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Into A Garden Of Eden
July 2022

With ten days between the Australian and Japan shows, Jo and I headed off to explore Sarawak, Borneo... It was the experience of a lifetime!

Our initial base was Kuching. From there we took an extraordinary trip by car, followed by speedboat to the remote region of Baku where wild forest meets the South China Sea. Huge sandy deserted beaches with craggy cliffs give way to enormous, impossibly shaped sea stacks. It's a paradise for monkeys, crocodiles, and a huge array of wildlife and looks like a fantasy world, far away from modern civilisation.

The following day we travelled into the mountainous forest to meet one of the tribes that had been the head hunters of Borneo. They still live in longhouses beside bamboo walkways and are very hospitable with their delicious rice wine, but although they proudly display the heads of their unfortunate victims, they thankfully no longer follow that practice!

Meeting the orangutans was another extraordinary experience. These wonderful intelligent and characterful creatures live wild in a protected part of the forest at Semenggoh, but they're also fed and protected by humans as they are an endangered species.

We then took a flight to Mulu, in the interior of Borneo. What an incredible place... We walked for three kilometres through dense jungle up to the edge of high Rocky Mountain cliffs, where we entered the most magnificent caves, full of stalactites, stalagmites, pillars and otherworldly shapes. The Deer Cave which is the largest visitable cave in the world was totally awe inspiring. It felt like entering the Underworld itself in all its magnificence, towering so high that in places you couldn't see the roof. It also led to an opening on a lost world which can only be reached through the cave. This magical place the locals call The Garden of Eden. We trekked back through the jungle as night set in, the darkness ringing out the natural music of the forest, quickening the spirit with its soul inspiring symphony of sounds...

The following day a journey via longboat between rocks and rapids at the foot of the towering cliffs took us to another spectacular cave and a meeting with members of the Penan tribe. Our wonderfully helpful and informative guide Joe from this tribe explained to us that some of his relations still live in the forest, disappearing for several months at a time to hunt and gather with animist beliefs and the lifestyle they've followed for over 100,000 years.

Our journey into the heart of Borneo did indeed feel like a venture into the world of the deep past, a Garden of Eden from the dawn of time...

As we flew away from that beautiful place, we could see the rain forest spread out for many miles below... A dark cloud suddenly covered our view, and once it had passed we were back in the modern world.

And so we travelled on via three flights to Japan...

With many thanks to Joe, Adam and Thames Travel.