BREAKING NEWS

Borneo Eco Tours is Finalist in the 2006 British Travel Awards

Borneo Eco Tours is proud to be one of the finalists in the 2006 British Travel Awards under the “Most Environmentally Re- sponsible Travel Company” category. The event was held at a dinner ceremony during WTM London and was attended by our General Manager/Director, Mr. Baton Bijamin.

“It is indeed a tremendous achieve- ment and a great honor to and for Borneo Eco Tours to be recognised in the high profile annual international British Travel awards”, said Datuk Irene B. Charuruks, General Manager of Sabah Tourism Board (see photo below). When asked to comment on receiving the two tourism awards during World Travel Mart WTM2006 in London, Baton said, “We are very honored indeed to be recognized as a world class company in this category. It carries with it a huge responsibility for us to set aside a part of our income each year to help conserve the environment and benefit the local communities that we work with”.

The British Travel Awards is an independent and unbiased annual event that recog- nizes and celebrates the very best travel companies serving Britain’s business and leisure travelers. It is also the largest and most glamorous event in the travel industry calendar, rewarding those in our industry who provide the very best to the UK consumer. The focus of the awards is on showcasing the best company within each sector of the travel industry and rewarding companies for excellence within their sec- tor. Companies from all sectors which participate are tour operators, travel agents, airlines, car rental compa- nies, cruise lines etc. Voting in the British Travel Awards is by both travel agents and consumers, ensuring in- tegrity and independence while providing a platform for participants to promote to a new and significant audi- ence. Please click www.britishtravelawards.com for more details.

Sukau Rainforest Lodge Voted as Highly Commended Small Hotel in the 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards Sukau Rainforest Lodge is proud to be chosen as one of two highly commended winners in “Best Small Hotel” category (below 50 rooms) in the 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards.

Voting is by worldwide consumers, who nominated their favourite most responsible small hotel based on their recent holiday experience. Winners were announced and presented with the awards on the 8th November during the World Travel Mart (WTM) London. On hand to receive the prestigious award was our General Manager/Director, Mr. Baton Bijamin.

Asked to comment on the award, Baton said “Against a stiff competition from a total of 1,200 nominations for 13 categories, it is a big achievement to be chosen as one of two highly commended winners and the only one from Asian countries. To think that ten years ago, most of our local staff at the lodge couldn’t speak English, they have indeed come a long way. It is a credit to them and this award is for them.” More details are available at link. 1 Borneo Eco Tours Hosts Clipper Odyssey Cruise’s Visit Borneo Eco Tours had the pleasure to host the visit of Clipper Odyssey Cruise, which is based in the US. The cruise ship made its call at Port on October 12th, 2006. More than 100 passengers and its crews were taken for a day trip to Tuaran and areas within the city vicinity. The next day, on October 13th, 2006 the cruise ship made its call at Port on the East Coast whereby the entire guests were taken to a tour to Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre to spot the fancy Orang Utans. Light refreshments were served at the English Tea House before the entire guests visited Agnes Keith’s House.

Albert Teo Appointed as Adjunct Lecturer Edith Cowan University, Perth recently announced the appointment of our Managing Director, Mr. Albert Teo as Adjunct Lecturer for a period of three years from October 2006. According to the Professor Ross Dowling, Foundation Professor and Head of Tourism, School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure, Faculty of Business & Law, this is the first ever appointment in the department. Albert Teo has since 2006 been invited to lecture to the tourism students and lead in several field trips both in Australia and Malaysia. Albert was invited in October 2006 as a keynote speaker at the 2nd international Australian Wildlife Conference at Freemantle, Australia.

Albert Teo Speaks at Two International Conferences

Albert Teo was invited to speak at the 4th Asia Pacific Ecotourism Conference APeco2006 (2nd-5th November 2006) at Taman Negara, , Malaysia. The topic he shared was "Designing, building and maintaining ecotourism facilities". For more information, click www.apeco2006.com. A week later, Albert Teo spoke at the second Indonesian international ecotourism business forum, Ecotourbiz2006 at Jogyakarta, Indonesia from 11- 14th November 2006. For more information, please click here. Albert Teo will be the Convenor for the Borneo Tourism Conference BTC2007, 11-13th September 2007, at Kuching, sponsored by Sarawak Tourism Board for the Visit Malaysia Year VMY2007. School is in – in Borneo If you’re always wanted to visit Borneo and learn more about tourism and its role in conservation and development you may want to check out the University of Calgary’s field study school planned for next spring. Led by Carol Patterson of Kalahari Management and Dr. Dianne Draper, head of the Geography Department, this 25-day trip will introduce students to some of the best nature tourism attractions in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei Darussalam. For more information contact Carol Patterson at [email protected] or the International Student Travel Centre at [email protected]. Read the full story.

