Sabah & Kota Kinabalu News

Borneo Wildlife Warriors Season 2

The second season of The Borneo Wildlife Warriors, an online weekly series about Sabah’s wildlife rangers, will premier on August 16.  This was mostly due to a positive review of the first season.  Produced by Scubazoo, a leading South East Asia’s production and photography company, it will feature how to care and rescue sun bears, Bornean pygmy elephants and orangutans at the east coast of Sabah.  As with the first season, Borneo Wildlife Warriors will again be hosted by Aaron “Bertie” Gekoski, an award-winning British journalist and presenter.  He has relocated from his bootcamp in Sabah’s west coast, specifically at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, to experience activities of higher levels of intensity while setting up base at Sepilok in Sandakan.

In a press conference in Kota Kinabalu, Bertie said that experiencing the jungles in Sabah is more extreme than Africa.  While filming The Borneo Wildlife Warriors, he spent a week with wildlife rangers to catch a bull elephant trapped inside a large plantation that gave them a hard time by running away from them a number of times.  After a successful operation with the elephant, the group was again requested to rescue an orangutan and her baby trapped and already malnourished in another palm oil plantation.

Terence Lim, Scubazoo’s operations director based in Kota Kinabalu, said that they are looking for locals who can be presenters and hosts for wildlife shows and story telling.

New AirAsia Route Launched

AirAsia’s inaugural flight from Kuching to Langkawi was launched yesterday with a ceremony at the Kuching International Airport (KIA).  Flight AK5093, which will be operating four times a week, was sent off by Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chairman Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz and AirAsia Head of Commercial Spencer Lee.

AirAsia, the best low-cost airline in the world, is offering celebratory all-in fares for this new route if booked online at airasia.com for a certain period of time.  With this flight, the airline now flies to 11 destinations from Kuching, including Kota Kinabalu.  According to Lee, they (AirAsia) believe that Sarawak is more than a tourist destination and are confident that with the continued support from the state government, this route will continue its air connectivity.  As a start, they will be working with STB to promote the state as a key medical and education hub.

Productivity Conference for Organizations Held

The Team Excellence Convention for Sabah and Sarawak region was held at Le Meridien Hotel recently and participants from 37 public and private organizations were encouraged to continue efforts to improve productivity.  At the closing ceremonies Wednesday, Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) Board of Directors member Datuk Ag Buhtamam Ag Mahmun said that organizations should continuously strive for improvement, be creative and not waste resources on a daily basis.

The convention was in line with the 11^th Malaysia Plan which targets a growth rate of 3.7 per cent every year until 2020.  Ag Buhtamam said that the 2016/2017 productivity reports indicated a 3.5 per cent growth rate and is nearing its target.  However, there is still much to be done to reach the figure.  He is also hoping that the participants will qualify for the annual Productivity and Innovation Exposition (APIC) 2017 on November at Genting Highlands.