Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Wander the World: Discovering the wonders of Borneo

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Wander the World: Discovering the wonders of Borneo · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Join the conversation with you with Cape Talk. Now, you
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: used to hearing the voice of our next guest once
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a month on the show, advising you the best way
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  Speaker 1: to get your lemon tree to thrive, or how to
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  Speaker 1: get rid of those pesky bugs on your high Rangers.
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  Speaker 1: But this week we have Mornee Foulhammer, Horticulturalists and own
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  Speaker 1: after Kai Superplants in for our Wonder the World segment.
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  Speaker 1: He's going to tell us the story of his recent
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  Speaker 1: visit to the island of Borneo. Now Borneo, the world's
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  Speaker 1: third largest island, is one of the most biodiverse places
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  Speaker 1: on Earth, home to ancient rainforests, extraordinary wildlife, and some
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  Speaker 1: of the world's most iconic species. And so when we
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  Speaker 1: heard that Morne air travel there, we thought it would
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  Speaker 1: be great to have him on to share his experience.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome Mornee, good afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for the invitation.
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  Speaker 1: And of course it's always nice to have you in studio.
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  Speaker 1: And just like you said, oh it's so strange, I'm
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  Speaker 1: in he wearing my travel hat instead of talking about
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  Speaker 1: tips and tricks for plants. So before we get started
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  Speaker 1: to get us in the mood, we're going to play
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of a musical clip and of course
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  Speaker 1: that's my pesky watch. Now. That is a traditional musical instrument,
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  Speaker 1: a traditional guitar from Borneo. I think it's called a
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  Speaker 1: sape put us a little bit in the mood. Did
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  Speaker 1: you hear a lot of that while you were in Borneo?
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  Speaker 2: I did, indeen. It was the first time I've ever
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  Speaker 2: heard that instrument, and you know, it was originally used
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  Speaker 2: for healing purposes, and I think the frequency of that
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  Speaker 2: music it's very catching, it's extremely soothing, and I love it.
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  Speaker 2: It's the first time that I ever heard that in
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  Speaker 2: mentwhile I was there, and it's definitely definitely got a
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  Speaker 2: very unique sound to it.
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  Speaker 1: I actually just google the pronunciation. It's sape sarpe. Does
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  Speaker 1: it look like a regular guitar.
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  Speaker 2: No, it doesn't have a hollow cap cavity on the inside.
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  Speaker 2: It's made obviously of wood, but it's much longer and
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't have the same shape as a guitar. But
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  Speaker 2: obviously it has very high pitched strings, as you can
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  Speaker 2: hear from the music it does. It does associate with
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  Speaker 2: rainforests definitely.
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  Speaker 1: So as a horticulturalist, do you choose where to go
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  Speaker 1: based on plants absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: I think I can go anywhere in the world except
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  Speaker 2: Antarctica and plants will be the main focus. So Borneo
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  Speaker 2: has always been on my list because, as you mentioned it,
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  Speaker 2: it's an absolute biological hotspot in the world. It has
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  Speaker 2: some of the oldest rainforests in the world. It has
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  Speaker 2: also a very unique topography in terms of the island.
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  Speaker 2: It's the island itself is very culturally diverse, which makes
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  Speaker 2: it also very interesting to go and visit. The island
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  Speaker 2: belongs or is split up into a part which belongs
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  Speaker 2: to always under the rule of Malaysia, part which is
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  Speaker 2: under Indonesia, and then you also have the Kingdom of Brunei,
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  Speaker 2: so it' very it's not one island under one political system,
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  Speaker 2: let's put it that way. And when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: the vegetation that grows there, it is completely unique because
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  Speaker 2: you have right around the island you have the mangrove swamps,
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  Speaker 2: the coastal mangrove swamps, which are extremely unique in itself
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  Speaker 2: where you find things like crocodiles, pygmy elephants come from
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  Speaker 2: the island of Borneo, yes, and very special sea life.
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  Speaker 2: Then you move a little bit inland and you get
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  Speaker 2: to your tropical rainforests. These are the ones which are
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  Speaker 2: humid and hot. And I can tell you one thing
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  Speaker 2: I took strain. So if humidity is not your thing
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  Speaker 2: and sitting in the sauna is definitely not your way
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  Speaker 2: to go, well, then I would say maybe think of
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  Speaker 2: a different type of destination because humidity levels are off
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  Speaker 2: the charts. But then as you go further inland the
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  Speaker 2: elevation increases up to one five hundred meters above sea level.
