Marty’s photo of the day #3940: This is the waterfall Deb and I had to climb up alongside to begin our epic backpacking trip with the Iban tribe in Borneo. The two of us were only the third outsiders to ever hike the Red Ape Trail (an old Iban hunting trail). Our adventure included losing […]
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Tag: Borneo
The Thinker
Borneo Mushrooms
From the island of Borneo
Marty’s photo of the day #3874: I generally do not post photos of plants or animals that I haven’t identified. I am making the exception today. I photographed this alien-looking flower while backpacking with the Iban tribe on the island of Borneo. I am pretty sure, however, that if you touch the flower, it will […]
End of the River, Borneo
Marty’s photo of the day #3851: This is the end of the navigable AI River in Borneo. It was here that Deb and I stepped out of our canoes and embarked on an epic backpacking trip with the Iban tribe. We were only the third outsiders ever to hike the Red Ape Trail, and our […]
Hangin’ with an orangutan
From a Borneo Night Hike
Marty’s photo of the day #3811: Night hikes in rainforests always bring out creatures that make you say, “What the fuck is that!” This is a long-legged centipede, photographed on a Borneo night hike.
Kuching at night
Marty’s photo of the day #3804: The city of Kuching, in the state of Sarawak, in the country of Malaysia, on the island of Borneo—at night.
Borneo elephants
Orangutans
Borneo assassin bug
Tiger leeches attack!
Marty’s photo of the day #3677: When Deb and I backpacked through the rainforest of Borneo, tiger leeches, posed like this one, were an uncommon sight. That’s because we usually didn’t see them until they grabbed onto us, worked their way through our socks, and started draining us of our blood. Fortunately, tiger leeches don’t […]
Borneo stick insect
Marty’s photo of the day #3644: Here’s one of the many stick insects I photographed while backpacking in the rainforest of Borneo.
Orangutans vs Republicans
Marty’s photo of the day #3610: While on the island of Borneo, I watched two baby orangutans comfort each other, when they wandered too far from the orangutan rehabilitation facility and became lost in the dark. Meanwhile, in Montana, our Republican governor and legislature have passed bills taking away women’s rights, taking away trans rights, […]
Orangutan close-up
Marty’s photo of the day #3606: Here’s a big male orangutan, I photographed on the island of Borneo.
Borneo Mushrooms
Land leeches and crabs
Marty’s photo of the day #3578: Growing up in northern Minnesota, I learned that leeches and crabs lived in lakes and rivers. In Borneo’s rainforests, that’s not always the case. Leeches would get into my socks as I backpacked, and if I looked carefully, I’d occasionally find crabs staring at me from large leaves.
How’s the war?
Marty’s photo of the day #3564: This excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, tells the story: Our adventure began on Friday, April 11, 2003, when we landed at Kuching Airport. Our guide, Bayang, picked us up with the Borneo Adventure van. He was a muscular, round-faced man in […]
Maroon langur
Marty’s photo of the day #3561: This is a maroon langur, photographed on the island of Borneo. I’ll never forget hiking through the rainforest during the heat of the day, and finding them draped over branches, like clothes drying on a line.
Nanga Sumpa
Marty’s photo of the day #3551: For anyone who has read my latest book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer, this is Nanga Sumpa, the Iban longhouse that Deb and I raced the flooding deep-canyon river to get to. In Borneo, entire tribes live in a single longhouse, and when […]