There’s a well trodden “tourist” route in Sabah, Borneo. Most people arrive in KK (Kota Kinabalu), from mainland Malaysia or Brunei. The usual route is to make the 1 night 2 day climb of Mt Kinabalu, scoff at seeing the ‘circus’ of orang-utans at Sepilok, (but still go,) do a jungle trek (complete with leeches when it rains) at Kinabatangan, and end up diving around Sipadan. The Beetle however, obviously a wuss, headed direct from KK for the delightful town of Semporna to go diving around Sipadan.

I am told that Semporna translates from Malay to mean ‘beautiful’. Beautiful it ain’t. It’s a small place clustered around the sea front, spilling up a small hill where a motley collection of shops, two budget hotels, an internet café, one KFC, a Courts Mammoth, Maybank, a supermarket and the mini van terminus can be found. Down the slope by the sea there are fish markets (upsettingly selling manta rays, blue spotted rays and sharks amongst the usual tuna etc.,) lots of small rickety wooden stalls with people selling water melons, small plastic bags of tomatoes, durian, bananas, rambutans, small piles of chillies, ginger and the like. The road from the top of the town leads via a small roundabout with a rusting sculpture of a marlin in a circle down a small incline to the central market and wharf. The road is broken up, badly pot holed and largely comprises rough gravel. Partially open culverts run by the side of the roads.

The place stinks and you have to pick your way around gaping holes in the pavement and road, steel girders stretched across the pavement and road, debris from semi abandoned buildings and rubbish: decomposing food, dead animals and plastic bags abound. Several divers came a cropper on any one/combination of the above and hurt themselves – and this on land and not in the sea.

Opposite the wharf, there’s the Dragon Inn budget hotel, a collection of long houses on stilts in the sea. To the right of that is the somewhat posher Seafest Hotel and cafe. In between there’s a small collection of dive operations.

I arrived during Ramadan, a time when there are a lot of dusty fruit and veg stalls during the day but the supermarket is closed until 7pm. The KFC was not doing a great deal of business during the day either, though there is a large Chinese population in Semporna and they were not fasting and could be found sitting in the kedai kopi – coffee shops. After 6.30pm, the local Malays broke their fast and sat in open air restaurants watching violent movies whilst feral cats fought beside for scraps of food. The owner of the place I stayed at, Lees Rest House gave me his views on Semporna, but not first without complaining how hard it was to do business as a Chinese person in Malay society. I was told that there were many illegal Filipino people, as Mindanao, in the south of the Philippines is close by.

You may wonder, from my description of Semporna, why I stayed there. Simple: because this is the best place to stay to go diving around Sipadan. The alternatives are to go and stay in one of two very swish resorts on Mabul – too expensive for me – one quoted me £1,100 for 7 days’ diving and accommodation, and the other is even more expensive. Another option is to stay in a long house on Mabul, which I did think about as it would mean that I could sleep in a little until the dive boat arrived from Semporna, but, being a Beetle, I decided to stay in my small but clean and air con’d room at Lees Guest House for 40 Ringits a night – about £6 and that I could run the twice daily gamut of hisses and whistles from the local men whilst walking down to the dive shop and back. They’ve obviously not seen a Beetle before.

A small oasis in the town called Semporna is a dive shop called Scuba Junkies, complete with fury creature Ewok, a white gangling ball of walking fluffiness. I did 21 dives with Scuba Junkies over seven days and can recommend them whole heartedly; they were professional, safe and fun to be with. The diving around Sipadan more than made up for staying in Semporna, which faded into insignificance compared to the sharks, turtles and reef fish I saw.

Sipadan diving really is world class diving. One dive site called Barracuda Point has so many resting sharks on sandy slopes and turtles that it is easy to become blasé about them. We also saw small schools of barracuda too, and I saw two leopard sharks, my first sighting ever. March/April time there are sometimes schools of hammerheads sharks. At times there are so many turtles that you have to get out of their way as they ease of their ledges or move from sandy patches. This is not necessarily deep diving, you can see all you hope to at less than 25 metres; yes, sometimes, there were strong-ish currents but nothing too difficult and on top of the reef at between 9 and 5 metres there was always a myriad of hundreds of reef fish.

There’s macro diving too, if that is your thing. I felt so in awe of the ‘big stuff’ around Sipadan that I did not want to miss out on that so only made three macro dives around Mabul. On one dive, around the pillars supporting an old oil exploration rig that is now the Sea Ventures floating hotel, at around 12 metres underneath a pile of iron girders is the most enormous moray eel I have ever seen. He is called Elvis, though I don’t know why. On the macro dives, we saw frog fish, scorpion leaf fish, juvenile sweetlips and there are sea horses, though I did not see one.