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  Speaker 2: Then you start getting your temperate or your cooler rainforests,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously your vegetation changes completely. So it is a
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  Speaker 2: very unique place from a biodiversity point of view, and
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  Speaker 2: that is what led me to go there in the
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  Speaker 2: first place. Do you have a look at this and
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  Speaker 2: you went to all I unfortunately did not have enough
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  Speaker 2: time to go into the interior, but I'm definitely going
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  Speaker 2: back for that. So I saw the coastal areas and
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  Speaker 2: the tropical rainforests, which, like I said, is I think
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  Speaker 2: if one stands in front of a tree and you
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  Speaker 2: look at this tree, and you can count about one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty different plant species which are just reliant
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  Speaker 2: and living in this biome of one tree. That is
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  Speaker 2: a horticulturist's I mean, that is what we dream about
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  Speaker 2: to try and see these things and for me to
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  Speaker 2: see vegetation in its natural habitat where we have it
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  Speaker 2: as maybe a bagonia as an indoor plant for instance,
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  Speaker 2: which we you know, we have to mother and we
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  Speaker 2: have to look after it. And yeah, this thing is
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  Speaker 2: just doing it, you know, vibe and just thriving and
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  Speaker 2: it's absolutely wonderful. So that was my main main motivation
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  Speaker 2: to go there.
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  Speaker 1: And morn relatively unspoiled.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, there are areas unfortunately of Borno which have been
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  Speaker 2: heavily forested unfortunately, or so areas which have got lots
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  Speaker 2: of palm plantations for palm oil. Right, you find it
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  Speaker 2: a lot more in Malaysia there, but still Sorrowwak. The
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  Speaker 2: reason that I went to with the main city being
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  Speaker 2: Cootching very much focused on looking after nature. They have
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  Speaker 2: their indigenous peoples which make up the largest percentage of
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  Speaker 2: the population, still very very very in their own culture
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  Speaker 2: and it all goes back to the natural forests that
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  Speaker 2: they live in. So it was one of the interesting
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  Speaker 2: things in Kuching that I would like to mention. They
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  Speaker 2: have a museum but they don't call it the Museum
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  Speaker 2: of Culture. It's the Museum of Cultures, which is a
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  Speaker 2: wonderful way that they reflect the country and the way
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  Speaker 2: that it is made up of multi ethnic groups which
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  Speaker 2: somehow combined to just give you this wonderful, vibrant place
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  Speaker 2: to visit.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I do believe that they've got about two hundred
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  Speaker 1: distinct ethnic groups there, so that is just incredible in
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  Speaker 1: terms of diversity. We're talking to Mornay Farhammer. No, he's
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  Speaker 1: not in here to tell us about what plants are
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  Speaker 1: in stock today. Yes, he is a horticulturalist and owner
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  Speaker 1: after Kai Superplants. But to days in for our Wonder
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  Speaker 1: the World segment sharing us more of his recent travels
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  Speaker 1: to the island of Borneo. Will be back with more
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  Speaker 1: after this break.
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  Speaker 2: Lunch with Seskia Falcon in for Perpa Hudson.
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  Speaker 1: We all have a voice, use yours call.
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  Speaker 2: All to one double four six O five six seven.
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  Speaker 1: Join the conversation on k talk and we do love
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  Speaker 1: hearing from you. Right now we are inside of our
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  Speaker 1: Wonder the World segment will be talking Borneo, and we're
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  Speaker 1: talking to Morne Fulhammer, who has just returned from his
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  Speaker 1: recent trip there for South African's mourner who are thinking
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  Speaker 1: about making the trip, I mean, how easy or difficult
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  Speaker 1: is it to get there from Cape Tano Johannesburg. And
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  Speaker 1: do you need a visa?
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  Speaker 2: Ah? Well, there's the good thing. You don't need a visa.
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  Speaker 2: You do an electronic visa on arrival just stand a
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  Speaker 2: QR code filled in.
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  Speaker 1: What a pleasure for South African man.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably one of the top things on our travel lists.
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  Speaker 2: Where can we go that we don't require visas enough
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  Speaker 2: to go through all that cumbersome application. Getting to Kuching
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  Speaker 2: where I flew in, which is in Sarawak, very very easy.
