Danum VIII

The Danum Valley in Sabah is one of the most wonderful equatorial rainforests left on the planet. Here I met a prelapsarian abundance of life that was both exhilarating but also caused me to weep for the destruction of this habitat that is occurring over all the countries on and near the equator. Here is a flora and fauna in super abundance. My most memorable moments were with rehabilitated orangutans; such peaceful thoughtful vegetarians. My other main destination in Sabah was Mt Kinabalu, an amazing assemblage of exfoliating granite with a flora that is rich in pitcher plants and around two thousand species of orchid. It came as a sudden shock of recognition, in a forest so different to New Zealand’s, to find a close cousin to the Manuka tree lying prostate in the alpine zone.