Category: Asia & Pacific

When most people think of Nepal, they are dreamily transported to a rugged land of jaw-dropping alpine splendor, gargantuan peaks that seem to poke holes in the firmament, and age-old Himalayan cultures draped in prayer flags and bathed in the sweet aroma of incense. But there’s another side of Nepal that might surprise you.

South of the Annapurnas, the stunningly beautiful terrain drops to the Inner Terai Lowlands and Plains. These are among Nepal’s lowest valleys—some of them at just 330 feet in elevation. Unlike the more temperate mountain climate of higher valleys, this region has a subtropical feel. And its centerpiece is Chitwan National Park, a vast jungle teeming with dense forest and a rich array of wildlife. The park was established in 1973 as a last-ditch attempt to save the wild rhino, whose numbers had dwindled to only 95. Since then, the park’s focus has broadened to embrace and protect all wildlife, including more than 500 bird species and 67 varieties of butterflies. In 1984, the park earned its place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, it is home to 43 species of mammals.

Its undisputed star is also its most elusive creature: the Bengal tiger. On safari with Discovery Tours, you’ll set out in search of this big cat, but admittedly we’re more likely to see the one-horned rhinoceros, the deer-like chital, the massive gaur cattle, and the black antelope – all of them equally enchanting. Our mode of transportation is as thrilling as the game we seek: we’ll climb aboard the park’s elephants and be led by its skilled trainers. High atop your lumbering elephant’s back, you will witness the dense grassland from a unique perspective, keeping watch with your guides for movement in the bush. It is a thrilling experience unlike any other.

Discovery Tours travelers also have the chance to explore the wilderness at ground level. During a relaxing safari along the Narayani River – by boat or canoe, your choice – aquatic birds watch us drift with the current. We often see mugger crocodiles and gharials, an endangered croc species with an extremely thin snout, basking on the river’s shores. We’ll also have the rare opportunity to explore by foot with a trained, eagle-eyed guide. Treading with such a light footprint brings the glorious details of Chitwan into focus, from its tiny white-throated kingfisher to its mighty fish eagle to its towering broadleaf Sal, the trees favored by the Hindu god Vishnu.

Explore the other side of Nepal with Gate 1 Travel today!

Despite all the cultural riches, sacred temples, and magnificent beauty of Nepal, the country is best known as the home of the highest peak on the planet, Mt. Everest—or, as the locals know it, Sagarmatha, Goddess of the Sky.

Discovery

It’s hard to believe that such a behemoth was officially discovered by Western eyes by accident. Back in the 1800s, British mapmakers undertook the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. By the time they reached the Himalayan foothills, they were denied entry into Nepal because of political suspicion. Alas, the cartographers would have to set up their instruments as far as 150 miles away from the peaks they wished to measure.

From their perspective, they had a clear view of the peak known as Kangchenjunga, then believed to be the highest in the world. But as the cartographer peered more closely into the lens of his giant theodolite – his trusty 1,000-pound surveying instrument – he thought he saw another peak behind it. That was 1847. Over the next several years, the team tackled the problem from other angles, moving farther east along the Nepalese border to capture a total of 30 measurements. Over many seasons, data and numbers were analyzed and calculated. Factors such as light refraction and barometric pressure were accounted for. Nine years later, in 1856, the still-cautious British Surveyor General of India Andrew Waugh proclaimed the 29,029-foot Everest (then simply known as “Peak XV”) “most probably the highest in the world.” He named it for his predecessor, former Surveyor General George Everest.

Conquest

Just as the British discovered it for the Western world, so the British would climb it. So went the thinking in 1920s Britain. However, as Nepal was still guarding its borders, expeditions had to ascend the north face from Tibet. A 1922 trek marked the first time a human had exceeded 8,000 meters in altitude (26,247 feet). But that climb ended tragically when seven porters got swept away in an avalanche. Just two years later, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine set off to the summit but never returned. To this day no one knows whether they reached the top, though Mallory’s body was found in 1999 about 2,075 feet short of it.

Undeterred by repeated failed attempts, British millionairess and socialite Lady Lucy Houston funded a flyover of the summit in 1933, led by the Lord Clydesdale (soon to be the 14th Duke of Hamilton). Her rather misguided intention was for him to plant the British Union Flag at the peak. Exactly how to deploy the flag from the poor duke’s aircraft was never thoroughly planned. Lord Clydesdale knew better and was satisfied enough to pilot the first flight over Everest and the highest flight ever attempted. In addition, with such harsh altitude conditions, his experience illustrated the urgency to develop pressurized cabins in aircrafts. He returned home a hero.