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  Speaker 2: You can either fly from Singapore or from Kuala lampourl
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  Speaker 2: So those are the too easy connecting major airports which
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  Speaker 2: I would suggest daily flights going in and out, and
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  Speaker 2: a number of airlines which do that route. There is
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  Speaker 2: a sort of a budget airline called Scoot which belongs
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  Speaker 2: to Singapore Airlines. There's Air Malaysia and then also Singapore
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  Speaker 2: Airlines which fly in on a daily daily basis. So
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  Speaker 2: getting there not a problem at all, nearly really quite
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  Speaker 2: quite easy.
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  Speaker 1: And earlier on you were like, oh, actually I didn't
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  Speaker 1: budget enough time to be there, so I'm going back.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, how much time do you think people have
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  Speaker 1: got to make space for if they're taking a trip
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  Speaker 1: to Borney Because one thinks it's an island, it's small,
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  Speaker 1: can do it quickly.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's a large area that you need to cover.
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  Speaker 2: And I think if you want to get the full
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  Speaker 2: experience of everything, I think you need to budget on
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  Speaker 2: a minimum of two weeks. Wow, Because you know, if
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  Speaker 2: you want to go snorkeling on the coastline, they've got
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  Speaker 2: wonderful areas. They've got islands which are reserve so you
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  Speaker 2: can go in with a boat and you can go snorkeling,
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  Speaker 2: pristine clear waters, turtles, the whole tet fruity. If you
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  Speaker 2: want to do that, you want to do the forests,
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  Speaker 2: you need time. And I'm always a firm believer if
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  Speaker 2: you go and visit a place, get to know it really,
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  Speaker 2: really well. And then of course they do have the
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  Speaker 2: resorts on the coastlines where if you just want to
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  Speaker 2: go and line in the sun and enjoy the enjoy
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  Speaker 2: the intense heat, that's definitely the place to go. So
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  Speaker 2: I would say with traveling at least a two week
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  Speaker 2: period that's the way to.
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  Speaker 1: Go and time of the year to go.
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  Speaker 2: Would you suggest their temperatures don't vary lot very much.
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  Speaker 2: I mean they're sitting in the tropics. The humidity factor
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  Speaker 2: is just one thing to consider. I think coming from
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  Speaker 2: Cape Town, we're not used to it at all. So
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  Speaker 2: maybe it's easier for durban nights to go there. They won't.
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  Speaker 2: They will feel a little bit more at home. But
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  Speaker 2: what you do is you definitely pack shorts, T shirts, pluckiesluinely.
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  Speaker 1: And your sun block. Tell us about the culture and
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  Speaker 1: the food. So you said it's such a unique island.
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  Speaker 1: I mean it's three different sovereign powers, if I can
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  Speaker 1: put it that way. So what should we know culture
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  Speaker 1: wise and then also food wise and all the regions.
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  Speaker 2: Let's let's certainly start from the food and they that
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  Speaker 2: had a huge amount of influencers over the years. I
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  Speaker 2: mean the island of Borneo, it was it was influenced
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  Speaker 2: by the Dutch, that was influenced by the British. From
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  Speaker 2: a colonization point of view, it's got Chinese influence, has
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  Speaker 2: got Malaysian influence, so it really is a melting pot
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  Speaker 2: of flavors and food. The best way to go and eat.
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  Speaker 2: They have these food courtyards, if I can call it
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  Speaker 2: like that, So with a number of restaurants all the
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  Speaker 2: way around, but communal seating area where people will come
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  Speaker 2: and clear your plates and then you go and select
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  Speaker 2: what you want to eat. So you will select your
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  Speaker 2: own prawns, your own fish, your own vegetables, whatever it
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  Speaker 2: might be. And they're not into big into frying of food.
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  Speaker 2: It's more it's more steaming, so it's a muchier way
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  Speaker 2: of going. Vegetables great. And then I had a luxA.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's probably there, oh man, But I never
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  Speaker 2: thought in my life I would have a bowl of
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  Speaker 2: noodles with a shrimp paste for breakfast. That sort of
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  Speaker 2: doesn't come that. That's not on my horizon.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm normally like an eggs guy. So but the paste
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  Speaker 2: that they use in this particular luxA is fermented shrimp paste,
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  Speaker 2: and it is absolutely it's got a unique taste. That's
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  Speaker 2: one of the most flavorful things that I've ever had before.
