postmarked: borneo 2025

I dont know how many times I repacked for this trip. Knowing we were headed to the remote parts of the Malaysian jungle is going to leave you feeling a little unprepared no matter what. Leech socks? You are saying I need leech socks. ok ok ok. deep breaths.

After 24 hours of flying and transit, we were boots on the ground in Sandakan. The warm air and humidity on my skin were a welcome feeling as I hugged all my friends before the welcome dinner. Our tender-hearted guide, Kurt, began to lay out the next day, and I almost passed out. Words words more words - Orangutans - more words more words - Sun Bears…

The animals that live in Borneo live nowhere else in the world. Not in the wild.

A short drive from our jungle bungalows, the entrance to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Injured or abandoned orangutans are protected and given medical attention here. But there are no walls, fences, or gates. This allows wild orangutans to come and go as they please. On the day we were here, an adult dominant male was heard to be roaming around. We hurried down boardwalks through a dense rainforest to reach a feeding platform. Through protective glass, there he was. He was a literal dream come true. What else could I ask for?

a wild male.

On our walk back to our bus, through the jungle on a boardwalk, I was laughing with my friends when a mother orangutan with her baby came around the corner. We had maybe 5 feet of walk space to navigate the encounter, and we hurried by so as not to stress either of them. In the best way, I lost my breath for a moment. Store it in long-term memory, fam.

Oh and the same day - sun bears. The precious guardians of the forest. The rising suns of Borneo. The nocturnal bear that is driven by the need to find honey at all costs. They are all rescued from private ownership, abuse, or were found injured in the wild. And with the amazing help of their keepers, they are rehabilitated to be released back into the great wild.

the Bornean Sun Bear

Here’s what I know… 23 of us left the sanctuary with so much merch - apparently the shop keepers are still talking about it.

A few days later, staying in a river village partially flooded from heavy rains, I wondered how many crocodiles were watching me enjoy my noodle breakfast. We hired a boat captain to take us out hours away, with our chances low and hopes high, to see the Bornean pygmy elephant, which has fewer than 1,000 in the wild. Imagine a small boat called a klotok - open with no roof or covering - in a proper rainforest rainstorm downpour for two straight hours. Real type 2 fun shit.

Because this always how it works and the rain couldn’t last forever. The clouds moved away. The sun broke through.

Our boat slowed down.

And from the back of the boat, we heard Kurt say under this breath, ‘oh thank god.’

I frantically turned my head to see 8 elephants. In the river. Feeding peacefully in chest deep water. My friends and I were alone with these creatures for 35 minutes and there was no where in the world I would have rather been.

the Bornean pygmy elephant

We took these memories and moved on to Tabin. Where we spent the next few days in the back of safari trucks searching for animals. Day and night. As evening came, you could feel it. The bold animals in the sun would pass the night watch off to the most strange and fascinating creatures of the dark.

We drove the one single road, back and forth. Because in this part of Borneo, they have made a conscious decision not to cut into the forest to provide more roads. What luck you get off this one road, is the luck you get, bud. I would be remiss to mention that while on one side of the road is a natural, deep, untouched wild sanctuary for these precious souls, the other side is private farm land.

And often, death.

How is a wild animal to know that once they cross some imaginary line, they could pay the cost with their life? It is a cruel reality that transcends languages and oceans, straight to the products we buy in our supermarkets - Palm Oil.

We hiked a volcano, swam in a river to a waterfall, watched Hornbills and flying squirrels soar through the sky, and every night fell asleep to the wild sounds of the jungle. Not once did those leech worries or snake fears creep in. I was too busy having the time of my life with my family.

Borneo fundamentally changed me. I won’t go back to the way I was. The land is alive. The land deserves to be protected. I hope if you ever get the chance to go, it will still be as I have described it.

x Al