Kinabatangan river snakes through Northern Borneo like a…snake. The jungles that hug its margins are oozing with wildlife, including snakes. Cruising down the river is on the to-do list of most people that travel to Borneo, including people that want to see snakes. I’ve been lucky enough to travel by boat down the river twice. I saw a snake.
I also saw crocodiles, proboscis monkeys, all manner of kingfisher, hornbills, orangutans, leopard cats and elephants. I once even saw an over excited pig-tailed macaque leap onto a tree with a big bulbous knob on its trunk. The knob seemed quite frightened, and promptly flew over our boat, revealing that it was in fact not a knob, but a colugo (or the moronically named “flying lemur” which 1) can’t fly [it glides] and 2) is not a lemur).
It’s as if all the animals from the the surrounding forests have been jam packed against the river, and in a way they have. The expansion of oil palm plantations has pushed wildlife up into the remaining riverside forests, creating a boon for wildlife tourists.
(If you want to read a bit more about Kinabatangan River, see what it looks like and look at an absolutely amazing piece of photojournalism that captures the plight of pygmy elephants in Kinabatangan’s oil palm encroached forests, you should follow this link to Ben Cherry’s website).
The shrinking of forest, unsurprisingly, is not so good for wildlife. But this is actually a tale of wooooooooooos rather than woes. In the video below, El Capititano himself, Sir David Attenborough, tells an optimistic story about how construction of a major bridge set to threaten a portion of forest alongisde the Kinabatangan has been cancelled.
A bit of background if you want it: this bridge was being funded by the federal government of Malaysia, would have been about 350 m long and was being built to connect the village of Sukau to Litang and Tomanggong. Conservationists were worried because the bridge would have bissected a remaining stronghold of pygymy elphants, brought traffic into the region and increased accessibility of poachers and illegal loggers to this key forest.
Worried about the impending construction of the bridge, David Attenborough wrote a letter directly to Chief Minister of the region, which the Guardian then made public.
He said: “I have had many encounters with the magnificent and unique species with which your state is blessed. If this construction is allowed to go ahead, I am left in no doubt that the bridge will have significant negative effects on the region’s wildlife, the Kinabatangan’s thriving tourism industry and on the image of Sabah as a whole.”
Steve Backshall also piped up, saying:
“My concerns about the bridge in the Kinabatangan are that it would provide easier access into forests that will then be more accessible for logging, poaching, slash-and-burn agriculture and palm oil plantations. These fragile forests are on a knife-edge – any tiny negative influence could have brutal effects.”
“I’ve been travelling to the Kinabatangan for 25 years, and I’ve seen how it is changing. The gallery forest that flanks the river is critical as a wildlife corridor between existing forest reserves, and it’s frightening how close to the river the plantations are now getting. The river forests need to remain unbroken, to allow the dispersal and free movement of iconic species like orangutans and pygmy elephants. I can’t think of anywhere on the planet where so much can be achieved through the purchase of such small areas of land.”
Together, the media storm that ensued from this Guardian piece brought global focus onto this construction project. Not long afterwards, a government official announced that the project had been cancelled. He said that:
“The chief minister of Sabah has taken everyone’s views into consideration – including Sir David’s – before deciding on this very important issue, and I am pleased to say that balanced development has prevailed.”
What did Sir David have to say? As you can imagine, he was pretty chuffed.
“I am immensely pleased to hear that plans to build a bridge at Sukau have been cancelled. This region is recognised worldwide as being a vital enclave for threatened wildlife, and it is indeed good news that the safe passage of orangutans, pygmy elephants and other endangered wildlife will not be threatened by the bridge and all that would have come with it. The decision will [also benefit] the local people who welcome visitors who come to see the wonderful biodiversity of their forests.”
Watch him tell how the story unfolded below.
