Growing up, Borneo seemed like the wildest corner of our planet: a vast, far-away island where orangutans swung through the rainforest and remote tribes hunted with blowpipes. It was the sort of place that stoked the imagination; if you were a kid spending a rainy afternoon writing a story of adventure and exploration, you couldn’t start with a better backdrop than the jungles of Borneo.
Four decades on, I find myself on the island, opting for a 10-day tour of the forested Malaysian region of Sarawak, which lies along the northwest shore. Strolling along the bustling waterfront of Kuching, the region’s capital (home to its international airport), I realise the real Borneo