It wasn’t for another 20 years that Edmund Hilary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay successfully reached the summit. Nepal had opened its borders only a year earlier. Swiss and British teams were the first to climb the southern face and their literal trail-blazing and route-finding guided the pair. News of their successful ascent arrived in London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, June 2, 1953. One of her first orders of business as queen was to knight Sir Edmund and proclaim him a founding member of the Order of New Zealand. Forty-three years later in 1996, Jon Krakauer put the mountain back in the world spotlight with his bestselling account of his ascent, Into Thin Air.

During our Himalayan Kingdoms: Nepal & Bhutan program, you’ll meet an Everest climber who has followed in the steps of Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay … all the way to the mountain’s summit. Click here to learn more!

It’s been said that the wildest, most untouched corners of the world are home to the most welcoming people. Surely that must be said of Malaysian Borneo. There is magic here—high in the treetops, infused in the walls of tribal longhouses deep in the jungle, in the inviting kampong, or coastal villages, surrounding Sarawak and Sabah, and in the dark and dewy eyes of the Bornean orangutan. And you can experience it all during our new Borneo, Nature, Diversity & Grace tour.

First, a Bit of Geography

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world. Many imagine that it is a nation unto itself. Instead, the island is shared between three nations. Indonesia controls the southern three-fourths or so. The tiny nation of Brunei (about 1% of the landmass) hugs the north central coast. The rest—a strip of forest-draped land that seems to want to shove Brunei into the South China Sea—belongs to Malaysia. Our adventure focuses on Malaysian Borneo.

A Brief History

The Dayak people are some of Borneo’s original inhabitants. As Asia’s more advanced people took to the seas, they descended on the island for camphor, ivory, beeswax, rattan, edible bird’s nests and other exotic goods for trade back home. During its early years, Indians and Javanese also found their way here. Later, India and China operated trading posts on Borneo for some 800 years.

The colonial era witnessed the coming and going of Portuguese, British, Spanish, Dutch, American and even German interest. But it was the British and Dutch whose presence had the most lasting impact, with today’s border between Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively, closely resembling the one formed in the 19^th century by those colonies. Indeed, British Borneo (today’s Malaysia) fell under the Crown until the Japanese waged a cruel campaign and occupation during World War II.

At war’s end, it was the Australians who helped locals take back Borneo from its occupiers. The island was liberated in 1945. During the second half of the 20^th century, the road to becoming part of the Malaysian confederation was long and fraught with intrigue, strained alliances, and populous uprisings. In 1963, the Malaysia Agreement was signed, wrapping the former British territory into the Federation of Malaysia.

Rich Cultures, Unspoiled Beauty

Today, the states of Sarawak in the south and Sabah in the north comprise Malaysian Borneo.

Sophisticated Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, retains many of its British and Chinese accents, from the Tua Pek Kong Temple to the St. Thomas Cathedral. But it is most renowned as the gateway to some of the island’s most breathtaking natural beauty. The magnificent tropical forests of Batang Ai National Park surround a 9.3-square-mile lake, a tranquil habitat for orangutans, gibbons and hornbills.  Farther north, the spectacular Gunung Mulu National Park, a true equatorial rainforest and UNESCO World Heritage Site, is famed for its countless caves carved over millennia into dramatic karst formations. Our small group ventures into the Deer & Lang Caves, home to many bat species, the Wind Caves with its dramatic stalactites and stalagmites, and the Clearwater Cave, the largest cave system in the world.

In the north, the coastal city of Kota Kinabalu is the capital of Sabah state. This important Malaysian city was named for Mount Kinabalu. Its jagged peaks tower over Kinabalu Park, one of the world’s most biologically diverse spots. More than 5,000 plant species and 90 mammals thrive here and it is recognized as a Center for Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia. A visit to the Mountain Garden showcases some of rarest species in the world, including the Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid.

A Glimpse of Traditional Living

One of the most remarkable experiences in Malaysian Borneo is visiting a longhouse, a traditional tribal dwelling that could be many yards in length. These structures, able to accommodate an entire village under one roof, appear simple on the surface but were actually quite genius in their design for jungle living. Because they are raised off the ground on stilts, livestock can be sheltered underneath and, with fencing, be protected from predators. During flooding, the living quarters stay dry and canoes can easily be launched. Circulation is provided by open areas underneath the home and by breezes coming into the elevated spaces.

Inside, a long wall extends the entire length of the building, creating a corridor on one side and individual living quarters, or bilik, each accessed by its own door, on the other. The kitchen, or dapor, is often in a small separate building, accessed from each apartment by a bridge, to prevent fires from spreading. Residents can sleep along the outer wall of the public corridor. Off the corridor, an open-air terrace might overlook the outdoors. You can witness one of these fascinating structures firsthand when you visit the Mengkak Longhouse of the Iban people.

