Photo: Vice President Gordon Ward greets Peter Jack, with (L) Rally Chairman, Jim Gordon and Press Officer John Dobson, along with Club Member Aubrey McElhinney (R)

Talk by Peter Jack on ‘Mountain climbing in Borneo’

Club Vice President Gordon Ward welcomed club members and explained that he was standing in for our President as he was unable to attend this weeks meeting. Gordon then introduced our speaker for the morning Mr. Peter Jack, our local triathlon competitor, mountain climber and 'Iron Man' champion, who was making a very welcome return to the club. This time Peter was giving a talk on his recent visit to Borneo and his 'stumble on the jungle'.
Peter began his talk by handing out some press cuttings (see link below) of his reports to the 'Limavady Chronicle' from his February 2012 trip to Borneo - a fantastic land of contrasts, adventure and breathtaking bio-diversity, all of which he amply proved over the course of the following 50 minutes or more.
Peter then set the background to his trip and gave some facts and figures about Borneo - these being;
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and the largest island of Asia. It is at the geographic centre of maritime South East Asia in relation to major Indonesian islands. It is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi and east of Sumatra. It has a population of 18.5 million and an area of 743,000 square kilometres. It is in the Malay Archipelago. It is divided among three countries Brunei and Malaysia in the north and Indonesia to the South. Approximately 73% of the island belongs to Indonesia. In the north the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak along with the federal territory of Labuan make up 26% of the island. There is the sovereign state of Brunei located on the North West coast and it comprises about 1% of the whole land area. It is home to one of the oldest rain forest in the world.
It is surrounded by the South China Sea. Its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah with an elevation of 4,095 meters i.e. 13,435 feet. Its longest river is 710 miles long. It has significant cave systems. Before sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age it was part of the mainland of Asia. It sits at 1 degree north from the equator.
The Borneo rainforest is 130 million years old. There are 15,000 species of flowering plants and 3,000 species of trees, 221 species of terrestrial mammals and 420 species of resident birds and also 440 freshwater fish species. The jungle includes the endangered Borneo Orangutan as well as the Asian Elephant, the Sumatran Rhinoceros, the Borneo Clouded Leopard and the Dayak Fruit Bat. Since 2007 a further 123 species have been discovered.
The island is blighted by heavy logging. Half the annual global tropical timber acquisition comes from Borneo. Plant Oil Plantations have been widely developed and are rapidly encroaching on the last remnants of primary rainforest
In relation to its history the British and Dutch controlled it back in the nineteenth century. The British North Borneo Company controlled part of it from 1882 to 1941 in Sabah, the bit where I visited. In the Second World War Japanese forces gained control, decimated many local populations and killed Malay intellectuals. The local Sultan was executed by the Japanese in 1944.
Headhunting was revived to deal with the Japanese invaders! Some of you may recall the Sandakan Death March. Only 6 of some 2,500 prisoners survived. The island was finally liberated in 1945 by the Allies from the Japanese.
There was a major confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia between 1962 and 1969. The British Army was again deployed. The Philippines tried to claim Sabah.
The population density is 26 inhabitants per square kilometre. In Tokyo it's 20,000!
The religion is mainly Muslim but 91% of the Dayak are Christian. There is a small Hindu minority. Thousands were killed in Kalimantan in 2001. Finally, it is the only island in the world which is divided administratively by three countries.

(Peter Jack)

Peter then went on to tell the members about his (and his other travel companions) adventures, hardships (watch out for leeches and were they can get to on your body!!!!) and the exhilaration of the climbs, views and living with the people of Borneo.
As all this was taken from the accounts he had prepared for the local newspaper, it's best to read the copies attached, rather then this writer's summary of the story.
So good and interesting was Peters talk, there was no time left for questions
A vote of thanks was proposed by Aubrey McElhinney who praised Peter for his entertaining, engaging and quite astounding tales of adventure, which only a real 'Iron Man' could deliver. This was passed on by the Vice President. The members showed their appreciation.

(Secretary, Mike Turner)

For a full account of Peter’s trip to Borneo, ‘click’ the link below...