Raleigh’s bridge takes Imbak Canyon to new scientific frontier

KOTA KINABALU: Raleigh Borneo is in the process of constructing a 200-ft span suspension bridge at the Imbak Canyon.

Raleigh Borneo Communications officer, Lisa Henshaw said that once completed, the bridge will enable scientists to access the canyon for research purposes as well as enabling a gravity feed water system to be fed across the river into the field centre.

She explained that the bridge was necessary, especially during rainy season when the Imbak river would swell and cut off access to the conservation area.

In dry season however, the river can easily be crossed by foot.

During the first phase of the project, the Raleigh project team had completed the foundation site for one side of the bridge and that this involved transporting and mixing the sand, gravel, rocks and cement for the foundation.

“The next phase will see the completion of the foundation for the other side of the bridge,” she said.

Lisa also explained how Raleigh got involved in the development at the area.

“Yayasan Sabah (the concessionary) wanted to reserve this area as a natural gene bank to help protect future biodiversity of the whole region and has asked Raleigh Borneo to play a major role in the development of this area,” she said.

“In early 2004, a Raleigh project team worked closely with the staff of Yayasan Sabah to plan the location and type of necessary infrastructure needed to protect and allow access to the pristine protected area of Imbak Canyon,” she said.

The first stage was mapping the area to determine points of interest, possible trail networks, sources of water and finding the best locations for a field centre.

The second expedition to Imbak in late 2004 started putting in place basic infrastructure including a Ranger’s camp, visitors’ accommodation and basic trails.

This is the first permanent structure built as part of the master development plan for this conservation area.

The infrastructure has been gradually expanded by a number of Raleigh teams during the two expeditions in 2005.

In addition a new trail has been recced along the ridges and into the centre of the canyon by groups during expedition 05G in late 2005.

The next phase of this exciting project is to further expand the infrastructure including finishing the field centre complex, developing the newly recced trails into the canyon for researchers and upgrading existing tracks to a waterfall and jungle camp.

Lisa also said that the Imbak Canyon is the last remaining untouched and relatively unexplored area of Sabah.

“Less than 200 people have ever entered this virgin primary jungle area while the last research team discovered a new tree species,” she said.

She added that the region is home to wildlife including elephants, orangutans and hundreds of rare bird species.