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Travel Features > Getting Around
Self-Drive Sarawak - Roads, Rivers and Rainforests
Mike Reed hits the road for a Borneo adventure on four wheels
Introduction
Borneo is famous for epic journeys. James Barclay's beautifully
understated title - 'A Stroll Through Borneo' - covers a six-month
trek from one side of the island to the other. Eric Hansen's 'Stranger
In The Forest' has the author trading shotgun cartridges for food
with the nomadic Penans, and Redmond O'Hanlon's 'Into The Heart
Of Borneo' describes the hardships and hilarity experienced by
two out-of-condition academics on the trail of the Sumatran Rhinoceros.
What all of these books - and many, many more - have in common
is that they all portray travel in Borneo as a fascinating experience,
packed with bizarre encounters, pleasant (and sometimes unpleasant)
surprises, and the sheer charm and generosity of the people.
The romance of a great Borneo journey has drawn adventurers to
this island for centuries, and still they continue to come, each
seeking his or her own personal experience of the rainforest,
the rivers and the remarkable people. However, not many of us
can afford to spend six months of our busy lives immersing ourselves
in a journey of self-fulfilment. Instead, we have to snatch brief
glimpses of other people's lives and cultures when our schedules
and our wallets permit it. This is why this article proposes a
great heresy, unthinkable to the bold adventurers of the past,
and anathema to the so-called modern traveller who seeks hardship
for hardship's sake. It suggests that one of the finest Borneo
journeys of all can be made from behind the wheel of a car.
Driving through Borneo is not as ludicrous an idea as it may sound,
particularly through Sarawak, which has a useful and generally
well-maintained road network. The Pan Borneo Highway runs through
the state, from Sematan in the south-west as far as Kuala Baram,
gateway to Brunei, in the north. The best section of the road
for a real journey of exploration and discovery is the 860 km
stretch between Kuching, the state capital, and Miri, Sarawak's
second largest town. Many Sarawakians travel this stretch regularly,
and most would expect to cover the distance in twelve to fourteen
hours, with the occasional speed-freak claiming to be able to
beat the ten hour mark. But that's hardly surprising, as they're
just getting from A to B.
What I'm suggesting, if you want to really see Sarawak, is a leisurely
journey of a week or more. Of course, it could last a month, because
many of the stops are well worth spending a few days at, and there
are plenty of alternative stopovers. The itinerary below is very
laid back, with only half a day behind the wheel on each stage,
to give you plenty of time to explore when you reach your destination.
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