State of Sabah Packing List Tips by sim1 Top 5 Page for this destination

Suntan oil, mosquito oil

Toiletries and Medical Supplies:
Borneo.... islands.... sea.... beaches.... lots of sunshine! No need to say that you should bring some good suntan oil with you to protect your skin.

Borneo is also jungle..... insects.... mosquitos! So take some good mosquito oil with you as well! I must say I wasn't bothered so much by mosquitos during my visit, but I might be in luck with the season. Another nasty surprise where your mosquito oil might come in handy, might be on the beach..... Eeks! Sand flies!!! They actually chased me off the beach in one occassion on Selingan Island as they were biting so much. So some mosquito oil is very much recommended over here!

Torch

Miscellaneous:
In several cases I was very happy to have a torch light with me. But in three places it was an absolute must: Selingan Island (Turtle Island Park), in the Gomantong Caves, and during my nightwalk in the jungle at Sukau.

On Selingan for instance is the use of torchlight limited while you are on the beach with the turtles. But it is a good thing to have with you! There is no light on the island, so it is very handy to have when trying to find your way back to your room in the evening. You are also allowed to use it while following the ranger on the way to the turtle, but you have to turn it off as soon as you get here.

At the Gomantong Caves it is really dark. Inside it is crawling with cockroaches and other creepy crawlers that you don't want to know the name of. A torch gives you at least a chance to see where you are going and know what is surrounding you.

And the nightwalk in the jungle at Sukau, hahaha, I don't think that needs any further explanation.

Electricity

Miscellaneous:
With all this digital equipment it is important to have fully charged batteries all the time! And I have to say that went perfectly during my trip.

In Malaysia they use 240 volts and 50 Hz. It is a rectangular blade plug (see picture)

Beware : an adapter by itself will not change the electrical voltage. You must be sure that your appliance can handle different voltages (either automatically or through a voltage switch). If it can't, you will need a voltage converter.

Digital camera --> portable harddisk

Photo Equipment:
If I take my digital camera with me, I won't leave the house without taking my new 'toy' the X's-Drive Pro (a portable hard disk)

This has been the first trip I took the X's Drive Pro with me and I am amazed by it! I don't think I want to travel ever again without it, LOL :-))

This little gadget is a portable hard drive where I can store all my digital pics on while I travel. No chances of running out of memory card anymore. No more thinking if I 'should' or 'shouldn't' take a picture, because the memory card is running full. It has a capacity of around 40,000 pictures that I can store, hahaha, and that is more than enough.... even for me ;-)

The use is easy which is a great advantage. It only takes a few minutes to upload the photos from the digital camera. It has a rechargeable battery, so you don't need to be plugged in to the electricity net to use it. And all I need to be taking care of during my travels, is keeping the batteries charged of this wonderful thingy and of my digital camera :-)

SLR or Digital??

Photo Equipment:
I did bring my SLR camera AND my digital along with me to Borneo. I always make a choice between my digital camera and SLR depending on the place I visit, things to see, situation and light.

Pro's for the digital: it is quicker to grab, cheaper in use as I don't need to develop the film, endless memory space so I can take as many pics as I want, much more light sensitive than my SLR which is an enormous pro during bad light conditions as I had while taking pics of the turtles.

Pro's for the SLR: Better with moving objects, zooming-in, making close-ups, macro photos and in general: better quality of photos when I do see a good photo opportunity (much more options on this camera, so I can compose the photo the way I want it).

Under water camera

Photo Equipment:
There are several places on Sabah where you have a chance to go snorkling. On Turtle Island (and also Sapi Island) for example where I went swimming and snorkelling. So an underwater camera might be a fun idea to have with you! I had fun using it and being able to make some pictures I otherwise never could have taken.