PRODUCT UPDATE

BET Launched New Boat Borneo Eco Tours (BET) has officially launched its latest boat BET 5 in Sandakan on September 2006 for the transfer between Sandakan to Sukau Rainforest Lodge vice versa. The new boat offers better features such as faster speed and quieter four strokes engines, air passages for better air ventilation. The boat can accommodate 16 passengers at one time and just like our other vessels; it is well equipped with safety gadgets such as Life Buoys, First Aid Kit, Fire Extinguishers, CB radio, and Life Jackets. With the addition of BET 5, we have a total of 4 boats for transfers in Sandakan. 2 New Van in West Coast BET took delivery of another van for transfers and tours in the West Coast of Sabah. The new Kia van can comfortably accommodate 7 passengers at one time with necessary safety features such as First Aid Kit and Fire Extinguishers. To date, BET has 7 vans and three 40 seater coaches with two more units on the way for tours and transfers within Sabah.

Rear Seat Belt for Safety

All tour vans that are stationed in Sandakan are installed with rear Seat Belts for the safety of the guests.

New Appointment

Charles Heng – Marketing Executive Charles Heng is our added strength in the marketing division. With deep passion for tourism and hospitality, Charles will assist us in planning and implementing major marketing and IT projects. Armed with years of working experience in the related field, Charles is passionate to take Borneo Eco Tours to higher level. For motivation, Charles believes “Dreaming Big Dreams” is the right motto for monumental achievements.

Christopher Charles – Financial Controller Christopher or better known as “Chris” is our new Financial Controller. Through years of working experience in major corporations particularly in pre-operations, Chris' expertise in corporate financial planning and control will be a great asset for Borneo Eco Tours and its sister companies. Chris’s personal motto, “Strive for excellence”.

Special Report

Sandakan Memorials, Australia

By Albert Teo

I visited two Sandakan Memorials in October 2006 at Boyup Brook, three hours drive south of Perth together with a group of tourism students from Edith Cowan University and Professor Ross and Wendy Dowling. On hand to welcome them were several members of the local shire of Boyup Brook led by President Terry Ginnane and Deputy President Roger Downing and Trevor Dickinson, a RSL representative who witnessed the laying of wreath by Albert Teo.

The Sandakan Memorial was set up due largely to the personal effort of one Ted McLaughlin, a farmer from Boyup Brook. Due to his illness, he did not make the boat journey from Singapore Changi to Sandakan but was sent to then Burma after he recovered to build the railway there. All his 130 comrades from West Australia died in the infamous "Death March" in Borneo though none was from Boyup Brook. While in Perth, Albert also visited the Sandakan Memorial at King's Park, Perth.

There are presently some seven Sandakan Memorials in Australia including those at Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Boyup Brook and Perth.

3 “We did not expect to see so much of the wildlife as we did on the tours. We learned a lot from our guide. He knows a lot about all the animals he spotted for us”

Simon & Yvette Verzijl-Freenstra, May 2006

“We've been back from Borneo for a week now but thought I would write to say how much we enjoyed ourselves in your part of the world again and to thank you for making all the arrangements - the accommodation & transfers ar- rangements were absolutely faultless.

Also you should know that everywhere we went we felt privileged to have Borneo Eco Tour guides accompanying us - it was so obvious to us and everyone we met that our guides were so much more enthusiastic, knowledgeable and atten- tive than any of the guides from the other tour companies. It was great to see how passionate they were about their job and it really made such a difference to our whole holiday.

We keep telling our friends and family that they must visit Borneo and if they ever do we will make sure that they book all their trips through Borneo Eco Tours.

I just wanted to let you know personally what a great time we had and to thank you and each of our guides (Rex and Mark) for all of your/their help”.