There is much to explore in Borneo, from a gripping past to some of the most staggering natural beauty you’ll ever see. We hope you’ll join us uncover it all during our new Borneo, Nature, Diversity & Grace tour.

Peering into the deep, dark eyes of a Bornean orangutan, you’re likely to see a bit of yourself. It’s not your imagination playing tricks on you; this remarkable primate shares 97% of its DNA with humans. And though it’s unlikely that you’ll spot them in the wilds of Borneo (it is, sadly, on the critically endangered list), you will encounter them at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.

The “old man of the forest,” as the orangutan is called for its sage-like countenance, is the largest tree-dwelling animal on earth. Its rust-red coat is often shaggy, with hair that drapes long to the ground. Its arms can be as long as five feet and its facial expressions and body movements are famously human-like. And there’s another quality they share with us: intelligence. They might use spears to try to catch fish, leafy branches to swat away bees or to protect themselves from the rain, or a stick to scratch their backs.

Centers like Sepilok exist largely as a response to the deforestation of Borneo. Since the 1960s, forests have been stripped for timber and for palm oil, leaving the orangutan population decimated. Palm oil (used as a biofuel and in cooking oils and food and personal care products) is one of the most contentious issues on Borneo: Though its impact on the environment and on local species is clearly destructive, farmers rely on it as a basic source of income, providing employment to a large sector of Malaysians on the island. There are no easy answers to the issue that will satisfy both farmers and environmentalists, and governments have been slow to offer solutions. Some anthropologists believe that, if this trend continues, it is just a matter of a couple of decades before the Bornean orangutan is extinct.

Of course, Sepilok wants to prevent that. It opened its doors more than 50 years ago, in 1964, as the first rehabilitation center of its kind. Its naturalists rescue orphaned infants from logging sites and palm oil plantations, or they are taken in after they’ve been discovered to have been kept illegally as pets. After much day to day survival training in the reserve, they are released into the wild.

As awareness of this urgent issue increases, it is Sepilok’s hope that the Bornean orangutan population rebounds. Until then, its dedicated team does all it can to sustain this magnificent primate.

Visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center during Discovery Tours’ new Borneo, Nature, Diversity & Grace tour.

Birdsong transforms the canopy of the Borneo lowland rainforest into a symphony. Around you, the lush jungle foliage of Asia’s last great rainforest whispers in a Java Sea breeze. Home to 15,000 types of flowering plants, 3,000 kinds of trees, and 420 species of birds, this is one of the oldest rainforests in the world, spanning some 140 million years. But these aren’t the only superlatives that define Borneo: About 440 species of fish swim in its rivers, streams, and lakes and 221 types of mammals roam the forest floor. Since 2007, more than 100 new species have been discovered here. And its most famous resident—the Bornean orangutan, affectionately known as “the old man of the forest,”—shares 97% of its DNA with humans.

Here is the most profound observation we’ll share about Borneo: Exploring Batang Ai, Gunung Mulu, and Kinabalu National Parks, you will feel as if you are stepping back countless thousands of years. Indeed, the primeval world lives and breathes here still. Limestone spires reach to the skies like outreached fingers. Forests are dense with trees and other vegetation you’ve likely never seen. And primates sit or swing high in the canopy. If you can put aside the feeling that you are somehow out of place—or out of time—it is pure privilege to explore here.

And explore you will, during Discovery Tours’ new Borneo, Nature, Diversity & Grace tour. In our small group, you will have ample opportunity to get as close to this magnificent world as you’d like. Follow a plank boardwalk through a rainforest to the ancient Deer Caves, where if you’re lucky you will watch as a cloud of bats emerges from within. Walk among the dramatic stalagmites and stalactites of the Wind Caves. Explore Clearwater Cave, part of the largest cave system in the world, a network that stretches 138 miles.

You will also have the chance to meet some of the incredible creatures that call Borneo home. Meet the proboscis monkeys at a sanctuary in Labuk Bay, 400 acres of mangrove forest preserved for their protection. Endemic to the island, the unusual looking primate sports an oddly long nose. Long ago, their large bellies reminded locals of the Dutch colonizers, and so the monkeys earned the nickname orang belanda, or “Dutchman.” At the Sun Bear Conservation Center, see the world’s smallest bear. Only found in Southeast Asia, these adorable bruins are rescued and rehabilitated, threatened by deforestation and hunting.

Join us, and experience the spectacular natural world of Borneo for yourself!

