Mabul & Sipadan

To be honest this part of the trip had nothing to so with backpacking, this was vacation with capital V at the paradise island of Mabul. So I had paid out for a fancy waterbungalow on stilts. The main reason for this thou was that a stay here guaranted a 1 day trip to the main attraction of the area, the island of Sipadan. This island has been decleared a marine park and as such only allows 120 divers per day to protect it, which means people are booking permits several months in advance. Traveling all this way to not get to dive at Sipadan was meaningless so this was the way to do it. 

Speedboat from Semporna to Mabul island

Golfcar ride from the jetty to the resort built completely on stilts

View from the terrace

Mabul is a tiny island inhabited by a small local society of fishermen and particularly the Bajou people, better known as sea gypsies. This people were originally living at sea exclusively and only returning to land when in need of fresh water and to bury their dead. These days most have taken to land, but are often not Malaysian citizens, meaning they have little right and no access to public services such as schools and medical. To get to the dive center you had to walk straight through the Bajou village, where you were greeted by a horde of smiling children and friendly adults. The dive center we used had started a charity school for the kids there and also organized their waste disposal so they wouldn't throw their trash in the sea. They also arranged for protection of turtle nests so all in all the people at Scuba Junkie had their values in order and provided a friendly service and good diving experiences!

Main street through the Bajou village

Scuba Junkie Jetty next to the village

Turtle nest protected habitat

Another inhabitant on the island was a large lizard which I quickly named Steve. Steve would be laying on the rocks licking sunshine in the morning or cruising on the beach in the evening sun scaring the tourists away.  

Steve out for a stroll on the beach

Enough about the island and more about the diving. Your typical day would consist of breakfast, then walking to the jetty where you gathered your mask, wetsuit, weight belt and fins before jumping on the boat for your first dive. Then you would have a surface interval of about an hour before going out again to your second dive before lunch. Afternoon would be the third dive of the day and from there you could take the rest of the day off and lay on the beach. Dives would be around Mabul island itself, known for it excellent makro marine life. That is tiny little things like shrimps, or sea snails known as nudibranches. In addition there were so many turtles around that they seemed to sneak into every picture I took. 

Turtle resting in the wall

Green turtle

Stonefish, the master of camouflage

Peacock mantis shrimp

Giant Eel Moray

Cuddlefish

In addition we had dives around Kapalai island, which isn't really and island but a resort build on stilt on a sand barge. 

But the star of the show was always going to be Sipadan island, known for it's world class diving and so finally the day came where our number was drawn and we set out for 3 dives. 

And it truly lived up to the expectations! Its hard to describe in words so I will let the pictures do most of the talking. Of the 3 dives I found Barracuda point to be the most impressive. Your floating along in the current, initially not really that impressed and then the sea just explodes around you with activity. Huge stools of large fish create living walls in the water towering up over you and reef sharks are circling in the distance.   

Barracuda

Sharks!

It was an amazing experience and the most intense diving I have tried! So I was quite happy when we sailed back to Mabul for our last night before starting the long trip home, it had definitely been worth it! 

Sipidan - simple on the surface magnificent submerged 

Mount Kinabalu

When I was first planning this trip priority number one was a monsoon neutral diving area, because the daily downpour of the monsoon will decrease the visibility when diving. Second priority was a mountain to climb, so I basically just put those keywords into google and out popped the Sabah region of Malaysian Borneo. So when booking I didn't pay that much attention to the details, it said world class diving at Sipidan island, check! And a two day climbing trip of Mount Kinibalu, check! Wait what is that you say? There is an optional Via Ferrata trip? That sounds cool and dangerous so "add to cart". It wasn't until the climbing company Mountain Torq started sending me emails with training programs to be started 2 months prior to climbing and packing lists that included headlamps, warm gloves and raingear that I begun to get a little worried and dug into the details. 

