The Padas, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

While on the jolly round Malaysia we decided to head over to Borneo for a while. Apart from jungle trips and that kind of thing I met a Norwegian geezer who runs rafting trips down the Padas River, in the state of Sabah.

After a bit of discussion he agreed to lend me his own boat and provide me with one of his raft guides to take me down the river. The Padas is sold as a grade III with five grade IV rapids which have got various silly names like 'Headhunter' and the (obligatory) 'Washing Machine'.

After a mission and a half to get out to the river involving a mini-bus full of Chinese and a particularly smelly train-ride through the jungle (but I got around the strong smell of piss by sitting on the flatbed trailer they were towing), we got to the get out to pick up the rafts and my kit. In a surprising turn of events I got given a boat and gear that was actually half-decent. They gave me a Perception Ultra Clean which obviously doesn't mean shit to me but it's basically a highish volume playboat. They also had a Bliss-Stik but I was assured I'd get eaten alive paddling it.

Back on the train we went up to the get-in, the track passed by the river so I got a good look. It certainly looked pretty tasty, a high volume grade IV. Two of the rapids had some mean looking holes, one in particular they called 'The Maneater' which looked distinctly nasty, and was apparently capable of holding a swimmer. This was probably one of the biggest holes I'd ever seen and was keen not to get personal with it.

Because we're near the equator it's hot all year round so the river was actually warm! It was a great novelty for sure and I paddled with just a BA, deck and helmet. Its also interesting how less restricted and easier it is to paddle without thermals and cags.

Just before we got on I asked the obvious question, 'So, there aren't crocodiles in here are there'? 'Yes, but don't worry they leave further down stream'. mmmm. After a bit of flapping, Gee-Gee (my Malaysian guide) and I got on to the grade III float down to the first rapids. On the way we stopped to mess around in a small pour-over. My mans goes in, gets back flipped and next thing I see is a hand and a head appear beside the boat. Great, the geezer taking me down this grade IV had just swam on a small grade III. About two seconds later he produces his paddles in two halves. OK, so he's got an excuse but I'm sure he could have hand rolled? After more flapping in getting him out I stand around like a prick while he runs back up the river to get new paddles.

So we boshed down the river, hit the first rapid which was probably a soft touch for a grade IV but some of the waves and holes looked quite a bit bigger than they did from the train. The second rapid and the one with 'The Maneater' on was better. We had to paddle a long S-maneuver through the (400 meter) rapid to avoid three holes which you didn't want to be in. Saying there was chaos all around is probably an exaggeration but there was some pretty intense paddling for a few minutes. We were getting chucked all over the place as we paddled over or through big standing waves, one of them broke right as my man hit it and he got a bit of a trashing before he managed roll up. I also managed to hit two big(ish) holes which came out of nowhere but got through without too much drama.

The third rapid was similar, big waves and some big holes which needed to be avoided, Gee-Gee had to do another roll and I thew in a couple of big high-braces but we got down without either of us getting too badly trashed.

The rest of the rapids were, again, a soft touch for the grade, perhaps a 4- but nothing more. We tried to catch a few waves on the way down but none of them were really shaped well and wouldn't hold properly.

A couple of K of grade III led to the get-out. So, a nice river, I reckon you could take a Blis-Stik down it, you'd get trashed but there's no reason why you couldn't make it. The big holes were big and a swim down one of the rapids would have involved a lot of time under the water. It'd be interesting to do it in really high water, would probably push it up to a IV+ but the big holes would become distinctly dangerous.

So, in the unlikely event you ever go to Sabah then consider doing the Padas.

Apologies for the naff pictures, I had to leave the camera at the get-out.