Borneo beginnings

End of one journey, start of another

Training - Fieldbase, Kota Kinabalu

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu, the home of Raleigh fieldbase - the hub of operations and my home for the next couple of weeks.  This marks the official end of my journey from a damp March day in Waterloo to the heat & downpours of Sabbah, Borneo; 187 days, 19 countries and 47 different modes of transport








The first few days were spent in a whirl of training, information, swim tests and getting to know my fellow project team with whom I'll be working for the next 3 months, in just 2 weeks 60 venturers (volunteers) are arriving and we'll be delivering much of the training back to them

choosing dinner - KK, Borneo

There was time to venture out in the evening to a local market for dinner, the main items on the menu: seafood & chicken bum













Fish market - KK, Borneo

















It wasn't long though before it was time to really get out and get a taste of how we'll be living for the next few months with some training at Base Camp, the return point between 3 week stints on projects.  It's relative luxury with (cold) showers on site and a permanent roof structure to keep most of the rain off our hammocks.

 

putting up mossie nets, Base Camp














Local wildlife, Base Camp

The next night was a little wetter, but a good lesson in how important putting a tarp up properly to protect your hammock is. The day was spent a few hours trekking through the jungle, only covering a few kilometres in 4 hours, but it was enough to appreciate just how difficult the extended trek I'll be going on later will be.

Enter the jungle

We also found out our project allocations, I'll be spending 2 'community' phases (6 weeks) constructing a gravity water feed - much more detail to follow as we are about to go on a 4 day trip to plan it.  My final phase is the 'adventure' phase, 2 weeks jungle trekking followed by a week diving, the chance to gain a PADI qualification and try something I've never done before.