Donald Patterson, June 2006

This month we will be featuring our new B.E.S.T. Manager, Datuk Markus Majihi who took over the assignment from predecessor, Mr. Jason Kerschner. His tasks, among others are to initiate, manage and supervise latent business and commu- nity plans. As the projects are partly aimed to benefit the locals, he will undertake the challenge in educating and training local people so as to build their mental ca- pacity and acquire skills and knowledge to be involved in tourism business and other beneficial projects.

Born a Rungus in Kudat, Datuk Markus excelled in his studies and has been ac- tively involved in various N.G.O.s and social activities while in school. He was ap- pointed Assistant Minister in the 90’s and has been posted in 3 different Ministries i.e. Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports; Ministry of Communication & Works and Ministry of Social Services. He also rose to be the Secretary General of a govern- ment-aligned political party. Due to his contributions, he was honored by the State Governor with the State's 2nd highest award of PGDK which carries the title 'Datuk' in September 1996. He is still taking proactive role in society. Since 2003, he is the Chairman of Sabah Rungus Foundation (Yayasan Rungus Sabah), a non-profit charity organization for the Rungus aboriginal com- munity in Malaysia.

In 2006, Datuk Markus joined Borneo Eco Tours (BET) as Projects Director and due to his influence and experi- ence especially in the Kudat region; he is assigned to manage the community development projects under B.E.S.T. Besides the ongoing tree planting project which is renamed Kinabatangan Wildlife Corridor Rehabilita- tion Project (KWICORP) in Sukau along the Kinabatangan River on 64 acres of riverine reserve adopted by BET and other BEST's community projects in the northern region of Sabah, he is also presently directing and over- seeing:

4 1) The Formation and Supervision of Mompilis Village Tourism Committee; 2) The Thatching of Mompilis Village long house; 3) Educational trip by 3 Rungus village chief to Kinabalu, Sandakan and Sukau; 4) Raising funds and overseeing the completion of Terangkongan Laut Church; 6) Planning and organizing Personal Development and Tourism Seminars in Kudat; 7) Continuous counsel and monitoring the standards of Bavangazo Longhouse and Maranjak Homestay, and etc.

All these projects are aimed at: 1. Improving the present tourism attractions and facilities as well as creating new tourist spots in the Kudat Peninsular. 2. Imparting related knowledge and skills to the local people in order to upgrade their services to tourists. 3. Building indigenous community capacity in order that they become more receptive to tourism development in the future.

Datuk Markus is optimistic about what he is doing and the challenges of the community based tourism. He fore- sees no problem in the smooth implementation of present and future projects. With strong passion, he is ever ready to meet challenges for the sake of BET and BEST. Plans are set in motion by BET to convert BEST into a foundation so that BEST can raise funds to carry out bigger and more ambitious community based tourism projects in Kudat and Sukau in the near future. More details about B.E.S.T. are available at http://www.sukau.- com/public/best.asp.

WHY YOU SHOULD USE BORNEO ECO TOURS AND SUKAU RAINFOREST LODGE? (Continues from previous issue)

9. Satisfied Customers. We have many satisfied customers including famous guests like Prince Henrik (The Prince Consort of Denmark), S Club 7 (English Pop Group) and Jeff Corwin (TV Wildlife Biologist), WWF, delegates from World Ecotourism Conference 1999, Asia Pacific Ecotourism Conference 2002, Borneo Ecotourism Conference 2005, and world famous photographer Theo Allofs.

To read other reasons why you should use us, please click the following links: B orneo Eco Tours and Sukau Rainforest Lodge

Learning Bahasa Advisor: Albert Teo

Taste - Rasa Editorial Board: Baton Bijamin, Datuk Markus Majihi &

Delicious ~ Sedap Salty ~ Masin Charles Heng & Fernando Rulloda

Sweet ~ Manis Bitter ~ Pahit Text: Willie Ki Design: Willie Ki

Sour ~ Masam Product updates: Willie Ki & Fernando Rulloda

Photos: Albert Teo & Willie Ki

We look forward to your feedback on Borneo eZone. Please forward your feedback to [email protected]

Borneo Eco Tours Sdn Bhd (226853-W) kkkp 2277 Lot 1, Pusat Perindustrian, Kolombong Jaya, Mile 5.5, Jalan Kolombong, 88450 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Contact Number: 60-88-438300 Fax Number: 60-88-438307 Email: [email protected] Home Page: www.borneoecotours.com

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