Sumantri-Travel Experience article - Ulu Temburong Park - Brunei

Truly A kingdom of unexpected Treasures
By : Sumantri – Sheraton Utama Brunei Darussalam

A sun-washed jewel clenched between the South’s China Sea and North Borneo’s rainforest, the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam exudes the color and mystique. Bordered by the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak to the east and west respectively and Kalimantan, Indonesia to the south. Indeed, the word “Borneo “is an adaptation of the name “Brunei “by which entire island was once known.

My name’s Sumantri, Indonesian work with Sheraton Utama Brunei Darussalam, my wife Amirah is Malaysian and Arnold is Dutch he is trainees at Sheraton Utama Brunei Darussalam, three of us as a foreigner have great opportunity to explore Brunei by visiting Ulu Temburung Park.

Completed with mosquito repellent, comfortable appropriate cloths and shoes, drinking water, extra cloths, sun block, ID include sandwich for our lunch and not forgotten the camera our journey started as early as 6.00 am in the morning drive from the Sheraton Utama Hotel to Jetty at Jalan Residency, Bandar Seri Begawan which take 5 minutes, than continue to BANGAR by boat takes about 45 minutes along nipah palm and mangrove-lined estuaries, narrow winding creeks and through open water and reaching the Ulu Temburung National Park can involve up to two and half hours of pushing and pulling a long boat over a series of 23 upriver rapids. But aside from sheer beauty of site, its fantastic experience of just one entomologist who found over 400 species of beetle on a single tree in that area. After registered our name at the Ulu Temburong Park authority continue to the very Challenging journey. Well Physically and mentally is compulsory for this trip. All feelings combined together when we start step in to wooden walkway of this rainforest, exiting, scary, tiring, extra careful, wondering.

Ulu Temburong National Park occupies approximately 50.000ha of the Batu Apoi Forest Reserve. The park’s locality and steep, swampy terrain have limited human impact on the area and helped preserve its rich biodiversity. There are established forest trails through the park include 7 km of wooden walkways. A canopy walkway affords us a wonderful opportunity to observe the rainforest surprisingly diverse treetop ecosystem. We scream, we laugh, we share the joys, we succeed, we proud we celebrate and we wonder how wonderful this forest is truly a kingdom of unexpected Treasures