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  Speaker 2: But generally speaking, food is not expensive, and the variety
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  Speaker 2: that you can eat is just it's just never ending.
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  Speaker 2: I probably had the best prawns that I've ever had.
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  Speaker 2: In my life there, and I'm not a big prawn eater,
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  Speaker 2: but it was prawns which were basted in a palm,
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  Speaker 2: sugar and egg mixture. So you had this these prawns
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  Speaker 2: with this slightly mayonnaise sweet taste to it. I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: get enough of it. It was It was really, really fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: And then one of the interesting vegetables that I had
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  Speaker 2: there for the first time from a horticultural point of view,
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  Speaker 2: very interesting is that they harvest the stem of a
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  Speaker 2: particular fern, so you have that as a substitute for
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  Speaker 2: a green bean, So you're eating fern leaves and they crunchy,
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  Speaker 2: they tasty, they highly nutritious, and that was definitely a
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  Speaker 2: first for me. So the food I would want to
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  Speaker 2: say is basic but extremely tasty, lots of different spices
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  Speaker 2: and flavors, and everywhere you go there is places to
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  Speaker 2: eat and it sounds fresh, very fresh, very very fresh.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't see a McDonald's while I was there. I
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  Speaker 2: just want to I don't think. I don't think they
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  Speaker 2: have any. I certainly didn't see any. And I love
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  Speaker 2: ice cream, I'm just tell you. And one of the
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  Speaker 2: things that I found in Cutching is that they make
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  Speaker 2: their ice cream using pont sugar and it has a
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  Speaker 2: completely unique taste to it. It's completely different to anything
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  Speaker 2: that I've ever had anywhere. So there is that element
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  Speaker 2: of unique flavors to everything they do. So I get
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  Speaker 2: and not expensive for anybody that's wondering. The exchange rate
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: is four to one. The coffee would be expensive, so
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  Speaker 2: you could end up paying let's say about fifty ruand
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  Speaker 2: for a cup of coffee, which is not far off
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  Speaker 2: front which but generally food very inexpensive depending on where
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: you stay, as with anywhere in the world. Budget accommodation
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  Speaker 2: same South Africa. But if you want to go five style,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to be paying. You're going to pay for that.
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  Speaker 2: The one thing which is a bit of a challenge
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  Speaker 2: there is transport. They still got a lot of work
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  Speaker 2: to do with their public transport system I think, and
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  Speaker 2: taxis after eight o'clock in the evening is virtually impossible.
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  Speaker 2: It's not that they're not there, but they have a
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  Speaker 2: very laid back way of life. Absolutely, so if you
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: go into a place where you're going to find any
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  Speaker 2: type of frenetic activity, it's not the place right very
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  Speaker 2: laid back everybody is very chilled. People love walking in
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  Speaker 2: the evening on the promenades. You know, there's definitely nightlife
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  Speaker 2: because it's it's slightly cooler, but it is a wonderful
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  Speaker 2: place if you if you're considering doing something off the
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  Speaker 2: beaten track, unique and unique and then of course you
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: have to see that around the tongues.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, unfortunately now we're running out of times, and I
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  Speaker 1: do want to ask Keith's question, can you take any
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  Speaker 1: flowers or plants from Borneo and bring it back to
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  Speaker 1: South Africa?
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  Speaker 2: No, not directly. There is a very very specific process
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  Speaker 2: that you need to go through if you want to
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: import plants. They have to be clean of any Peston's diseases.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: They need you need phytosanitary certification. But that doesn't exclude
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: going to have a look and then obviously doing the
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: contacts to bring in at a later stage, but following
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: the proper procedures.
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  Speaker 1: Monne, thank you so much for coming to chat to us.
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  Speaker 1: Just buzzed by and I'm sure that when you come
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: in again, people will be asking you a lot more
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: about some of the plants and some of the unique
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: from a horticulturist perspective, how this trip has actually changed
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: your perspective maybe on some of the plants that you
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: have in stock there at Superplants. That's Morne Falhammer, horticulturalist,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: owner of Tokai Superplants. But today talking to us in
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Our Wonder the World segment of Artie's recent trip to
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the island of Borneo, I think something that will definitely
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: now be on my list. This is lunch on Cape
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Talk