It doesn’t take long to understand why Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s robust capital, is one of the most visited cities in the world. First, there is its remarkable diversity—a mix of Mughal, Moorish, Tudor, Neo-Gothic, Asian, Islamic and modern architecture. Then there are its charming shophouses, historic and colorful two-story structures in which merchants once sold wares on the ground floor and lived on the second with his family. As for culture, the city is awash with arts, from dance to sculpture and painting. But rising above it all is the city’s main draw and glittering centerpiece—the Petronas Twin Towers, soaring postmodern skyscrapers resembling a pair of rockets preparing for liftoff.

It is a spectacular achievement that a city so young could develop so quickly. KL, as it is sometimes called, was founded by a Malay chief with help from Chinese tin miners around 1857. Back then, just a few houses and shops lined the jungle-dense shores where the Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang Rivers meet. (To give you an idea of the city’s modest beginnings, its name translates into “muddy confluence of rivers”). The British ruled from the late 1800s, overseeing railway construction and spurring rapid growth. The harvesting of rubber in the early 1900s—used primarily to outfit the newly invented automobile—bolstered the city’s wealth and vitality further. Kuala Lumpur, except during the stagnant Japanese occupation during World War II, became an economic force, unbridled even more by its independence in 1957.

Today, Kuala Lumpur is unlike any other city in the world. This dizzying metropolis is renowned for its emerald-draped parklands dotted with banyan trees, gleaming skyline that conceals gigantic shopping malls, reverent mosques and temples, and sizzling street food served amidst incense-laced markets. One could say that KL is many things to many people, a rich amalgam where tradition and custom remain very much alive despite the pull of modern technology.

Indonesia’s lush volcanic landscapes are home to some of the world’s most fertile farmland. Indeed, farming is a tradition of which Indonesians are rightfully proud as the people here over the centuries have adapted the terrain to suit their needs and their culture, resulting in some of the most gracefully contoured land you’re likely to ever see. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the nation’s crops of rice and tea.

Jatiluwih’s Elegant Rice Fields

On the island of Bali, mountainous terrain once made it impossible to cultivate rice because the crop must be grown underwater. The solution, developed centuries ago, was not only brilliant, but also visually striking: to carve into the hillsides a series of stepped terraces that retain water in which the rice can flourish. Today, you will see these elegantly sculpted hills throughout Indonesia, and those at Jatiluwih are among the most magnificent and culturally significant.

The rice terraces on Bali are supported by a system known as subak, a form of communal irrigation based on the philosophical concept of “Tri Hita Karana.” This set of beliefs unites man and nature via the spirit world. The vast subak complex of canals and weirs includes temples built to honor the water spirit which, it is believed, so kindly gives of itself so that farmers can harvest their crops and locals can gain nourishment. In this benign spirit of giving, water must be shared democratically so that all can thrive – which the subak irrigation system accomplishes. It is one of the world’s most elegant and revealing instances in which cultural beliefs are manifested in man’s relationship to nature, earning many of Bali’s rice terraces and irrigation systems a place on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.

In your Discovery Tours small group, you will enjoy the privilege of walking among Jatiluwih’s astonishing and magical hills. A local farmer will accompany you, providing insight into a centuries-old farming tradition.

The Scenic Kemuning Tea Plantation

Meanwhile on Java, the slopes of Mount Lawu have been preserved in their natural and magnificent undulating state for the sake of another Indonesian crop – tea leaves. Here, at the Kemuning Tea Plantation, row up tidy row of tea bushes give the hills a terraced look.

The story of tea in Java is a bit complicated. The Dutch East India Company, which ruled Java for more than 300 years, shipped tea from Batavia (today’s Jakarta) long before the leaf was ever grown on the island, as the port city was often used as a collection and packing station for items being shipped to Europe from China and Japan. By the early 1600s, the Dutch dominated the tea market throughout Europe with their Far East leaves, but it wasn’t until 1684 that they planted the first Chinese tea bush on Java. But the plants didn’t take well to the environment, so the Dutch planters, taking a cue from England’s success with the Assam bush from India, replaced the Chinese seeds with Indian seeds in the mid-1800s. Java’s tea industry has flourished ever since.

Your small group will witness the bumper crop firsthand during a visit to Kemuning, surrounded by a rich green canvas of rolling hills.  During your visit, wander among the tea bushes as the plantation’s tea pickers pluck leaves around you and fill their canvas satchels to overflowing. You will see that the Dutch influence lingers here as you settle in for a cup of fresh tea at the Ndoro Donker Tea House, a quaint Dutch-colonial style house.

Witness Indonesia’s rice and tea cultures during our Indonesia: Java & Bali small group adventure.