SEMPORNA: A recently concluded eight-day trip by Trans Borneo Land Below (TBLW) has become an unforgettable memory for some of its participants.
Nova Renata, a newbie to off-road adventure, said the event provided an amazing experience for first-timers like herself who had never gotten a chance to visit a protected forest reserve before.
"Some of the places we visited such as Mamut and the Ulu Telupid Forest Reserve are protected from public access. Participating in this event provided me with an opportunity to visit places that I would otherwise never could have seen on my own," she said as one of the 15 Hardcore Class participants of the tour, held from Dec 12 to 19.
Her group spent their first night camping in Mamut, Ranau, followed by four days and three nights in the Tangkulap Forest Reserve and another night in Kun Kun.
Registered nurse Kellyn Chung, who had participated in previous off-roading events as part of the official medic team, said that the jungle had always given her a sense of escapism and healing from everyday stress and that she would gladly come back.
"I am already looking forward to next year's expedition. The friendships built and the experience gained are worth getting through the mud and occasional leech bites," she said.
The tour was also joined by 15 Touring Class participants, who skipped the challenging terrains to visit popular tourist attractions in Sabah, such as Mesilau, the Sabah Tea Garden, the Agnes Keith House and Sepilok.
Both groups gathered again at the Batu Putih Community Centre underneath the Kinabatangan bridge and subsequently proceeding to the Bohey Dulang Island in Semporna as the event came to a close.
Participants with valid scuba diving licences were also invited to take part in a coral replanting project at Bohey Dulang Island, as part of the TBLW corporate social responsibility initiative.
At the closing ceremony yesterday, event director Anuar Ghani said the event would not have been a success without the cooperation of the Sabah Forestry Department, which allowed them to enter Ulu Tongod and the Tangkulap Forest Reserve.
He also announced that next year, the organiser is planning to bring back TBLBW to Kalimantan, where the expedition had gone in 2019, prior to the two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
TBLBW was organised with the intention of mobilising local tourism, which was semi-paralysed by the pandemic.
The event aimed to attract more attention towards community-based and rural tourism in Sabah, where the natural landscapes had been largely left untouched and unappreciated throughout the past year or so.
Apart from being a 4x4 tourism promotion initiative, TBLBW also initiated CSR projects in which Yayasan Takwa and Amal Malaysia donated 1,100 food and health packs around the route to be distributed to the underprivileged community, pre, during and post-expedition. This donation was valued at around RM33,000.