Conquering Kinabalu!

We made it! Russell and I summitted Mt Kinabalu here in Borneo in the early hours of Sunday morning. Now I can barely walk...

Timmy celebrates on top of Mt Kinabalu!

I flew from KL on Thursday night and after a massive delay from a forced stop in Brunei, due to a combination of typhoon winds and a bird strike to one of the engine, landed in Kota Kinabalu at around 2.20am Friday morning. I met up with Russell and Tanith the next morning and we spent the day exploring the town and the surrounding islands. Russell and I were disappointed to found our booking to climb the mountain had fallen through so we thought we wouldn't be able to climb as planned. But we headed out to the mountain on Saturday morning anyway and through a little use of "African Economics" we secured a booking at one of the lodges for later that night.

My Kinabalu rises to around 4100m, not that high, but you are starting from close to sea level. The first day's climb wasn't too strenuous, though the change in altitude was still felt quite heavily. That night we rose again at 2.30am to attack the summit in time for sunrise. It was bitterly cold! I was totally unprepared, with only a long sleeve Heli and a cheap hooded tracksuit top. I have never been so cold. Despite that though, we made it up just in time to watch the sun appear over Borneo. It was gorgeous. We were very lucky as the weather had stopped people summitting for the previous 3 nights in a row.

Russell and I at the summit marker.

Russell in front of one of the most recognisable of Mt Kinabalu's granite peaks, with Borneo stretched out behind.

After staying up there just long enough to snap a few photos we dashed down the mountain search of warmth. And I'm not joking about the dashing. After only allowing me ten minutes at the lodge to defrost, Russell then had me run down the entire mountain along very steep rocky paths. We were the first people back to park headquarters by a few hours! And that's why I still can't walk up a flight of stairs without nearly crying. That afternoon we visited the Hot Springs and got a chance to see the rare Raffleasia flower.

Tanith shows her dislike of the fly attracting properties of the Raffleasia, the world's biggest flower.

We're now in Sandakan on the east coast of Borneo. Tomorrow morning we head out to the Turtle Islands for a night to see some hatchings. After that we'll visit the Orangutan reserve at Sepilok. Then its off to the jungle for me for a few days before I meet up with Tanith and Russell again in Semporna where I'll get the chance to dive the famous sites of Palau Sipadan.