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Sandakan, Sabah’s Rainforest City

This week I had the opportunity to bring my family for a short vacation at Sandakan.  Actually we had wanted to go to Sandakan for quite some time but never had the opportunity.  Though I’ve been there many times, but it was always for official duties so I too did have much opportunities to explore some of the attractions Sandakan has to offer.

Actually, our trip was not by coincidence as my department decided to have it’s quarterly technical meeting at our branch at Sandakan.  To coincide with the meeting, the branch office had also planned for  a field visit to the forestry department’s Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) and the Forestry Research Centre.  The field visit really opened my eyes to the natural splendour Sabah has to offer. I begin to appreciate the conservation efforts being done and how much more we can all contribute to preserving our environment.  I think the rainforests are like refrigerator water filters which sucks up water from the ground which enables the trees to cool down the environment.  And not only that, these trees also acts as water catchments and carbon stores.  According to the guide at RDC, a good size tree can store at least 2-tonnes of carbon.  So in fact planting trees helps in reducing carbon from the environment. Our PM has just announced that Malaysia aims to cut 40% of carbon intensity per GDP.  I think one of the best ways is to plant more trees.