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Borneo, an Introduction on the Island

Spotting Borneo on a world atlas, you may well believe it is a small island among a chaos of other islands and peninsulas half-way between Eastern Asia and Australia. Borneo, however, is no islet. The third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea, it sits right on the Equator, like a graceless animal raised on its haunches. It covers close to 750,000 sq. km (over 285,000 sq. miles), almost twice the size of the state of California, or over three times that of Great Britain, or again one-and-a-half times that of France. At its greatest length, it extends over more than 1,300km.

Formation

Only with a closer look at a map ot Southeast Asia (see: Map 1), do you realize how large Borneo is and that it forms a solid center of gravity to the surrounding Malayan Peninsula, and Indonesian and Philippine Archipelagoes? In its southwestern part, 400-million-year-old rocks crop out, part of the ancient Sundaland continent that once included the Malay Peninsula and parts of Sumatra and Java. The rest of the island is built of marine sediments of the South China and Java Seas.

The whole of Sundaland emerged again as dry land during the last Ice Age, some 18,000 years ago, whereas the regions located farther East. including Sulawesi, remained an archipelago. Borneo became definitively an island when the icecaps melted and the sea level rose after the end of the Ice Age, and its coastline reached its present shape about 8,000 years ago.

Erosion and volcanic activity shaped the morphology of the island, leaving a central axis of mountains extending to the northern tip. where the huge massif of the Kinabalu reaches up over 4,100m (13,450 feet), making Borneo the highest land between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Lower mountain ranges, with some peaks reaching over 2,000m, like the Bukit Raja in the Schwanet-Range, alternate with the large alluvial plains of the Kapuas, Barito-Kahayan, Mahakam, and of Sarawak (see: Map 2).

Powerful rivers, like the 1,300-km-long Kapuas, rush down the mountains, then wander widely through the low plains, creating large shallow lakes, finally reaching the marshy coast where they build huge deltas. The tidal influence is felt far upriver. As there are but few roads, rivers are the main communication axes between the coasts and the hinterland, although their irregular flow, between spates and droughts, considerably hinders navigation.

Climate

Borneo has one of the worlds highest rainfalls. Its northern half is affected by two monsoons, that from the Northeast from October through March, and that from the Southwest from May through August. Kuching receives a yearly rainfall of over 4m (160 inch). In the Southwest, rainfall is lower in coastal districts (2.5m or 100 inch), increasing northwards to reach locally 5m in the center of the island. Boston, in comparison, has an annual rainfall of about 1m, Rainfall accounts for an erosion rate up to 100 times that of temperate countries, and the rivers carry a tremendous amount of silts and clays. High rainfall, an average day temperature of 270C (800F), and 85% humidity have earned Borneo the reputation of being one of the great "green hells" of this planet. It holds the second largest tropical rainforest in the world after Amazonia, with forests covering over 500,000 sq. km.

Flora

The main forest type in Borneo, the mixed Dipterocarp forest, lying below 500m elevation, features a high leaf canopy of huge trees (up to 6mm at places), with an intricate network of lianas and vines hanging over a dark, damp milieu which, due to the faintness of the light permeating, has but little undergrowth. It is the most complex terrestrial ecosystem in the world, with as many as 800 different species of trees in the same plot, and about 11,000 species of flowering plants. Montane forest shows a lower leaf canopy and, above 1,000m, the perenget forest displays a one-meter-thick mattress of moss covering the ground and thin tree trunks. Other, more local, forest types are the freshwater swamp forest and the mangrove forest in coastal or river delta areas.

Low-fertility, red or yellow acidic, lateritic soils do not, as in Java. receive the fertilizing input of volcanic ashes, When the rainforest has been felled, a lower, more open, secondary forest with distinct species grows. Excessive deforestation and intensive cultivation exhaust the soil and produce sterile grasslands. Outstanding among Borneo flora are innumerable species of bamboo. rattans, and other palms. various wild fruits, many species of orchids, the insect-catching pitcher-plant, the huge Rafflesia flower, and the commercially - valuable wild rubber, resin, and incense trees.

Fauna

The local fauna belongs to the Asian set, as Borneo was part of the Sundaland continent, and it does not include such eastern species as Marsupials or Birds of Paradise. Instead, the well-known hornbills, prominent among the bird fauna, have become Borneo's symbol. Wild cattle, two-horned rhinoceros, clouded leopards, lemurs, and a number of apes and monkeys, such as orang-utans, long-nosed proboscis monkey, gibbons, and leaf-monkeys, are typical of the mammal fauna, as is the famous Mahakam river dolphin.

Game is plentiful, with deer and white-bearded boars that can reach 200kg. The tiger and the elephant, which came rather late from mainland Southeast Asia, found Borneo already an island and could not diffuse here. Some elephants, however, were brought into Sabah in the 19th century and went wild. Among reptiles and amphibians are big tortoises and freshwater turtles, crocodiles, ten-meter-long pythons, rare poisonous cobras, large monitor lizards, and the bizarre flying lizards and frogs. An amazingly large insect fauna still leaves the entomologists thousands of new species to discover. Borneo's forests, however, prove surprisingly safe to the traveler, and the main plague remains the leeches.

Borneo: An introduction on the island, Historical background of Borneo, The populations of Borneo.