Save Eco Destinations

A map showing the extent of deforestation in Borneo.

Watch out for the lies you’ll get fed during paid tours in Borneo, ecotourists.

A deeply eco-minded friend of mine has been spending a few weeks in Borneo’s various regions – Kalimantan, Malaysia, Brunei, Sabah – and come away with many appalling stories to tell.

Palm oil harvesting

Palm oil harvesting dominates Sabah, surrounded by paved roads and not a single tree lining them. In fact, deforestation is rampant in Borneo precisely because palm oil harvesters want to make room for their plantations.

It seems there is just one hectare of trees – trees that take 300 years to grow! This one hectare of 300 just trees constitutes the government’s efforts to promote ecological responsibility. A pathetic spectacle.

Sounds like enough to make an ardent environmentalist cry, yet my friend said the tourists in his group didn’t find anything amiss with the situation, and busied themselves by photographing the pitiable hectare of trees.

Nature “reserves”

With 40,000 hectares, this reserve (alas, I do not know its name) is Borneo’s second-biggest. Malaysia has a total of 120,000 protected hectares – the planet’s biggest jungle after the Amazon.

I’d like to note that these reserves are two of the biggest CO2-suckers on the planet.

Also, that everything other than these “protected” spaces in Borneo is being cut down.

Orangutan at the Semenggok Forest Reserve in Sarawak.

Primates

Gibbons and orangutans inhabit a 50-meter-wide jungle. You read that right.

And behind that it’s all palm oil plantations reaching as far as the shore of the Kinabatangan River in Sandakan. As my friend checked out the jungle from the river, he was able to see artificial light streaming through from the other side of the trees.

The gibbons and orangutans have nowhere to hide from idiotic tourists blasting them with flashes from their cameras, terrifying them, and soon these primates won’t even have this pseudo-jungle to inhabit. The last simians of Borneo, it seems, will soon die out.

Apparently, this is a “protected” area. Numerous parts go under the name “natural sanctuary.” Simply harrowing.

A secondary forest

Moreover, this is a secondary forest. This means that the original trees burned or were cut down and the trees now in their place were planted there. It’s not a pure ecosystem.

More tourist pollution

At night, tourists can board a noisy truck with a huge reflector to take photographs of wildlife. You know, after said wildlife gets woken up by this atrocious intrusion, terrified. And this occurs every single night of the year, apparently.

And did I mention this is taking place within the reserve?

Right.

Also, toward Laha Datu you can spot elephants eating grass by the paved roads.

Stay tuned for more news from Borneo.