Paphios and Orang Utans on Borneo

In 1990 and 1999 we had the opportunity to visit orchid sites on the island of Borneo. We spent most of our time in Kinabalu Park in Sabah, but also visited the city of Kuching and Bako National Park in Sarawak.

There are various accommodations and restaurants in the national park headquarters. The jungle is easily accessible via various trails.

The first orchids were quickly found along the wayside:

We actually found a few Paph. virens on one of the paths.

A small botanical garden was created directly in the headquarters:

and again secured by a fence:

At an altitude of about 1700 meters, the night temperature was about 18°C. The morning always began with full sunshine and daytime temperatures of up to 36°C in the sun. At about 11:00 a.m. the first patches of fog appeared before it rained heavily around 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. After that, the sun was still visible until dark, before patches of fog began to appear again.

In the mid-1990s, another location with various accommodation options was created in Kinabalu Park at an altitude of 2000 meters - Mesilau. Here, night temperatures were around 12°C and daytime temperatures barely exceeded 20°C.

With a ranger we were able to visit the locations of Paph. volonteanum and Neph. rajah.

Both plants grew only a few meters apart.

In Mesilau you could also visit the jungle on various paths and see orchids and Neph. villosa:

And then a lonely Paph. virens(?) in moss on a tree trunk at a height of about 40 cm. Despite intensive searching, we have not found any other plants of this type.

Unfortunately, the main location of Paph. virens was destroyed by the construction of a golf course nearby. The border of the national park was simply moved for this purpose.

In 1999, around 150 Paph. virens plants could still be admired in a nearby rose nursery in Kundasang:

Right next to them we could see these Paphios - due to communication difficulties we were unable to find out where these plants came from. The leaves were rather soft and therefore not Paph. rothschildianum or Paph. ooii.

After a few great days with the orchids, we now wanted to visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Station near the city of Sandakan. Here, sick and confiscated monkeys are nursed back to health and then prepared for release into the wild after months of work. We were able to move around the facility without any protective bars, but with face masks (so that we don't infect the monkeys). Nevertheless, you still get a queasy feeling when an Orang Utan wraps itself around your legs.

After these unique experiences among these monkeys, we flew to Kuching in Sarawak to see the nearby Bako National Park. The park is at about sea level with a few elevations with daytime temperatures of just under 40°C. Here we saw mostly Nepenthes and only a few orchids.

Mudskippers were seen everywhere on the beach:

Finally, near the city of Kuching, we visited an orchid nursery. Here, strong plants of Paph. stonei and Paph. hookerae, but also Paph. lowii could be seen.

There were also large populations of Phal. bellina and Phal. corningiana to seen.

After some great experiences on Borneo, we returned via Singapore in 1990. There we had a little time to visit an orchid nursery.

Cattleyas were simply attached to trees here. In these tropical temperatures they grow like crazy - but only bloom sporadically.