Pom Pom Island resort in Borneo
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
An ecologically sustainable development is one of our biggest achievements, We own a reverse osmosis re-cycling rainwater system unique in the area, this means that all our villas have drinkable water. This also means that unlike some other resorts, we do not need to import water on a daily basis, thereby cutting down on pollution from transportation. Waste water and residual waste is continually re-cycled and used for irrigation and fertilization for our own herbs and fruit garden used by our Asian/Malaysian restaurant which is also supplied by our local communities.
Where possible, throughout our Resort, in our guest rooms and restaurant we use low energy light bulbs to conserve energy and protect the environment. On a daily basis we clean our beaches from plastic and rubbish to protect the sensitive marine life and turtles. We have designated special bins to help with this.
With experienced divers we can organise reef clean-ups and Crown of Thorn starfish removal. This starfish can, in large numbers destroy large areas of coral. We educate all our divers to respect the corals and teach them how to observe marine life without stressing or damaging any fragile plants or creatures. We organise talks for our guests and staff with WWF regarding turtle conservation. Our dive instructors attend meetings arranged by Sabah Parks Marine Reserve and WWF to ensure that our protection methods are up to date and run according to their guidelines.
We can arrange trips to visit the Giant Clam research centre at Boyadulong where we can also snorkel and dive afterwards nearby. We keep in touch with the Marine Police in Semporna to report any breaches of protocol by local fishermen to protect the reefs. In the evenings we walk the island (low tide only) to check for nesting turtles and to collect the eggs for protection in our turtle hatchery. You are welcome to join us for these walks with our local guides.
If you are lucky, you may be able to witness the hatching of these eggs and the baby turtles running to the sea. We collate the information that we gain from the turtles and eggs to donate scientific information to the WWF and similar authorities so that the turtle species can be monitored.
We grow local fruits such as tropical dragon fruits and papayas in our gardens for our restaurant guests this again saves transport pollution.
Community
We use the Malay communities nearby in Semporna to supply our Malaysian restaurant getting fish from Semporna and vegetables and other supplies from nearby Tawau. This helps local communities support themselves financially. We employ local staff in our kitchen who we train, to use the traditional recipes to provide tasty Asian food.
At Pom Pom Island, the majority of our staff are locals, we help by training them and providing their food and accommodation. We also encourage training programmes such as learning to drive our boats and to dive to expand their skills. We recently had a first aid course which was attended by our local staff, demonstrating and getting them to practice first aid skills such as rescue breathing and CPR. This is something that they can use wherever they go to in the future either at home or at work. We also help by teaching them snorkelling and swimming courses. Being on an island and surrounded by water we try to teach all our staff to swim.
Coordinating with WWF and Sabah Parks Marine Reserve, we are in the process of training our local staff to become Turtle Wardens and Patrollors, thereby giving them experience in conservation and helping educate their friends and families on the need to protect the turtles. We encourage our local staff to demonstrate their local customs to our guests in ways such as local dance, music, they also make and demonstrate how to make local baskets, weaving etc.
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