SAUSALITO, CA, Aug. 4, 2015 – Award-winning wildlife travel expert Wild Planet Adventures (http://www.wildplanetadventures.com/)
announces a world’s first for travel companies. They have been granted
special access to lead wildlife eco-tours in the remote Maliau Basin
Conservation Area, famously known as The Lost World of Borneo. Located
on the strait of Sabah, the region encompasses Malaysia’s easternmost
state on the island of Borneo.
The Lost World of Borneo
is one of three areas left in Borneo that encompass the last stands of
the oldest rainforest on earth. Its geography – a basin surrounded by
steep cliffs – has never been fully explored. Another of these areas,
the Danum Valley, is also included in Wild Planet’s signature “Weird
& Wonderful Wildlife Eco-tour” available in 12-and 16-day
itineraries, the latter including an exclusive wildlife expedition into
The Lost World of Borneo. The new 16-day Borneo “Weird & Wonderful Wildlife Eco-tour” starts at $7,798 per person, double. For details see http://www.wildplanetadventures.com/destinations/?country=borneo&trip=weird-wonderful-wildlife-16-day-borneo
The 12-day Borneo Wildlife Eco-tour starts at $6,498 per person, double. For details please see: http://www.wildplanetadventures.com/destinations/?country=borneo&trip=weird-wonderful-wildlife-12-day-borneo
In
April 2015 wildlife expert Josh Cohen, Director of Wild Planet
Adventures, mounted an extensive two-pronged expedition to Malaysia:
first, to scout Borneo’s Lost World and then to investigate how to
increase the percentage of rare animal sightings on its wildlife-focused
tours.Cohen explains that Maliau Basin Conservation Area is a virtually self-contained ecosystem never inhabited by humans and where large areas still remain unexplored. Efforts are underway to nominate Maliau Basin as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“It’s no wonder Maliau Basin is called the “Lost World.” Here you can experience something that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else on earth: the forest floor is so pristine and untouched, if you step off the trail it is likely that no other human will have ever set foot where you are standing!” Cohen said.
He
added that while wildlife is extremely shy, Maliau Basin Conservation
Area offers perhaps the only remotely viable chance to see some of the
world’s rarest animals including the clouded leopard, sun bear, pygmy
elephant, Malaysian badger and the reclusive Bornean rhino.“Wild Planet travelers will enjoy a nocturnal wildlife walk exclusive to our guests to monitor camera traps, conditions permitting,” Cohen said. Wild Planet has made special arrangements with wildlife researchers at Maliau Basin Conservation Area who will share recent camera trap photos of some of these and other rare animals.
Throughout Cohen’s Borneo scouting expedition, he and his staff went to great lengths to explore remote areas at unusual times of day, utilizing eco-responsible methods such as electric motor boats, silent safaris and ultra low-impact strategies to assure the best possible chance to spot animals not commonly seen by even the most diligent travelers. They scouted remote tributaries of the Kinabatangan River after midnight, arranged exclusive nocturnal access to wildlife-rich habitat surrounding Gomantong limestone caves, traversed uncharted riverbed trails in the Danum Valley and made special arrangements with scientific researchers to hike into remote camera trap destinations in Maliau Basin Conservation Area.
“The
results were staggering,” he said. “In addition to seeing a huge volume
of wildlife including 11 of the 13 primate species, pygmy elephants,
tarsiers, slow loris, flying lemurs and other “gliders”, the expedition
encountered an unprecedented number of wild orang-utans – both alpha
males as well as mothers with babies. But the highlight of the
expedition was encountering an extraordinarily rare flat-headed cat,
last sighted in the region nearly eight years ago, proving the efficacy
of Wild Planet’s eco-responsible wildlife viewing methods.As a follow-up to the initial scouting trip, he said “the extraordinary results continue to this day. The very first Wild Planet travelers to benefit from the new activities and destinations that we arranged saw a similar volume of rare animals, including a rare Bay owl, which had not been seen for many years.”
Both
“Weird & Wonderful Wildlife” itineraries embrace Wild Planet
Adventures’ unique scouting activities. They include Sipadan Reef, one
of the world’s “Top 5” snorkel and dive spots, and the 16 day program
also includes a visit to Seligan Island to witness sea-turtles laying
eggs and the baby hatchlings returning to the sea. Both programs feature
exclusive expeditions to see Borneo’s famous “gliders” – mammals,
amphibians and reptiles that evolved to fly, such as Wallace’s flying
frogs, colugos (flying lemurs), flying squirrels and Paradise flying
tree snakes. There are also exclusive nocturnal expeditions to see
Tarsiers and Slow Loris, two of the world’s smallest (and cutest!)
primates.For detailed itineraries, exciting wildlife photos and video galleries and booking information, visit http://www.wildplanetadventures.com/, call 1-800-990-4376 or email trips@wildplanetadventures.com.
About Wild Planet Adventures The expert wildlife guides of Wild Planet Adventures go the extra mile to explore remote wildlife habitat and study wildlife patterns in destinations not often accessible to the general public. Thanks to the company’s comprehensive itineraries that balance diverse and complex ecosystems and habitats, guests enjoy wildlife and game viewing that is carefully aligned with animals’ seasonal, daily and nocturnal migrations.
Following a philosophy that interacting with nature has the power to transform lives, tours are conducted in Africa, Baja, Belize, Borneo, Brazil, Costa Rica, Galapagos, India, Laos, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Thailand and Zambia. Wild Planet Adventures is recognized by top publications in the travel industry for its itineraries that combine intimate encounters with wildlife and local culture.
In April 2014 Wild Planet Adventures received its fifth “Worlds’ 50 Best Trips” award from the editors of National Geographic Traveler for its “On the Jaguar’s Trail; from the Pantanal to the Amazon” wildlife safari in Brazil.
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Photography Credit: ©Yayasan Sabah
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