Posted on May, 01 2003

A herd of 25 elephants recently made use of Sukau Rainforest Lodges new elephant pass designed as a throughway for elephants in the Kinabatangan.

As the largest land mammal in Borneo and a voracious feeder, the Asian Elephants of the Kinabatangan Floodplain have been among the species worst affected by land use change in this region. The elephants' ecology requires it to range along the extent of the floodplain every few months in order to access food resources. However, with habitat fragmentation and the expansion of agriculture, these migration routes have increasingly become impeded by fences, ditches and other obstructions. Human-wildlife conflict and the destruction of crops and property have often ensued.

Over the past few years, WWF-Malaysia together with partners such as the Sabah Wildlife Department, HUTAN, and SOS Rhino have been campaigning for land-users along the Kinabatangan to support a throughway or corridor along the migration routes to enable the elephants to continue to range as they have done for generations, and to alleviate this conflict. Ultimately, the objective is to develop a framework for humans and wildlife to live together in relative peace.

Borneo Eco Tours, which manages Sukau Rainforest Lodge, has been pro-active in taking steps to accommodate this primeval movement of pachyderms in the construction of the extension to the lodge. The extension which will include three chalets linked by a 1,500 foot boardwalk, features two 'elephant passes' that have been integrated into the design to allow migrating herds to pass through.

Borneo Eco Tours has consistently strived to adopt ecotourism principles and technologies in its operations. Its Lodge has been constructed to blend into the landscape and battery operated engines are used for its tourists boats as they are quieter and less polluting.

Solar power and reduced water consumption also help minimise the waste of resources. The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Partners for Wetlands Programme on a reforestation initiative and another on ecotourism research and development in the Kinabatangan, in collaboration with WWF and University of Malaysia Sabah. By setting a higher standard for tourism in Sukau, it is hoped that other tour operators and tourism investors to the Kinabatangan will follow suit by endeavouring to tread lightly on the environment, while enabling visitors to appreciate the wildlife and scenery of the Kinabatangan Floodplain.

Mr. Albert Teo, the managing director of Borneo Eco Tours had this to say: "In designing the extension to the lodge we have made allowances for the quarterly migration of elephants by providing two elephant crossings along the 1500 ft covered raised plankwalk. It was a delight to see them use it recently exactly as we had intended."
 
"We are also carefully observing the elephants feeding habits as they pass through our land to ensure that any additional building does not intrude or block their migration route. The elephants are becoming a major tourists attraction, so we are definitely in no hurry to rush into construction."

"Gaining an understanding of the movement of the elephants has been beneficial in other ways as well. Our reforestation activities are much more successful now that we have learnt to accommodate the migration route. Plants and tree seedlings have been growing very well now that we have focused planting away from these areas." 

For more information please contact: 
 
Justine Vaz
Editor, Partners for Wetlands
editor@partnersforwetlands.org