Tabin Wildlife Reserve - Sabah
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Day before the Day :
- Preparation and journey to Lahad Datu
It was a harrowing morning. The day before, I had just returned to Sandakan from a whirlwind 3 day trip taking in the sights at the Gomantong Caves, a trip down the Kinabatangan River , a night spent watching turtles lay eggs on the beach of Pulau Selingan, a few hours with the Orang Utans at Sepilok Orang Utan Centre and then back to Sandakan. A perfect trip for a glimpse of nature's wonders in their habitat if not a little too short a time.
But despite that, I had decided to try a little adventure of my own. Forget the 3days 2nights tour package. I needed to relive a little bit of the days gone by when life was not about deadlines and deliverables and I was once free to roam the earth with what little change I had in my pockets to get me as far as I could go.
Sitting in my little room at the Seafront Hotel in Sandakan 's old town, a relatively new motel - clean, basic - I had no idea what I was getting into. It was a long time since the good old backpacking days. So apprehensive was I that I finally relented to my inner voice telling me to book a package anyway. it's Borneo (said my inner voice) , it's not exactly the easiest place to travel around..especially if you're traveling alone! After a long,long deliberation with myself, I did just that, went out, got onto the net and surfed for things to do and places to go. somewhere beyond the beaten path, if ever that's possible these days.
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I came across a site on the Sumatran Rhino in Sabah and how they were conducting an in-situ (on site) research on the movements of these highly endangered creatures in an area called the Tabin Wildlife Reserve. This of course, peaked my interest. Why after all, our logo is the Sumatran Rhinoceros and how on earth we managed to miss this NGO's work on the rhinos.. how embarrassing!
That made it my mission. To find out more about the ins and outs of this unknown Wildlife Reserve. So I booked a 3days 2nights package to stay at Tabin Wildlife Resort which was incredibly lucky for me as it just so happen to be the low season and there were still rooms available. Considering there were only 20 rooms at the resort and the only accommodation available in the area.that was a big gamble to just go and hope for the best that there would be rooms available. Well lucky me!
I was then told that normally guests would fly from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu to get to Tabin Wildlife Reserve and since I was already in Sandakan , the only other way to go was by road. I could of course hire a 4WD to take me there, which would cost about RM270 per way or I could take a bus that leaves Sandakan at 7.00am . That would certainly be ideal. I would make it in time for the transfer from Lahad Datu Bus Station to the reserve by noon ..
Clearly a mistake on my part for having overlooked that I had used up all my recording discs for my videocam and I couldn't leave without my gear! So I eventually waited for the shops to open at 8.30am , rushed to buy the essentials and then to the bus station. The bus was long gone by then and there were no buses leaving till the next day.
But at the Bus station, there were also 4WDs and van taxis. These cost about RM22 - RM25 per person but the drivers normally wait until his vehicle is filled with passengers before leaving (about 6 persons will do). The wait was beginning to wear me down. It was 2hours later before I decided that it was time to make a move or miss my transfer to the reserve. With only 3 persons in the van with me, I had to pay for the extra 3 empty seats only to find out that the driver was going to leave for Lahad Datu anyway and 10minutes into the journey, he dropped by at his house to pick up his family of 4 for the journey!
The roadtrip was not anything to write home about. The travel time was supposed to take about 3hours but took 4 hours instead because of the numerous stops. I was indeed getting very hot and flustered in the van. The air conditioning wasn't working and the monotony of endless miles of palm oil plantation was making the it all a little depressing . my dreams of lush, green rainforest jungle cover was nowhere to be seen.
- Journey from Lahad Datu to Tabin Wildlife Rerserve
lahad datu bus terminal |
We finally arrived at the bus terminal at Lahad Datu. It was a nondescript, open-air car park with rows of van taxis and lots of people hanging around chatting, selling fake brands - watches, sunglasses etc.everyone trying to hawk something to someone. It's a cowboy, dusty town .contrabands, you name it.it's cheap..it's available..
The Tabin Wildlife Resort staff waited for me at the station for over an hour. They happily bundled me into an 8 seater van and whisked me off down the main coastal road. 20 minutes into the drive , we turned off into a winding, laterite road and for the next hour - bumped our way into the interior towards the reserve passing through again. palm oil plantations. I was told that we were actually traveling through the plantations' private land and normally for those self driving - they would have to pay a toll of about RM5 - RM10.
Sabah , (so far on my trips there) seems to be one big plantation land..being cut up by palm oil plantations or acacia plantations and we're talking about 100,000s hectares of land, once thick impenetrable virgin jungle only as recent as 30years ago. As we travel the circumference of the large reserve, I discover palm oil plantation areas that seemed a lot larger than the reserve - the rows of palm oil trees were endless. We were passing through estates by names of Ladang Permaigah, River Estate, Kertam Estate and Permai Estate. I was soon aching to see some jungle.. tropical Borneon rainforest as far as the eye could see - Tabin Wildlife Reserve!
more on tabin wildlife reserve...
Accommodation & Packages to North East Sabah ~ Tawau, Semporna, Mabul and Kapalai, Mataking, Sipadan , Lahad Datu & Tabin Wildlife Reserve
