Tip of Borneo

We'd had a pretty good group for our tour of Sarawak, but it was nice to be independent again. It would have been even nicer if Mel was still around, but unfortunately she'd run out of holidays, and had to go back to Australia for work. I had managed to score an extra fortnight of leave, and now just needed to decide what to do with that. Since we hadn't really spent any time in Sabah, at the northern end of the island, that seemed like the logical place to start. This inevitably led me back to Kota Kinabalu as a starting point.

Like most other travellers to Sabah, I had been intending to climb Mt Kinabalu (SE Asia's highest peak), but unfortunately a recent earthquake had caused a closure of the mountain which was expected to remain in force for several more months yet. But my slight inconvenience was nothing compared with the lives lost during the quake, and the livelihoods now being impacted by the loss of tourism. So, instead of the TOP of Borneo I decided to begin with the the TIP of Borneo.

I'd read about a jungle camp in the far north which was closely associated with the local Rungus villagers. Tampat Do Aman, meaning "place of friends" in the local tongue, was started by a Brit named Howard. He'd given up running a nearby resort, married a local girl and started something a little different. I knew I was onto a winner when his directions for getting there were basically "Don't bother trying to find us. Meet at Ria Hotel in Kudat (nearest town) at 1pm and we'll come and get you". After arriving in Kudat with some time to burn, I discovered that my chosen destination wasn't the only difficult thing to find around there. After several loops around the village trying to find an ATM , a friendly local lady realised I had no idea and took pity on me. After reading my blank expression while listening to her directions, she told me to wait while she got her car, and proceeded to drive me to the ATM herself. What a lovely person! With one less toy Koala (my standard gift for assisting an Aussie-in-need) and my faith in human kindness reaffirmed, my contact arrived to pick me up and I was on my way.

The photos made Tampat Do Aman look like a beachside oasis, which was partly true since these photos were of the beachside cafe that Howard also runs. But, in reality, the camp was actually about 4km from the beach, back in the jungle. However, seeing as it was about 40 degrees in the shade, the cafe is where you spend most of your time anyway, so I suppose that counts.

Aside from the distance between camp and the cafe, Tampat Do Aman was really lovely, and had the feeling of a jungle kibbutz (complete with open-air showers and a genuine bamboo longhouse). Thankfully, to save his patrons attempting the commute on foot (and likely dying of heat stroke), Howard regularly piled guests into the back of his Hilux, Taliban-style (minus the AK-47's), and did the trip back and forth.

I actually think that the TDA Cafe was the real winner, and the frequent visitors from other lodgings/towns seemed to confirm this. As long as you weren't in too much of a rush (and why would you be), the all-local staff would keep your tab ticking over with fresh juices, snacks, amazing food and most importantly; ice cold beers. The Tip of Borneo really was a beach-side paradise, but after 2 days with the mercury barely dipping below 30 (even at night!) I decided that I needed to find a cooler jungle. Thankfully, it turned out that the national park around Mt Kinabalu was still open for business. With an extra thousand metres of altitude, I was hoping that this would do the trick.Читать далее