All of the photos in this article were kindly given to the Beetle by Tino, dive instructor, and one of the owners of Scuba Junkies.

We had just finished a fantastic evening barbecue at our Kakadu hostel. Most of us were settling in for an evening of drinking, talking and fighting off insects around the camp fire.

“Come on everyone, let’s go croc spotting” the hostel host said enthusiastically.

“Croc spotting?” someone exclaimed “but it’s night time?”

“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to” he said somewhat disheartened before adding. “I just thought you’d like to! Kakadu is another world at night!”

He paused to think of what else he could say to sway those hesitant.

“You don’t know when you will be back? But I’ll leave it up to you. I will be leaving in 10 minutes which will give you enough time to grab a jumper, a torch and put on a pair of walking shoes. Therefore, if you decide to come, you can meet me at the hostel gate”.

I already knew that I wanted to go night croc spotting. After all, I didn’t come all this way to miss out on anything. Off we headed into the darkness, a mini bus-load of city dwellers led by a bearded, bare-footed reptile lover along a moon lit dirt track in search of salt-water crocodiles. After a 15 minute walk which involved brief stops to look at the local flora and fauna including a spider which could have easily slapped someone with one of its huge legs, we arrived at a causeway.

“This is close enough I think” said our host. The causeway can be crossed by foot during the dry season, but as we weren’t quite in this season yet the causeway still had water rushing over it. Apparently it was a great fishing area. Unfortunately, we were told that only the week before a young boy was taken by a crocodile while fishing with his father here.

Our host spotlighted the causeway with his torch. We were about 50 feet away from it. A long, rough, grey croc tail disappeared over some rocks. This brought gasps of ‘wow’. It truly was an incredible sight to see a crocodile in its natural habitat. He then scanned the river with his torch.

“Look” he said excitedly “see those two orange snake eyes?”

I squinted into the darkness until I saw those two orange spots.

“Well that’s a croc” he said “and a bloody big one too”.

“How can you tell?” someone asked.

“The larger the eyes the bigger the croc. I’d say that one is at least 6 foot long, even more”.

“Wow” someone said. Wow seemed to be the word of the evening as most of us stumbled for words describe what we were seeing.

The area turned out to be mission control for our crocodile spotting. We all took turns standing next to our host looking at those illuminated, transparent, marble-like eyes. They were hypnotising. I felt like a kangaroo staring into some headlights.

More pairs of orange marbles appeared hovering in the darkness ahead of us. There must have been at least a dozen. No doubt, the buggers were thinking, food, succulent live food of all shapes and sizes, all waiting for an underwater roll. I was glad they were all over there and we were here.

“Have you ever smelt croc before?” our host suddenly asked.

“No” someone said, and I thought, I don’t think I want to.

“Can you smell that briny, salty water smell?”

I stuck my nose out into the darkness and let the smell fill my nostrils. It was an odour I was familiar with. It was similar to the smell of drying seaweed on a beach. Yeah I can smell that briny, salty water smell which intensified the longer I smelt it. No cause for alarm though I thought, after all, we have kept our distance.

“RUN” our host yelled.

It took a few seconds for what our host just said to register, but when it did, I and everyone else joined our host high tailing it back up the track. Whether this was a joke or not I am not sure. However, if you take a trip into Kakadu and your host of the hostel asks you to come for a walk to do some night croc spotting make sure you stay behind him at all times.

When we were younger, there was a TV program called Daktari. It was about a family in Africa, who looked after and raised many different types of orphaned wild animals. As kids we loved it and I remember getting deeply emotionally attached to the different animals.

Subsequently, having grown up in the bush in Africa and through my work as a ranger, I have taken care of many orphaned animals, all the way from small bush babies, giraffes, elephants and lions – even injured birds that had flown into power lines or windows.

My wife, Michèle also used to watch Daktari in France where she grew up. Already then she vowed to live in Africa one day and to look after animals herself. Her dream came true when we met on a game reserve, and she was able to assist in hand-raising a baby zebra which had been attacked by lions, an orphaned wildebeest, and two small orphaned warthogs whose mother had been killed by lions. Since then, there have been many more…

A very good friend is a quadriplegic. The joy he had (and us!) when we spent time together and he was able to help in raising these animals inspired an idea. We learnt, through our friend, that there is always a way to ‘make a plan’ so that he could assist in much of the day to day work needed to look after the animals. We rose to the challenge and modified or altered tools so that he could assist the animals nevertheless! Thus ‘making a plan’ is central to what Daktari is about.

