Langkayan Island : Where Paradise is not that Far Away..

Langkayan Island is located in the Sulu Sea north west of Sandakan on the north east coast of Sabah. This small paradise island, with stretches of white sandy beaches, swaying casuarina pines and beautiful sunsets is another island with only one dive resort, Lankayan Island Dive Resort. The resort was built in 1997 and since tourists have slowly been discovering the serenity and tranquility of this remote peace of paradise. Lankayan offers a fantastic variety of macro marine life, a muck diving arena that rivals both Mabul and Kapalai Island.

However, with new protection from local fishermen, the larger marine creatures such as leopard sharks, marbled stingray and giant grouper have returned to the surrounding reefs. Schools of humphead parrotfish, yellowtail barracuda and scads also appeat at many dive sites.

Among the 40 dive sites is "Langkayan Wreck", an ocean going fish poaching vessel that demised in the area of its illegal activities. This wreck now hosts many different species of fish from small glassfish, harlequin ghost pipefish, painted frogfish to giant grouper and marbled stingrays.

Many rare subjects can be found on many other sites including seahorses, flying gurnards, flamboyant cuttlefish, Jaw fish, dragonets and sand divers. Having Pulau Selingan, home to Sabah's Turtle Sanctuary nearby, it is not a surprise to also see the occasional hawksbill or green turtle on one of your dives.

Other nearby islands
Berhala Island

Just 15 minutes by boat from Sandakan lies Pulau Berhala. Its most striking feature is the awesome dusky pink range of cliffs that drops perpendicularly into the waters. Blessed with fine white sand and clear waters, the island is set to become a major tourist destination. The rock cliff provides great potential for Eco-challenge climbing events.

Libaran Island

Libaran island is just next to Selingan Island. It is the ideal jump off point to see the turtle at Selingan island. From the island, one can have an excellent view of the sea. Alternatively, snorkelling trips, boat trips to the mangrove forest, jungle trekking at nearby island to see wildlife, village walk and night fishing, can be easily arranged.

For more information
http://www.lankayan-island.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lankayan_Island
http://www.diveborneo.com/locations/Lankayan.htm
http://www.divetheworldmalaysia.com/dive-resorts-malaysia-lankayan-main.htm

Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary

In the centre of the mangrove forests of Sumawang is the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, where you can see Borneo's indigenous proboscis monkeys. This privately-owned sanctuary located within an oil palm estate gives you the chance to observe these animals up close and personal.

The remarkable males sport big dangling noses, reddish flat-top hairstyles, white tails and markings, and pot bellies. The females on the other hand, are much smaller and have up-turned noses.

A river trip can be arranged to further observe the monkeys or do some bird watching, as hornbills and kingfishers are found in the area. Take a night tour for a chance to see wild boars, flying squirrels, fireflies and crocodiles.

For more information

http://www.proboscis.cc/

http://www.proboscismonkey.org/proboscisblog/?p=31

Places of Interest in Sandakan

I must start with the "Sepilok Orang UtanRehabilition Centre", widely known as the world’s largest and oldest Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.

A dream for anyone interested in wildlife. You will experience several of the world's most unique and fascinating areas. A visit to Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary will allow you to come in close contact with the remarkable "man of the forest" or fondly known as “Wild Man of Borneo”. It is interesting and exciting to watch as these large red apes, man's closest relative, are astonishingly gentle, highly intelligent and will gaze at you with almost disconcerting frankness.

Only 28 kilometres from Sandakan, and set in 43 square kilometres of beautiful virgin equatorial rainforest, the Sanctuary was begun in 1964 to help once captive orang utan learn to fend for themselves in the wild.

When a young orang utan is orphaned or kept as a pet, it is unable to live in its natural habitat on its own; much of its survival depends on accquired skills, which the young orang utan gets from its mother in its first five to six years of life. At the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre orphaned or pet orang utans are trained to live an independent life in their natural habitat. This process can be quite long, and includes a "kindergarten," enclosed and controlled areas, and in its last stage the open forest reserve in Sepilok, where the orang utans are free-roaming.

It is in this forest reserve where visitors get a chance to see the orang utans. The best time to view them is during feeding times at 10 a.m, and at 2.30 p.m, at the feeding plat-form. At other times access to the reserve is restricted to minimise disturbance of the apes. The trail to the feeding plat-form is a plank-walkway suitable for all visitors, and on the way you can marvel at huge and rare rainforest trees. If you observe the canopy closely, you will find orang utan nests, and with some luck a curious ape will meet you on the way to the platform.

The sanctuary also houses a couple of highly endangered Sumatran rhinos and occasionally other animals such as elephants.

A Little Intro

There are many articles on the net that tells us more than I would probably ever know about Sandakan. I was born & raised here, and had developed a love-hate relationship with this town over the years. We may not be getting our fair share on the development scale but nevertheless, we were blessed with the rich forest like nature, untouched for many years. This has become the pride of the town, and hopefully, in future.., we could bring the lights of modernisation into this old city, and blend well with its mother nature.

Where is Sandakan?

Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia & its on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. Its located on the east coast of the island and was former capital of British North Borneo. Nearly 1,900 kilometres from Malaysia's capital city of Kuala Lumpur, only 28 kilometres from the border with Philippines and facing by the Sulu Sea in the Northeast. With an estimated population of 346,254 people, approximately 2182 2q kilometre, Sandakan's economy has diversified into the agricultural base especially in the oil palm industry. It has also ventured into the tourism industry, concentrating on eco tourism and wild life conservation. As such, Sandakan is today known as "the gateway to Borneo's wildlife".

A Glance at its Short History

Sandakan, was founded by William B Pryer on 21st June 1879. However it was William Clarke Cowie, a Scotsman from Glasgow who established the first European settlement on the north-east coast of Sabah known as "Kampung German" in 1872. When Kampung German was accidentally razed to the gound on 15th June 1879, Pryer decided not to rebuild the village but to move to Buli Sim Sim. He named his new settlement "Elopura" which means "The Beautiful City". A few years later, the name was changed to "Sandakan" which in Sulu means "The place that is pawned".

In the early 1900s, modernisation began in Sandakan with the building of rows of corrugated iron roofs brick shops. Roads were metalled and by 1912, motor cars had made their appearance on the roads of Sandakan. Other facilities such as the automatic telephone exchange and electricity were also installed. Sandakan recorded its first economic scene, the Chinese dominated in trade and commerce and consequently the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was established. Man Woo Long, was the oldest company while Harrisons & Crosfield was the largest and handled the major part of the imports & exports. The timber industry which made its debut in 1885 was to become Sandakan's biggest money earner and the timber were marketed mainly to Hong Kong and China. The Sulus and the Bajaus mainly concentrated on fishing, collecting forest product and trading.

"Japanese Occupation and liberation by the Allied Forces"

Second World War broke out on 3rd September 1939. The Japanese Occupation in Sandakan began 19th January 1942 and lasted until the Brigade of the Australian 9th Division liberated in 19th October 1945. When the war ended, Sandakan town was nearly totally destroyed, partly from the bombings in the process of liberation and the rest by the Japanese. As a result, when the North Borneo became a British Colony in 1946, the capital was shifted to Jesselton, now known as Kota Kinabalu.

"Post-War"

Three years after the war, nearly the whole of Sandakan town site was re-occupied. Businesses were revived and facilities such as the "Padang" (field) and Sandakan Recreational Club were also restored. The timber industry was reorganised and resulted in benefiting the timber businessmen of Sandakan as well as boosting the local economy.

"Independence & Malaysia"

On 16th September 1963, North Borneo joined the federation of Malaysia and changed its name to Sabah. Sandakan celebrated this occasion with great enthusiasm.

So.. what's Borneo Like?

A little refresher course.., for those who has been here.., and a little introduction to those who will make their first foot prints in the land of Borneo this coming November... :)

8th Borneo COBRA 10s & 1st Borneo Women Sevens : UPDATES!

A little update, we are bringing back the women event this year. So altogether, during our tournament weekend, we will have the men, ladies & under 16 event.

We have started to receive confirmation, entry forms & registration fees (fully refundable upon arrival), -thank you guys!!

What will do from this week onwards-will be posting on any tournament updates, places of interests in Sandakan & Borneo.. plus other goodies.. too :)

Thanks for all your support guys !!

Cheers
You know who :)

We are back !

Gosh...it’s already February ! Can you believe how fast time flies ? :)

And speaking of that, so sorry guys. I have not had a chance to update this blog since Christmas. Been really busy since then.

A little update on what's going on in the "Home of the Eagles".

Dec/Jan :

Preparing for the Darwin 7s tour.
Activities : The eagles were training, and we were busy organising the trip, visas, tickets, accommodation & etc.
What came up: The week before the travel however, visa application for four of our boys were not approved. We were told to submit more supportings to re-process, but time did not permit us to proceed.

A message from all in the "Home of Eagles"
We would like to extend our apology to the organiser of the Darwin 7s, " we are sorry guys !" And Tim, hope you will extend invitation to us again next year.. we promise you that we will be there!, our thanks to John & his wonderful wife, for assisting us in the preparations, and of course for hosting one of our committee members recently, thank you so much John. To Kerry, what can I say.., thank you so much for putting up with me..., been troubling you alot..and thank you for introducing me to Garth .. , to Sua & Jackie, we are so sorry for the trouble taken to organise the trip for the boys and the fact that we had to cancel it. We realised how much effort was placed to make this happen, and we really do appreciate all your help!

Feb/March :
Preparing for the Hong Kong 10s
We are now in the middle of organizing our HK10s tour. Accomodation & tickets arrangement is currently been finalized. Hope there won’t be too much hic cup organizing this tour.

Invitations to our 8th Borneo Tens,2008
Yup, we will be releasing the tournament booklet & send out invitations for our 8th Borneo Tens 2008, this week ! The tournament will again be held, the weekend after Cobra 10s in Kuala Lumpur & Singapore 7s.

Will post more information on the tournament soon !

Cheers!