Borneo birding express tour

Planet

Ulu Ulu Resort was established in November 2008 with the privatization of the facilities in Brunei's only National Park under the authority of the Forestry Department. This is the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between a private sector and the Government of Brunei.
This joint partnership has established a set of rules on managing the environment for future generations. These include:
• Limiting the resort to just 19 rooms only thereby keeping the volume of people staying at the resort low so the human impact is minimal.
• No Plastic Bottles. The resort provides all overnight guests with stainless steel bottles with filtered water. The intention is to stop all wastage of plastic bottles and reduce carbon footprint in the National Park.
Also on this Borneo holiday, you will visit the famous Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah, founded in 1964, to rehabilitate orphan orang-utans. The site is 43 square kilometres of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve. Today around 60 to 80 orang-utans are living free in the reserve. The facility provides medical care for orphaned and confiscated orang-utans as well as dozens of other wildlife species. Some of the other animals which end up being treated at the centre include:- sun bears, gibbons, Sumatran rhinos and the occasional injured elephants.
A visit to the Sepilok Rehabilitation centre benefits the orang-utans in a number of ways - as the entrance fees paid to the centre goes directly to paying the staff, providing the food and the training of specialist guides to rehabilitate the orang-utans back into the wild. Donations are welcomed by the centre although not a condition of entry and we separately urge all our clients to donate a small amount for their visit.
As part of our commitment to this project, for each Borneo booking made we sponsor an orphaned orang-utan in your names for a year through Orangutan Appeal UK thus helping to contribute to the often lengthy rehabilitation process.
This trip ends with time at the Gayana Eco Resort which is home to the Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC). MERC started off in 2007 as a learning and educational centre pledging to address the increasing threats on marine life. Over a span of just a few years, this centre evolved into a research and rehabilitation facility MERC's claim to fame came when it was certified by the Malaysia Book of Records as the first centre in Malaysia to successfully produce all seven species of endangered giant clams found in Malaysian waters. Guests can visit the education centre to learn about their important work, enjoy the experience of the marine touch tank and 'plant' coral which will then be re-planted on the seabed to help try and repropogate the surrounding reef beds.

People

Our intention is for the community to directly benefit from the existence of Ulu Ulu Resort. The resort has outsourced land transportation to a local company in Temburong and they hire longboats from the Batang Duri villagers whose expertise in navigating the Temburong River is unparalleled.
The resort also have created job opportunities for the local people. One such case is at Kampong Selapon with Khamis and his family of eight. Khamis is unemployed due to a back injury and was living on the poverty line. The resort, in partnership with Khamis, has started an organic vegetable garden on his land and Khamis now has a regular income and supply of vegetables for himself and his family. Ulu Ulu Resort’s vegetables are now supplied from Khamis’ vegetable garden.
Our local ground operator owns and operates a number of eco-lodges which are included in this itinerary. Accommodation has all been locally built and is run and operated by local people. The main purpose of these trips is to interact and contribute to local communities and projects and understand the need to minimize any negative impact on the local environment. Our ground agents only employ local guides to accompany our clients. All food in the lodges is sourced locally, helping the local rural communities wherever possible.