This is Borneo Rainforest Lodge, otherwise known as BRL to the cognoscenti. It’s marketed as ‘An exclusive facility for natural history tourism’. It is exclusive because it is relatively small, relatively expensive and difficult to get to.

Size is a key issue when talking about eco-tourism. The Danum Valley Conservation Area is virgin lowland rainforest, far too fragile to put up with hordes of tourists trampling through the undergrowth. Besides, the uncomfortable two and a half hour 4WD journey should be enough to dissuade the mass-market.

Once here though, you realise what you are paying for. The hotel is on a bend in the Danum River and the rainforest is in your face. There are orang utans feeding on the opposite river bank, a wild pig called Moustache raiding the kitchen and endangered species of birds knocking themselves out by flying into windows.

The guests that I have spoken to are all overwhelmed by the place, although most also have some useful feedback that is helping me with my brief. For example, there is roughly a 50:50 split between those who think that there should be air conditioning in the rooms and those who are happy without. The other main comments, luckily, mostly tally with what my client has asked me to have a look at. Guests all stay in individual chalets, the oldest of which are starting to get a little tired now. My work is therefore mainly a refurbishment job, but also includes improving the natural lighting and ventilation and installing ‘Balinese’ baths on the verandas of the best chalets.

An important consideration is to try to reduce solar gain in the chalets so that we can continue to resist the calls for air conditioning. Unfortunately timber heats up rapidly during the day and the interior can quickly become uncomfortable. The challenge would seem to be to try to keep the sun off the building but things are never that simple. In this high humidity environment timber rapidly deteriorates if it is not baked dry by the sun for a few hours every day. A combination of a well insulated over-sailing roof, masonry in the shaded parts and timber in the sunny parts would seem to be the ideal combination.

I am also looking at their main lodge and trying to improve its layout and create more space for guests, both around the edge of the building where they can watch the wildlife and in the high open central space where they can keep cool. My job of recommending improvements to the lodge is made a lot easier by the fact that there are some easy to spot fundamental cock-ups with the planning. For example; front of house and back of house are hopelessly confused. In this refurbishment I am also indebted to the months and months spent drawing hotels for Weintraub Associates.

The Chalets and the Main Lodge are the meat of my work here, but there are also some fun projects on the side including a tented camp in the jungle and a tree-top observation hide. My biggest fear is that the months here will pass all too quickly.

Related Posts