Scouting around Borneo

Earlier this year we were approached by a group of Belgian riders who wanted to go into the jungle to do lots of off-roading and overnight camping. This is very different from the usual Borneo Biking format of hard days in the saddle followed by exquisite food and luxury accommodation.

After some debate, Bryan and I decided we would do it and it has been fantastic fun scouting the new routes and locating camp sites deep in the wilderness.

Our first task was to cross Sabah on the old logging road that follows the Indonesian border. It’s nearly 400 kilometers, virtually uninhabited with no chance of fuel along the way. Our enquiries to the locals on the condition of the road received mixed reports varying from “quite good” to “you’ll never make it!’

Well, we made it! It is mostly gravel and all the bridges are still intact. The scenery is vast and spectacular with a lot of primary rain forest still to be seen. It took us all day, mostly stood on the pegs and we were glad to reach civilization at the other end.

The Park Rangers at the Maliau Basin National Park have been very helpful and are allowing us to camp within the Wildlife Reserve.

The East coast of Sabah is covered by vast oil palm plantations. At first sight they are hideous but once inside they offer a labyrinth of endless dirt trails for adventurous riders. Bryan and I spent the second day of our trip exploring our new found playground. Luckily we had our GPS with us or we would still be in there now!

The next leg of our exploration is the route from Telupid to Keningau. Some parts of the route appear on older maps but the Road Department have warned us that a lot of these old logging roads have long since been swallowed up by the jungle. I will report next week.