I don’t know what you think of when you hear the word “Borneo” but I think of Orangutans. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) was in the Borneo jungles during his Marine Corps days participating in a little altercation. To him, the word “Borneo” means mud, rain, leeches, poisonous snakes, heat and humidity. We were definitely on two different wave lengths.

Borneo is a place with lots of jungles, leeches, poisonous snakes, etc., but also has National Parks, white sand beaches and Orangutans – both in the wild and sanctuaries.

Borneo Map
The Island of Borneo is shared by Malaysia and Indonesia with the largest portion belonging to Indonesia. Borneo is the world’s third largest island and the Malaysian portions stretches across the northern tier, forming the states of Sarawak and Sabah with the tiny but very rich Sultanate of Brunei tucket in between.I was interested only in the Malaysian portion because of many State Department warnings about terrorists targeting Americans on the Indonesian side.

Borneo is home to the World’s largest flower Rafflesia, smallest squirrel and Ironwood trees that are thousands of years old. Its forests are the oldest in the world and is also home to Mt. Kinabalu, one of the highest mountains in Southeast Asia.

There was also: jungle trekking; bird watching (some 580 species); mountain climbing; cave exploring; white water rafting; fishing; scuba diving; snorkeling; and ordinary sightseeing which included – Orangutans!

Lots of sweet-talking, brochures and information later, ex-Marine agreed to planning a trip minus the mud, leeches and snakes.