How can 6 weeks have gone so fast? It seems only yesterday that our first ever Borneo team were setting out on the adventure of a lifetime and now they’re well on their way home having completed their placements in Malaysia…ready to enjoy the rest of the English Summer (!?!).

Give a team 6 weeks in Borneo and they all go native. Lovely pyjamas guys!

Give a team 6 weeks in Borneo and they all go native. Lovely pyjamas guys!

When we left them last the team were doing their community phase at Tinangol, helping to build bio-gas collectors (or ‘the hole’ as they nicknamed it) and taking part in traditional ceremonies with the long house community that lived their. They then headed off to the Rainforest for the conservation phase of their Borneo placement. It takes a whole day to drive from Kota Kinabalu to Batu Puteh, where Suz, Chloe and the rest of the team settled into their homestays in a  Muslim village on the banks of the Kinabatangan River.

Taking a River Safari through the Rainforest

Taking a River Safari through the Rainforest

View from the river

View from the Kinabatangan river

Highlights in their first of Rainforest living were river safaris to view the local wildlife and an incredible day spent at the famous Orangutan Rescue Sanctuary Sepilok. The centre was founded in 1946 to rehabilitate orphaned Orangutans. It incorperates 43 sq km of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve and today around 25 young orphan orangutans are housed in the nurseries, in addition to those free in the reserve.

The team model the Sepilok Organutan Centre sign expertly. Fierce girls!

The team model the Sepilok Organutan Centre sign expertly. Fierce girls!

Hanging out with the locals at Sepilok.

Hanging out with the locals at Sepilok.

Then it was time for the team to settle into the their homestays with local Muslim families in the village and make a start on the conservation projects, which included forest re-generation project work, collecting seeds and planting over 230 indigenous trees on the banks of the river, whilst teaching locals the importance of using renewable fuels and replacing the trees they cut down for building and energy.

Loading the tree saplings into the boat for planting along the banks of the river...only another 200 to go!

Loading the tree saplings into the boat for planting along the banks of the river...only another 200 to go!

Then, after saying a tearful goodbye to the other volunteers they’d been working with, it was off to the Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sepilok to work with the infamous ‘Jungle Bob’. This was one of Chloe and Suz’s favourite projects (thanks to the super cute Sunbears!) and involved them digging in fencing posts, moving materials into jungle and helping to decorate and plant flowers to help develop this new sun bear centre into a visitor attraction for the local area.

A Sunbear, one of many at the Sepilok rescue and rehabilitation centre

A Sunbear, one of many at the Sepilok rescue and rehabilitation centre

Suz and Chloe hard at work sprucing up the centre.

Suz and Chloe hard at work sprucing up the centre.

Bornean sunbear conservation website.

Bornean sunbear conservation website.

Over the past 6 weeks our Leapers have worked (and partied!) incredibly hard, helping with a huge range of different projects and diverse communities across Borneo. Amazingly they found time to help with the Bio Gas Collector project at camp Tinangol, building a boardwalk and planting ferns on screen walls at the Sunbear centre, making recycling bins, painting and drawing with the kids at the kindergarten, teaching English and planting over 230 trees at the forest regeneration projects in Batu Puteh. Not bad for a Summer of fun in the sun! Thanks girls for all your hard work, you wont be forgotten in a hurry!

To join the next Borneo team in January click here