long room that can fit 8 double decker beds.
As it was still early and dinner did not start till 7pm, I walked around to admire the landscape of MBSC. The staff quarters were nearby.
I asked the staff at the Souvenir Shop if I could go to the suspension bridge but she said it was under maintenance. She suggested that I visit the Observation Deck and the ranger offered to drive us (I dragged 5 people along so I won't be alone) because it was a 2km distance. However, we are required to walk back the 2km but we were lucky to meet a ranger who was driving back to MBSC and we hitchhiked. Yay.
It is Dinner Time and the food is absolutely yummylicious! We were served stir-fried french beans, chicken radish soup, and sweet and sour chicken. I even had 2 helpings!
After dinner, we were briefed on Maliau Basin in the small auditorium. It was a short video. At the end of it, the head guide introduced himself and the porters. The porters' fees were RM10/kg per day. I did not hire any porter. It was during this briefing that we were informed on the change in our itinerary - to remove Nepenthes Camp and to stay in Ginseng Camp for 2 nights.
After the briefing, we had the option to go for a safari night ride. Honestly, I have never been on a night safari before. It was for 1 hour and the price is RM160 per jeep. I paid RM23 as there were 7 of us. All of us stood to catch sight of any animals as they were quick to run away. We saw a flying squirrel, a few deers, and a civet cat.
After the safari ride, we saw wildboars sleeping comfortably at the Hostel compound.
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