ROUTEMAP 2024

Event Magazine 2024

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BORNEO SAFARI JUNGLE WOMAN AWARD 2023

MICHELLE LEE

Michelle may be a newcomer to the Borneo Safari, with BS2023 being her second BS, but her experience in offroading and repairing 4x4s goes a long way back. The Borneo Safari Jungle Woman Award is given in recognition of female participants who demonstrate exceptional skills, endurance, determination, teamwork and resilience during the event. Michelle ticked all of these boxes and more!

No stranger to the local club 4x4 challenge circuit and recreational and charity offroad excursions, Michelle startedoff working in a car accessory shop in Papar, Sabah, installing audio and other accessories for cars.

This is where she met her current Boss, fondly known locally as Ar Foh from Carfix in Kivatu, Penampang. Here, Michelle learned not only how to fix 4x4s but also how to work the tracks, as she gained knowledge and experience as a co-driver, leading the driver via detailed navigation especially on a hardcore track, to clear obstacles safely and in recovering a stuck vehicle.

BS2023 proved to be a tough track for the Tag On Teams. Michelle was co-driver to Jovi Yih, with whom she competed in the local 4x4 Club Circuit prior to the event. The two ladies in Jovi's Suzuki Jimny were with BS2023's Tag On A convoy, which compromised of Penampang 4x4 Club members.

"It was definitely a very hardcore track and our convoy tried to push forward as much as we could from the beginning, so as to not hold up the rest of the teams behind us. We stopped to wait for those ahead of us to clear obstacles and worked the track as soon as it was our turn to move, sometimes even at night. We only had 2 nights where we managed to set up camp properly and relax under a big tarp together, as other than that we were either working through obstacles till late or just rested when we could," said Michelle.

"I certainly did not expect to receive this award. I was just doing what I enjoy." Michelle added that it was a most enjoyable and educational experience for her, learning more about offroading from her team members and listening to tales of their past experiences and escapades and working on broken down vehicles in the jungle. Nobody was selfish with advise.

She is looking forward to BS2024 and her message to other ladies out there is:

"Don’t worry about getting your hands dirty, or yourself muddy. Just learn to enjoy the whole process of making your way through the tracks, obstacles and all. Treasure the time spent with old friends and take the opportunity to make new ones."

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BORNEO SAFARI JUNGLE MAN AWARD 2023

FOONG STEDLY

This may have been his First Borneo Safari, but the BS2023 Jungle Man Award recipient, Foong Stedly had been following the event for as far back as he could remember.

Having joined the Scout and Recce Team, Foong got a bumper issue of the event as it took him not only for the actual event, but he got to experience the full wrath of mother nature during the recce, where Foong and his Teammates had to clear the tracks ahead of the convoy entering, rebuild whatever broken bridges they came across and manually clear overgrowth and land slides along the way.

"Everyone said that BS2023 was a record breaker year in terms of difficulty and the amount of obstacles to be overcome along the length of the Super Hardcore Route. But personally, the highlight of the event for me was definitely during the recce, when we were preparing the route. It definitely sharpened our problem solving skills and made us mentally and physically prepare for the main event. There was a section of the 66km Super Hardcore Route that was completely washed off. There was only an empty space in between and we had to build a 30 plus foot long bridge to reconnect the track."

"The hardest part of the event for me was when I fell sick during the recce. We are getting full on rainforest conditions and its unpredictable weather took its toll on me during the last remaining days we were there. It was constantly flipping between hot and cold temperatures in a matter of hours. Our bodies had to constantly readjust and not having dry gear was the main culprit for me succumbing to high fever setting in on the final days", recalled Foong.

"It was hard work for us, but as a Team, we got the job done and I am glad that eveyone participating had the oppurnity to enjoy the track we worked on."

"We are expecting another grat event this year in BS2024. Mother Nature is sure to serve up a fantastic menu for participants to eay up and savour, no matter which route you are on."

His message to all participants of BS2024 is:

"Have a fun and safe adventure. Do share the track together and help each other along. And please take your trash out."

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE

Toshiharu Urabe

"The Spirit of Adventure"
by Paul Si

The name of Toshiharu Urabe, unmistakeably Japanese, is also synonymous with 4X4 adventure all over the planet.

With a large part of his youth spent growing up in East Africa, Toshi, as he is known to all who knew and loved him, represented all the best that the world knows and loves about Japan but was also atypical in his own unique way.

For one, he was the biggest fan of Land Rovers in the Land of Toyota. As founder and father figure of the Japan Land Rover Club, he motored around Tokyo in various models of Range Rovers and Defenders, including the latest New Defender.

When he brought club members to the Borneo Safari in Sabah, he insisted that the local vehicles they rented must be Land Rovers. When told that it was difficult to find wholly original examples of the British icon in Borneo, he good humouredly accepted a compromise - they must at least outwardly look like Land Rovers, even if mechanicals had been swapped with more practical and easily sourced bits from Japan.

Already familiar with the Green Oval from his youthful time in the Land of 'Born Free', Toshi's passion for Land Rover was sealed when he was selected to drive Team Japan's Sandglow yellow Range Rover in the 1987 Camel Trophy across Madagascar. He subsequently return as part of the event staff for 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1996, cementing his reputation as one of event's legend.

Trained professionally as a geologist, he found a different calling in the world of 4X4 adventures, as hired crew and also as a renowned photojournalist, helping to further popularise the activity among the Japanese population.

When the first 4X4 expedition in Malaysia, the Trans Borneo of 1988 travelled from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu, Toshi was present at the behest of his good friend and fellow journalist, Yamin Vong, also a veteran of the Madagascar Camel Trophy.

Toshi's ever-smiling moustachioed face would become a familiar fixture in Borneo over the following decades, as the Trans Borneo evolved into the Borneo Safari in 1991. From 1995 to 2019, Toshi did not miss a single Borneo Safari, becoming the person who has attended the most event in the series, ahead of all the locals.

Over the decades, Toshi became an icon of the Borneo Safari, seemingly everywhere, always smiling, whisky tumbler in hand, ever ready to oblige all who wanted to have photos taken with The Legend.

When Indonesian Land Rover enthusiasts decided to organise an expedition that would pay faithful tribute to the original Camel Trophy, complete with all Sanglow-liveried Land Rovers, Toshi was at the top of the guest lists and he accepted without hesitation.

Still going strong into his 70s, Toshi kept up his hectic pace until 2023, when he decided it was perhaps time to hang up his jungle boots after one "last one for the road".

Sadly, it was to be his last in a way no one could have imagined. Falling after a stroke at the flag-off ceremony of Borneo Safari 2023, he slipped into a coma and, despite a month-long fight, passed away without regaining consciousness. He was 75. A small consolation, if any, was that he left while doing what he loved most, in the place he loved as his second home.

His wake at Kinabalu turned into a massive 4X4 event as thousands of friends came from near and far (even driving over 1.300km) to bid Toshi-san "Sayonara" and one last toast of fine whisky.

A poignant message was shared with the off-roading community worldwide through images of his final journey home in a white casket complete with Borneo Safari, Land Rover and Camel Trophy livery.

One Life, and Toshi-san certainly Lived It to the fullest.

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