The idea took shape and eventually we decided to set up a charity where people from all walks of life, underprivileged, handicapped or simply in need of a break or an adventure could have the opportunity of caring for animals in need and learn about nature. At Daktari they will all work together as one team – we will not segregate by race, religion, ideology or physical condition.

We have set ourselves a great challenge: our aim is to give people a chance to make themselves useful, to show them that they are needed, encourage them to take responsibility and let them be proud of their work and contribution to conservation. At the same time we want to offer animals a chance to survive in a world where nature has to retreat more and more in the face of human development. Hence, ‘doing good’ to people and animals is equally important to us. If every person on this planet has these two simple tenets, perhaps the world will be a better place to live in?

Daktari is not run by amateurs – it is run by experienced people who, if they do not know what to do, know whom to ask! It is run by people who have a common dream – and have the love and dedication to do it. For us, Daktari is a chance to share our world and some of the magical experiences that we have had in the bush over the years with others and it is thus immensely rewarding. It is a great character building experience for anyone that joins us and we hope that many more projects like this are started in the rest of the world and that our visitors share the knowledge and experiences they have gained!

Daktari is situated near the Kruger Park in South Africa, on a private reserve of 700 hectares, containing numerous plains game, but none of the “big five”. The closest town is Hoedspruit in the Limpopo Province. In the area there are many attractions, game drives in big five reserves, hot air ballooning, white water rafting, tours to the Kruger Park, reptile park, rehab centres, cheetah breeding project, Blyde River Canyon and many more!

We would be more than happy to tell you more about the project, and our accommodation (Daktari no longer rent out accommodation.) – just email or call. If you would like to get involved in the project – any help is greatly appreciated! Contact details are on our web page: http://africanorphanage.com

If, like the Beetle, you are travelling in a Muslim country, you should be aware that it is Ramadan, which started 5^th October. Ramadan is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Many Muslims regards Ramadan as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. Fasting in Ramadan is obligatory for those who can do it, so people who are ill and pregnant women for example are exempted from the fast but must make it up as they are able.

The third “pillar” of (Sunni) Islam is fasting and is believed to have many benefits including a means of learning self-control and going without food and drink during the daylight hours is felt to improve one’s spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadan is also a time of intense worship, reading the Quran, giving charity, purifying one’s behaviour, and doing good deeds.

The daily period of fasting starts when the sun comes up and ends when the sun sets. In between this time, Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke or have sex. Many people to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset. In Brunei, where the Beetle has just finished working, working hours are cut short, with people leaving at 3pm to allow the women to prepare the evening meal. Many people have relatives and friends over during Ramadan to share their evening meal.

The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of special spiritual power as everyone tries to come closer to God through devotions and good deeds. The night on which the Quran was revealed to the Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. The Quran states that this night is better than a thousand months. Many Muslims spend the entire night in prayer. During the month, Muslims try to read as much of the Quran as they can. Some spend part of their day listening to the recitation of the Quran in a mosque. Some spend the last ten days of Ramadan in a mosque devoting the whole ten days for worshipping God.

You should be respectful to those fasting during Ramadan, and this includes not eating in front of a person who is fasting or asking them to join you in food or drink during fasting hours.

A group of US researchers at Cornell University have identified a novel approach to conservation called Pleistocene wilding.  They have developed an initiative that involves placing lions, cheetahs, elephants and camels in some parts of North America.

The plan would help endangered African animals while offer ecotourism and land-management jobs to help the struggling economies of the Great Plains and Southwest as well as helping to maintain ecosystems and boost biodiversity.

During the Pleistocene age, between 1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago, North America was home to a wide range of mega fauna.  When man arrived around 13,000 years ago he hunted the American cheetah and a type of camel to extinction.  The disappearance of these extinct creatures has left gaps in the ecosystem.  The pronghorn, for example, which exists today, an antelope-like animal for example has lost its natural predator. 

By introducing living counterparts to the extinct animals, the researchers say, these voids could be filled. So, by introducing free-ranging African cheetahs to the Southwest, strong interactions with pronghorns could be restored, while providing cheetahs with a new habitat.  Other living species that could “stand in” for Pleistocene-era animals in North America include feral horses, wild asses, Bactrian camels, Asian and African elephants and lions.

“Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators,” said lead author Josh Donlan, of Cornell University. “There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realising predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions.” Dr Donlan said that large tracts of private land are probably the most promising place to start, with each step carefully guided by the fossil record and the involvement of experts and research.

“We are not advocating backing up a van and letting elephants and cheetah out into the landscape,” he said. “All of this would be science driven.”