So it turns out Mount Kinibalu is south east asias highest mountain at a staggering 4095m above sea level. The first day you will start at around 1600m and work your way through steaming bug and squirrel infested jungle. Your goal for the day is the basecamp area located at 3200m! This is a 4-5 hour walk alone and compared to the highest mountain I have climbed before it is roughly 200m higher! Here you collaps after your Via Ferrata briefing and supper, so you can sleep a little before being woken up at 2 am to start your hike to the summit and the sunrise waiting there at 6am. After accomplishing this you then have to hike 400 height meters back down the mountain before starting your remaining descent to the base camp area, using the Via Ferrata which turned out to be the world highest(oh joy!), consisting of a series of small metal steps going down the sheer cliff face and takes another 4-5 hours. So after 10 hours of climbing you still have to make it off the mountain which is believe it or not tougher than going up! 

So to sum it all up... GULP! What had I gotten myself into..

Getting picked up at 6.30 in the morning and driven from the nearby city of Kota Kinabalu to the mountain where we met our guide Sherif and got our named passes that would allow us to access the mountain. So off we went one step at a time, 6 km of distance and 1600 height meters to the base camp. By the time we got there it was 2 pm, sun high in the sky, all our water nearly finished, exhausted from the walk and jet lagged on top of that it didn't take long to simply fall on the bunk bed and fall asleep.. Being jet lagged thou meant my body didn't really fancy sleeping past 10 pm so I was up in good time for our 2 am wakeup call. The good thing about jet lag thou is that even thou your body should be feeling tired it simply doesnt because its not supposed to at this time back in Denmark.. 

Driving to the national park on the shadow of Mount Kinabalu

Psycho squirrel ran up the leg and arm of a random climber and took a bite if his candybar! 

Steps steps steps...

Basecamp Pendant Hut

View from the dinning room

Outside it was pitch black and very windy so we put on all our clothes, mounted our head lamps and went up the mountain. Even at this hight we were still walking through forest, lightbeams flashing through the trees from the people infront and behind us. Over our heads the stars twinkled from a cloudless sky and it wasnt really that cold but quite enjoyable. After the first hour or so you leave the forest and face a rope hanging from the cliff.. So up you go, hand over hand climbing the steep rock. As you leave the trees the lights of the valleys below become visible and you start realizing the height you are already at. In addition the air really starts to get thin so you are strugling for breath every 50 meters. 

About halfway up you reach the final ranger checkpoint and south east asias highest toilet.. From here the climb becomes more flat but you are now exposed to the hard winds and its starts getting cold. All the time you are walking in pitch blackness only seeing a few meters along the rope guiding you to the top. In the dark you pass people sitting, laying on the rock catching their breath, you hear voices from several nationalities and of course a couple of danes as well. As you near the summit it starts to lighten up and the wind picks up even more making it freezing. You are now basically caught in a dilemma, either you rush the last stretch to the summit so you can get back down again or you wait in the cold for the sun to rise even more so you have enough light to enjoy the view and get some good pictures. A sudden gust of freezing wind settled the matter quickly.. 

Sunrise from the summit of Mount Kinabalu

A last push to the top, snap snap snap.. and down again! It was simply too cold to stay up there for any period of time so we made it back down again quickly, teeth clapping and fingers numb. From the top we hiked back down to the 7,5 km mark where we met our Via Ferrata guide Larry.

 The wind was still very strong and cold so we didn't hesitate in strapping on our harness and crawling over the edge of the cliff to get out of it. Now Via Ferrata supposingly means iron road in Italian and is a form of traversing a cliff face that is slightly less challenging than actual rock climbing. You wear a safety harness that attaches you to a metal wire, that is again attached to pins drilled into the mountain. You then move along using metal steps and handles drilled into the cliff. In addition there are different bridges suppended across deep ravines and gullies. 

So when we had finished the Via Ferrata and made it back to the hut it was 12.30 and we had been going for nearly 10 hours and we still had to make it off the mountain.. But before that we had to rest and eat. By the time we were close to the park exit, the sun had set again, we were wearing headlamps and the night creatures of the jungle were making their presence known. This was by far the toughest trip I have made in a long time and there were times where I was wondering if it was worth it, but now that its done I feel like we made a true  accomplishment and earned our right to the beaches and ocean around Mabul and Sipadan island the coming week.